Walk A Crooked Mile - The Painting
Then … O’Hara establishes an office in San Francisco for his investigation of the suspected spy ring. City Hall at left tells where this is - the Federal Building in the Civic Center (map).
… and Now, the Federal Building was built in 1934-36. It was designed by Arthur Brown, the same architect who did the nearby Opera House and Veterans Building. The building was vacated in 2007 when the new Federal Building at 90 7th Street opened - in 2013 the current occupant, the U.S. General Services Administration, moved in after the building was renovated. The fountain in the foreground was added in the late 1970s as part of the United Nations Plaza addition.
… and Now, here’s a wider view of the building revealing its grand neo-classical design.
O’Hara is introduced to Scotty Grayson, a visiting Scotland Yard agent (Louis Hayward) who has brought information possibly related to the spy ring. He shows O’Hara a photo of an intercepted painting sent to London from San Francisco that under UV light exposed a key mathematical equation from critical nuclear research. They discover that it had been smuggled out of the Lakeview facility whose security is O’Hara’s responsibility.
The painting is of a balcony across the street from two buildings and is signed ‘Igor Braun”. Could this be the same Igor that Radchek had called before he was murdered? They posit that if they can identify those buildings it could lead them to Igor. The joint Scotland Yard/FBI location search is on.
Then … An overview shot of downtown looking east towards the Bay Bridge is shown as a segue into the search. It was filmed from the Clift Hotel at 495 Geary Street (map).
… and Now, a hotel guest took this matching view from his room at the Clift. Geary Street recedes past the St. Francis Hotel and Union Square, on the left side. The recently built SalesForce Tower, at 1070 feet the tallest building in the city, dominates the vista which now lacks a view of the bridge from here. A closer inspection though shows many of the buildings are still recognizable.