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 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. This vantage point is a little high, a lower level apartment would have a view matching the movie’s.
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 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 is currently set to revolve 6 hours each day.
Then … Dr. Talbot lived in an upscale neighborhood with splendid views of the nearby Golden Gate Bridge. This is Seacliff at the northwest corner of San Francisco. The movie doesn’t make clear which specific house is his but the center one facing us below is 55 25th Avenue; above it Baker Beach stretches towards the bridge alongside the Golden Gate strait that separates San Francisco and the Marin headlands.
… and Now, 80 years later mature trees line the street but the houses are mostly unchanged.
Then … he never tires of admiring his view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The interior house scenes were filmed on a sound stage at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California; for this shot a rear projection was used to set the location.
… and Now, here’s that view today, taken at Baker Beach a short walk from the Seacliff homes.
Talbot and his family live a privileged life including the services of a maid. They don’t know it yet but their world will soon be turned upside down.
Then … The next morning he heads to work down Jones Street in Nob Hill behind the wheel of a swanky Buick Super Eight sedan. The store on the corner is the Sutter-Jones Pharmacy at 798 Sutter Street.
… and Now, The buildings along this block of Jones haven’t changed since the movie was filmed. The corner store is now a church providing a meeting place and religious services for Christian Scientists.
Here’s a recently-for-sale vintage 1941 Buick Eight Sedan, an elegant automobile most fitting for a successful professional like Doctor Talbot. Compare it to his in the Then images above and below, the only difference being the cool art deco flares at each end of the bumpers, absent on the movie car.
Then … He turns into Sutter Street, pulling over in front of his clinic. A much larger high-rise medical building can be seen way down Sutter on the left side - the 1929 art deco beauty at 450 Sutter.
… and Now, the Marriot Hotel was built next to it in 1972 and partially blocks 450 Sutter from here but the rear section can still be seen. It continues to be a prime address for medical, surgical and dental professionals.
Then … He enters the building housing his clinic.
… and Now, this is the Belgravia Apartments at 795 Sutter on the corner of Jones - in the real world there was no clinic here. (The next time the street cleaners pass by they would do well to clean their sign).
Here’s a 2023 photo of the Belgravia in all its stately grandeur.
Then … In the clinic Talbot examines Walter Bailey, a patient with a heart condition who later will figure prominently in the doctor’s unraveling.
Then … As Stevenson flees down the street from the Embarcadero Center he runs into the path of an oncoming car. The yellowish building diagonally across the junction is the Eastman Kodak Company Building built in 1913.
… and Now, this is the junction of Battery Street (crossing) and Sacramento Street, facing west. The Eastman Kodak Company Building has since been demolished, replaced in 1989 by the Embarcadero West office high rise seen below.
Here’s a 1913 photograph of the just-built Eastman Kodak Company Building at 241 Battery Street, between Halleck Alley on the left and Sacramento Street on the right, unchanged when the movie was filmed. The building’s styling along Halleck was duplicated on the Sacramento side, as seen in the Then image above.
Then … the car strikes him, shocking the crowd of pedestrians. Note the building across Battery with the massive concrete wall in front of it …
… and Now, … that was the rear of the historic 1924 Federal Reserve Bank building (it’s front entrance is at 400 Sansome Street), fortified to facilitate safe transfer of gold and currency. In 1983 the Fed bank moved elsewhere but this building remained; today it’s called the Bently Reserve, address 301 Battery, its interior remodeled into private offices and an event space. In the mid-80s the massive wall was removed and the pillars seen below were built. They mirror the marble originals at the 400 Sansome entrance but are of look-alike faux construction.
Here’s a 1964 photo of the Federal Reserve Bank looking across Battery Street that shows the security wall seen in the Then image above.
Then … Stevenson, injured but conscious, was transported to the hospital emergency room in Building 9 at 2550 23rd Street, part of the San Francisco General Hospital complex in the Potrero district. Herbert goes there to check on his condition.
… and Now, … the Emergency Room at SF General has since been moved to a different location; Building 9 now houses various medical offices. Note that since it is no longer necessary to accommodate incoming patients on gurneys, the approach ramp has been replaced by steps.
This current SF General campus map shows Building 9 on 23rd Street facing Utah (arrowed) and the new location of the Emergency Room
Inside, he is stunned when a nurse tells him that an accident victim brought in under a ‘John Doe’ had died just 20 minutes earlier.
