From a location point of view this post could have been titled ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’…
Then … Clarence gets word that Sam Blotz is at San Francisco’s City Hall; he parks outside, intent on following him.
… and Now, the imposing Beaux-Arts structure was built as a replacement for its predecessor that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake; more than a century later it hasn’t changed at all, viewed both Then and Now from Larkin Street. (The three tall cylinders in the foreground in this recent view are ventilation units for Brooks Hall, an underground exhibition space built in the the late 1950s but unused since 1993). At far left beyond City Hall is a glimpse of the War Memorial Opera House on Van Ness Avenue, not yet built in the Then image above.
On a historical note, here’s its predecessor after the dust settled and the fire burned out. Located across the Civic Center Plaza where the main library and U.N. Plaza are today, it was destroyed a mere nine years after it was completed.
Then … Clarence, parked in front of classically styled columns, spots Blotz …
A 1922 vintage photo reveals where this was filmed. But this isn’t San Francisco, it’s the Masonic Temple at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles (map).
… and Now, The Greek Revival building with Ionic columns is still there today, the home of the Jimmy Kimmel late night television show. Clarence’s car in the Then image above was parked exactly where the black sedan is, below. This block is part of Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame - note the embedded stars arrayed along the sidewalk - at this address they honor artists as diverse as Jimmy Kimmel, Rod Serling, Little Richard and Donald Duck.
Then … Blotz exits the building and climbs into a swanky Pierce/Arrow town car. The number above the doorway that looks like it was written by a 2nd-grader reveals where this shot was filmed - still in Los Angeles, this was the Hotel Regent at 6162 Hollywood Boulevard (incidentally, for the picky amongst us, several blocks from where Clarence was parked).
… and Now, over the decades this block has changed drastically - right here is where the hotel used to be.
... a late 1920s photo captured it back in its heyday, between N. El Centro Avenue and Argyll Avenue.
… and from this newspaper ad it’s clear that the hotel had newly opened when the scene was filmed there (The Last Edition was released in November 1925 ). Note the proud boast … “A Radio In Every Room”! (TV was not yet invented).
Then … But as Blotz’s car takes off we are back at City Hall in San Francisco. Note the continuity goof here; Blotz is sitting behind the driver but in the Then image above he’s behind the front passenger seat. Note too the car is right hand drive which means it was a 1920 or earlier Pierce/Arrow model.
… and Now, This is the Grove Street side of City Hall, the same one seen in the first photo in this post. The long balcony in the center is shared by the Mayor’s office and that of the adjoining office staff.
Then … For this next shot as Clarence follows Blotz we jump back to Los Angeles to the southwest part of Downtown. The camera looks east along 12th Street with Trenton Street crossing at left just ahead. Note that large building at the end of the block…
… and Now, in the late 1960s this block and several others aound it were demolished to create a site for the Los Angeles Convention Center which opened in 1971. The Staples Center indoor arena was built there in the late 1990s - the two blocks of 12th Street, above, used to be where the south edge of the arena is, below.
CitySleuth thanks reader Notcom for tracking down the 12th Street location and unearthing this 1917 newspaper photo of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company building at 1265 Figeroa, the large building in the Then image above. Compare the building’s left side, on 12th Street, with the movie shot. They match.
Angelenos have at least one thing in common with San Franciscans: a nostalgic preference for beloved stadium names. Staples Center was renamed Crypto.com Arena in December 2021 but continues to be referred to by most as Staples Center, aka ‘The House That Kobe Built’. In much the same way, San Franciscans still fondly remember Giants ballpark Candlestick Park, eschewing subsequent renames 3Com Park and later, Monster Park.
Then and Now aerial view … Click or tap the 1928 image below to see the dramatic urban transformation of the blocks containing 12th and Trenton Streets. ‘X’ marks the spot where the camera was set up to film the 12th Street shot.
Jo has had his money returned but is still curious as to the whereabouts of Chan. He decides to ask his friend Mr. Fong (Leong Pui Chee). For this scene director Wang chose to have them speak in Chinese so that his American audience could experience the lilt and cadence of the Cantonese accent.
Then … They meet at Brenham Place bordering the west side of Portsmouth Square between Clay and Washington.
… and Now, in 1985 Brenham Place was renamed Walter U Lum Place in recognition of the Chinese American civil rights advocate born in San Francisco in 1882. The plaza was redesigned in the 1990s but the view from here retains a similar look today.
Then … Mr. Fong doesn’t know where Chan is. He tells Jo he has just given a talk at the Chinese Cultural Center on, appropriately, Chinese culture. He explains there’s more to it than eating. There’s north versus south, there’s ancient versus modern. He gives examples in poetry and in opera, breaking out into stanza and song to illustrate the differences. The building behind him is the Chinese Congregational Church at 21 Brenham Place.
… and Now, the church is still there, captured in this recent photo that also captured a rare sight for Chinatown - a destitute street person.
Mr. Fong also shares a Chinese lantern riddle which Jo recounts afterwards to Steve while they are parked at the edge of the bay. They have a good laugh at its sexual connotation. Lantern riddles date back 1200 years to the Song Dynasty; they were written on the sides of lanterns at Chinese Lantern Festivals where participants were rewarded for correctly solving them.
Then … They are parked at Fort Point in the Presidio below the Golden Gate bridge (map).
… and Now, the only change today is a more mundane, but safer replacement in 2023 of the chain barrier alongside the water’s edge causing some consternation amongst regular visitors, CitySleuth amongst them, who preferred the prior maritime look.
… in 1958 … but there was an even more mundane barrier there when Scottie followed Madeleine to Fort Point 66 years ago in the movie Vertigo.
The camera looks out towards the bay for an extended shot of undulating waves and ripples that captures Jo’s confusion as he recounts one by one in voiceover how everybody he has asked remembers Chan as a completely different person. Is Chan real or is he the embodiment of the Chinatown community?
Then … Back once again at Chester’s Cafe at 1269 Mason (described earlier) Jo nurses a beer, lost in thought. Across the street on the left is the Junior Co Bakery at 1250 Mason.
… and Now, the most recent tenant in the 1250 Mason space was an art gallery, Orangeland .
At a local police station the Chronicle’s courthouse reporter slips a cigar to the desk sergeant then seeks the quid pro quo: “Do you have anything for me today?”
Then … In a later scene we are shown where this took place - Police Station 6 (although the interior scene may have been filmed in a studio).
… a vintage photo … John Bengston’s excellent website silentlocations.com revealed the location of this police station - read his detailed post about it here. It was set in San Francisco but was filmed at 1629 N. Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood (map). The station - it shared a building with the Fire Department’s Engine 27 - was there from 1913 to 1930 during which time it appeared in many silent movies including comedies by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
On a trivia note this fun photo taken in 1928 in front of Station 6 provided ample evidence that a cop’s day is not all work and no play.
… and Now, the music publishing company Real Songs, readdressed as # 1635, now sits squarely on the old fire/police station site. But the 2-story hotel on the left has survived (it’s partially visible in the vintage photo of the station, above).
The reporter is in luck; he calls the Chronicle’s city editor with a scoop: the police have set their sights on Sam Blotz, a suspected bootlegger.
Then … At far right the city editor asks a young staffer to bring him everything they have on Blotz.
… and Now, this was filmed on the 3rd floor of the San Francisco Chronicle’s 901 Mission Street building where reporters continue to work 100 years later in the same, albeit modernized, space.
Then … The newspaper’s librarians dig out information on Blotz.
… a vintage photo … here’s that same library in 1924 at the San Francisco Chronicle’s 901 Mission Street building. The wall-mounted files seen above are arrayed along the side wall. Note in both images the radiator alongside the column.
The editor shows the files and photographs to Clarence Walker (Polly McDonald’s suitor), assigning him the task of writing an exposé of Sam Blotz.
Jo and Steve head over to a bar in Japantown where Chan’s daughter Jenny works. They want to find out if she has any news to share about her father’s whereabouts. This scene was filmed inside the Kyomasa Cocktail Lounge at 1705 Buchanan Street.
… a vintage photo … Citysleuth found two contemporary photos of its location which he composited into the one below. The center portion is from a 1980s photo, the sides from a 1970s photo; together they show how it looked when Chan was filmed. Marked by the arrow, the Kyomasa Lounge was on the second level, next to the better-known Kokusai Theatre.
… and Now, the theatre (referenced earlier in the movie) closed in 1987 and the space where the Kyomasa Lounge used to be was up for lease when CitySleuth recently stopped by. But the Soko Hardware store at far right is still there. Both Then and Now the Japanese-styled tower displays the sign Nihon Machi - “Japan Town”.
Then … The lounge entrance is at the top of the stairs behind the tower, above. Below, they enter from the left and climb a set of 5 steps up to the lounge.
… and Now, the most recent tenant here was the Korean karaoke bar and restaurant ‘Playground’. But the space is now under construction in preparation for a future tenant. Citysleuth noticed there’s now only 3 steps leading up, not 5. Why? … read on…
Then … They ask for Jenny. The two extra steps led to an elevated floor level that created a sunken bar effect. The lounge entrance is on the left.
… and Now, the bar is in the same spot but at a regular height because the elevated floor is gone.
Then … Jenny appears; she suggests they take a seat at a nearby table..
… in 2017 … this is the same view in Playground before it closed. The drop ceiling, above, has been removed, below.
… and Now, here it is today.
Then … Jenny doesn’t know where her father is but said he apologizes for not being able to complete the cab deal. She then gives them an envelope containing the $4,000 they had given him … “It’s all there”. Steve’s reaction? … “Goddam!”. The shoji screens covering the windows are the same ones seen from the outside in the vintage photo at the top of this post.
… and Now, these windows look down on the Japantown block of Buchanan Street named Osaka Way.
