Then ... Allan's place is in an alley just off of one of the City's steepest streets, so steep in fact that it has steps in place of sidewalks. Viewed from the alley, he is seen here crossing the street. The green corner building at the bottom of the hill is Vanessi's restaurant.
... and Now, This is the Kearny Street block (also seen earlier in the movie) between Vallejo and Broadway, in the North Beach neighborhood. (Its steps have been named the Peter Macchiarini Steps, in honor of a local artist). Vanessi's is no longer there, having closed down, as has the equally iconic Italian eatery Enrico's that used to be opposite, on the corner across Kearny.
... related trivia ... In 1968 Steve McQueen in the movie Bullit crossed over Broadway heading to Enrico's. The steep block seen above slopes up at far right.
Then ... Allan's closest friend, Dick (Tony Roberts), was waiting for him. They walk along the alley towards his apartment.
... and Now, this is Fresno Street and Allan's place is number 15, the red door on the right (map).
Then ... They chat outside 15 Fresno Street. But interestingly, when later on we go into his apartment we will find that the interiors were filmed not here, but elsewhere in town.
... and Now, it's the same door today as evidenced by the molding detail and the mailbox, but repainted.
Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) spots a colorful flowered pod in her neighborhood park that she hasn't seen before. She picks one, taking in its heady aroma.
Then ... As a group of schoolkids goes by she decides to take it home.
.... and Now, this was filmed in Alamo Square Park in the Alamo Square neighborhood (map). The homes in the background are on Hayes Street, along the south side of the park.
Then ... The kids are heading to the park's playground. The sight of a black-garbed priest staring expressionlessly at them as he swings alongside a child has a disquieting effect on us. Who is he? Why is he there? Already we are feeling an unease that will only grow stronger as the story unfolds. (The priest by the way is Robert Duvall, in an uncredited cameo).
.... and Now, there's still a playground there but it's significantly fortressed and now ADA compliant.
Then ... She crosses the road to her place at 720 Steiner Street, the one on the left, one of the famous Painted Ladies along the east side of the park. She doesn't know it yet but carrying that flower into her home is a very bad idea.
.... and Now, tourists flock to photograph this row of Victorians, often called 'Postcard Row'. Built in the 1890s, they have been lovingly maintained over the years by their proud owners. The tree in front of her house has been moved to create access to a garage addition.
Here's one example of the many postcards that have iconized the Painted Ladies over the years. (By the way, did anyone notice the Painted Ladies' gables emulated above in the playground 'Now' image?)
Then ... Inside the home she greets her partner Geoffrey Howell (Art Hindle), glued to the TV - he's a big Warriors fan, just like most of today's Bay Area sports fans.
.... and Now, here's how the same room at 720 Steiner looks today.
Allan is still not over his divorce from Nancy (Susan Anspach). Flabbergasted, he had asked her why. She didn't hold back ..."I can't stand the marriage, I don't find you any fun, I feel you suffocate me, I don't feel any rapport with you and I don't dig you physically ... oh, for God's sake Allan, don't take it personal". No wonder the poor fellow has an inferiority complex.
Then ... As she left and over his protestations, she continued to vent. "I wanna go skiing, I wanna go dancing, I wanna go to the beach, I wanna ride to Europe on a motorcycle; all we ever do is see movies".
... and Now, this block, so steep that it has steps in place of sidewalks, is Kearny Street looking down from Vallejo to Broadway in North Beach (map). The building on the left with the arched windows at the bottom of the hill housed the iconic Vanessi's Italian restaurant for 50 years before it moved to Nob Hill in 1986, eventually closing down in 1997.
On a trivia note, this same location, and Vannessi's, was seen 25 years earlier in the 1947 Humphrey Bogart movie Dark Passage.
... a vintage photo ... here's a 1964 photo of the restaurant in its prime. Odds are that Woody Allen would have dined there during the shoot (he was familiar with North Beach, having previously done stand-up comedy performances at the nearby Purple Onion and Hungry i clubs). Note the sidewalk steps on Kearny.
Then ... Her parting shot to him before she hopped into her VW Beetle and drove out of his life... "My lawyer will call your lawyer". "I don't have a lawyer," said he, "Have him call my doctor". His hilarious deadpan gags, quintessential Woody Allen, set the tone throughout the movie.
... and Now, here's the same junction today, at Vallejo and Kearny.
On a distant world far, far away, a swirling, gelatinous life form facing extinction sends out spores across deep space in search of a new home.
Then ... The spores encounter planet Earth and hitch a ride to the surface via a rain storm in, of all places, San Francisco. The first view of the city includes a large garbage truck, the significance of which will become increasingly clear as the movie unfolds.
and Now, these are the tollbooths for traffic entering San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge; the hills of Marin County are visible in the distance. Today the booths are still there (map) but slated for removal now that FasTrak has become the toll collector.
Then ... The spores blanket the city including, below, Lafayette Park in Pacific Heights. The view looks east from the park towards the west-facing block of Gough Street near Clay (map). In the distance several towering apartments offer commanding vistas from atop Russian Hill.
and Now, this is the same view today taken from a little lower down the slope (trees prevent an exact match). Beautifully maintained, the two Queen Anne Victorians on the right are survivors, having barely escaped being torched by the fire that followed the 1906 earthquake.
... in 1906 ... here they were back then, with the scorched aftermath of Nob Hill behind them (that's the burned-out Fairmont Hotel on the hilltop), and what's left of downtown at far right. In the foreground Clay Street tees into Gough on the right side. The home on the left has since been replaced.
Then ... As the opening titles roll the camera looks from Lafayette Park along Clay. The tall, narrow 1250 Jones Street apartment building is seen where Clay crests the top of Nob Hill and the pointed peak of the TransAmerica Pyramid building is visible beyond another apartment highrise.
and Now, the same view is more or less unchanged 40 years on.
The alien spores find ready hosts in rain-soaked trees and plants; they germinate and produce rapid cell growth before our widening eyes, culminating in a small pod with a pretty flower. Beware pretty things! The end of the world as we know it is nigh!