Sometimes it takes an epiphanous moment for an alcoholic to see the light. In Joe's case it happened as he walked downtown one day and caught his reflection in a window.
Then ... Four years have passed during which time Joe has been fired from five jobs because of his alcoholism. He is seen walking near Union Square along Maiden Lane (map), originally Morton Street and once a red-light destination for bars and brothels but by the 1960s an up-scale street of cafes and high-end boutiques. Nothing to do with the movie, but let CitySleuth draw your attention to the interesting building across the street - the one with the archway entrance ...
... and Now, that building, at 140 Maiden Lane, housed the V.C. (Vera Chase) Morris Gift Shop. Back in 1948 it had been renovated by Frank Lloyd Wright who designed its interior circular ramp as a prototype for the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Now the home of the Xanadu Gallery, this is the only Frank Lloyd Wright structure in San Francisco.
Then ... He pauses and catches sight of himself in the window of the Union Square Lounge at 177 Maiden Lane.
... and Now, the shop front has been remodeled and that window has been replaced by the entrance to Spectacles, an opticians.
... and Now, a recent photo of the store. Al fresco tables of the Mocca cafe next door (Bab's women's clothes store when the movie was shot) take advantage of Maiden Lane's traffic-free status today.
For the first time he confronts himself, recognizing the bum he has become.
He heads straight back to their shabby rooms and drags Kirsten, it's daytime but she's already drunk, to a mirror. In an emotional outburst he confronts their reflections - "Look at us ... see? ... a couple of bums! ..." and tells her they have to get sober and stay sober.
The Exiles was filmed entirely in and around the Bunker Hill
neighborhood of late 1950s Los Angeles. So why include it in a San
Francisco movie location blog? Well, two reasons. First, CitySleuth
found out the hard way, after scouring the city for several San
Francisco locations, that they had been filmed in Bunker Hill. As it
turns out, L.A.'s Bunker Hill and S.F.'s Telegraph Hill had much in
common with their turn-of-the-century wooden buildings, steps and steep
streets. And second, because in researching these sites over the years
CitySleuth has come to know and love the old Bunker Hill so well despite
never having been there and despite its total erasure by the end of the
1960s. So imagine his delight in coming across this wonderfully restored
movie and witnessing the preservation of sorts of so many locations from
a bygone era. Such nostalgia, ergo it cried out to be shared.
Before we get to the movie, here are three scenes from different San Francisco films that stymied CitySleuth for a while before he zeroed in on Bunker Hill ...
Woman On The Run (1950) ... The police arrive
to investigate a murder at the top of a steep flight of steps. This was filmed on Court Hill above the Hill Street tunnel in Los Angeles' Bunker Hill neighborhood. The building to
the left at the bottom of the hill is the Bunker Hill Central Police
Station at 1st Street and at right, receding south into the distance,
is Hill Street and downtown Los Angeles.
... and Now, the steps and tunnel are gone
and the hill flattened - here's Hill Street south from 1st Street
today. The police station on the corner is gone too but worse, to the
dismay of many, the very soul of the old neighborhood has been ripped
out.
Sudden Fear (1952) ... An enraged Jack
Palance aims his car at his wife Joan Crawford (who turns out instead to
be his lover Gloria Grahame). Again, this is in Bunker Hill, Los Angeles where she is running past the Mission Apartments at
the corner of 2nd and Olive.
... in 1948 ...
here's the same building in this vintage photo which also captures the balustrade above the
2nd Street tunnel and, below it, the
Hotel Astor on the corner of Hill Street.
... and Now, again unrecognizable. Those wonderfully evocative old places now seem like figments of the imagination.
The Sniper (1952) ... Arthur Franz is seen
walking on a street with a distinctive building behind him. He is on Court Street in Bunker Hill, Los Angeles and to get there he has just
climbed the steep Court Flight steps leading up from Broadway between
1st and Temple. That building behind him across Broadway is the old Hall Of
Records.
... and Now, Court
Street has been eradicated and the hill carted away to make way for this
car park. City Hall is in the background but the old Hall of Records,
which used to be at the left of this photo, was torn down in 1979.
Joe's drinking habits have not gone unnoticed at his office. He is
demoted to a smaller account and, worse, the customer is in Houston
requiring lots of visits away from home.
Then ... He meets with his clients amongst a forest of derricks.
... in 1930 ... It's highly unlikely the
director flew his leading man to Houston to shoot this scene. Why
should he when there were lots of oil fields in and around Los Angeles?
CitySleuth postulates that the scene was either filmed at the Signal
Hill oil field at Long Beach (map),
or a photo backdrop of Signal Hill was used in a studio setup. The photo below shows Signal Hill in the 1930s covered with derricks. The
site was still producing when the movie was filmed.
... and Now, Signal Hill was originally
so-named by early Spanish settlers because of the local Indians' use of
the 365 foot hilltop to send smoke signals. After oil was
discovered in 1921 Signal Hill,
completely surrounded by the city of Long Beach, incorporated to minimize oil revenue taxes and by 1980 up to 300 wells
had produced 900 million barrels of oil. With its oil field mostly
depleted it is now a residential and commercial town. There are still
some producing wells dotted around; two nodding donkeys are seen below outside
Curley's, the venerable cafe at 1999 E. Willow Street near Cherry that
has been serving oilmen since 1932.
... and Now, a solitary reminder of the past stands at E. 27th and N. Olive Avenue.
Unlike the stage show which leaves Joey stranded on his own, the movie has a happy ending ... it is a Hollywood musical after all.
Linda pleads with Vera to reopen the club but she won't relent until Vera offers to leave. That achieved, Vera tells Joey not only that she's changed her mind but that she wants to marry him. But Joey refuses and for the first time Vera realizes that his feelings for Linda are serious.
Then ... Joey returns to the empty club for one last sentimental look then leaves, with a passing farewell to the T-Bird. "So long little bird, don't pick up any nails".
... and Now, the same bird's eye view, shot from the apartment building next door, gives us another perspective of that incongruous privacy hedge.
Across the street in Vera's car, she and Linda watch him leave. Vera motions Linda to go for it.
Then ... and go for it she does ... in front of the mansion he tells her to "beat it" but a passionate street-side kiss turns him to melted butter and off they go, together. But wait a minute, what's wrong with this location?
... and Now, here's the real location below, viewed along Washington past the
Spreckels Mansion from the Octavia Street corner. If the wall wasn't hidden you would quickly realize that the scene above was a studio creation with a painted cityscape in the background.
... from 1956 ... this is obvious by comparing the wall in the movie above with the real wall seen in this vintage photo of the mansion as it was shortly before the time of the filming. Note the absence of trees and the presence of cable car tracks, right before they would be torn up for good.
Then ... The schmaltzy 'Into The Sunset' shot is a view of the Golden Gate Bridge taken from between the St. Francis and the Golden Gate Yacht Clubs in the Marina district (map) with lurid sky no doubt courtesy of the art department.
... and Now, from the same spot today.
Lester desperately scours the downtown streets for the fleeing Myra. When he spots her he chases her through a maze of dark streets, back alleys and narrow stairways, all filmed not in San Francisco but in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles. During the chase Jack Palance, always a fitness nut, demonstrates his athleticism with this vault, below, over a back alley railing.
Then ... She gives him the slip and he continues to prowl the streets in his car. Meanwhile Irene is walking home, wearing a dark coat and white scarf, just like Myra. Here, she climbs a steep block and crosses the street.
... from 1948 ... This vintage photo reveals where this corner was ... the southeast corner of S. Olive Street (crossing left to right) and W. 2nd Street in Bunker Hill. The building on the corner where the man is leaning is the Claridge Hotel.
Then ... Lester rounds a corner in a shot highlighted by the noir-lit building across the street.
... and Now, this view looks west up 2nd Street to Grand Avenue. The lighted building above is the Dome Hotel Apartments. Today of course the same location, below, is unrecognizable thanks (or no thanks depending on your point of view) to the redevelopment in the 1950s and 60s during which Bunker Hill was completely removed then rebuilt. The corner lot where the Dome stood is now a part of a large open car park.
... from the glory days ... but we can at least enjoy photographs from the past - here's a closeup of the onion-topped Dome Hotel Apartments in its prime.
Then ... Lester mistakes Irene for Myra and angrily aims his car at her as she turns back and runs down 2nd towards Olive past a rather unusual building.
... from 1948 ... here's the same building in this vintage photo. It's the Mission Apartments at 504 W. 2nd Street at Olive. The corner building across Olive is the Claridge Hotel seen earlier in this post behind Irene as she crossed Olive. This informative image also captures the Hotel Astor on the corner of Hill Street and the balustrade above the 2nd Street tunnel.
... and Now, again, unrecognizable. Those wonderfully evocative old places now seem like figments of the imagination.
On a trivia note, Patricia Knight and Cornel Wilde were filmed in the 1949 movie Shockproof at this same location.
And it was used again in Stanley Kubrick's 1956 movie
The Killing when Sterling Hayden drives to the Mission Apartments for a meeting.
Then ... Getting back to this movie ... at the last second Lester recognizes Irene and hits the brake. In a twist that punishes the schemers and spares the intended victim he plows into her and they are both killed, pinned by the up-ended car where it comes to rest in front of the side of the Claridge Hotel across Olive. In 1950s Hollywood, crime doesn't pay.
... from 1948 ... this vintage image gives us a daylight view of the same spot.
... and Now, this location has become a parking lot. Thankfully Los Angeles' art deco City Hall in the left background was left untouched by the wrecking ball.
As a bonus, here's a look at the fatal denouement from the reverse angle - the arrows overlaid on this 1940s photo show the path of Lester's car from the Dome Hotel Apartments on Grand Avenue down 2nd Street past the Mission Apartments where he struck Irene, coming to a halt across Olive alongside the Claridge Hotel just off the picture at far left.
