San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now

These are updates of early 1980s slide pictures that I took around San Francisco, that I had converted into digital at Digital Revolution on 9^th Street, San Francisco. They weren’t always so easy to do comparisons on, as I couldn’t remember where I took some of the original pictures from. I updated them yesterday on a misty at times Sunday, and I’ll post some more that Digital Revolution converted in a the future, as soon as I enlighten myself on where the locations of my slides were taken. (Thumbnail images)

  

We’ll start out in Chinatown. Obviously, this slide was in Chinatown, but that wasn’t much help because sometimes Chinatown seems bigger to me than Hong Kong, which is true because I’ve never been to Hong Kong. It was at Commercial Street coming into Kearny, about half a block away from Portsmouth Square. I think this one was 1983.

  

I’m not sure why I took this picture of an alley in 1983, except I think I remember liking the view of one of the Bay Bridge towers from the alley. I remembered it was near Levi Plaza when I Google Maps searched for it; it’s in the middle of the Battery, Front, Union, Green Streets block, and named John Maher Street. They’ve spruced up the alley quite a bit, which means it was important to somebody other than me, but the view of the Bay Bridge is gone now.

  

This one made me a little nervous, I was worried that I couldn’t go out on that ledge anymore without falling to my death! Just kidding, I wouldn’t have gone out on the ledge in 1984! This was taken from the fire escape of the O’Farrell-Mason Garage. What I was actually nervous about was that the spot wasn’t there anymore, I haven’t been there in over forty years! Progress has blocked out the view of one of my favorite San Francisco buildings now, the dome shape Humboldt Building.

  

Other than a change in the cars and trees, time hasn’t altered the view down Clay Street from Powell much.

Of course, the first thing you’ll notice in this set, I’m mean after the St. Francis Lutheran Church, is that Napolitana Pizza is now Casa Mexicana Restaurant. This was taken from the 1934 #228 open air Streetcar from Blackpool, England, heading back to the Transbay Terminal at what may have been the first Trolley Festival in San Francisco in 1983. This was at Market and Church Streets. The festival features vintage streetcars running along Market Street. I’ve also included a slide picture of the streetcar I took that day, and Market Street Railway still runs it along Market Street occasionally, but you have to stand in line to ride it.

These are links to old mystery stories set in San Francisco that I’ve covered in the past on my blog with then and now photography. (Only the images from the ‘Rising Tide’ link are thumbnail images) Some of the books are so, so, some of them are good, and one of them is folklore. My dedication is to NancyO, who reviews mystery stories in the portion of her blog, ‘the crime segments’. While the books I’ve reviewed are all set in San Francisco, the stories Nancy covers are of global intrigue; although she did a nice synopsis of Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco based ‘The Dain Curse’ that makes me want to read the book again. Check out her website at,

http://www.crimesegments.com/

  

First is ‘Puzzle for Puppets’, written and set in World War Two, that takes the reader from Union Square, Nob Hill and Chinatown to Fleishhacker Zoo and Civic Center.

https://sfinfilm.com/2018/06/23/puzzle-for-puppets/

  

‘The Sister of Cain’ is another World War Two murder mystery, and one of the best whodunits set in San Francisco.

https://sfinfilm.com/2017/10/04/the-sister-of-cain/

‘Foghorns’ is a historically accurate 1930s mystery with references to actual events that took place from the Embarcadero to the Cliff House.

https://sfinfilm.com/2020/02/01/foghorns/

  

‘Death and Taxes’ written in 1941, involves a hard drinking, womanizing income tax accountant who solves crimes. I match up with him on two out of four; I’ve got the hard drinking and income tax preparing down.

https://sfinfilm.com/2018/01/15/death-and-taxes/

  

‘Dead Center’, set in 1941, is another nifty Mary Collins whodunit that features the Shadows Restaurant on Telegraph Hill and the Forbidden City Nightclub among other locations.

https://sfinfilm.com/2019/11/28/dead-center-for-the-folks-i-met-on-the-filbert-steps-at-the-old-shadows/

  

In ‘Raging Tide’ from 1951, I’ve included passages from the novel and scenes from the film noir movie based on the book.

https://sfinfilm.com/2025/07/16/the-raging-tide-the-novel-and-the-film/

 

In ‘More Mysteries and Histories’ I’ve included brief reviews with pictures of five mystery novels from the 1930s and 1940s set in San Francisco.

https://sfinfilm.com/2019/12/22/more-mysteries-and-histories/

 

Last is ‘Sam Spade’s San Francisco’, featuring the masterpiece, ‘The Maltese Falcon’. This is probably the most popular mystery novel and film set in San Francisco, and it’s by far the most viewed post in my blog.

https://sfinfilm.com/2015/09/25/sam-spades-san-francisco-15/

Naturally, I’m always interested in finding sites, articles, books, etc. with vintage San Francisco pictures. There’s a Facebook page that posts vintage San Francisco photos daily named ‘Historical San Francisco’. Some of their pictures I’ve seen before, but most of the ones they post are new to me. Here’s a few of their recent pictures where I went to the location and updated with a comparison picture; one of them I’m really proud of. (Thumbnail images)

  

A cable car approaches Sutter Street from Powell during the 1950s: The buildings on the right side foreground were demolished for the Marriott Hotel there today. The Sears Food Restaurant on the left has moved one block south, between Sutter and Posts Streets now.

  

A cool picture looking down Jackson Street, between Grant Avenue and Kearny Street in the 1950s: The Great China Theater, now called the Great Star Theater, is still there. The S. J. Distributors parked truck kind of got in the way of my update, but the building behind it doesn’t look as quaint today as it did in the 1950s anyway.

  

The fleet passes along the unfinished Bay Bridge in 1935: I got a pretty good line up with my picture from upper Calhoun Terrace; the vintage picture was probable taken from the lower portion of Calhoun Terrace, and that view is blocked by an apartment building now.

  

Looking up California Street past Chinatown to Nob Hill in the 1970s: The view is from California and Montgomery Streets, the building at the top of Nob hill is the Mark Hopkins Hotel.

  

Tower Records in 1982; the El Dorado for albums in our turntable days: I was excited to try to get an update of this one at twilight, and as close to a line up with the 80s picture as I could get, but I wasn’t sure if it was possible until I went there. The weather last night, Thanksgiving evening, was a perfect match for when the older photo was taken. However, the view from Bay Street was limited, and I couldn’t get a good comparison. I saw steps leading up to the second level of the Travelodge at Bay Street and Columbus Avenue, and hoped I could climb up to it without  bothering anybody. When I got up there and looked back at the view, it was almost perfect! It sounds self-serving, but this will always be one of my favorites.

  

Union Square last Friday, Black Friday minus seven days: It looks like the Twilight Zone; the modern people on the right are all walking into the 1990s.

Well, I was hoping Longfellow would be right and it would be raining yesterday when I went over to SF to update these vintage 1940s rainy day pictures from the SF Digital Library and opensfhistory.org, but it dried up by the time I got there. Well, at least it was cloudy. (Thumbnail images)

  

Noah would have loved this April of 1941 day here at Market and Church Streets.

  

Market Street at Church, looking west in December of 1944: That’s Twin Peaks in the background of both pictures.

  

Stockton Street at Market in December of 1943:

  

The Powell and Market Streets cable car turnaround in March of 1945: It was kind of nice around here yesterday, so, it was probably better that it didn’t rain.

  

Market Street, looking east from Mason in July of 1946; pretty unusual weather for July, even in San Francisco. Those decorations above were for a Shriners Parade. Most of the buildings in the old shot are still around, except for the Esquire Theater, showing ‘The Wife of Monte Cristo’, starring John Loder. My authoritative figure, Leonard Maltin, only gives that one two stars, so I won’t rush out and buy the DVD.

With some of his work featured in my last post, in the summer of 1964 a photographer named Alan Canterbury took a large number of photographs around San Francisco. I found a collection of his pictures on the SF Library Digital Archives. I mentioned previously that I couldn’t find out much about Alan, but I hoped he’s still with us. However, a friend of Alan named Judy told me in a post on the Facebook page ‘Baghdad by the Bay’ that Alan died two years ago. Like my last post, these pictures were also taken in June of 1964. I thought it might be fun to walk in his footsteps for awhile, and update some more of the pictures Alan took over 61 years ago. In addition, it was also kind of sad noting all of the long gone businesses he’s captured in most of his photographs. (Thumbnail images)

  

The old Emporium Department Store on Market Street:

 

The 121 year old Flood Building, Market Street at Powell, when it was the location of the Woolworth’s Department Store:

  

Powell Street at O’Farrell, and the legendary Omar Khayyam’s Restaurant:

 

Maiden Lane:

  

The beloved City of Paris Department Store:

  

Looking toward the Palace Hotel and the extended Lotta’s Fountain: Lotta’s fountain was in a slightly different spot in 1964, so this is as close of a lineup as I can get.

  

Market Street at Stockton:

  

The Pacific Building on the corner of Market Street and 4^th:

  

Sam’s Original Brauhaus on the corner of Mason and Turk Streets: I’ll bet that was a great place to have lunch.

  

Alan Canterbury might not be with us anymore, but the Warfield Theater on Market Street still is. ‘Black Sabbath’ is a 1963 horror trilogy narrated by Boris Karloff. The Crest theater next door was showing Elvis Presley in ‘Kid Galahad’. I don’t know, as much as I like Elvis, I probably would have gone with ‘Black Sabbath’.

Well, Broadway isn’t named as a “Street”, nor is it an Avenue, Boulevard, or Drive; Broadway is just….. Broadway. However, 1964 was definitely a year. On June 18^th of 1964, a fellow named Alan Canterbury walked along Broadway taking pictures of nightclubs the beat crowd, beatniks, if you will, hung out at. Alan may have been one himself. I can’t find out much about him, but he took a lot of pictures around San Francisco in 1964, and I hope he’s still with us. I found these vintage pictures of his on the San Francisco Digital Library Archives site. I don’t know if Alan walked east to west along Broadway on that day, or west to east, but I took west to east when I updated some of his photos, because it was two less hills to climb. (Thumbnail images)

  

I started at Nuestra Sonora De Guadalupe Catholic Church at Broadway and Mason Street because it was downhill all the way from here. That’s a long name to try to remember; I wonder how many people just refer to it as “the church at Broadway and Mason”.

  

Looking back along Broadway from the small, one way portion of it, that runs along the north side of the Broadway Tunnel. This was as close to a match up as I could get.

    

I stopped here for a moment when I remembered that I hadn’t walked into the Broadway Tunnel on foot since a group of friends and I, circa age 21, walked into the tunnel on a long ago New Year’s Eve midnight, toting beer and waving at the passing cars, wishing them a Happy New Year as they honked back.

  

The Copacabana Nightclub at 831 Broadway: This is a difficult spot to get into, in 1964 and today; you can only reach it from the west along a small strip of Broadway that runs next to the south side of the Broadway Tunnel.

  

Grant Avenue, Chinatown, from Broadway: What a difference now! Just kidding, the view’s hardly changed at all. Hmm, the ‘Tingling’, that must have pulled them in!

  

The famous El Cid Nightclub at Broadway and Columbus, with that great mural painted on its east side now.

  

Finocchio’s at 506 Broadway; Famous for female impersonators, this would later be Enrico’s Restaurant.

  

Yes, there’s no doubt it, that was Vanessi’s Restaurant. Not sure when the famous Italian Restaurant on the northeast corner of Broadway and Kearny Street officially closed, but San Francisco should have never let that one get away.

  

The Moulin Rouge Nightclub at 412 Broadway, next to the Casa Madrid; like France is next to Spain. The Moulin Rouge building is the only one in this post gone now.

  

Washington Irving School, now the John Yehall Chin Elementary School, at 350 Broadway: This seems like a more appropriate name for a school in San Francisco,  as I don’t know if Washington Irving ever visited here. Of course, neither did George Washington. That reminds me; just last Friday on Halloween, I read a terrifically atmospheric ghost story by Washington Irving called ‘The Adventure of the German Student’. Perfect for October 31^st.

  

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, I ended here at the old United Seed Company Building at 60 Broadway. The building is still there behind the trees, but you’ll never see the Embarcadero Freeway behind it anymore.

Well, it is All Saints Day. Just about every famous person who has visited San Francisco has stayed there; actor John Barrymore was there in 1906 when the ‘06 Earthquake hit, “Fatty” Arbuckles’s career was ruined there, a crackpot tried to kill President Ford there, the list is a long one. (Thumbnail images)

  

I couldn’t get a good line up with this 1915 postcard, but it works. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Al Jolson in front of the St. Francis in 1927: He actually died in the hotel from a heart attack in 1950.

  

Some kids from Siskiyou County, Northern California visiting San Francisco in June of 1957: The St. Francis is on the right behind the cable cars. (SF Digital Library)

  

Groucho Marx with a couple of twins from Washington High School in 1940, from a SF Chronicle picture: Come on, Groucho!

  

Abbott and Costello in front of the St. Francis:
“Hey, Costello, let’s check into the St. Francis. Who’s the Manager?”
“I don’t know.”
“No, he’s on third base.”
“Oh, don’t start that again!”

  

The old clock, where people would often meet, in a 1960 picture from SF Digital Library:

  

Not sure what this protest in front of the St Francis in 1964 was all about, but the signs are sure contemporary! The Mr Bridges on one sign would be Harry Bridges, so this must have had something to do with a Longshormen’s issue. (SF Digital Library)

  

President Gerald Ford leaving the Post Street entrance to the St. Francis in September of 1975, just one second before Sara Jane Moore fired two shots at him. She just died this September.

They used to let you ride up the Westin St. Francis Tower elevators, but they’re only for guests now. These two updates of pictures from the SF Digital Library that were taken in 1972.

On August 7^th 2010, the Transbay Terminal that opened in January of 1939 closed forever. It was completely demolished by September of 2011, and was replaced by the Salesforce Transit Center. From this bus, and one time train, terminal, my friends and I would discover San Francisco, starting at age 14 in high school. We would take the long bus ride from Castro Valley, and from here we discovered Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf, Playland-at-the-Beach, the Cliff House, Golden Gate Park, Telegraph, Russian, and Nob Hills, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Embarcadero, and all of the rest of the wonderland of San Francisco. Because it was a special place to me, I brought my digital camera over on the last day of the operating terminal, and took as many pictures of the outdated Transbay Terminal as I could get. Yesterday, I looked through the San Francisco Library Digital Archives and the UC Berkeley Library Archives to find pictures that matched as close as possible to the pictures I took fifteen years ago. After the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, extensive retrofitting was done to the Transbay Terminal, so you’ll see a lot of columns in my pictures that weren’t in the vintage photos. (Thumbnail images)

  

The intersection of Mission and Fremont Street, looking toward the terminal in the 1950s and August 7^th, 2010: (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

Looking east from 1^st Street in August of 1953: (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

Looking toward intersection of Mission and 1^st Streets in June of 1958: (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

Finishing up work inside the Transbay Terminal in October of 1938: : (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

January 14, 1939, the first trains arriving at the Transbay Terminal: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Not the same stairs, but possibly the same level these two socialites from Berkeley are descending to in 1939. (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

I don’t remember the downstairs bench area for passengers waiting for a bus or train being that claustrophobic. The vintage pictures was in June of 1939. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

A Key System train in 1939,. and a bus in 2010: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

A long line to board a Key System train in June of 1948: (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

Passengers in July of 1953 board the Zephyr Train from the Key System Train Service that ran back and forth to and from the East Bay along the Bay Bridge. (SF Library Digital Archives)

  

The approach into the terminal by both train and bus came through this portion of the building. I don’t know what the bus back up in the undated vintage photo from the SF Library Digital Archives was all about.

  

Crowds lining up to board modern and outdated buses in 1973, and a lone figure boards a near empty bus on August 7^th 2010: (SF Library Digital Archives)

 

One for the road; June 15^th 1939, August 7^th 2010: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

This post is about construction work in progress around Market Street in the past. Hold on….. I’m working on getting the job done, but the post is under construction, and it might not turn out to be all that it was built up to be. Groan! Actually, the post might not be too thrilling to some of my readers, (“Construction work!”) but to me, it was a challenge. This was one of the most difficult posts I’ve ever worked on! Lining these pictures up was a problem for various reasons; the same spots for some were difficult to pin down, a number of them were shot from out in the street, which can be dangerous to try to duplicate, the lighting wasn’t always good, and one of them I had to go back and redo because I was in the wrong spot. I’ll post them in the order I took them, from Spear Street to Van Ness Avenue. (Thumbnail images)

  

The Hyatt Regency on Market and Drumm Streets, going up in the early 1970s: (San Francisco Digital Library)

  

This was the one I had to redo. It’s on Market Street, east of 2^nd Street in 1968. My first take was west of 2^nd. Like many of the vintage pictures in this set, it was taken during the construction of BART. The Ferry Building, Southern Pacific Building and what you can see of the PG&E Building in the far right background line up pretty good. You can make out part of the blue-green curtained Crown Zellerbach Building in the center. Most of the buildings on the left are still there, but can’t be seen behind the trees in my photo. The vintage picture is from the San Francisco Digital Library collection of James A. Martin photos from his great sfmemory.org site.

  

Looking toward Market Street and the Hobart Building from 2^nd Street in 1970: (San Francisco Digital Library)

    

Looking south down 2^nd Street from Market Street in 1970: One block down, you can see several of the buildings on the corner of Mission Street and 2^nd that are still there. The Clock Tower Building at Bryant and 2^nd Streets is in the far background of both photos. (San Francisco Digital Library)

  

Looking east from New Montgomery in March of 1970. The Hobart Building across Market Street is on the left. (San Francisco Digital Library, James A Martin)

  

Looking across Market Street toward the Palace Hotel in 1913: I don’t know what was going on then, but it wasn’t BART construction. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Looking west along Market Street near Grant Avenue in 1973: (San Francisco Digital Library)

  

Looking north along Powell Street from Market Street in March of 1968: The Flood Building is on the right, across from Number 1 Powell Street, and the Sir Francis Drake (Beacon Grand) Hotel is in the far background of both pictures. (San Francisco Digital Library, James A Martin)

  

Market Street at 8^th Street in October of 1967: (San Francisco Digital Library, James A Martin)

  

Market Street at Van Ness Avenue in May of 1971: I wish I would have gotten better lighting for this one. From 1968 until 1961 the Carousel Ballroom was named Fillmore West, with some great rock and roll venues from concert promoter, Bill Graham. You can see Twin Peaks in the far right background of both photos. (opensfhistory.org)

 

Some I won’t, and some I can’t. (Thumbnail images)

  

I took this picture in December of 2015 of Market Street at Drumm. The older picture is from a now defunct Facebook page called Vintage Facebook. I got just about every mode of transportation traveling on Market Street in my photo; Waymo wasn’t available yet. The 50 on the Ferry Building was celebrating the upcoming Super Bowl in February of 2016 at Levi’s Stadium. The 60^th Super Bowl will be back at Levi’s Stadium in February of 2026.

  

I knew that I couldn’t safely get a good line up picture of Dustin Hoffman diving across the Bay Bridge in the ‘Graduate’ if I was driving, so I asked my kid to ride along and take the shot when I said “Now”. I got into the same lane as in the movie, and at the right spot when I called it, he got it perfectly.

  

I got about as good of a comparison of this 1960s picture of California Street climbing Nob Hill where “little cable cars climb halfway to the stars” as I’m ever going to get.

  

This tinted 1851 daguerreotype was taken toward the Bay from where the Hills Brothers Coffee Building is now. I wondered whose silhouette is in the old picture; something I will never know. Nor will ever be known whose silhouette is in my photo. I didn’t set that up; she just walked by in the shadows when I snapped my picture. I enjoy little breaks like that.

   

I can still dodge traffic and run across the Great Highway at Point Lobos Avenue to get another update here, but it won’t read ‘Cliff House’ anymore.

(Addendum, 11/12/2025: The owners of the copyright to the Cliff House name, Mr. and Mrs. Hountalas, have donated the Cliff House name to the Western Neighborhoods Project, and the name will be restored to the building. I may do an update of this one after all.)

  

I had to climb down a gully at Dolores Park to get this update, and also, had to be very careful and alert so that I didn’t become a MUNI J Line streetcar casualty.

  

The spot in the end zone where Dwight Clark made “The Catch” thrown by Joe Montana on January 10, 1982 at Candlestick Park. The play put the 49ers in the Super Bowl and started a football dynasty. My picture was during a tour in 2014 of the stadium shortly before they demolished it. Both Dwight and Candlestick Park are gone now.

  

Since I took this update in 2018 of the old Hap Jones Motorcycle Shop on Valencia Street in 2018, they’ve demolished the structure and put up another very boring looking building.

  

I’ve never been able to get a good line up with vintage pictures of the northwest view from the Top of the Mark at “Weeper’s corner”. Recently, I found a picture in my computer that I took of some friends up there in 2015. I compared it up with some of the vintage pictures I had of the view, and it matches up about as good as I’m ever going to get.

   

A few years back, a friend of mine named Nora asked me if I could help locate where this picture of her mom and dad in San Francisco in the 1940s had been taken. She remembered her mother telling her the photo was taken in San Francisco, but not where. Nora sent me the picture and we were able to identify where they were walking. Based on the Union Furniture Building and Weinstein’s Department Store across Market Street, and the shape movie theater marquee behind them, they were walking past the Warfield Movie Theater at 982 Market Street. Nora and I did some more detective work recently, and the movie showing at the Warfield was ‘The Kid From Brooklyn’, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo, which premiered at the theater on July 24^th 1946, dating the year of Nora’s picture for us. No need to do this one again.

  

I would probably redo this photo of my 17 year old mom, on the left, with her cousin, Frances, sitting on the old Sloat Blvd entrance to Fleishhacker Zoo, every time I have visiting relatives. However, they closed and fenced off that old entrance in 2012.

Me and ‘Danny’ out at Ocean Beach near the end of his run. I’d redo this one tomorrow, if I could.