They arrive at Irene's apartment house at 1360 Montgomery Street, Telegraph Hill (map). The mid-1930s art deco Malloch house caused much controversy when it was built due to its (for those days) large size. Irene's apartment is No. 10 on the 3rd floor.
Then ... the house sits at the top of the lower section of the Filbert steps. Union Street is at the top of the hill, past the narrow Alta Street on the left.
... and Now, This sgrafitto ornamented Streamline Moderne building has hardly changed in over 60 years, in fact it looks even better now.
The front of the Malloch house features etched windows and an unusual glass-block elevator. Below is a night view of the elevator shown later in the movie compared with how it looks today.
Then ... ... and Now
Then ... The building has been meticulously maintained and still retains its original art deco accoutrements, as here in the open lobby.
... and Now, it's great to see something that's totally unchanged in so long!
Then ... And as Irene leads Parry from the elevator to her 3rd floor apartment we can't help but admire the etched glass windows and stylish railings.
... and Now, same glass, same railings, even the same elevator call button. That incongruous red sign though is a result of the regulated era we now live in.
When CitySleuth stopped by here the dweller in Irene's apartment had obviously seen Dark Passage - there was a Bogart cutout displayed in the window
Here's a closer look at it.
The police arrive to investigate the murder.
Then ... the camera view from atop the Hill Street tunnel shows the Bunker Hill Central Police Station down at street level left of center, and at right, receding into the distance, South Hill Street leading to downtown Los Angeles.
... vintage photos, showing at left, Central Police Station on 1st Street in the 1940s, and at right in 1939, South Hill Street from 1st Street with the tall Title Guarantee Building at Pershing Square way down the street.
... and Now, Hill Street south from 1st Street today. The only recognizable structure from 1950 is the distant Title Guarantee Building, still there.
Johnson witnesses a man being shot and narrowly escapes when the killer takes a pot-shot at him.
Then ... The car takes off, leaving the body behind. Note the two houses behind the dead man - on the right is the Harmonia Apartments at 138 N. Hill Street and the one to the left is 150 N. Hill Street on the corner of Court Street.
from 1924 ... this vintage aerial photo shows us where those two houses were, on the Hill Street block above the Hill Street Tunnel in Los Angeles. The tunnel's double bore, the left one for streetcars, the right one for cars, is seen left of center at the bottom of the photo. The old Hall of Records building, long gone, is at center right and the Hotel Broadway is dead center, stepping up the slope where the Court Flight cable car used to run.
... and Now, a Google satellite image of this city block. Bunker Hill was flattened and hauled away starting in the 1950s and redeveloped as an extension of the Civic Center. The buildings seen above and in the movie capture no longer exist. As a reference point, the Los Angeles City Hall is just visible in the top right corner.
Don't ask why the opening scene of a San Francisco movie was filmed on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles, but it was. The movie opens as Frank Johnson (Ross Elliot) climbs some steep steps while out walking his dog. The location, in fact the whole neighborhood hill, was levelled and carried away in the 1950's, not long after the movie was filmed. The action took place above the Hill Street tunnel at the edge of busy downtown a few blocks from City Hall.
... in the 1930s, this vintage photo shows the Hill Street tunnel, looking north on Hill from 1st, as it still looked when the movie was filmed. The steps climb up on the right side above the tunnel, to the Hill Street block on top where the rest of the opening scene was filmed.
and Now, unbelievably this whole hill and much more around it were literally hauled away to clear space for a Civic Center development project. This photo, no kidding, was taken from the same spot as above; the Los Angeles County Courthouse is on the left.