Then … Teddy’s persistence has paid off - his fantasy is about to become reality. Charlotte’s limo pulls up to the entrance of her apartment building.
… and Now, This is the iconic Brocklebank Apartments atop Nob Hill, across Sacramento Street from the equally iconic Fairmont Hotel, at far right. In movies this building is most famously remembered as Madeleine’s home in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Then … The bedroom scene was filmed in a studio using a photographic backdrop to set the location. Perplexingly though, the photo isn’t a view from a Brocklebank window, instead it was taken from the roof of the neighboring Fairmont Hotel. The building seen on the left beyond Charlotte’s shoulder is the Condominiums at 1001 California Street, the white building to its right is 1055 California and the taller brick building at far right is the Huntington Hotel at 1075 California.
… and Now, this wide view shows the Brocklebank at left, 1001 California Condominiums at right and the Fairmont rooftop from where the above window photo was taken.
Even more surprising: later on in this scene there’s another window view (below) that really was taken from the Brocklebank. It shows the same three California buildings seen through Charlotte’s window in the Then image above. CitySleuth would have used this! Down on the left is the international flag array above the Fairmont’s entrance and, on the right, the Pacific Union Club.
My, oh my … she takes his hand and leads him to the bed where she urges him to “Come and get it, cowboy”. This is it! Dreams come true! But hold on … a call comes over the intercom from the lobby from … wait for it … Charlotte’s husband! He’s on his way up!
Chaos ensues - Teddy hastily dons the husband’s bathrobe then is urged out the window onto the building ledge by a frantic Charlotte (this was the flash-forward scene at the beginning of the film). Across Mason Street is the Park Lane Apartments, built in 1924-25 just one year ahead of the Brocklebank. Its art deco moderne-styled upper floors were added in 1929.
Then … A crowd begins to congregate on the street below, staring up at the man on the 9th floor ledge.
… and Now, here’s today’s match - the street view shows the Pacific Union Club with Grace Cathedral beyond it.
Then … One of the street-side gawkers rushes into a nearby cafe gobbledygooking about a man about to jump - everyone rushes out to join the throng.
… and Now, this was the Nob Hill Cafe at 1152 Taylor Street, still in business to this day. The SF City Directory has listed it there under this name since 1978 (when it took over from Gene’s Nob Hill Coffee Shop). Today a parklet outside partially blocks the view of the houses across the street but the wide set of apartment steps is clearly visible both Then and Now.
Then … A fire department ladder truck responds to an emergency call. Note the Chinese stores across the way, the clue to this location.
… and Now, this is the Chinatown Fire Station 2 at 1340 Powell Street near Broadway.
… and Now, here’s Station 2. The ladder truck in the Then image above exited from the central bay.
And let’s never forget the brave firefighters from Station 2 who, dating all the way back to 1854, gave their lives while protecting their fellow citizens.
Teddy looks down to a huge crowd and a local TV station truck packing the Brocklebank courtyard. The movie ends when he jumps onto a life safety net, but not before he muses in voiceover whether pursuing his fantasy was worth it for just “… a piece of ass”.
In Stevenson’s Hyatt Regency hotel room Herbert announces that he has pursued him through time in order to turn him in. A scuffle breaks out - Stevenson flees, Herbert in close pursuit.
Then … They find themselves each in side-by-side elevators heading down to the hotel lobby.
… and Now, this is the same view today should one crane up from the hotel’s lowest floor. Three of the elevators are visible from this vantage point (there’s two more, one around either side). The elevators have been replaced, now without external strip lights.
Then … Herbert makes the wrong choice trying to run down the up escalator in the lobby as Stevenson forces his way down the other.
… and Now, they have been updated, but the escalators are still there. Citysleuth got tired of waiting for two elevators to be here at the same time for the perfect match to the ‘Then’ image above. He was experiencing random motion watching them go up and down.
The chase continues through the adjacent Embarcadero Center complex of high-rise office buildings, shown here in this map. (When the movie was filmed 4 Embarcadero Center was not yet built).
Then … Stevenson runs out of the hotel; here he’s on the Promenade level of Three Embarcadero Center.
… and Now, he was running towards the footbridge that connects to Two Embarcadero Center.
Then … He flees across that footbridge.
… and Now, the bridge, crossing Davis Street, hasn’t changed; the planters, though similar at first sight, have slightly different bases.
Then … Which way did he go - across the footbridge or down the staircases that spiral down on either side of him?
… and Now, the same view, looking across the footbridge towards Two Embarcadero Center.
Then … Stevenson descends the steps leading down from the footbridge to Two Embarcadero Center.
… and Now, there’s a little more greenery today.
Then … Instead of crossing the footbridge Herbert runs down the spiral stairs to their lowest level.
… and Now, there’s now a large fern shrub planted there.
Then … Now Herbert is on the Lobby level of One Embarcadero Center running Guy past stainless steel sculptures. The cylindrical one on the left will be seen again a couple of times as the chase unfolds - it’s 82 feet tall.
… and Now, those sculptures, created in 1971 by Swiss artist Willi Gutmann, are still there but the surround has since been ‘modernized’.
Then … Teddy’s buddies drive him to link up with Charlotte at a photoshoot on the waterfront. Here they are heading north on Taylor approaching Broadway.
… and Now, take the trees away and you see a totally unchanged street over 40 year later - other than the mailbox on the right, that is.
Then … they make a downhill right turn into a very steep block of Broadway, this junction obviously chosen for the view. At left bright lights illuminate the stretch of Broadway that is North Beach’s red light district. Over to the right the TransAmerica high-rise office pyramid pierces the sky.
… and Now, it’s still a great view but even better at night.
Then … they drop him off at the corner of Market and Steuart in front of the Ferry Building (map). Market Street runs straight as an arrow as far the eye can see.
… and Now … note the streetcar tracks, not there in 1984, above. Market Street used to have as many as 4 sets of tracks beginning in 1906 until they were removed when the underground Muni Metro service began in the early 1980s. The tracks seen here today were installed for an historic streetcar service from the Castro to Fisherman's Wharf in 1995.
Here are two of the wonderful vintage streetcars on Market Street at the 1995 opening of the F Market service. They continue to invoke nostalgic delight today.
Then … Charlotte’s photoshoot is set up on the Embarcadero Plaza (formerly named Justin Herman Plaza) between the Ferry Building and the Embarcadero Center seen in the background. Note the giant illuminated tulip flower sculpture up top.
… and Now … a temporary padel racquet court currently occupies the space on the plaza where Charlotte’s photoshoot took place. The concrete tulip sculpture, by neofuturistic architect John Calvin Portman Jr., is still there.
Then … Teddy is expected - he is ushered in by a crew member whose hat shamelessly advertises the Hollywood company, Mole-Richardson, who provided the lighting for the shoot. Note the clock face behind Charlotte, brought in close by the telephoto lens.
… and Now … the clock, looking back across the plaza, is that on the Ferry Building tower.
In the early morning light the shoot is over and Charlotte’s limo whisks them back to her apartment. Hmmm. (Heading down Market Street they have just passed the same spot where Teddy was dropped off, three ‘Then’ images above).
Then … Armed with Stevenson’s address Herbert exits the chartered Bank of London at 465 California Street; he watches a woman hailing a cab then mimics her. The large building facing us at the end of California is the 1917 Southern Pacific Building at One Embarcadero.
… and Now, in today’s view the e-biker deliverymen arrayed outside a takeout restaurant out of the frame next to the bank is a common sight today across the city.
Then … The cabbie, asked to drive as fast as possible, complies by roaring through the city streets at breakneck speed. Here he crests California Street at Powell (incidentally, four blocks down the hill he will pass the bank where he picked up Herbert). Note the quaint signal booth on the corner at far right.
… and Now, it’s still there today. This junction is the only place where two cable car lines cross; the manned booth controls each passing car while the gripman drops the underground cable in order to coast over the one that crosses.
… in 1968 … the booth and the crossing cable car lines were filmed from above in the movie Petulia.
In 1935 the booth was knocked over by a reckless driver; It came to rest a short way down the hill in front of the Alta Casa Apartments entrance at 897 California, the corner building seen above (a newer building has since replaced the Alta Casa).
Then … They barrel down California, here approaching Grant Avenue (there’s the Southern Pacific Building again where California ends, with the Bay Bridge visible beyond). Chinatown’s iconic pagoda-styled Sing Fat building on the right and Sing Chong building on the left at Grant were built shortly after the 1906 earthquake in a style meant to look classically oriental to occidental eyes.
… and Now, this view hasn’t changed but ownership of the building at far right has - it’s now the Ritz-Carlton Hotel whereas when the movie was filmed, above, it was the home of Cogswell College.
Then … the cab reaches the end of California at the cable car terminus. Unlike the Powell Street Lines there is no turntable here because the California Line cable cars are double-ended.
… and Now, today’s tourists waiting to board the cars outnumber those in the 1970s.
Then … The cab arrives at the Hyatt Regency California Street entrance.
… and Now, that entrance is still used by those on foot but guests arriving by car are now dropped off around the corner on Drumm Street in the covered porte-cochère seen on the left. Note how it has been opened up by removing some of its original concrete posts.
Then … Our first view of the inside is the spectacular atrium enclosed within the balconies surrounding the hotel’s 17 stories. Opened in 1973 the brutalist-styled hotel immediately made an impact. The centerpiece sculpture, Eclipse, is by Charles O. Perry and behind it are pod-shaped glassed elevators that treat guests to breathtaking views.
… and Now, the floor layout has changed over time but the sculpture and the elevators have not.
Then … Herbert gazes up in awe as he enters the atrium from street level. (That’s one of the elevators on the right next to the escalator).
… and Now, this is the only escalator serving the atrium - here it is now.
Stevenson can’t believe that Herbert has tracked him down through time.
