Author: SF Film Locations

Hello friends! My name is Tim Welsh. I’m the owner and operator of Welsh Income Tax Service in Hayward, California. When I was fifteen, I fell in love with San Francisco. It wasn’t a first in the family; my mother at seventeen had traveled by train from North Dakota, where I was later born, to see the Treasure Island World’s Fair, and fell in love with “The City” long before I did. You can see pictures from her trip in the November 19th, 2014 ‘Summer of 1939’ postings. It’s been a love affair that’s never broken my heart. Here, with pictures from books, movies, the internet, and personal collections, I’ve had a chance to share my affection for San Francisco with comparison and location pictures that I’ve taken. I’ve had help from family and friends, and even my dog ‘Danny’ who sniffed out the trail of Buffalo Bill at Ocean Beach on a November 15, 2014 post. My blog is for non commercial and non profit purposes only, and it’s always a lot of fun to work on. Many of the pictures from November, 2014 to November 2015 are thumbnail images. Pictures from posts after that can be enlarged by viewing the image. I hope you enjoy the posts, and please feel free to follow my blog, or make suggestions, comments or corrections if you like.

STARS IN MOTION (Thumbnail image)

SF Film Locations

motionuse

Stars in Motion: At the left, Orson Welles escapes from the old Hall of Justice Building and bolts across Kearny Street to Portsmouth Square and the never changing Chinatown in the 1948 film, ‘The Lady From Shanghai’. Second from the left, Woody Allen running across upper Kearny in North Beach in the 1972 movie ‘Play It Again, Sam’. Woody plays a slimy fellow who betrays a friend because of his amorous adventures. Boy, how out of character is that! Second from the right, Barbara Lawrence in the center heading down the stairs at the Ferry Building in the 1949 film ‘Thieves Highway’. There’s a bit of history in this scene. The old ferry boats had two levels, and passengers on the top level off boarded into the second story of the Ferry Building, traveled down a corridor, and exited to the Embarcadero down these stairs! Wow, have they seen some traffic! At the right is the plaza beneath the Bank of America tower in the 1974 blockbuster, ‘The Towering Inferno’. That’s Fred Astaire dancing up the steps on the right, and “that’s entertainment!”

STUDS (Thumbnail image)

SF Film Locations

studsuse

San Francisco Studs. Well, it is the “Year of the Horse”. Top row, left to right, Jimmy Stewart stalking Kim Novak, (Well, that’s what he was doing, but it was nice guy stalking) to Fort Point in the 1958 film ‘Vertigo’ When she jumps into the water in an attempt to kill herself, Jimmy leaps into the choppy water, and rescues her. What a stud! Second from top, Clint Eastwood, “Dirty Harry” dispatches three hold up men in an extremely violent, but very satisfying scene, (If you like seeing a bad guy getting emasculated by a Magnum ’44) from the 1976 film ‘The Enforcer’ at 2nd and Minna Streets. What a stud! Yes, a violent stud, but nevertheless…… Incidentally, Buster Keaton used this off beat location for the start of the chase scene in his 1922 movie ‘Daydreams’. Second row from the bottom, Lee Marvin, who has been double crossed, shot and left in an empty cell on Alcatraz, swims back to San Francisco to seek revenge in the 1967 film ‘Point Blank’. What a stud! I mean, I can’t swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco with three bullet holes in me! Bottom row, Crème de la Stud, Clark Gable, watches Downtown San Francisco burn to the ground in the 1936 film ‘San Francisco’. Tough guy, “Blackie” Norton, humbled by Mother Nature; he knows when he’s met his match. What a stud!

‘Dark Passage’ Film Clip Link

SF Film Locations

'Dark Passage'

Bogie’s lightening escape on a rocketing cable car, they average about eight miles an hour, after accidentally killing Agnes Moorehead in ‘Dark Passage:You can still see the holes where the ladder was attached today at the location of the fire escape scene. The link here shows this scene and it’s 1947 images of Russian Hill, Union Square, and the Powell and Market St. cable car turntable.

‘Experiment in Terror’ Film Clip Link

SF Film Locations

'Experiment in Terror'

Pretty Lee Remick parks at Fisherman’s Wharf to await instructions on where to deliver ransom money to free her kidnapped sister, Stephanie Powers in ‘Experiment in Terror’.. She’s told by kidnapper Ross Martin to attend a Giants – Dodgers baseball game at Candlestick Park. where the film ends in a climactic shootout with Martin being shot dead on the pitcher’s mound. Candlestick closes at the end of the 49ers football season this year, and like Lee Remick, will also be just a pretty memory to me now.

‘After the Thin Man’

SF Film Locations

'After the Thin Man'

Nick and Nora Charles driving to the front of their hilltop home, (which was never shown because it’s Coit Tower) in ‘After the Thin Man’ (1936). This is the parking lot of the tower, and a statue of Columbus now occupies the turnaround in the middle. The urn balustrade from the film shot was considered unsightly, and was eventually removed.

thinmanparking After circling the parking lot, Nick and Nora’s chauffeured car stops at, presumably, the front of their home. The bottom of the staircase that leads to Coit Tower is on the left in both pictures.

 

‘Mr Wong in Chinatown’

SF Film Locations

'Mr Wong in Chinatown'

Lotta’s erection! Built in 1875, an extension had been added to the famous Lotta’s Fountain at Kearny and Market by the time of this scene from ‘Mr Wong in Chinatown’ (1939). Boris Karloff playing the Chinese detective was about as convincing as Jackie Chan playing Sherlock Holmes, and the series did poorly. The fountain was restored to it’s initial height, and moved back to it’s original location in 1999.