Then … Amy takes Herbert to a movie at the Cinema at Ghirardelli Square at 901 Beach Street in the Marina District where he’s scared out of his wits by the violent action, the likes of which he has never seen before. Below, they have just exited the theater. The movie name is interesting, The most recent Exorcist movie back then then was Exorcist 2 … this was a dig by director Meyer at the Hollywood penchant for sequels (but years later he would himself co-write the sequels Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.)
… And Now, the cinema is no longer there; the site now houses commercial offices.
This Dec 1974 photo shows the cinema as it looked whenTime After Time was filmed. with the same Marquee sign. The preceding tenant in the building (it used to be an old Power House) was the Hungry-I nightclub which had moved there in the 1960s from its better-known North Beach location. The cinema opened in Aug 1971 but never did well, closing in Dec 1986.The movie entrance was the 3rd archway from the left; today that has been remodeled as a matching window and the entrance is now in the first archway on the left. On the right, Polk Street tees into Beach.
Then … They walk by a newspaper stand not noticing, but we do, the chilling headline … is Stevenson up to his old mayhem again? Behind the gawkers across the street is an interesting building …
… and Now, this is part of the ship-shape ship-shaped port-hole windowed Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park.
Then … By now Herbert is more than happy to tag along with Amy and when she invites him to her place for dinner he readily agrees. Her home happens to be in the Marina district across from the Palace of Fine Arts (we get to see it later in the movie) so her way home after buying some food she swings by to introduce him to the grand edifice.
… and Now, the Palace was one of the many structures built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It underwent an extensive rebuilding program from 1964 to 1974. This view looks across the lagoon from Bay Street near the corner with Baker Street. The fountain is still there!
This south-east facing enhanced vintage aerial photo shows the grand scale of the glorious exposition. The Palace, at lower right, is the sole on-site surviving structure. (There’s one other survivor, Firehouse No. 9, now called Firehouse No. 35, which was moved in 1915 to the Embarcadero next to Pier 22).
Then … She walks him through the Palace’s grand rotunda. Originally a wood and plaster structure, the replacement, seen here, was built with steel and concrete.
… and Now, the Palace is exactly as it was other than an accumulation of grime but the Baker Street residences in the distance have undergone significant changes.
There’s nothing quite like an intimate dinner and a glass of wine to put one in the mood. He stays over and they do it.
But he is jolted out of his reverie by a radio news bulletin about a second North Beach brutal murder of a prostitute. Startled, he realizes who must be responsible.
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 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.
This 1951 aerial photo shows where he was, circled - on a small bridge at the west end of the boardwalk in the center of the harbor. 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 but the 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; its street level has been remodeled into retail shop.
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. Note its blade sign as 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 is definitely a back lot location - it’s nothing like the 1940s 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. The club owner Phil Dinardo (Robert Alda, father of actor Alan Alda) has a thing for his star entertainer so he stops by, curious about who he is. Knowing he’s married, she discreetly comes up with another name for him.
On the set between takes the two stars were photographed at that same table with director Vincent Sherman.
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.
