Then … While Talbot’s wife is out of town for the weekend he impulsively drops by Dinardo’s, the nightclub where Nora sings. He’s seen here crossing a small bridge in Fisherman’s Wharf; behind him across the harbor are businesses along Jefferson Street with Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill rising in the background. The neon-signed restaurant at 243 Jefferson Street directly below Coit Tower is DiMaggio’s Famous Restaurant, founded in 1937 by the five DiMaggio brothers .
A c. 1951 aerial photo showed the bridge, circled. The white arrow indicates from where on the northern-most block of Jones Street (since renamed Al Scoma Way) the above movie scene was filmed.
Check out this 2015 photo matching the movie’s Then image above. It reveals a gap where the small bridge, an extension of the boardwalk that bisected the harbor, used to be - it was removed in 1960 to allow harbor access for larger fishing boats. DiMaggio’s, since moved upstairs to an added 2nd story, was still there after 78 years in business.
…and Now, the same view today. The gap where the bridge was is even wider now and he venerable DiMaggio’s has been replaced by the Supreme Crab restaurant.
DiMaggio’s distinctive neon sign was captured in this 1950s photo. Both it and the tall vertical sign are clearly seen in the movie image above.
…and Now, the same view today.
Then … Next he walks past steaming crab stands outside A. Sabella Fish Grotto (note at far right the movie’s cinematographer James Wong Howe in a cheeky cameo). Note too the restaurant’s neon blade sign mounted at 45 degrees on the corner. This is meant to be at 2770 Taylor Street at the junction with Jefferson where indeed A.Sabella, a real-world restaurant, was located but to CitySleuth this is clearly an impressive Warner Brothers back lot recreation.
… and Now, here’s the actual corner today where Applebee’s Restaurant now occupies the original upstairs A. Sabella space and its street level has been remodeled into retail shops space.
Evidence pointing to a back lot location? Take a look at these two vintage photos of A. Sabella taken from different directions; the left photo from 1952 and the right one later in the 1950s. It had a similar blade sign to that seen in the Then image but the words were formatted differently. What’s more, the tiled street-level frontage didn’t match that in the movie.
He walks on, approaching the entrance on the right to Dinardo’s night club This shot confirms a back lot location - it’s nothing like the actual Taylor Street block.
Inside, Talbot takes a seat at a table just as Nora, strikingly attired, begins her performance. Ann Sheridan herself sang this and another number in the movie.
Cigarette smoke, a sign of the times, adds to the ambience. This too was almost certainly filmed at the Warner Brothers studios.
After the song she joins Talbot at his table. The club owner Phil Dinardo (Robert Alda, father of actor Alan Alda) who has a thing for his star entertainer, stops by, curious about who he is. Knowing he’s married, she discreetly comes up with another name for him.
Between takes the two stars were photographed on the set with director Vincent Sherman at the same table filmed above.
And finally, let’s give credit to Nora Prentiss’s renowned cinematographer, James Wong Howe. His stellar career began in the Silent Movie era; he was finally awarded, below, the Best Cinematographer Oscar in 1956 for The Rose Tattoo (the first Asian American to win an Oscar). He went on to win a second in 1964 for Hud.
Then… Amy suggests they take a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. Herbert is fascinated by her futuristic transportation machine and carefully watches with great interest as she operates each control. Filmed from the Marin County side, this view looks towards San Francisco to the Marina left of center, the Presidio on the right and Mount Sutro/Twin Peaks in the hazy distance.
… and Now, today’s view from the same vantage point, Battery Spencer on Conzelman Road at the Marin headlands (map), shows little change (the Sutro Tower communication mast that was built next to Twin Peaks 6 years in 1973, barely visible above, stands out more clearly here).
Then… She takes him to Muir Woods, a hugely popular secluded redwood forest on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County (map). Named after famed naturalist John Muir, it has been a U.S. National Monument since 1908. They stop and admire siamese twin trees, joined at the hip, one of several throughout the forest.
CitySleuth’s best guess for this location is that they were on the Redwood Creek Trail, filmed from the higher elevation Hillside Trail.
… and Now, much of the Redwood Creek Trail has been paved for easier walking but it has retained the rustic style of railings seen in the Then image above.
A number of movies have over the years included scenes from Muir Woods, examples being Petulia (1968) andSudden Fear (1952) in which Joan Crawford and Jack Palance (below) strolled along the same stretch of the Redwood Creek Trail pictured above . Back then, 27 years earlier, there were no railings. (The leaning tree remnant in the middle of the trail was removed years ago).
Amongst a quiet stand of young redwoods they share a little more about each other with Herbert being the more reticent.
Then … After a long day in the clinic Dr. Talbot prepares to leave for home. Through the window the lights of the Bay Bridge trace out its upper and lower roadways as they traverse the massive concrete anchorage at the center of the span. Also prominent - the Ferry Building Clock Tower on the waterfront.
… and Now, For the above studio shot the window view was most likely a painting of the bridge as seen from an apartment building on the 1300 block of Jones Street, the only area in town where the relative lateral positions of the bridge anchorage and the Ferry Building would match the movie view. Here for example is today’s view looking down Clay Street from 1310 Jones, apt. 1201. The ferry building is behind the Embarcadero Center high-rises but a close approximation of its position is indicated by the superimposed icon.
In 1961 … This vintage photo taken from Powell Street lower down the hill on Clay Street captured a good view of the bridge anchorage and the Ferry Buiding tower, closer in but similar to the movie view before the Financial District transformation. On a trivia note, the landmark brick building on the right at 965 Clay Street, designed by Julia Morgan in 1932, was for more than 50 years the Chinese YWCA. It was shuttered and renovated following significant damage in the 1989 earthquake; the current tenant, since 2001, is the Chinese Historical Society Museum.
Then … Stepping out of his clinic he is startled by screeching brakes and a scream from across the street. Note the Mei-Ling House restaurant next door at 777 Sutter Street; had he not had a meal awaiting him at home he may well have popped in to enjoy some chop suey, the Chinese dish of choice in those days.
… and Now, 777 Sutter became the home for 57 years of the pioneering top-notch French restaurant Fleur de Lys. It has been shuttered since 2014 but a fleur de lys emblem is still emblazoned on the awning. In 2017 a developer bought the property and has filed plans to build a 26 story ‘skinny tower’ housing 36 apartments. For shame!
Then … He rushes across Sutter to help. The neon-signage of the Sutter-Jones drugstore announce its presence on the corner.
… and Now, it’s been almost 80 years but today’s view up Jones is almost completely unchanged, with one major exception: the absence of the O'Farrell, Jones & Hyde cable car tracks. The line was shut down and abandoned in 1954, seven years after this scene was filmed. The streetcar tracks crossing in the foreground along Sutter are also long gone.
Then … A van driver has hit a pedestrian - he jumps out and rushes to her. This corner location has Warner Brothers backlot written all over it!
… and Now, here’s the real-world corner with Cafe Bean at 800 Sutter Street in place of the movie’s fictitious Central Drug Co.
She isn’t too badly injured, a bruised knee, so he takes her up to his clinic where a dab of an appropriate lotion seems to do the trick. They chat, she somewhat sassy and he, to her amusement, stern and proper.
Then … She tells him her name is Norah Prentiss and she’s a nightclub singer. She lives “at the Golden Gate Apartments down the street on the other side from the clinic” so the chivalrous doctor accompanies her to make sure she arrives safely. They seem to be heading towards the brightly lit entrance opposite.
… and Now, that building is the Lucerne Apartments at 766 Sutter (there was no Golden Gate Apartments in this neighborhood).
Then … This closer look at the apartment entrance as they arrive is puzzling. What's clear is that this too is a studio backlot location. What’s not clear is why the filmmakers went to great lengths to duplicate most of the architectural details of the Lucerne Apartments entrance, even its steps, but abruptly cut off the two windows on the right side (compared to the Then image above.) What’s more, the car parked in front doesn’t match and the exterior lamp is higher up. This kind of continuity goof is unusual, even in low budget noirs.
… and Now, the entrance today. It matches the movie’s wide shot.
As they part she playfully apologizes for being “fresh” with him; by now he’s mellowed a little and doesn’t seem to mind.
As regards the title of this post? OK … CitySleuth is a Beatles fan.
Herbert, having nowhere else to go, takes a cable car to the Chartered Bank of London where Amy works. The cable car sign, reading “Presidio Ave, California and Market Streets“, survived into the 1970s even though the line was cut back from Presidio Ave to Van Ness Ave in 1954. The bank, at 465 California, was described in an earlier post when Herbert and Amy first met.
Then … Inside the bank Amy glances over and sees Herbert through a window. Note the Bank Of London name on the window pane. Across the street there’s a narrow alley between two buildings.
… and Now, He was standing in front of those windows on the right in Leidesdorff Street, around the corner from the bank’s California Street entrance; this view looks south towards Pine Street. The bank name has long since been removed, the windows have been partially frosted for privacy and, across the street on the left, the narrow alley is now closed off with a gate (the building corners on each side of the gate match the movie view of them above).
Then … He peeks through the window, seeing Amy grab her purse and dashing out.
… and Now, the frosted window prevents passers-by from seeing through it but from just inside, here’s the same view. The fine old banking hall is now used as a private gathering and event space.
She invites him out to lunch, her treat, at a place “… with a view”. It’s an offer he can’t refuse.
Then … They head up to the Equinox, a revolving restaurant at the top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the Ferry Building in the Financial District. It has views in all directions including this one looking straight down to, at top right, the corner of California and Drumm. Market Street runs diagonally on the left.
… and Now, here’s the same view. The balconies on the right are part of the hotel.
Then … An annular section of the floor inside the outer perimeter of the restaurant forms a slowly moving platform that rotates counter-clockwise taking just under an hour for a complete revolution; diners seated on it experience a leisurely 360 degree tour of the city. (From their vantage point the city (and the windows) appear to rotate to their right.) Down below, the double-decker Embarcadero Freeway runs along the waterfront, hiding and isolating the piers. That’s Angel Island across the bay in the top left corner.
… and Now, this particular view now looks straight out at the 45-story Four Embarcadero Center office building built in 1982 after the movie was filmed (but you can still glimpse Angel Island). At bottom right the waterfront piers have been visible from here ever since the ugly freeway was demolished in 1991 and 1992.
Then … Amy babbles away, completely stricken by this fascinating man. This was beyond acting - the two actually fell in love on the set of the movie, marrying the next year in September, 1980. The two office buildings behind her are Two Embarcadero Center on the left and Three Embarcadero Center; the closer-in white structure is one of the hotel’s service shaft vents.
… and Now, note that the lower half of the windows are now uncovered.
Then … Herbert for his part is amazed at how forward she is …
… and Now, behind him the Bay Bridge reaches out to Yerba Buena Island. Closer in, we see another hotel service shaft vent and beyond it, both Then and Now, is the flag-poled top of the Ferry Building Clock Tower.
This recent aerial photo looking past the Ferry Building Clock Tower and along Market Street gives a good perspective of the restaurant perched atop the Hyatt Regency. The hotel closed it down in 2007 and it sat stationary until 2024 when it reopened as the Regency Club operating as an exclusive lounge and event space for preferred hotel guests and Hyatt members. The restaurant currently revolves for 6 hours each day.
