San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now

Putting on the feedbag with a few horse traders at the Stock Exchange Building at Sansome and Pine Streets:  “Now, stay there, Fifi!”
As if “Fifi” wasn’t bad enough, it’s a boy! The now closed Xanadu Gallery in Maiden Lane is the only building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in San Francisco.  “Nice looking dog, lady! Let me guess, its name is ‘Spot’, right?”
“No, “Chex”. Did I make a mistake?”
I love this picture; a couple of bobby sox artists near the statue of Sun Yat-sen in St. Mary’s Square.  The following were some of San Francisco’s prominent 1949 visitors.
Bing: I don’t think anybody ever gave San Francisco a nicer comment!  Bob: The same in real life as he was in his movies!  Class is where you find it.  Old Banjo-Eyes was a little weird!  He was a great architect, but he sure wasn’t very imaginative when it came to verbal praise!

“Look, it’s a UFO!”
“No honey, that’s a helicopter.”
Ocean Beach in 1949: The Playland Roller-Coaster was where the condos are behind the yellow pedestrian crossing sign.  A 1949 color (sort of) photo of the Cliff House. It’s more popular now than ever, and the food is good, but, to me, there’s something missing since the remodeling of 2002. The consensus is that it’s for the best, but when the sun rises on one side of the world, it sets on the other. Hmmm, I’m getting a little too profound here!  This discarded 1949 San Francisco News edition at Sutro Heights reads, “IT’S 92! HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR.  A Columbusless Coit Tower: There’s that helicopter again. Hey, don’t follow me, I’m not Sean Penn! “Hey Mister, wash your car?”

Boy, the waves were crashing on Seal Rocks today! I was lip guitaring the surf rock song ‘Pipeline’ when I snapped this.  This old 1949 cartoon map of San Francisco is fun to look at. I like the Coit Tower and Mount Davidson Cross being dragged into place. From day one until I lost him, Danny loved chewing on my books and magazines, anything paper. It looks like he got to this one too. I hope I didn’t bawl him out too much!  Speaking of Danny, days like this on Ocean Beach make me miss my little man so much! (Vintage photo, Robert L. Fraser)

A couple of years ago, I stopped into the Wells Fargo History Room on Montgomery. They have an authentic stagecoach from the old West on display there. It, probably, was never robbed by Black Bart nor had John Wayne riding shotgun, but it’s neat to see.  They also used to have a contraption there where you could have your picture put on phony money images. This is what they gave me when I asked the government for bail out money a few years ago! Speaking of money, This is where some of the hard earned tax dollars that you give back to the government used to come from; the old San Francisco Mint at 5th and Mission Streets, seen here after the 1906 Earthquake. This building has caused some controversy because there are swastikas at the base of the old lamp posts in front of it, placed there before the swastika was notorious. Of course, I don’t mean to be insensitive or offensive to people bothered by this symbol, but it is a, relatively, unknown San Francisco fact, so I’ve posted a picture of one of them. At the far right in the modern picture of the Mint is the corner of the old Pickwick Hotel, where Sam Spade stashed the stolen bird statue when it came in to his possession in the Maltese Falcon.  

Sometimes, these things are nothing but fun! Here’s the set up; 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 and the chase is on. Follow me now as we trail these dames through Chinatown.

It starts at Kearny and Washington as Anna jumps into a cab, and turns to head up Washington Street.

Ella grabs a cab and follows her.

They race up Washington past Portsmouth Square to Grant.

Turning left on Grant, they drive south toward Clay Street.

 Anna May looks back to see if she’s still being followed.
“Yeah, I’m still on your ass, sweetheart!”

There’s an old axiom that I just made up that says that you can’t have a movie chase scene without breaking up the continuity. In the next scene they’re back to a point in the chase that they were beyond in the previous scene. Now they’re back at Grant crossing Washington!

Now the chase turns into Ross Alley from Washington, another impossibility considering the way they were going, but I’m not complaining, I’m just enjoying the ride.

They stop part way down the alley where an old passageway leads to Old Chinatown Alley.
“Darn, I hope I don’t lose my hat!”
“Excuse me lady, are either of you two going to pay?”

Stretching her dress to the limit, (I held my breath at this point, but it didn’t rip) Ella chases Anna May down the passageway.  The passage is closed now.

They enter into Old Chinatown Alley, and Anna May runs into the house of her father to hide, behind where the pallet jack and the boxes are today.

When confronted in the house, Anna May explains that she was only afraid that her testimony would have hurt Donlevy who she cares a great deal about, and agrees to testify. Everybody lives happily ever after except Donlevy’s wife who goes to jail.

Union Square after the 1906 Earthquake: This link here is to SFGATE’s story today about the last earthquake survivor. There’s also a neat slide show of old earthquake photos.

http://m.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Last-known-survivor-of-1906-S-F-earthquake-dies-6751833.php

Yeah, they still have a lot of street preachers holding Bibles here and telling people that they’re going to go to Hell, but they’ve, pretty much, given up on me!

The old Alexandria Theater at Geary and 19th in 1943: The ‘Government Girl’, I saw that just recently on Turner Classic Movies! It was terrible! (Actually, I liked it.)

My doctor, the eminent Dr. Donald Knotts, tells me he was among the students walking along the street at George Washington High School when this scene where Lee Remick drops her sister Stefanie Powers off in the 1962 film ‘Experiment in Terror’ (One of my favorite SF movies) was shot. Maybe he knew the girls standing by the car. I’ll have to ask him. Other prominent people who went to this high school, include Johnny Mathis and Danny Glover. The link below that I posted several years ago shows a brief synopsis of the movie along with the soundtrack from the opening credits.

In April of 1974, the Symbionese Army, who two months earlier had kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, robbed the Hibernia Bank at 22nd and Noriega in San Francisco. Bank surveillance film showed Hearst participating in the robbery. All of the Symbionese Liberation Army members involved in the robbery died the following month in a fiery police shootout in Los Angeles except Patty Hearst who was captured in September of 1975. The producers of the 1988 film ‘Patty Hearst’ used the corner of 38th and Balboa in the Richmond District to reenact the incident. The Hibernia Bank, named Hibernia Savings in the movie is the Bank of America branch at this corner. The bank robbers pull up to the location in a station wagon and enter the bank from Balboa Street.

  The Balboa Theater, in business since February of 1926, can be seen as the gang enters the bank. A view from the opposite angle shows them making their getaway.

The actual bank robbed by Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army is at this location in the Sunset District. Here’s the surveillance video from the famous robbery.

Speaking of the Sunset District, here’s a vintage San Francisco Archives picture from Bill Yenne’s terrific collection of San Francisco then & now pictures looking down Quintara Street at 15th Ave. from the Sunset Heights steps in 1940. They still had room to develop! That’s Lincoln High School being constructed in the background and today.  Right around the corner from the Sunset Heights steps, the psycho Scorpio ran up these steps near Noriega and 14th Ave. at Grand View Park to kidnap a school bus full of children in the 1971 film ‘Dirty Harry’.  The frightened lady driver of the bus he hijacks was named Marcella Platt in the movie. If all lady school bus drivers were named Marcella Platt, this would be a better world! A speeding ticket on 19th Avenue in 1926:
“This ticket’s going to cost you 50 cents, Mister!”
“Can I work it off, Officer?”
That’s the original Shriner’s Hospital Building in the background.

The Ferry Building clock in the 1930’s, (I hope that wasn’t the Three Stooges up there!) and the clock with an orange Ferry Building in October of 2014 during another Giants Championship run.  The Sky Room in the old Empire Hotel near the Civic Center rivaled The Top of the Mark for rooftop lounging in the 1940’s. Another Cushman Collection gem, Market, 3rd, and Kearny in 1952:  It’s interesting that Charles Cushman would take a color picture of this unimposing building on the corner of Green and Sansome Streets at the bottom of Telegraph Hill in 1952, when its significance was not generally recognized yet. You’ll notice the Historical Marker in front of the building that was not there in 1952. An event occurred here on September 7, 1927 that had an impact on everybody in the world from Lucille Ball to me, who spends most of my spare time reaping the benefits of what happened here. This is where the first television set was invented.   Fisherman’s Wharf Lagoon, 1950: Darn, I forgot which one was the San Francisco Archives picture, and which one was the one I took!

  “Goldie Hawn, Edward Albert, you guys are passing by my favorite watering hole in the City, Vesuvio’s. Are you going in?”
“You bet your sweet bippy!”
“Oh, Goldie, you stopped saying that when Laugh-In went off the air!” (Butterflies Are Free – 1972)

“Tyne Daly, Clint Eastwood! What are you guys doing up on Telegraph Hill?”
“Tyne was telling me that Coit Tower has always seemed phallic to her!”
“Well, size doesn’t matter.” (The Enforcer – 1976)

“Bogart! Hello again. Where are you going in the jalopy?”
“I’m looking for a place to go to the bathroom!”
“Okay. Well, come back in about seventy years.” (Dark Passage – 1947)

“Charlie Chaplin! Have a nice trip! See you next fall. Don’t get mad, I probably learned that one from you!” (A Night Out – 1915)

“Bogie, here you are riding here on a cable car past Union Square! Where are you off to now?”
“I’m hiding from the cops, and I’m not going to let them catch me. I’ll go down shooting if they spot me”
“Oh! Well, I’ll just get off right here, okay?” (Dark Passage)

“Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak! Where are you two going?”
“That’s it! It’s all over! There’s nothing left for us!”
“The Golden Gate Bridge!!! You’re not thinking of….. You’re not going to…..”
“No! The movie’s over. Go home, kid!” (Pal Joey – 1957)