This next scene, supposedly in San Francisco, was filmed in Los Angeles (why?). This location was on a hill - Court Hill in the Bunker Hill neighborhood - destined to be leveled in the 1950s and 1960s for a huge civic redevelopment project.
Then ... Miller is seen walking on Court Street. To get there he has just climbed the steep Court Flight Steps, from Broadway between 1st and Temple streets. Behind him is the old Hall Of Records (torn down in 1979) across Broadway.
... c. 1940 ... this vintage photo shows a wider view looking down the same stretch of Court Street revealing more of the Hall Of Justice with City Hall behind it. The structure at the end of the street is the parking area at the upper terminus of the Court Flight railway, still operational in 1940 but torn down by the time the movie was filmed.
... and Now, Court Street has been eradicated and the hill carted away to make way for this parking lot. City Hall is in the background but the old Hall of Records was torn down in 1979.
in 1954 ... and here, just two years after the movie was filmed, are the Court Flight steps leading up the hill past the Hotel Broadway to Court Street. From 1905 until 1943 the Court Flight funicular railway operated on this hill.
Then ... Miller turns onto Hill Street (atop the Hill Street Tunnel) and watches some kids playing stickball (map). He clumsily returns the ball, interfering with the game, and is rebuked for his efforts. Always the loser, he slinks off crestfallen.
From 'Woman On The Run' ... Interestingly, this exact location was used in the movie Woman On The Run (below). The furthest house, 150 North Hill Street, is the same one seen above and the house at far right is the Harmonia apartment building at 138 North Hill Street.
Fortunately for us a vintage aerial photo exists which captured this location as it was when it was still there...
... in 1924 ... the arrow marks where the stickball game took place, on the Hill Street block above the Hill Street Tunnel (the tunnel's double bore is just left of center at the bottom of the photo). To the right of the arrow are the two houses seen in the screen capture above. The old Hall of Records building is at center right and the Hotel Broadway is dead center, stepping up the slope to Court Street where the Court Flight funicular used to run. Court Street crosses Hill Street just behind the arrow.
So why was this scene filmed in L.A. and not San Francisco? CitySleuth surmises that during editing the director decided to add more illustrative footage of Miller as social misfit. It would be convenient to do it close to home.
Scottie follows Madeleine downtown to the rear entrance of a well-known flower shop, Podesta Baldocchi's. The rear entrance, in an alley, was a figment of Hitchcock's imagination since Podesta Baldocchi did not have one. This is an interesting scene in that two different alleys were used and cleverly edited to appear as one. Here's how it was done ...
Madeleine turns from Grant into a tiny alley alongside the building housing the flowershop. Note the green Podesta Baldocchi vehicles on each side of the road.
... and Now, the alley is Ashburton, a short cul-de-sac across from Campton Place between Sutter and Post (location 1 on this map).
Then ... But when Scottie follows her into the alley, this isn't Ashburton - it's Claude Lane, several blocks away, which runs between Bush and Sutter near Kearny Street (location 2 on the same map). Scottie parks and watches Madeleine enter the rear entrance.
... and Now, Claude Lane today is usually a busy alley with restaurants and boutiques but CitySleuth stopped by on a holiday and found it deserted.
But as Scottie gets out of his car to follow her, this is back in Ashburton! That's Grant Avenue crossing behind him.
Then ... and when he follows her into the flower shop, we are back in Claude Lane. Another alley was presumably used because Ashburton, next to the flower shop, was a short cul-de-sac unsuitable for the rest of the action.
... in 2004 ... the first doorway on the left, below, by then bricked up, was the one used for Podesta Baldocchi's rear entrance. This was the back door of the business at 239 Kearny. Sutter Street crosses at the bottom of the alley.
... and Now, the trendy restaurant Gitane has been at this site since 2008. The colorful mural still reveals faint outlines of the original doorway and window openings. (The same drainpipe on the left is a frame of reference for comparing these last three images).
Scottie follows Madeleine's Jaguar on the first of many jaunts across town. This time she is headed for a flower shop, Podesta Baldocchi. Every block traversed is listed and described sequentially. In this sequence an asterisk (*) indicates a route discontinuity, ie a location jump.
In the wee small hours of the morning after the fundraiser and still wearing her evening finery, Petulia is shown, in a flashback, heaving bricks through O'Dell's Pawn Shop window to get at a tuba that happened to catch her eye.
Then ... Across the street is Ginsberg's Dublin Pub
Ginsberg's is still there, located at 400 Bay Street at Mason at the north end of North Beach. This would imply that the pawn shop would be opposite, at 401 Bay Street ...
... from 1968, but the street directory entry reveals that there was a 12 unit apartment building there, not a pawn shop, so O'Dell's was a studio creation with a virtual address of 401 Bay Street. Today Trader Joe's is at that location.
... and Now, After all these years Ginsberg's has finally closed its doors. Here's how it looked in 2015.