A foghorn near us in San Francisco started blowing every 60 seconds early Friday morning. It was really quite loud in our neighborhood of SOMA. Here’s a video I shot of it near the 3rd Street bridge where you can hear it in all of its glory. Some San Franciscians were not quite enamored by the foghorn considering how it kept them up all night.
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{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds cool as hell….. sitting here in Chicago where it’s not keeping me awake! :) Thanks for the video for us out of towners.
I live in Cow Hollow/Marina district of SF – we get fog horns around 4 nights a week year round. There are 2 different horns audible – one I think on each side of the GG bridge. I have really gotten used to the regularity of the horn (every 30 seconds) it and find it a relaxing way to go to sleep. I also like waking up to the sound.
Richmond District was 5 times worse. We have a plethora of foghorns and they were all churning away ALL night. Insanity.
“Some San Franciscans were not quite enamored by the foghorn considering how it keeps them up all night”
Then they are not really San Franciscans. Foghorns can be effective in lulling one to sleep. Should have heard ‘em 25+ years ago. There was a hell of a lot more. I distinctly noticed when they started shutting them down. The city seemed to loose a distinctive “place” quality. Also, people are now living in areas that were once industrial spaces closer to horn locations. I’m sure if one moves to Daly City or the far reaches of the sunset, perhaps even Walnut Creek, the offensive foghorn sound will be greatly diminished.
I love ‘em. Makes me feel like I’m home.
I like the foghorns as long as they don’t interrupt my sleep. Last night was a bit hellish because they were going off every 60 seconds.
So that’s what that was. I thought I dreamt it. (Noe Valley)
In the Richmond we hear these almost nightly. I’ve grown used to the sound and found that it actually helps in lulling me to sleep.
some people find it soothing I guess, but that damn thing woke and kept us up for hours.
Hey, Scott: Thanks for the video post. Kevin Evans is right, though. After all, what is SF if not synonymous with fog? With the right attitude, the fog horn can and does soothe one to sleep. Also, think of it as the sound of oil barges _not_ hitting the bridge! :)
I think it was around 5am when the damn horn started blowing. I looked over to my partner who was fast asleep. I tried to fall asleep but it kept on going till I finally had to get out of bed. I hope this isn’t going to continue. I ended up waking her from tossing and turning, my making her aware of the sound kept her awake as well. NOT FUN!
Cool!!! This woke me up last week and I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. Anybody know where it’s physically located?
Foghorns are one of the things I miss from hanging out on the northwestern side of town, so this is a definite plus in my book!
I loved hearing it all morning at 20th and 3rd. Hope it happens every time there is a foggy day.
WOW! That’s a lot of comments!
While I don’t love the SF fog horns, they give me a sense of security, that all is well enough (especially if you aren’t in a boat feeling lost)
The fog last night (and this morning) was rather stunning, even for a town known for it’s fog. It was lighter than the summer variety and without wind.
Really, some of you were displeased? Really? For five hours your entire city was transformed in to every mind blowing Hitchcock film rolled in to one, and you wish couldn’t it just – please – stop. Because you have an 8 AM client meeting.
Oh, and “I hope this isn’t going to continue.” Yeah, I’m sure the fog-thing is just a fad.
Wow – I live just east of the Castro, and I heard these quite distinctly early this morning.
I have lived at Land’s End in San Francisco for several decades There was really dense, low ceiling fog last night. Treacherous for boaters thus the fog horn. What I want to know is what triggers the fog horns? Is it manual or are there barometric devices in the fog horns that set them off. I have contacted the weather people and the coast guard and no one has been able to adequately answer the question.
Scott, thanks so much for posting this… I was going INSANE… not because of the sound itself (that did not really bother me), but because I’ve been wondering in the past two weeks where the hell it was coming from! and THAT was keeping me awake :) (I live in Noe valley, which is quite a central spot, and depending on the wind you may or may not hear it)
On a side note, this morning’s fog was incredible. For me, it reached a zenith as I crossed the bay bridge this morning above the fog bank & into clear sunny skies. As I walked to work, the cool, crisp air combined with the fog & horns flashed me back decades (when there were more horns)
Made me smile. Thanks Scott!
Yes, I’ve been hearing it in the Lower Haight too. For some reason, I kept thinking that it was my alarm this morning. I used to live out by the ocean, and hearing the horn reminds me that the ocean is nearby. I love it!
Another vote for loved it! And I’ve never lived where I’ve heard em before, so this isn’t a nostalgia thing.
does anyone know which foghorn this was, or how to find out? i guess a maritime chart might work, searches on google for ’san francisco fog horn signature’ only turned up info on the two GG bridge foghorns, which are a different pattern.
note that fog also makes sound travel way further than normal.
I thought it my roommate’s cellphone vibrating to wake him up… similar frequency.
They actually shut the foghorns down years ago (once they came out with GPS for maritime navigation) then native San Franciscans complained about the lack of foghorns so they turned a few of the foghorns back on. Alcatraz, outside the GG Bridge and down around 3rd street are the only ones I know of that are still operational.
And there is no better cure for insomnia like counting to 30 (actually it is 28 seconds) over and over again until you finally pass out.
I for one slept like a baby. Having lived in Seacliff for a year, the horns became a government-sponsored white noise generator for me. The last month I lived in Seacliff my daughter was born, and I have fond memories of rocking her to sleep while gently saying her name in time with the horns. Kay-leeeeeeeeee.
I hate that stupid forg horn!!. I dont find it charming but disrupting and annoying. With GPS you would think why we still need them. I really believe the horn is the reason why so many people jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. When you think the damn thing is going to shut up, it goes off again and not every 60 seconds but every 28 seconds. Arhhh…whoever is up to pass a motion to eliminate this form of torture please let me know. I will pedrsonally collect signatures if necessary. By the way someone knows how much the operation of the horn costs per year. With the fiscal deficit of our city we could certainly find a better use for that money.
@Sandra
It’s true, we have GPS. However, GPS can fail or get jammed, your boats’ electric system can fail, you can loose the GPS on sea. This can lead to extremly dangerous situations in the wrong circumstances.
Thus: Horns are necessary, just as lighthouses (which for a funny reason nobody actually wants to get rid of). They cost next to nothing, btw, and are financed by the state, not the city..
The horns were there long before us. If you can’t stand fog horns, how about moving to somewhere far away from the coast?
@ Martin….
Yeah moving…. why I did not think about that before? Hummm… you see…I just moved to SF from the east coast…..and I did not know about the horn. I found out after moving 3,000 miles and a few days in the new place. But thansk for your advise.
@ Sandra — You’ve never heard that San Francisco has fog horns? Really? In San Francisco?
Another GPS issue — they require 3 satellites to triangulate your position and like satellite dishes, if there’s heavy cloud cover or, eh, fog, they can’t get three signals to show your location.
The Sandra post shows an astonishing level of naivete and selfishness. The fog horns on the GG Bridge are not maintained by the City of San Francisco. They are run by the United States Coast Guard. I don’t think you would consider it a waste of money if you were a mariner. You can read about them here: http://goldengatebridge.org/research/factsGGBFogHorn.php
@ Are we really, the modern day foghorns are set off by a fog detector which measures the moisture in the air, if it picks up the the visibility is low ( half a mile) due to dense or thin fog it will set off the horn and only turn it off when visibilty is okay again ( usually 3 miles ), often these devices can go wrong and the foghorn will sound continuously ( notice a recent article about a bridge in Tacoma-that beeper ( as I affectionately call the modern ones ) is not only saving the lives of mariners its saving the bridge too!-they should find better things to complain about than a fog signal thats helping them)until its fixed.
I LOVE the foghorns! Brings back memories of when I was stationed here in the 70’s. I come to San Francisco and strain to hear them now. Removing the foghorns from the fabulous bay would be criminal. The sound is soothing and is one of the main reasons I vacation here. To me they sound like sweet angels singing and protecting mariners returning from sea!