Mount Olympus is located on Upper Terrace in Ashbury Heights. It is considered the geographical center of San Francisco. The hill was not considered one of the City’s original seven: it was in the middle of nowhere at the time and completely barren, offering a 360 view of the City and the area around it.

On Thanksgiving Day 1887 Adolph Sutro^[1] dedicated the Triumph of Light statue that was erected at the top of Mount Olympus. Sutro had seen the original statue on a trip to Belgium and liked it so much that he purchased an enlarged version, made of cement, and had it shipped to San Francisco. The Triumph of Light represented the Goddess of Liberty, raising a torch in her right hand and holding a sword in her left.  Sutro provided a generator that lit the torch at night, but this was short-lived as the light confused incoming ships that veered them away from the opening to the San Francisco Bay. Still, the statue was considered by many to be the Statue of Liberty of the West Coast (in fact, I have an old map that identifies “The Statue of Liberty”). 

By the 1950s the statue had been severely vandalized and the cement had not held up to the environmental elements. First her right arm was stolen. Then her head fell off. In the late 1950s the City voted to have the park removed to make way for residential housing. The statue was removed with no fanfare, and its whereabouts, if it still exists, are unknown.

Today, only the 100 square foot staircases up to an empty pedestal remain. The City views are now obstructed by trees and buildings.

^[1] Adolph Sutro: story coming March 14th