SF Cathedral Hosts Odd Peep Show, The Two O'Clock Titty

By JOSH KEPPEL

Josh Keppel

Because of the unique design of St. Mary Cathedral, and the positioning of it geographically, a distinct shadow that resembles a woman's breast is cast both in the morning and in the afternoon on the West and East sides of the building respectively.

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Rose, Our Lady of the Two O'clock Titty is one of San Francisco's lesser known landmarks. A shadow resembling a woman's breast appears on St. Mary's Cathedral...

As drivers enter San Francisco via the Octavia Street off-ramp, and they crest the small hill at Haight street, if their trip is timed just right and the sun is out, they will be greeted by one of the funniest landmarks this city has to offer: the two o'clock titty.

Because of the unique design of St. Mary Cathedral, and the positioning of it geographically, a distinct shadow that resembles a woman's breast is cast both in the morning and in the afternoon on the West and East sides of the church, respectively.

I first head about this on SFist, where they had a link to artolog's photo stream from flickr with a picture of the afternoon shadow creeping across St. Mary's Cathedral producing an image that as artolog states is, "better than the face of the Virgin Mary on a tortilla."

I wanted to get a better look for myself, so a few weeks ago I went to Dolores Park for an overview shot of the city with the titty in view.

Luckily I was early, because before daylight saving time, a more appropriate name would've been, the "one-thirty titty."

But now that we've set our clocks forward, the two o'clock titty is back in full force.

I had to go take a closer look and it seemed to me like the best spot to view St. Mary's was from a little street called Rose in between Haight and Page streets.

I started thinking to myself, "I think this shadow landmark needs a name," and just then I looked up at the Rose street sign to see that the street numerical was 200, and the arrow was pointing at the two o'clock titty.

Just then the planets aligned. Well, the sun, the street sign, and I aligned and a rainbow appeared in the reflection of the sun on the Rose sign as the 200 arrow pointed right at the Cathedral.

So I'm here to propose that this formerly nameless and shameless shadow be given the name Rose, Our Lady of the Two O'clock Titty. And a year from now, on the Sunday when we turn the clocks forward an hour, the fans of Rose should meet up on the corner of Rose and Octavia streets at 2 p.m. and toast the funny things in life that we can't control or anticipate.

I'll be staying until at least 2:45 p.m., because for my taste that's when Rose is looking her best.

Josh Keppel has had artolog's photo as his work computer screensaver since first reading the sfist article almost a year ago. It should also be noted that while taking pictures for this story, I found that another great place to see Rose, Our Lady of the Two O'clock Titty is from Jefferson Square park just below St. Mary's.