San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now

Joe Tanko, burglar, armed robber, and cop killer, was the most notorious San Francisco bad boy of his day. Caught and sentenced to jail in Los Angeles, he escaped and, stupidly, came back to San Francisco to resume his crime career where every policeman knew him. In a police raid in November, 1926 at upstairs 1378 McAllister, he was shot five times by a police officer he wounded, and died. It was said that the shots were so close to him his clothes caught fire. Over 10,000 citizens lined up to view his body. The next image is the location of the police raid on McAllister.

1378 McAllister after the gunfight, and today.  (Thumbnail image)

Another Hannah Clayborn photo: May 12th 1948 – Gunmen held two families hostage at 100 Rae Street, and demanded that the owner of the house retrieve money and drugs for them while they held the families. When the police arrived, two officers were gunned down, one in front of the squad car shown here, After escaping, all of the criminals were rounded up twelve hours later.  (Thumbnail image)

Preparedness Day Parade, July 22, 1916. During a parade along Market Street to encourage Americans to participate in World War l, a bomb placed in a suitcase at the Southwest corner of Market & Steuart Streets explodes killing ten people in the worst terrorist attack in San Francisco to date. Here, a crowd gathers in confusion after the blast, Some of the victims can be seen covered in sheets at the right near the bottom of the billboards. The crime was never solved. The bomb detonated just beyond the front of the white van at the right in the modern picture.  

Filmmakers love to use San Francisco locations for crime scenes, as well. Here a police officer is run over and killed by a driver in a stolen taxi in front of Pier 41 in ‘The Lineup’ (1958). Pier 41 was demolished in the 1970’s and was where the bottom photo is.  (Thumbnail image)

Joan Crawford and Jack Palance on “The Crookedest Street in the World” Lombard Street in the 1952 thriller ‘Sudden Fear’ Their relationship is complicated, she’s terribly in love with him, and he’s terribly in love with her money and planning to kill her for it. (Thumbnail image)

A police Officer pulls over Nick and Nora Charles, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, on the Bay Bridge in the 1941 movie ‘Shadow of the Thin Man’. He goes easy on them. The Pacific Telephone Building, just above Nick and Nora’s car, and the tallest building south of Market Street when the film was made, can be seen left center in the current picture. (Thumbnail image)

Steve McQueen races down Taylor Street after the bad guys in the black Charger in the famous chase scene from ‘Bullitt’. (Thumbnail image)

A fun technique I enjoy doing is to overlap a film scene with the present location to blend it in with the current image. Here, the police are closing in on Eli Wallach at the Sutro Baths and Cliff House in the 1958 movie ‘The Lineup’. (Thumbnail image)

Anna May Wong, in a chase scene through Chinatown, turns left on Grant from Washington against today’s traffic in the 1949 film ‘Impact’. (Thumbnail image)