Reel SF

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

Thieves' Highway - Oregon Restaurant

  We next see an attractive woman, Rica (Valentina Cortese) , sauntering towards the Oregon Restaurant to the strains of a popular tune of the day - "I'll never be the same" - perhaps anticipating the turn for the better that her life will make in the movie.

Then ...  Note the number 524 on the door.

... from the 1953 street directory ...  this entry for Front Street confirms that there was indeed an Oregon Cafe at 524 Front Street on the corner of Oregon Street.  A telephone entry listed the proprietors as Ed Vinci and Chuck Lucchesi, matching the names on the window.  (See location 6 on this map).

 

  Rica strikes up a conversation with Nick who is almost out on his feet as he downs coffee to stay awake while waiting for his trucker partner Ed to arrive with his truckload of apples.

 

Then ...  Unbeknownst to Nick she has been hired by Mike Figlia and his cronies to distract him while they sell off his apples.  It's not specifically mentioned but it's obvious she's a lady of the night. She offers Nick the use of her hotel room to get some sleep and he reluctantly accepts.  Below, they are seen at the corner of Oregon and Front with the restaurant behind them.

... and Now,  today the three block Oregon Street which ran from the Embarcadero to Front is gone.  This section of Front Street between Jackson and Washington is now a small cul-de-sac straddled by residential units and the far left corner of it, viewed here from Jackson, is about where the restaurant used to be.

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