Then … Herbert is desperate with nowhere to go. He drags his way up one of the city’s steepest streets.
… and Now, we are in Nob Hill looking south down Taylor street from California towards Pine. At far left with a temporary ramp is the Huntington Hotel; it was closed for extensive interior upgrades when CitySleuth took this photo.
Then … Exhausted, he sees a large church across California Street.
… and Now, this is Grace Cathedral on the northwest corner of California and Taylor (map). The sidewalk utility box is now twice as wide as it was then.
Then … A shot looking down from the Huntington Hotel reveals a little more. On the right in front of the cathedral there’s a brick building, Cathedral House, built as the George William Gibbs Memorial Hall in 1911 for the Church Divinity School.
… and Now, that building was demolished in 1993, enabling a grand staircase to the main entrance; the cathedral now stands resplendently unobscured as a result.
Then … Seeking solace he enters, standing reverentially next to a marble baptismal font.
… and Now, CitySleuth’s matching photo includes Beniamino Bufano’s statue of St. Francis on the left.
Then … Perhaps a silent prayer will help ease his plight.
… and Now, the pews have aged well. There are older murals along the walls but those visible here were painted after the movie was filmed.
Then … He gets a gentle reminder that the church is about to close.
… and Now, this fine view towards the apse and the main altar captures just part of the cathedral’s splendour. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon during the consecration of the cathedral in March, 1964 from the pulpit right of center.
Then … With nowhere else to go he spends the night on a bench next to a children’s playground in Huntington Park across Taylor Street from the cathedral. Cathedral House behind him is partially visible across Taylor.
… and Now, the playground has been moved to another part of the park and a parking garage has replaced Cathedral House.
Then … A birds-eye view of the cathedral from a high-rise apartment building on Sacramento Street clearly shows Cathedral House. Across California on the corner of Taylor is the Masonic Auditorium and Memorial Temple.
… and Now, Cathedral House is gone but the Masonic Auditorium is still there; this view also shows the Huntington Hotel across Taylor at far left.
Then … A misty early morning shot from the Huntington Hotel captures the park as Herbert awakens. But note the production goof here: the bench where he slept next to the children’s playground (check it out two Then images above) is missing. The arrow shows where it should have been.
… and Now, because the Huntington Hotel was closed when CitySleuth stopped by he had to resort to a Google satellite image to show us the park today.
Then … Teddy, conspicuously inconspicuous, heads to Guiglio’s for his dinner with Charlotte.
… and Now, supposedly in North Beach, this was actually filmed in the courtyard of the flamboyantly famous (some would say infamous) lawyer Melvin Belli’s offices at 722 Montgomery Street in San Francisco’s Jackson Square district (thanks to ReelSF reader Notcom for the I.D).
… A vintage photo … this contemporaneous photo shows the same awning as that seen in the Then image above. That’s the Transamerica pyramid soaring in the background (photo - Examiner/Bob McLeod).
… and Now, here’s 722 Montgomery today. The historic building, built in 1849, was bought by Belli in 1959; it functioned as his law offices for the next 30 years. The old brick structure was rendered uninhabitable by the 1989 earthquake and stood empty for 25 years before being strengthened and retrofitted into residential apartments and a retail store.
The vintage photo on the left below shows Gene Wilder’s view of the courtyard when he walked in (photo - Examiner/Bob McLeod). Note the telephone box, a stunt prop installed by Belli. It was a British K6 telephone box, like the one on the right photographed in London (compare it with the Then image above). But there never was a restaurant in the courtyard.
Then … Inside Giuglio’s he arrives just in time to take a call from Charlotte - the paneled door, the mural on the wall with the colorful backlit circle above it and the mirrored wall opposite the bar offer clues to its identity.
… Oh, no, she can’t make it! Her work has taken her to Los Angeles, but she invites him to fly down and join her overnight, an offer he can’t refuse. Another location clue - there’s a colonade of arches atop short marbled columns behind the bar
… and Now, there wasn’t a Giuglio’s restaurant anywhere in North Beach - so where was this filmed? Citysleuth has yet to find the location: it could have been in San Francisco or Los Angeles. Any blog reader who recognizes it from the two images above is encouraged to leave a comment or notify citysleuth@reelsf.com.
Then … He rushes to a Western Union Telegraph office to send a telegram to himself supposedly from his office saying he has to attend a meeting in L.A. right away.
… and Now, he was in the Jackson Square district running east across Columbus towards a Western Union office at 560 Jackson Street, but the sign was a movie prop - the actual tenant at this address back then was the Robert Domergue Antiques Gallery. Note the unchanged doorknob, locks, doorbell and overhead light on the 560 Jackson door. Oh, and the matching lamppost.
Then … He must feel guilty because he decides to take home an impromptu meal for Didi before the telegram arrives. There’s a great view behind him as he drives to a store.
… and Now, it’s the view from the top of Telegraph Hill looking down then up Union Street towards the Russian Hill skyline. This part of town has looked just the same for many decades.
Barbara Bel Geddes’ character Midge in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic Vertigo lived in a Telegraph Hill apartment with a sweeping vista that included that view, left of center.
Then … his destination is Speedy’s at 301 Union on the corner of Montgomery.
… and Now, this beloved neighborhood store served the top-of-the-hill residents for 93 years before closing down in 2008 since which time it has seen a succession of short-lived tenants. Note the same yellow and black tiles both Then and Now.
Speedy’s has appeared in several movies over the decades including in the 1951 noir House On Telegraph Hill, below. Its official name was also New Union Grocery back then, but the locals still called it Speedy’s (easier to say than Spediacci’s, the name of the family who owned it).
Then … Teddy drives home, here crossing Montgomery Street heading east on Union. But locals viewing this will have a good laugh …
… and Now, because they know in the real world he’s heading into a cul-de-sac! In the distance the Bay Bridge crosses to Yerba Buena Island on its way to Oakland.
That cul-de-sac continuity goof also happened in Vertigo when Jimmy Stewart’s character Scottie Ferguson drove from town to Midge’s apartment, seen here driving up the same block out of Calhoun Terrace, a two-level cul-de-sac.
Then … Herbert needs cash. Fortunately he had brought his landlady’s jewelry with him for this very purpose. He first goes to Blackwell Antiques at 563 Sutter Street near Union Square - they deal in estate jewelry, it’s as good a place as any to try to sell it.
… and Now, Blackwell Antiques closed down years ago; the writing on the window tells us all we need to know about 563 Sutter today.
Then … They agree on a value but the shop owner won’t buy it without first seeing an I.D. which of course Herbert doesn’t have. He gathers up the jewelry and leaves.
… and Now, the buildings seen above across the street have different tenants but otherwise they look the same. The blue sign over the doorway left of center, above, read 560 Sutter; the number is still there but is now in fanciful art nouveau style. The arched entrance next to it has lost its awning but looks better for it.
Later he tries elsewhere … as he approaches a pawnbroker (at far right) a sign next door conveniently displays the address of a business there - 2447 Mission Street. CitySleuth should always be so lucky.
Then … We see more of the storefront as he walks up; the 1978 city directory listed it as the Argonaut Jewelry and Loan Pawnbrokers at 2449 Mission between 20th and 21st in the heart of the Mission District.
… and Now, it has a different owner but it’s still a pawnshop decades later. The storefront tiles are now painted and muraled over.
Then … We see a wider view of the same store when he returns to it later on. Note the movie theater next to it.
… a vintage photo… this 1975 photo captured the Argonaut exactly as it appeared in the movie a few years later. The theater next to it was the Tower Theater at 2465 Mission.
… and Now, the theater opened in 1912 as the Majestic Theatre. It closed in 1996 and remains closed today but recent renovation activity holds promise for a new life for the currently blighted, graffitied site.
This time, no questions asked, a deal is struck, but not before Herbert is surprised to see guns on sale there. Unheard of in England, by Jove!
Then … Teddy hears a car honking outside his office window. He looks down and sees the mystery woman proudly beckoning to her image (most likely added post-production) advertising the re-opening of the cable car system.
… and Now, filmed in Los Angeles, she was parked on 5th Street near Grand Avenue alongside the east lawn of the Los Angeles Central Library. In this matching image we see that the dual-upright electrolier street light has survived but the expansive lawn has not; a new library wing was built on it in 1993. Nobody can deny it looked better before.
… a vintage photo … This photo shows the lawn and library in 1949; compared to the Then image above it had changed very little when the movie was filmed 35 years later. ‘X’ marks the spot where The Woman In Red would park next to the electrolier street light.
… a vintage photo … here’s a 1933 photo looking north across the lawn and across 5th Street towards the CalEdison Building (the setting for Teddy’s office). It was from one of its windows that the Then image above was filmed. Note the massive retaining wall supporting the sloping roadway in front of the CalEdison Building and the adjoining Engstrum Hotel Apartments …
Teddy has no time to grab an umbrella as he rushes out into the rain. This is the entrance of the CalEdison Building at 5th and Grand, seen earlier in the movie.
Then … As he swaggers up to her car the view looks west along 5th Street towards the 110 freeway . The Central Library is on the left and the aforementioned retaining wall is on the right.
… and Now, in today’s view the retaining wall is gone (removed in the late 1980s) and the 73-story U.S. Bank Tower, aka the Library Tower, has replaced the Engstrum Hotel Apartments (compare it with the 1933 image above).
Teddy tries to persuade her to go to dinner or lunch but she demurs and tries to drive off. He splays himself on the hood; his desperate rain-soaked expression softens her heart and she suggests they meet that evening at Giuglio’s in North Beach. For the first time he finds out her name - Charlotte.
