San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now

In two previous posts I wrote about a Facebook Page that I’m a member of entitled San Francisco Remembered. Group members post pictures from San Francisco’s past that are of interest to them, or they may actually post interesting pictures from their own photo collection. I’ve posted a few of my own pictures on their page. Last fall, I did a few update comparison pictures of some of the vintage photos posted by group members. I’ll post a few of them along with the first name of the group members who contributed the vintage pictures. Also, San Francisco Remembered is a great reference page for use in identifying locations in San Francisco that someone (like me) may be trying to find. I’ll include two links after my pictures of posts on my website where San Francisco group members guided me to San Francisco locations that I couldn’t find by myself. (Thumbnail images)

Market Street at Kearny, 1969: American Savings covered up the old Chronicle Building to modernize it back then and in 1999, Lotta’s Fountain was moved back to its original spot and restored to its original size. (Leilani M.)

  

Pier 23 on the Embarcadero; the vintage picture looks like it was taken during the 1970s. This is a great place to stop for lunch now. (Henry B.)

  

Market Street at Mason in 1974: I just went there to see if the same lamppost is still there. (Leilani M.)

  

Union Square in the 1990s, the decade that .coms came into everybody’s life: (Ray M.)

  

Kearny Street, looking north toward the Bank of America Building in 1974: Ah, B. Dalton Bookseller! They had stores all over back then, and you could find great books on anything from Hollywood films to World War Two to San Francisco, or my favorite subject, quantum mechanics. (Leilani M.)

  

Grant Avenue at Clay Street, also during the 1990s: “Excuse me, I’m looking for Chinatown. Could it be behind all of those signs and banners?” (Ray M.)

“With a little help from my friends”

Outclassed again (For Judy)

 

 

1939 was a good year for San Francisco, and also the year the first person in my immediate family visited SF. My San Francisco exploring has been interrupted by the 2024 Tax Season, but I don’t usually get a chance to post something on February 29^th, so I searched my archives for some past pictures I posted for the 85^th anniversary of 1939. (Thumbnail images)

  

Dorthea Lange’s photo from the ramp of the First Street exit off of the Bay Bridge, now called the Fremont Street exit. You can see Coit Tower, the Shell Building, the Standard Building, and the Russ Building among other landmarks in her picture, none of which are visible from here today.

  

An artist’s rendition of what the Transbay Terminal that opened in 1939 would look like, and the Transbay Terminal on the last day before it closed forever in August of 2010.

 

A lady waiting for an auto, bus, streetcar or cab at on Market Street at Jones in 1939: I don’t know if that coat that’s attacking her would go over too well nowadays.

  

A couple of 1939 free-spirits riding their bicycles up to Sutro Heights above Playland-at-the-Beach:

  

The road leading from Yerba Buena Island to the Treasure Island Exposition that opened in 1939:

 

Grant Avenue, Chinatown, in 1939:

 

A long-ago 1939 family in a probably posed picture at Ocean Beach, with the Cliff House and Seal Rocks in the background:

  

My 17 year old mom, on the right, next to the Pool of Enchantment at the de Young Museum on her 1939 visit from North Dakota, and an update I did at the spot before the building was demolished in 2000:

 

 

 

Why 1971? Well, there are a lot of vintage pictures from different sources on the internet taken in San Francisco during 1971. Also, I’m old enough to remember what San Francisco was like in 1971. Besides, 1971 was probably an important year for some people. (Thumbnail images)

  

Coming out of the Yerba Buena Tunnel onto the Bay Bridge:

  

Look at that grouchy looking guy on the northwest corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets. I hope I don’t look like that when I take pictures around San Francisco. (Vintage picture, SF Chronicle)

 

The 1971 San Francisco skyline from the top of the St. Francis Hotel: You can spot a number of the same buildings in both pictures. (Vintage picture, San Francisco Public Library Archives)

  

Fleishhacker Pool and Pool House after closing in 1971: The pool is buried beneath the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo today, and the Pool House was burned down by homeless people shortly after I took my picture.

  

Edging into the Tenderloin on O’Farrell Street, looking east from Mason Street: (Vintage picture, amazingurban.com)

  

The old YMCA Building on the Embarcadero, with the infamous Embarcadero Freeway on the right: (Vintage picture, San Francisco Public Library Archives)

 

A couple of buddies fishing behind Pier 5: The pier has been cut back and remodeled now, so this is as close of a comparison picture I could get. You can just see the top of Yerba Buena Island on the right in my picture. (Vintage picture, UC Berkley Library Archives)

  

Looking across Embarcadero Center Plaza toward Market and Steuart Streets from the Vaillancourt Fountain: This is as close of a comparison picture I could get because the Park Padel Pickleball Court obstructs the view from the fountain in the vintage picture now. The Southern Pacific Building is on the right in both photos. The Rincon Annex Post Office Building is blocked from the view here now by One Market Plaza. The Hills Brothers Coffee Building is in the far background of the older picture. The old Audiffred Building is behind where the San Francisco Railway Museum Building on Don Chee Way is today. (Vintage picture, San Francisco Public Library Archives)

 

Way back to when I was 15, I learned from Herb Caen that, although it is often referred to as Portsmouth Plaza, a true San Franciscan calls it Portsmouth Square. From an article by Ko Lyn Cheang in last Thursday’s San Francisco Chronicle, I learned that they may be closing the famous park in Chinatown for several years for renovations. Some consider this little spot as the most historic piece of land in San Francisco; In 1846, John B. Montgomery, Captain of the USS Portsmouth, raised the first United States flag in the city of San Francisco at what was then called ‘La plaza’. In 1848, prospector, John Brannan announced the discovery of gold in Sacramento, which started the 49ers on a roll (the original ones). It’s overcrowded and the bathrooms are a fright, but its closer will disrupt the lives of a lot of people in San Francisco. These are a few pictures I’ve posted in the past that were taken at Portsmouth Square. (Thumbnail images)

The original Hall of Justice Building on Kearny Street. spelled Kearney in the old photo, across from Portsmouth Square. The vintage picture was taken after the 1906 Earthquake. The now closed bridge in the modern picture crosses over to the Hilton Hotel, which replaced the rebuilt Hall of Justice in 1968.

 

The rebuilt Hall of Justice on Kearny Street in 1958 from a Charles Cushman photo: Both pictures were taken from Portsmouth Square. This building appeared regularly in television shows such as ‘Lineup’ and ‘Ironside’, and many crime pictures like ‘Impact’. ‘The Man Who Cheated Himself’ and ‘The Lady from Shanghai’. The old hall was demolished in 1967.

 

Of course, the best look you get at vintage Portsmouth Square is from the website opensfhistory.org. This 1960 photo and update are looking at the southeast corner of Portsmouth Square.

  

The southeast corner of the Square in 1937, looking in the opposite direction from the previous pictures: The buildings in the background are the same in both photos.

  

Orson Welles, on trial for murder in the Hall of Justice Building, escapes and runs across Kearny Street to Portsmouth Square in the 1947 film ‘The Lady from Shanghai’.

  

Rita Hayworth chases after Orson Welles across Portsmouth Square in ‘The Lady from Shanghai’.

  

Probably my favorite Chinatown scene from any movie is from the 1949m film ‘Impact’. Here’s the setup; Brian Donlevy is on trial at the old Hall of Justice Building on Kearny for murdering his unfaithful wife’s lover. (He’s innocent) Anna May Wong has information that may save him but will not testify, although she comes to the courthouse out of guilt. Ella Raines, Donlevy’s new squeeze, spots her as she leaves the courthouse and a chase is on. As Anna May’s taxicab turns onto Washington Street from Kearny on the corner of Portsmouth Square jumps into a waiting taxicab to follow her.

  

They race up Washington past Portsmouth Square to Grant Avenue. This chase scene covers much of Chinatown, including some of its old alleys.

   

A child looks at the Robert Louis Stevenson Monument at Portsmouth Square in 1939:

“Who’s he, Daddy?’

“He wrote Treasure Island.”

“You mean, about the Fair?”

“No, it’s a story about adventures on a mysterious island with treacherous scoundrels, cutthroats, and pirates.”

“Oh, Alcatraz.”

 

In this rousing and well made episode of the television show ‘The Street of San Francisco’ from 1974, Lt. Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Inspector Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) are up against terrorists who are planning to place explosive bombs all around San Francisco. 1970s television doesn’t get any better than this. (Thumbnail images)

The episode titled ‘Flags of Terror’ opens in Tokyo, where three members of a group of terrorists are purchasing miniature bombs that can be hidden in cameras. They later plan to smuggle them in to San Francisco.

 

The cruise ship the terrorists arrive in docks at Pier 35: They build them bigger nowadays.

Stone and Keller happen to be inside Pier 35 on a routine check for smuggling. We get a good look at the inside of Pier 35 in 1974, and also, a nice pair of legs on the right. The girl reading the book on the far right is about to get in serious trouble.

  

The bad guys (and girl) try to smuggle their explosive cameras past customs, but an alert agent smells a rat. When he motions an armed guard to come over, the terrorists make a break.

 

As the terrorists make their break, they grab some hostages. Yeah, they did that in 1974 too. The girl is the one we saw inside Pier 35.

 

They exit the north side of Pier 35 with their hostages here.

 

As the terrorists run along the Embarcadero, you can see the old Pier Inn Cocktail Lounge between Piers 33 and 35 in the background. They bottom picture with the Pier Inn in the background is a snapshot I took on a rainy late afternoon in the late 1980s.

  

As the villains shoot back at the customs agents chasing them, a father and daughter are going into Pier 35 to take a Hawaiian cruise. The daughter is hit and killed. Later in the episode her vengeful father almost gets all of the hostages killed by trying to shoot at the terrorists.

 

The terrorists run past Pier 35 and the side of the pier where the world War ll Liberty Ship, the Jeremiah O’Brien, is berthed today.

 

Right on their heels are Lt. Stone and Inspector Keller.

  

The criminals jump into a red van and head down the Embarcadero followed by multiple police cars, including Stone and Keller. In this three set you can see the now gone Piers 37 and 39 in the upper right of the top photo. In the middle picture you can see the mast of the sailing ship, the Balclutha when it was berthed at Pier 43 on the far right.

  

The terrorists head down the Embarcadero, turning onto Broadway where the Embarcadero Freeway ended.

  

Cut off by police at the foot of Broadway, they head back to the Embarcadero

  

The pursuit continues south underneath the Embarcadero Freeway. Their van crashes into a pile of boxes on the corner of Mission Street and the Embarcadero at the old Audiffred Building.

  

The chase continues to an area that was once skid row in 1974. Surprisingly, all of the buildings in the film scene are still there. The terrorists eventually hijack a yacht south of China Basin, and threaten to kill everybody on board including the hostages and themselves unless a seaplane is delivered. This is top notch entertainment.

They’ll be closing up the Hyde Street Pier this spring and removing the historic ships for a complete restoration of the pier. It’s projected that the Hyde Street Pier may be closed for as long as three years. I’m sure it needs it and it will be a labor of love, and unlike the Cliff House and Union Square, it probably won’t lose some of its charm after they reopen it. (Thumbnail images)

 

Hyde Street Pier during the 1960s: Nice shades! (Vintage Everyday)

 

Fog closes in on the Hyde Street Pier in a Peter Stratmoen picture from 1975.

Somebody got a little mixed up in this travel poster putting the Bay Bridge behind the Hyde Street Pier. (Pinterest)

  

A slide picture I took in 1985 before the sailing ship, the Balclutha, was moved to the Hyde Street Pier:

 

A slide picture I took at the foot of the Hyde Street Pier in 1985: I don’t know whose waif that was, but I vaguely remember that I thought it was pretty cool the way she was sitting up on that post just like Huckleberry Finn or something.

 

Another travel poster by a Picasso wannabe showing the Hyde Street Pier in the background:

 

An old snapshot photo I took around 1985 of Hyde Street from the top deck of the ferryboat Eureka, docked at the Hyde Street Pier:

 

 

 

 

North Point Street is another one of those San Francisco Streets that, like New Montgomery Street or Van Ness Avenue, people usually drop the road designation and just refer to it by its title, leaving out Street or Avenue. Golden Gate Avenue is an exception because it can get confused with several San Francisco landmarks, and Broadway is understandable because I don’t think it has a last name. North Point was the original name of a part of San Francisco that stuck out into the Bay before the area was filled in, and would more appropriately be named Northeast Point Street, but that could be confusing too. Although I use North Point often, I don’t usually pay much attention to it, but now that the Liberty Ship, the Jeremiah O’Brien, is berthed where North Point merges into the Embarcadero, I’ll be traveling on it more often. The street extends from the Embarcadero (Embarcadero doesn’t have a specification, either) all the way to the Palace of Fine Arts. It completely disappears from Van Ness to Laguna Street and from Fillmore Street to Scott Street and passes by one of San Francisco’s most famous landmarks, but I’ll only be traveling a small part of North Point in this post. (Thumbnail images)

North Point at Grant Avenue in 1906: North Point Wet Weather Facility obscures the view of Telegraph Hill from here now, but you can see Coit tower in my picture, that wasn’t there in 1906. (Vintage picture from opensfhistory,org)

  

The view south down Powell from North Point in an opensfhistory.org picture from 1940: The building on the left is gone, as is the matching foot bridge, but you can see the spires of Saints Peter and Paul Church in both photos.

  

As I was passing Stockton Street, before I got to Powell, the smell of something cooking down the street got my undivided attention. Like in those old cartoons when an aroma would cause a character to float through the air in a trance to the source of the cooking, I wandered down to the corner of Stockton and Beach Streets. There was a fellow there selling grilled hotdogs that were twice the size of the ones you buy in a package, along with grilled onions and peppers, on an oversized bun. Although my doctor might have scolded me, a SWAT Team couldn’t have kept me from buying one. As I waited for my hotdog, I thought of another time I’d been to this corner long ago, when I wasn’t by myself.

It crossed my mind the other day,

Since you both grew up, and moved away.

When I walk by places from the past,

that time goes by so very fast.

Although it’s over twenty years,

It doesn’t seem that long.

It crossed my mind the other day,

I still take you along.

 

North Point also gets a cameo in one of my favorite San Francisco film noir movies, ‘The Lineup’ from 1958. Here at North Point, looking south along Mason Street, police officers are alerted by radio that a serial killer, played by Eli Wallach, has been spotted near the Cliff House. The police car makes a sharp U turn at North Point, and heads back along Mason Street to the site of the alert, which in reality is all the way over on the other side of San Francisco. Don’t worry, they get him. You can see the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in the far background on the left in both pictures.

The south east corner of Ghirardelli Square at North Point and Larkin Street during the 1920s: The entire south side of Ghirardelli Square borders North Point.

   

There are also beautiful vistas from North Point, like this view of Alcatraz and the Hyde Street Pier from Larkin Street at North Point during the 1980s, and a picture that I took in 2021. (Vintage picture from SF Gate)

 

In a 1972 episode of the television show ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ an armed security guard is shot to death during an armed robbery at Ghirardelli Square, and police officers Lt. Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Inspector Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) respond the shooting. They enter Ghirardelli Square from the North Point entrance near Polk Street. A building has been put in since 1972 behind where the blue Volkswagen bus was. Also, if I had a dollar for every episode of ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ that had a scene that was filmed at Ghirardelli Square during the five year run of the show, that would buy a lot of Ghirardelli Chocolate.

Actually, nowadays, looking for fun on New Year’s Eve usually means finding a warm bar with a football game showing on TV, but I headed over there last night anyway, pretending I was young again. (Thumbnail images)

  

This picture on Market Street near Stockton Street is actually labeled ‘Market Street on New Year’s Eve’. It doesn’t give a date, but it was probably during the 1940s. It didn’t look like a very exciting New Year’s Eve that night. The State Theater, just visible on the left, was demolished in 1961. The California Theater Building, on the southeast corner of 4^th and Market Street where the State Theater was located in was demolished in 1968. The building with the Ross Store in the current picture is now on the corner. (San Francisco Public Library Archives)

  

Jones Street in 1954, and the last run of the Jones Street Cable Car Line; that’s why there’s black ribbon on the cable car. Going into this area at night is a great way to find some excitement….. if you’re Indiana Jones! All of the tidying up during the APEC Summit has been discontinued, and the unfriendly street people who gather here have reclaimed their territory. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Market Street at Jones in 1975: Hmm, ‘WOMEN INTO DISCIPLINE’; that probably was a little more action than I was looking for Sunday night. This is the building where the Pussycat and Centre Theaters were located in. (opensfhistory.org)

  

A girls marching band, crossing Hyde Street from the Orpheum Theater: That wouldn’t have been quite the New Year’s Eve entertainment that I was searching for either; especially since their ectoplasm seems to be wearing off and they’re fading away. ‘The Mummy’s Hand’ dates the picture to 1940. (opensfhistory.org)

  

City Hall; now there’s a place to see a little action! Or maybe, that’s a place to see little action. The vintage picture, taken from about where I was at, is from 1925. (opensfhistory.org)

 

This 1966 picture, taken from close to where I’m at, but further out on Market Street and with a telescopic lens, is a great picture of this portion of Market Street when it was known as San Francisco’s ‘Great White Way’, mimicking New York’s Broadway. This would have been THE place to send New Year’s Eve in San Francisco long ago. (opensfhistory.org)

   

Well, there’s always fun on a cable car. Sometimes, you have to wrestle with these things to get a reasonable match up. (opensfhistory.org)

Elvis isn’t the only one having a ‘Blue Christmas’. This year, after four years, they’re having the Winter Walk again where they block off several streets near Union Square to traffic, and create a carpeted pedestrian area for shoppers and kids. It’s always been green in the past but this year it’s blue. (Thumbnail images)

Looking north on Stockton Street from Geary: Maiden Lane is the alley on the right.

Stockton Street near O’Farrell: It’s nice to see the Macy’s clock is still there.

 

Looking down Stockton Street from Maiden Lane to Geary and the old I Magnin Building.

 

Even Maiden Lane gets the blues this Christmas. These two pictures were taken where the long gone Stockton Street entrance to the Union Square Garage used to be.

Rock Hudson helps to turn the cable car around at the Market and Powell turnaround in 1959. I’m old enough to remember when you could climb on the cable cars while they were turning around. If you even touch one on the turntable today, you’ll get yelled at. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Lana Turner, wearing a coat she’d probably be arrested for nowadays, going into the I Magnin Department Store, now Louis Vuitton, in the 1960 film ‘Portrait in Black’. The last thing Lana would want to see is the police car in my picture; she’s going into Magnin’s to establish an alibi while Anthony Quinn kills her husband. Poor Lana, you’d think she would know that these things don’t work after ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’.

  

Anthony Quinn on Stockton Street near Geary, looking down toward O’Farrell Street in what looks like a news promotion for the movie ‘Portrait in Black’. (Hollywoodpaper2)

 

Cary Grant moves through what was supposed to be a war time crowded Fairmont Hotel Lobby in the 1957 film ‘Kiss Them for Me’. It wasn’t that crowded when I was there.

  

President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Post Street, west of Powell, in 1958: (opensfhistory.org)

  

‘Mr. San Francisco’ Herb Caen on a cable car at Powell and Market in a Fred Lyon photo from 1953:

 

Speaking of a police presence in Union Square, Lt. Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Inspector Steve Keller (Mike Douglas) looking for the bad guys in a 1972 episode of ‘The Streets of San Francisco’. Smash and grabbers beware! You can see the old City of Paris Department Store where the Neiman Marcus is today behind Mike Douglas.