San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now

That’s just a silly lead title to this post, but we’re halfway through the 2026 Tax Season in the USA, and right now, it feels like I’m tunneling my way through a mountain of paper. Soooo, I thought I’d take a break from interpreting the ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’ for awhile, and look back at some of the tunnel photo comparisons I’ve posted in the past. (Thumbnail images)

  

We’ll head toward San Francisco across the Bay Bridge through the Yerba Buena Tunnel in 1971.

The south entrance and exit of the Stockton Tunnel in the 1940s: (streetcar.org)

 

Looking down from above the south portion of the Stockton Tunnel during the 1940s: (opensfhistory.org)

Just yards from where the previous picture was taken is Burritt Street Alley, where Miles Archer was shot in the Maltese Falcon novel, as this plaque near the entrance to the alley commemorates.

  

We’ll head west on Broadway toward the Broadway Tunnel, seen in a 1950s picture from the Charles Cushman Collection.

  

Dong Kingman had a little more artistic version of the eastern exit to the Broadway Tunnel in his painting from the 1960s.

  

Inspector Steve Keller, (Mike Douglas) was living on Broadway, just up from the Broadway Tunnel, in the last Episode of the ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ that he appeared in. In earlier episodes of the television show, he lived on Union Street, Telegraph Hill. Here, Keller says goodbye to Michael Stone, (Karl Maldin) after retiring from the Police Department to become a teacher.

  

Now we’re looking west toward the east portal of the Sunset Streetcar Tunnel at Duboce Park 1935.

  

If you’ve kept up with me, we’ve made it to the western edge of Golden Gate Park, where a streetcar line used to run completely along the width of the park from Lincoln Way to LaPlaya Street and Playland-at-the-Beach. A tunnel, which is still in existence, crossed under what is now John F. Kennedy Drive, near the Dutch Windmill. (opensfhistory.org)

   

My picture is looking north from under the old streetcar tunnel in Golden Gate Park toward where the Playland Roller Coaster can be in the 1943 photo, also taken from inside the tunnel. (opensfhistory.org)

 

 

Actually, these aren’t all designated as “Streets”, but ‘More little alleys, places, a street, and a lane’ is kind of a long title for a post. Some of these spots are relatively little known, but a few of them are historic, and one of them is featured in a 1940s noir film. (Thumbnail images)

  

365 Tehama Street in 1951 was kind of a boring place to take a picture of, unless you owned National Sales and Service Co., but the cars and the fact that the little brick building has survived add flavor to the picture today. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Card Alley, North Beach, in 1936: There may have been something exciting that happened in this alley once, but I’ll be darned if I know what it was. It makes a good picture, though. (Shorpy Archives)

  

St. Louis Alley: Medium.com writes that “this narrow passage was once one of the busiest and most vividly document corners of old Chinatown.” Before the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, it was a place of Tong Wars, prostitution, and opium dens.. Medium.com refers to it as a “passage” because you could enter it from Jackson Street, travel to the back of the alley, and cross over to Dupont Street (Grant Avenue) through a gap in two buildings. That area is closed of now. Foot travel through the alley, for whatever reason, was heavy until after 1906. Now, it’s just a quiet little spot to sit and rest for a bit, which I’ve often done. (Medium.com)

  

An undated photo of Hotaling Place in historic Jackson Square, probably from the early 1960s before the Pyramid Building was built: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

 

The House of Ming in 1960 in Old Chinatown Lane; probably the best name for any Chinatown alley: In the 1949 film noir ‘Impact’, Ella Raines chases Anna May Wong through a passage way between two buildings from Ross Alley into the back of old Chinatown Lane, and into a building near where the House of Ming was. The passage way is fenced off now. (opensfhistory.org)

  

A runaway car on Kimball Place at Sacramento Street, on the west side of Nob Hill in 1956; I like this comparison picture best in the set; it looks like something out of a 1950s crime show. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

Heading to SF on BART past a ghostly empty Oakland Coliseum:

  

San Francisco comes into view:

   

A pretty night in SF last Saturday:

 

Even the SP Building changed colors:

Getting ready for the big show:

The Ferry Building throws a spiral:

Projecting all of the Super Bowls beginning to end:

 

I wish!

 

This is another follow-by-the-numbers tour of what’s probably my favorite San Francisco street; courtesy of my trusty City in Your Pocket San Francisco Map that I probably used a lot to get around SF before Google Maps came along. It’s dated 2011 and scotch tape has kept it from disintegrating, but I hold on to it for nostalgia reasons. Also, I always liked the fact that the streets and roads on the entire map are streets and roads, and not just lines. Sometimes little things like that are important to me. You can follow along on my tour with the orange numbers where my updated pictures were taken; the numbers in black from my old map designate the numbers of the piers . We’ll start near the Ferry Building at Pier 1, and proceed north by northwest. (Sorry, Mr. Hitchcock) Although it’s lost its mystery, danger and intrigue, you can still feel a sense of the Embarcadero’s past when you walk along these piers, especially at night, or see it in old film noir movies or television shows like “Harbor Command’ or ‘San Francisco Beat’ or read about the port in books, both fiction and non fiction. (Thumbnail images)

  

#1 Pier 1, from underneath the Embarcadero Freeway in 1960: (opensfhistory.org)

  

#2 Pier 3, also from underneath the Embacadero Freeway, seen in one of the last episodes of the television show “EMERGENCY!’ from 1979:

#3 Pier 5 in the same 1979 episode of “EMERGENCY”:

  

#4 The now demolished Pier 7 in 1931: I took my picture walking past the Walking Pier now at Pier 7 on a rainy afternoon on New Year’s Eve.

  

#5 Godzilla leaves San Francisco past the Pier 7 Walking Pier after destroying most of San Francisco in the 2014 ‘Godzilla’ film.

  

#6 Pier 9, looking past the abandoned Belt Line Rail Tracks in 1964: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

#7 Pier 15, just after World War Two in 1946: The Exploratorium now occupies Pier 15. I was taking an F Line Streetcar break to Pier 39, that came along near here yesterday while I was finishing my set, but you can’t see me in the streetcar reflection. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

#8 Ladies removing the military Port of Embarkation sign on the top of Pier 15 in 1946: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

#9 Looking toward Piers 19 and 17 in 1940: The Bay Bridge and Ferry Building are on the far right in the vintage picture. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

#10 A fire behind Pier 23 near Filbert Street in and undated photo from what looks like the 1950s: Levi Plaza is where I took my picture from yesterday. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

#11 Pier 35 in 1939: The Hop-On, Hop-Off tour bus parked in front of the pier kind of steals the show, but they’re okay. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

#12 Look for #12 up on Telegraph Hill at Coit Tower, where I took my picture looking down at pier 35 early last month in January. The vintage SF Digital Library picture is from 1957. The ship at Pier 35 in my somewhat blurry close up is the Liberty Ship, the Jeremiah O’Brien.

  

#13 An undated picture of Pier 39 from probably the 1950s, and the same spot today now. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

    

#14 Looking back toward where the previous pictures were taken from the tourist attraction Pier 39 in 1983: (San Francisco Library Digital Archive)

  

#15 Pier 41 in 1964: The now demolished Pier 41 was where the Bay Walk and Ben & Jerry’s is now. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

 

Yesterday, Sunday, I had planned to visit the City Centre Mall in the old Emporium Department Store Building before it’s scheduled closure on Monday. However, on Saturday, the morning news was that the Centre, San Francisco’s largest indoor mall, would close that Saturday, rather than Monday. I went over there anyway on Sunday, in case the news wasn’t accurate, but alas, alack, and Alaska, the old department store building was locked up, and as empty as the Cliff House. So, I crossed Market Street to Powell to see if the cable cars were running. They were, and the line was jaw-dropping; there was only about ten people in line, and to me, that’s jaw-dropping! I figured that it was a good time to take another ride on America’s only moving National Monument to the California Street Cable Car Line, and ride that line down California Street to Market Street near the Ferry Building. This turned out a much better outing than visiting a near empty mall, no matter how famous the old building is. (Thumbnail images)

  

The ten or so people in line in front of me for the cable car wanted to catch the next one going to Hyde Street after this one, so I got right on. As we took off, I decided to take some pictures along the way, and try to match them up with vintage pictures near the same locations when I got back to the office; I call these “now and thens”, rather than “then and nows”. There is no better website on the internet for vintage San Francisco pictures than opensfhistory.org, where I found these vintage photos. As we took off from Market Street at Powell, I thought to myself that you don’t see as many street preachers at this location anymore; they’ve probably given up on me anyway. The vintage picture is from 1974.

  

Looking down Ellis Street toward the Humboldt Building in 1922: I cropped my picture a little further to the right to get John’s Grill in.

  

Looking down O’Farrell Street, circa 1912: The crowned Call Building, and the remodeled Call Building is on the left in both photos.

  

I didn’t get that bad of a line up with this 1957 photo as we passed by Union Square.

  

Looking down Bush Street in 1968: You can see the Russ Building on the left in both pictures. Hmm, Sherry’s Liquors with Ice Cubes and Liquors, and further down Bush Street was another Market with Liquors. Looks like this might have been a good spot to get drunk back then!

  

At California Street I switched to the California Street Cable Car Line as we plunged down Nob Hill from Powell Street. The vintage picture is from 1952

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Approaching Chinatown from Stockton Street in 1908, two years after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire: The Dim Sum and Sing Fat Pagoda Buildings were built by then, and Old St. Mary’s Church on the left that survived the 1906 disaster was back in business.

  

Looking down Sansome Street toward Market Street circa 1939: It’s not the best of line ups, but it works. In the far left background of the vintage picture is the Pacific Telephone Building on New Montgomery Street, blocked from the view now by whatever that building on Market Street is.

  

California Street at Drumm and Market Streets, and the end of the line: The vintage picture is from 1948. Boy, I’d have liked to have done the whole thing again in reverse yesterday, but I was anxious to get back to the office to find my vintage pictures for comparison.

There’s been a lot of events in and about San Francisco so far over the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend; such as the 49ers still playing in the Playoffs on TV, (that turned out dismal) a tribute at Civic Center Plaza for Bob Wier of the Grateful Dead, and the first warm weather in the Bay Area for a couple of months. I visited the Civic Center area yesterday, Sunday, to take some comparison pictures around City Hall of vintage pictures from the UC Berkeley Library Archives. (Thumbnail images)

 

I’ll post my pictures in the order that I took them. This is the old San Francisco Main Library Building, now the Asian Arts Building. There was some kind of a fire being put out by that tiny fire truck in 1921.

  

This is an appropriate picture to post today of Civic Center Plaza; it’s of a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial being held in 1969, the year after King was assassinated in 1968. On Saturday, a memorial for Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead that drew thousand of spectators also took place in the Plaza.

    

The Civic Auditorium, now the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, after  it’s completion in 1915. There’s a long list of famous people who have performed or spoken here, including Bob Weir in 2015 and Martin Luther King in 1956. My picture is from the top of the steps to the Polk Street entrance of City Hall.

  

The northwest corner of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street in 1926 before the War Memorial Opera House was built in 1932: Well, opera is wonderful, but I probably would have visited the Bargain Tire Store more than I do the opera if I were around back then.

  

The corner of Grove and Franklin Streets in 1926: The view of City Hall is blocked out now from here by the Franklin Street side of the War Memorial Opera House, but you can just see the top of it on the right in my photo.

  

San Francisco citizens waiting for a visitor on the steps of the Van Ness Avenue side of City Hall in 1938: I imagine that you’re wondering who they were waiting for.

Well, they were waiting for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to drive by. Look at those bodyguards! I was standing at about the same place yesterday that he was smiling and waving his hat toward in July of 1938; it was kind of an odd feeling.

I’m having more fun lately exploring San Francisco, and marking the spots where I’ve taken pictures with numbers on my old ‘City In Your Pocket’ map of SF. This spot-by-numbers is Chinatown, south to north; always an adventure to explore. My hike (ten or so blocks is a hike to me nowadays) was late afternoon, yesterday. The vintage pictures are from the UC Berkeley Library Archives, (UC) The San Francisco Library Digital Archives, (SF) and opensfhistory.org (OSFH). The numbers are in purple this time, partly because of Chinatown’s passion for colors. (Thumbnail images)

  

#1 The Dragon Gate at Grant Avenue and Bush Street: This is the southernmost extension of Chinatown. The older picture was taken in June of 1987. (SF)

  

#2 A cool picture taken between Bush and Pine Street, circa 1952: (OSFH)

  

#3 Looking across California Street to the parking garage under St. Mary’s Square: The vintage picture is from 1954. (SF)

#4 An undated picture of St. Mary’s Square, probably from the 1940s: The statue of Sun Yat-sen is on the left, Old St. Mary’s Church is on the right. (SF)

  

#5 I was surprised to find this photo too. There used to be a service station in St. Mary’s Square Parking Garage. This is probably not the spot where it was. However,when I asked to attendants on duty where it may have been, they didn’t know either. The vintage picture is from 1954.(SF)

  

#6 Another nice picture of Grant Avenue, looking toward Sacramento Street, either in the late 1920s or early 1930s: (UC)

  

#7 The easternmost portion of Chinatown on Kearny Street, looking toward Portsmouth Square in 1959: I didn’t get the right line up on this one, so I’ll just blame my goof up on the sun. Several buildings are still visible from here, like the one on the left through the trees, and the one in the center. (OSFH)

 

#8 Two ladies and a buddy at the Robert Louis Stevenson Statue in Portsmouth Square, dated November 13^th 1941: There is currently controversy in the Chinese community over removing the statue permanently from the square during ongoing renovations. (SF)

  

#9 Not an especially exiting photo from 1984 of Grant and Pacific Avenues, but I was heading that way anyway. Not as bustling yesterday at this portion of Chinatown, nor in the rest of the area, but there were crowds. (SF)

  

#10 This is an interesting picture taken at the northernmost portion of Chinatown, on Grant Avenue between Pacific Avenue and Broadway in 1943. the caption reads, “Teenage gang fight. Kid put in paddy wagon on Grant Street near Pacific Street.” Pacific Avenue was still labeled a Street then. Gangs had been a problem in Chinatown from the middle of the Nineteenth Century to near the end of the Twentieth Century. Although they produced colorful figures like “Little Pete”, the low point of the gangs was the 1977 Golden Dragon massacre in September of 1977.

That’s a pretty banal title for a post, but it’s accurate. Also, some of the photos are actually of cliffs on designated hills or heights. Herb Caen wrote something about when travelers get tired of walking around San Francisco, they can lean against it. That’s not inaccurate either. These are vintage photos of San Francisco that I took from two books I have, the 1939 WPA guide, ‘San Francisco in the 1930s’, and ‘The Far West’ by the editors of Look Magazine, published in 1948. They’re pictures of exciting views that are still around, although some of them have been drastically altered. (Thumbnail images)

  

A two page view of the Cliff House from Sutro Heights during the 1940s: I, and some buddies of mine, used to climb up this cliff from Point Lobos Avenue when we were teenagers, and I’m not making that up. (Look Magazine)

  

The view down Montgomery Street from Telegraph Hill: The picture is labeled “A FIVE MINUTE WALK FROM THE BUSINESS DISTRICT”. It’s an easy five minutes from one direction, and a tiring five minutes from another. The buildings that I can identify in the far background of the vintage picture are, from left to right, the Shell Building, the Standard Oil Building, the Hobart Building, the Russ Building, the Chronicle Building, and the Call Building, all still around. Only the Russ Building can be spotted in my photo. The tree on the left in my photo blocks an exact match up today (San Francisco in the 1930s)

  

Another two page view, looking east from the Top of the Mark: Once again, about the only discernible building in the modern picture is the Russ Building. Actually, this one at the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel is 306 feet above Nob Hill, but I guess that still counts as a hill picture. (Look Magazine)

  

Looking up at the Filbert Steps from the bottom of Telegraph Hill in the 1930s: This one is labeled “TELEGRAPH HILL FROM THE PRECIPITOUS SIDE”. It’s even more precipitous when you’re walking up the steps, rather than down. You can just see Coit Tower in the upper right of my picture today. (San Francisco in the 1930s)

  

Another dramatic view down Nob Hill past Chinatown in the 1940: Cars shoot down from Stockton Street to where I’m at pretty quick, so it was too dangerous get a perfect lineup farther out into California Street with traffic at my back. I know, “And this is the guy who used to climb up Sutro Heights!” Well, at least back then you knew what was behind you. Old St. Mary’s and the Dim Sum Building on the left, and the Sing Fat Building on the right frame the view; the Southern Pacific Building and the Bay Bridge are at the far end of California Street.

  

I took another trip to Fisherman’s Wharf on the last Sunday in 2025 to do some comparison pictures from old photos from the UC Berkeley Library (UC) and San Francisco Digital Library (SF) Archives, and I’m happy to say that it was packed. I enjoyed doing this two posts ago, so I took another picture of the Fisherman’s Wharf portion part of my beat up ‘City In Your Pocket’ San Francisco street map, and I photo painted in blue numbers this time where I took my pictures. (Thumbnail images)

  

#1 Looking east across Fisherman’s Wharf Lagoon in 1938. That tank in the background was filled with gas! Can you imagine how hazardous that would be today? You can see Joe DiMaggio’s Restaurant on the far right in the old picture; That’s where Supreme Crab is now. (UC)

  

#2 Fishermen looking northwest across the Lagoon in 1939: The Fisherman’s Chapel is now where that big building was in the background. (UC)

  

#3 Looking west, also in 1939, toward where Castagnola’s Restaurant is now. (UC)

  

#4 Looking southwest toward Russian Hill in 1965: (SF)

  

#5 Looking southeast in 1939 from the opposite side of the Lagoon as the previous three pictures. Coit Tower is on the left in both photos. (UC)

  

#6 Kids at the northwest corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets in an undated picture from the 1940s, and the same corner last Sunday: (SF)

  

#7 The southeast corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets, where Applebee’s is now, in 1958: I told you it was crowded. (SF)

  

#8 Looking toward Alioto’s Restaurant in 1953: I hate to see Alioto’s fenced and taped off like that. (SF)

  

#9 Jefferson Street in 1934: Everybody was packed into the small corner left open here on this Sunday. (SF)

  

#10 Also, there’s something lacking in today’s ‘View Alcatraz’ sign, as compared to ambiance of the 1957 one. (SF)

  

#11 Pier 43 in 1967 when the sailing ship, the Balclutha, was still berthed there:

The “Wall Street of the West” was what they used to call Montgomery Street, but the COVID Pandemic and the amount of empty office space has, at least temporarily, made that expression a thing of the past. I took a walk along Montgomery Street over the Holidays to take some pictures, and I’m posting them on New Year’s Eve. To quote Abraham Lincoln, (well, he might have liked my blog) “it is altogether fitting and proper” that I post these on this day, because Montgomery street used to be ground zero for New Year’s Eve celebrating in the white collar world of Downtown San Francisco. (Thumbnail images)

  

We’ll start out looking north along Montgomery Street from across Market Street at New Montgomery Street in 1939. The building on the far left has been demolished and the building behind it has been reduced to two stories. The building behind those two is the Hunter-Dulin Building where it’s generally believed Sam Spade’s office was in the ‘Maltese Falcon’. It was either 10:30 or 11:00 when I took my picture. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Looking north along Montgomery Street across Post Street in 1939. Post Street doesn’t cut across to Market Street here anymore. The building in the background is the Russ Building, the tallest building in San Francisco in 1939. You can see a portion of it in my picture. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Looking back toward Market Street and the Palace Hotel in 1910: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

 

Looking northwest toward Sutter Street at Montgomery in 1939: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

The Wells Fargo Building at Montgomery and Sutter Street in 1973: I don’t think that it’s stretching the point to say that this isn’t a bad comparison. Ta da boom! (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

Looking down Pine Street toward Market Street in 1924: Two of the buildings on the near right and the Matson Shipping and PG&E Buildings on Market Street in the far center are still around. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

Approaching California and looking back toward Market Street in 1939: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Montgomery at California Street, the epicenter, and that’s probably not a good descriptive word to use lightly in San Francisco, of Wall Street of the West in 1953: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

Back down near Market Street for a little New Year’s Eve celebrating in the late 1950s or early 1960s: It was customary up until the 1990s for office workers to throw ticker tape and calendars out of their windows in Downtown San Francisco, and everywhere else, on New Years Eve. (SF Chronicle)

  

Montgomery and Bush Streets in the 1950s: (SF Chronicle)

  

Montgomery at Sacramento Street in 1981: New Year’s Day was cleanup day in Downtown San Francisco, and Happy New Year! (SF Chronicle)