The Space Claw, SF’s beloved Sue-sue Tower

It’s the first thing your eye is drawn to when returning to SF from traveling, and an irresistible target for your camera as you wander. I’ve posted a number of photos of Sutro Tower over the years: a sunset in 2012, a sunny day in March, a sunset in April, and clouds in July 2015, etc.

A photo of a cityscape from a hill overlooking it. Many small- and medium-sized buildings are spread uniformly across the view. The sky above the city is clear. Piercing the sky into two is a large antenna tower, which stands from a hill in the middle of town. — Sutro Tower from Bernal Heights, April 2025

I’m not sure who started calling it the “Space Claw.” A bunch of search results attribute the nickname’s origin to Aaron Straup Cope’s Space Claw For Mayor series from 2011, but there are earlier instances. For instance, here are some Flickr posts from September and December 2009.

When EJ was younger, she couldn’t pronounce “Sutro”. She called it Sue-sue Tower instead. That’s become my favorite nickname for it (obviously).