Dancer and cohorts go to the Seaman's Club to retrieve Larry Warner's Tang Dynasty horse and its concealed stash.
Then ... The club was in reality the Embarcadero YMCA near Howard Street, established in 1908 as the Army Navy YMCA (map).
... and Now, The grand old Y is still there today but it now shares its building with the Kimpton Harbor House Hotel. The two buildings to its right are the originals but modified on the ground floor retail level and with additions above.
Julian enters the club lobby with Dancer and they head for the steam room where they have been told they will find Warner.
Then ... They walk past check-in on the left and a soda fountain.
... and Now, this room has become the lobby of the Harbor House Hotel. The curved ceiling and arched doorways have been retained but the soda fountain is gone, as is the check-in desk - the hotel check-in is through the archway on the right, accessed from Steuart Street.
In an amusingly campy scene (were it not for the violence to come) Dancer strips to a towel and meets Warner in the steam room. Warner foolishly tells Dancer where the Tang Dynasty horse is then mentions he discovered the contraband and suggests his silence can be bought. Then, incredulous, he keels over after being chillingly dispatched with a single bullet. One down, two to go.
After a long overnight drive a very tired Nick arrives at San Francisco's Produce Market. Centered at the junction of Washington and Davis, the market was located within the compact area bounded on the north by Jackson Street, on the south by Clay , on the west by Battery and on the east by the Embarcadero. Originally part of the Barbary Coast, it used to be a raucus mix of prostitution, bars, dance halls and thievery until it was cleaned up in 1911. By the early 1920s it had morphed into the Produce Market. In 1963 the market was moved to Islais Creek to make way for the vast Golden Gateway Redevelopment Project which modernized and transformed the whole area into an extension of the Financial District.
Here's a map of the Produce Market as it was in 1949 when the movie was filmed. Locations of real businesses seen in the movie are listed.
1 - Half Moon Fruit & Produce Co. (Mike Figlia's) 2 - John DeMartini Co.
3 - Levy & Zentner Co. 4 - John DeMartini Co.
5 - Scatena Galli Fruit Co. 6 - Oregon Restaurant
7 - Colchester Hotel 8 - Wellman Peck & Co.
... from 1931 ... And here's an aerial view of the market marked with arrows pointing to locations used in the movie. Although taken in 1931 it shows the market area as it still looked in 1949 when the movie was filmed.
... and Now, this recent photo shows the highly successful urban transformation of the area since the mid 1960s. The four Embarcadero Center office buildings are lined up along Clay Street and that's the Hyatt Regency Hotel opposite the Ferry Building with its rooftop Regency Club Lounge, formerly the Equinox revolving restaurant but now a stationary lounge-with-a-view for well-heeled hotel guests.
Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns home from war service - he is dropped off in front of his parents' house on a rural street.
Then ...
... and Now
CitySleuth needs your help, dear reader. His expertise outside San Francisco falls short in deducing this location. Do any of you out there know where this was filmed?
Then ... Nick is horrified to find that his father, a farmer, is now an invalid, victim of an accident perpetrated by Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb), an unscrupulous produce dealer in San Francisco. He immediately vows revenge. Below, he meets Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell) who had bought his father's truck and they decide to invest in two truckloads of Golden Delicious apples and drive them to the San Francisco Produce Market to confront Figlia.
... and Now
Can anyone tell CitySleuth where this was filmed? Possible clues - This, and the location above, might have been in Petaluma, site of the opening scene, or in Calistoga where, as we will see later, another scene was filmed. Then again, it could have been somewhere else. The only clues are the houses across the street in these two images. Most likely in a small rural town these houses are still there.
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The movie opens with a view across a rural town referred to in the movie as Fresno, some 190 miles south of San Francisco, but in reality it's Petaluma, another rural town 35 miles north of San Francisco.
Then ... The large white buildings are the Petaluma Junior High School. Note also that unusual structure in the distance behind the school.
... and Now, this recent photo was taken above Bassett Street on La Cresta Drive between Hill Blvd and Haven Drive. Petaluma High School now occupies the site of the former Junior High after it was relocated. That distinctive structure in the distance is still there today.
... and Now, the closer view of the structure (below) reveals it to be the historic granary located near Petaluma's town center. Since 1959 it has been the home of the Dairymen's Feed and Supply Co-op. CitySleuth was able to nail this movie location when he spotted the granary out of the corner of his eye while driving south recently past Petaluma on U.S. 101. Call it serendipity.