Then …. Teddy has just discovered that Didi had a handgun stashed away in their home. He decides to dispose of it and knows the perfect place. The Hills Brothers Coffee building at far left tells us where this is - he’s at the end of Pier 26 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero. This view looks beneath the span of the Bay Bridge (out of the frame, passing overhead) and over Pier 24 towards the Financial District high-rises.
… and Now, Pier 26 is in bad shape now and the narrow exterior wharf around its perimeter (where Teddy was, above), is off-limits for safety reasons. But CitySleuth was able to walk inside the pier shed to the back corner and take this matching photo through a two inch gap at floor level beneath a huge closed metal shutter door near the end of the pier. The Hills Brothers Coffee building is still there at far left, but Pier 24 is gone; after suffering a major fire in 1997 it was demolished by 2004 leaving only its annex standing (at far lower left in both images). There are many newer buildings in this view now due to the Financial District’s expansion South of Market.
… and Now, in this aerial the ‘X’ marks where Teddy was in the Then image above and the large arrow indicates the camera’s view beyond him.
… 1970s … and here’s a 1970s aerial that shows the piers as they were when the movie was filmed, including Pier 24, again with an X where Teddy was filmed. Note the iconic Hills Bros Coffee logo sign at far right which is also clearly seen (the red one) in the first Then image at the top of this post.
On the left below is a 1955 photograph of the sign prominently displayed on the factory roof. The image, featuring an Ethiopian coffee taster, a nod to the source of the coffee beans, was designed in 1900 and appeared on all of the company’s products for the next 90 years. The sign is now gone but the taster is on display in the current building’s plaza in the form of a nine feet tall bronze statue by sculptor Spero Anargyros.
Digressing for a moment, Hills Brothers Coffee had its humble beginnings in San Francisco in 1878. It moved several times before building and occupying their final home, a roasting and packing plant at 2 Harrison Street in 1926. Production wound down in the 1980s until the brand name, still extant, was bought by Nestlé in 1985. Today the plant has been renovated into mixed-use condominiums and offices. The fine image below, bathed in the early morning sunlight, was taken from Yerba Buena Island in Dec, 2015 when the building displayed a seasonal message spanning 12 of its windows (photo by D. C. Nelson). Opposite the building on the water’s edge is the city’s historic Fire Station 35 with the fireboat Guardian berthed behind it.
A new extension/replacement for Fire Station 35 was opened behind it in 2021; you can see both old and new below. Note the trusty Guardian is still on duty there. The extension has been designed to rise and fall with the tides and any future sea level changes; go here for a fascinating SF Public Works presentation of its construction (teaser - it was built elsewhere).
… and here’s a stunning Bay Bridge image from 2018, also taken from Yerba Buena Island, that captured the Hills Brothers Coffee building to its right and pier 26 to its left (photo by Patrick Boury).
Then …. Getting back to the movie … the Bay Bridge reaches out behind Teddy to mist-shrouded Yerba Buena Island as he nonchalantly sits and stretches while dropping the gun into the water.
… and Now, this was the closest match CitySleuth could get through the narrow floor level gap beneath the closed and rusted shutter door.
… it turns out there was a small boat berthed right there next to him. He certainly took a risk being seen but he got away with it.
Then … Still trying to find out where he is, Herbert asks a passerby what city this is; his exasperated response before striding on? … “Come on!”. This shot was filmed on the 1800 block of Union Street in Cow Hollow (map) in front of the French restaurant La Cabane at 1838 Union.
… and Now, it’s now Kaiyo, a Peruvian restaurant, not open at lunch time when CitySleuth stopped by.
Then … He walks on and tries again with a passing blonde; she walks on without a word … who is this kook? The What’s Cooking restaurant was at 1830 Union Street - (open 7 days a week and 24 hours on the weekend? Unheard of today).
… and Now, the current tenant at 1830 is the Roaming Goat Wine bar and Restaurant; the parklets are holdovers from the Covid era and appear to now be permanent, usurped parking be damned.
Then … Further along the block Herbert finds the answer from a newspaper stand in front of 1840 Union. La Cabane at 1838 is behind him.
… and Now, Is that the same sidewalk tree? A sapling then, a stalwart now.
The newspaper reveals that he’s in San Francisco. (On a trivia note, the paper’s name was fictitious, it’s font mimicked that of the San Francisco Chronicle, the period after the name was superfluous and the two columns at top left were (tsk, tsk …) replicated - sloppy work by the prop master.
Then … as his lightbulb goes on we get a good look at the stores across the street.
… and Now, of interest is the yellow One Medical building at 1832 Union. Compare it to the Then image above - it has since been redone but unlike most rebuilds where older styles are architecturally modernized, in this case the plain facade has been traditionalized.
Then … Here’s a panorama of the five adjoining businesses that spanned this scene. From left to right, the newsstand was in front of Settepu’s Imported Clothing at 1840 Union, next is La Cabane French Restaurant at 1838, then a doorway leading to Nancy’s LTD Exercise Studio at 1836, Earthly Goods Jewelry at 1832 and, at far right, What’s Cooking Restaurant at 1830.
… and Now, Today’s tenants, left to right: Topdrawer Gifts at 1840, Kaiyo Restaurant at 1838, Real estate brokers at 1836, Union Nail Spa at 1832, the Roaming Goat Wine bar and Restaurant at 1830.
Teddy coaches his buddy Mikey on, when, and how to call him that evening pretending he’s urgently needed at the office. That will clear the way for Teddy to go to the dinner date he’s (he thinks) made with the Woman in Red.
After helping with the blind man prank (previous post) Mikey makes the call. But by then Teddy has found out he has to stay at home with Didi to babysit their grandkid. In a hilarious response he demands the bewildered Mikey tell the bosses to take their request and shove it up their (you know where). (Watch the movie to see why Didi has that inappropriately positioned gun).
Then … Mikey rejoins his buddies, finding them in a fracas with local louts in front of a Carls Jr. diner. It’s time for more sight gags as Buddy, still playing the blind man (on the left), punches away. The phone number posted at the adjacent business on the right led CitySleuth to this location.
… and Now, both Carls Jr. at 305 W. 6th Street in the Wilshire/Vermont neighborhood of Los Angeles and the Olympic Auto Body Shop (with the same phone number) are still there today. The shot was filmed looking across Virgil Avenue (map).
Teddy doesn’t know that it was Ms. Milner who had answered the call and received his offer of a date. She doesn’t know it was meant for the Woman in Red. She patiently waits for him to arrive.
He never does - she ends up closing the place. But where was this filmed? Teddy referred to it as “…La Primavera in North Beach”; but this looks way too swanky for North Beach. There’s a later scene in the movie filmed at the Prince Restaurant in Los Angeles but these interiors appear to be somewhere else. If anyone recognizes it they are encouraged to email citysleuth@reelsf.com.
The time machine has transported Herbert 86 years into the future smack in the middle of a museum exhibit about his life. A sign advertises it outside the museum.
Then … the camera pans down to Herbert as he leaves the building. He has no idea yet where he is. (But CitySleuth does - many moons ago he attended a light show at the planetarium here, set to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon album. Super cool.)
… and Now, this was filmed at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, one of the world’s largest natural history museums (map). The Academy tore down the original building in 2005 to make way for an innovative Renzo Piano-designed replacement, below, which opened in 2008.
Then … Here’s a contemporaneous 1970s photo of the original academy.
… and Now, this is the new one. Popular with old and young alike, its exhibits include an Amazonian rainforest, a spectacular aquarium, a penguin habitat, a planetarium and a green, living roof referencing the hills of San Francisco.
Then … Herbert looks across the large concourse spread out before him; over to his left he sees a bandshell structure.
… and Now, this is the Spreckles Temple Of Music, a gift to the city in 1900 by sugar magnate Claus Spreckles. Still in continuous use, it has hosted famous musicians and bands over the decades, from Luciano Pavarotti to the Grateful Dead, for up to 20,000 appreciative attendees.
Then … He exits the park frantically scribbling in his notebook, recording strange sights alien to his Victorian eye (and ours).
… and Now, this, the Golden Gate Park entrance on Fulton Street at 6th Avenue incorporating curved bench seating (map), looks the same today.
Then … the junction is clearly street-signed here as the plastic-wrapped lady sashays across the road.
… and Now, the addition of a garage around the corner resulted in the reduction of the two first floor windows on the left.
Then … Oblivious to a Do Not Walk sign he follows her onto the crosswalk causing screeching tires and metal-on-metal. Confused and alarmed, yes, but fortunately he is unscathed.
… and Now, thanks to road work Citysleuth was able to stand here with impunity while taking this matching photo. Of interest is the gabled structure on the left (just visible beyond Herbert, above) - it’s the old Powell Street Railroad Company’s rail stop at Fulton Street and 7th Avenue.
It was built in 1889. Viewed from the park looking towards Fulton Street we see it’s been maintained in fine condition to this day.
