Then, Callahan and Gonzalez return to their patrol car just in time to hear a radio message: there’s an “804 in progress” at California Hall at Polk and Turk. They head right over. The building is bathed in lights ahead of them; the fire department is already there as is a large crowd of gawkers pointing and looking up to a man on the roof threatening to jump.
… and Now, Both the California Hall and the Embassy Hotel opposite are still there in the Tenderloin District (map).
The Teutonic Baroque architecture of California Hall is clearly evident in this recent photo. It was built in 1912 as a ‘Rathaus’ to serve the neighborhood’s German immigrant population. The Hall became a popular music venue in the 1960s, 70s and 80s; later occupants were the California Culinary Academy and, more recently, the Academy Of Art Fashion School. The Hall is currently closed due to the pandemic.
Check out these vintage posters advertising some of the Hall’s past music events. Other artists who performed there included Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller, The Doors and U-2.
English punk rockers Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees played in the Hall on Nov 26, 1980. There’s a bootleg audio recording of that performance here on youTube.
Then, They cross Polk and pull up alongside the Rathskeller restaurant at the Hall’s Turk Street entrance.
… and Now, the marquee awning remains but the restaurant is long gone.
The Rathskeller served German and American dishes - here it was c. 1960.
Then, From the rooftop, the jumper peers down at the crowd below.
… and Now, this is where he was.
Then, Callahan takes on the task of dissuading the jumper - he is hoisted up in a Fire Department cherry-picker. Across Polk street we can see a cocktail bar on the corner of Turk, part of the Embassy Hotel.
… and Now, a gin-focused cocktail lounge in a London Victorian-railway station-themed eatery is the current occupant of that space. Note the original bar entrance door has been replaced by a wall of windows, but the main hotel entrance on the left is much the same as it was. This too is temporarily shuttered during the pandemic.
Then, The jumper shrinks back as the cherry-picker approaches … he gets visibly angry when Callahan, not exactly schooled in the psychology of suicide prevention, starts talking about how jumpers end up unidentifiable and covered in blood.
Then, The jumper lunges at him, takes a short right to the jaw and hangs limp as Callahan brings him safely down. As they leave, Callahan turns to his partner … “Now you know why they call me Dirty Harry - every dirty job that comes along”.
… and Now, they were lowered down here in front of the windows on the left.
Then ... Elizabeth is scared. She shares her fears with Matthew as they drive around the city. Her fragile psyche is augmented by the fragmentation of his shattered windscreen, damaged earlier in the movie.
... and Now, they are heading west on Turk Street as viewed from Leavenworth in the Tenderloin district (map). Approaching on the left is the tall arched entrance of the Oasis Apartments at 351 Turk, built in 1928 and formerly a YMCA hotel.
Then ... She tells him that Geoffrey has been furtively meeting with total strangers. She is becoming paranoid; convinced that everyone around her has changed overnight.
... and Now, still in the Tenderloin, they are traveling east on Golden Gate Avenue; Market Street is ahead (map). The Golden Gate Theatre marquee is on the left; the theatre was being renovated when this photo was taken.
Then ... Matthew, disbelieving but wanting to help, again encourages her to meet with his psychiatrist friend David Kibner.
... and Now, still heading east on Golden Gate, they have backtracked four blocks, crossing Larkin (map). Driving continuity in movies is rarely accurate. The corner store on the left is now peddling croissants instead of loans.
Then ... With a start Matthew jumps on his brakes as a man suddenly appears in front of them.
... and Now, this is the junction of Leavenworth and Eddy Streets. The upscale Black Cat Jazz Supper Club, a recent bold addition to the Tenderloin, currently occupies the northwest corner site (map).
The terrified man screams out at them ... "They're coming! They're coming! You're next! You're next!". For this cameo, director Kaufman, in a nod of appreciation, chose Kevin McCarthy, who played the lead role in the original 1956 black-and-white version of this movie.
Here he is screaming the same warning 22 years earlier.
Then ... The man rushes down Eddy ahead of a crowd of pursuers.
... and Now, Another new addition, the Tenderloin Museum, is on the northeast corner (opposite the Back Cat) where the Ringside Smoke Shop used to be.
Then ... A squeal of brakes, a thudding crash; just around the corner they see a body lying at the kerb ringed by a crowd in front of the Hamlin Hotel.
... and Now, This view looks east down Eddy with Market Street in the distance. The Hamlin is still there on the right, at 385 Eddy where a metal balcony over the entrance has since replaced the two masonry ones seen in the movie shot. Still there is the cleaners store further down the block.
The messenger lies dead, to the impassive satisfaction of his pursuers. If you won't join them ...
Tailing the suspect around town has convinced Larsen of one thing: "He's a classic fruiter", he tells Jake. Meanwhile Camerero, possibly aware that he's being followed, gets bolder, leading them on a tour of some of the city's gay bars.
Then ... They catch up with him in the Tenderloin neighborhood across from the Minerva Cafe, a greek taverna at 136 Eddy Street (map), in the storefront of the Empress Hotel.
... and Now, the 100 block of Eddy Street has hardly changed. The Empress Hotel is still there but the cafe is long gone.
The cafe, seen here in a 1974 photo, was owned and managed by restauranteur Vasilios Glimidakis and was one of three Greek eateries within the space of one block. It seated 250, offered both dining and dancing and was a popular venue for social events and political dinners and luncheons.
Then ... Camerero's destination is The Ramrod, a pickup gay bar at 1225 Folsom Street in the SoMa district (map).
Here's a 1970s photo of the bar, at far right, as it would have looked when the movie was filmed. To say it was popular with the biker/leather crowd would be an understatement.
... and Now, The Ramrod opened in the late 1960s and the bar is still in business but has cycled through many names over the years - My Place, Cip, Chaps, Kok (!); it's currently called Driftwood. As can be seen, windows have since been added to the frontage.
Then ... Inside The Ramrod, leather seems to be de rigueur. But Camerero, suavely dapper in suit and sunglasses, doesn't seem to fit in and, not finding what he wants anyway, decides to try elsewhere.
... and Now, the shape of the bar has been redone otherwise the feel of the place looks to be much the same. Driftwood's clientele is more mixed than in the past but it continues to be popular with the gay community.
His next stop, plusher and with entertainment and a canopied ceiling, seems more his type of place.
When Larsen steps out we see where this was - the Frolic Room mid-block at 141 Mason Street at the edge of the Tenderloin (map), just around the corner from the Minerva Cafe where we saw Camerero at the beginning of this post.
Then ... Larsen joins Jake in their unmarked car across the street to continue the surveillance. They watch as Camerero, pickup in tow, exits the club. Just past the small parking lot is another bar at 111 Mason, previously the Robin Hood Tavern before being renamed the Chez Paree.
... and Now, a community affordable housing building now sits on the site of the Frolic Room and the parking lot. But there's still a tavern at 111 Mason - the Union Square Sports Bar; its marquee awning has survived too.
CitySleuth recognizes that sexy-leg Chez Paree sign in the Then image above. He would bet you a dime to a dollar that this was the sign, below, that used to adorn the Barbary Coast club at 533 Pacific Avenue in the International Settlement during the 1950s (also seen here in Frank Sinatra's 1957 movie Pal Joey). Same sign, different name.
But it was Al Barna of the Neon Historic Sign Preservation site sfneon.org who verified that both signs are one and the same. In this 1970s photo taken at about the same time as the movie was filmed, he noticed a series of small holes in the base metal below the Chez Paree lettering that spell out “BARBARY COAST”. These were the holes left when the original neon tube lettering was removed. You can read about it in this article.
They follow the pair to a townhouse apartment where a little "love in the afternoon", as Larsen snidely puts it, prompts the closing of the drapes.
Then ... The townhouse is the one seen across the way, beyond Larsen's shoulder. By now the two cops are beginning to get frustrated at not being able to get Camerero to drop his guard.
... and Now, this was filmed at Sydney G. Walton Square park by the footbridge that links the park across Jackson Street to the Davis Court Apartments. Named after a San Francisco banker, the park was built in 1960 at the north end of the city's former Produce Market (map). Today's comparative view shows just how much the Financial District has proliferated over the years.