Dirty Harry - Stalking Scorpio - Portsmouth Square
After arresting Scorpio at Kezar Stadium Callahan, still bruised from his earlier beating at Mount Davidson, is summoned to the D.A.’s office and is incredulous to learn that Scorpio has been released because the, shall we say, unconventional confession tactics rendered all of the evidence inadmissible in court. The D.A. admonishes him not to get involved again.
Then … Scorpio is on the prowl again, at Portsmouth Square plaza, a historic location in the heart of Chinatown (map). At this site in 1846 during the Mexican-American war Captain John Montgomery of the U.S.S. Portsmouth planted the American flag in the Mexican community of Yerba Buena. A year later the settlement was renamed San Francisco.
and Now, he had come up from the underground garage by way of the steps seen above on the left. Today those steps are still there but the planters, lamppost and benches were added during a major redesign of the plaza in the 1990s. Scorpio was standing where the lamppost is now; the dotted yellow line shows the position of the temporary plywood wall next to him.
Then … A group of children playing in the square catches his eye. Above the temporary wall a concrete bridge that spans Kearny Street from Portsmouth Square to a hotel opposite is in its final stage of construction. The building looming above that is 728 Washington Street.
and Now, there are baluster posts spaced along the bridge walls and CitySleuth lined one of them up with 728 Washington just as in the movie shot. In the view above, the house lined up not with this one but with the next post to the left but the 1990s plaza redesign prevented CitySleuth from matching that alignment.
Here’s a photo of the bridge today viewed from the plaza. It has no access to the Hilton hotel opposite, only to the Chinese Cultural Center during limited hours; what’s more there’s no way down to Kearny Street. Consequently since its opening in 1971 it has rarely been used, other than by the pigeon community, and has earned itself the sobriquet ‘Bridge to Nowhere’. City planning approval is well under way to remove it as part of yet another major plaza redesign.
Then … The children are playing on a climbing structure; the view past it is the southeast corner of the plaza - at top right there’s a bus heading down Clay Street and the stores facing us at top left are across Kearny Street. But who’s the guy wearing sunglasses entering the crowd to the left? Callahan of course - there’s no way he’s going to leave Scorpio unwatched.
and Now, a set of steps leading to the upper level of the plaza now covers where the climbing structure used to be (a few paces to the right of the photo below); viewed from the same level here’s today’s northeast corner and the same block across Kearny.
This 1987 photo of the 2-level plaza above the Kearny Street parking garage shows it as it was in 1971 when the movie was filmed. Note the children’s climbing structure, but in the movie it was located as shown in yellow (those same park benches flanking it on two sides are the same as those in the Then image above). Click or tap the image to see the plaza today after the 1990s redesign. The old steps became a ramp and new steps were built where the play structure was, reducing the lower level to half its original width.
A group of Chinatown residents are playing Xiangqi, also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, one of the most popular board games in China. Unlike Western chess, the pieces are placed on the intersections of the squares. Behind them, Callahan stares directly at Scorpio, making sure he catches his eye.
Then … Scorpio beats a hasty retreat up to the upper level. The graffiti on the wall echoes the protest movement of the early seventies: a universal nuclear disarmament symbol, “Down With Pigs” (reaction to police brutality in ongoing Vietnam War protests), “Off the Inn” (in reference to the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots in Greenwich Village).
and Now, here’s the matching shot from the same spot but elevated, on the repositioned steps. There’s now a wrap-around ramp in place of the steps seen above. Added 1990s structures are visible on the upper level at left.