This location is especially interesting because it doesn't exist any more. Long gone. It's Sutro's Baths and Museum, built in 1896 by Adolph Sutro, which was located next to the Cliff House on Point Lobos Avenue at the north end of Ocean Beach (map). Sutro's was in its heyday hugely popular as a go-to family entertainment place and featured seven different pools and a large concert hall. By the time the movie was filmed in 1958 the pools had been closed to the public, replaced by an ice rink.
Then ... Dancer forces Dorothy and daughter Cindy to go with them to Sutro's in case the drug ring doesn't buy his explanation of why he failed to retrieve the drugs from Cindy's doll.
... and Now, viewed from the same spot, Sutro's sadly is but a distant memory.
Here’s a great photo of Sutro’s entrance taken around the time the movie was filmed. It closely matches the movie shot above but in glorious color. (source: Michael Gorth Collections).
... in 1952, this is an earlier vintage photo of Sutro's taken from Sutro Heights across the road. Steep stairs inside the entrance connected to the baths spread out below. Note the towers on the left flanking the entrance; they were removed by the time the movie was filmed six years later.
... and Now, only foundations survive after a suspicious fire destroyed the entire structure in 1966. A 70 year old icon gone forever.
Then ... A policeman cruising by on his motorcycle spots their parked car - he recognizes the plate number and pulls over to call in for reinforcements. This shot looking south down the length of Ocean Beach gives us a good view of the Cliff House restaurant, situated right next to Sutro's (map). The Cliff House has occupied this site in one form or another since 1863 having been rebuilt twice after devastating fires in 1894 and 1907.
... and Now, the always popular Cliff House with its lovely views of Seal Rocks and Ocean Beach is still in business. Look at how much the beach has changed.
This 1958 photo, taken the same year the movie was released, also adds color to the movie view. The beach ‘pier’, the intake for the Lurline Baths, was removed a few years after, in 1965.
When the bulletin comes through Lt. Guthrie and Inspector Quine are driving north along Mason between Bay and North Point Streets. They do a quick U-turn (below) and head post-haste for Sutro's.
Then ... The Fairmont and Mark Hopkins hotels can be seen at the top of Mason on Nob Hill.
... and Now, the Fairmont Tower extension, built after the movie was filmed, is on the horizon on the left. The highrise in the center, also post-movie, is the Royal Towers Apartments at 1750 Taylor on Russian Hill.
Inside Sutro's, Dancer, instead of dropping the drugs in the hiding place and leaving as instructed, hangs around until the drug ring's head honcho 'The Man' (Vaughn Taylor) shows up, in a wheelchair. Dancer's attempt to explain the failed third pickup falls on deaf ears. Director Siegel's cinematography from these scenes fortuitously left us with rare video footage of the interior of Sutro's.
When 'The Man' tells him his days are numbered Dancer flies into a rage and pushes him to his death through the railing to the skating rink below. He then rushes with the drugs up the stairs to the street exit where he and his cohorts flee from the police with the terrified mother and daughter cowering as hostages in the back of their car.
There were several scenes in the movie in Archie's apartment, all filmed on location at 307 Filbert Street on the Filbert Steps. In order to have a large enough space for the shoot the adjacent second floor apartments, B and C, were combined into one by opening a wall between them.
Then ... This panoramic composite captures Archie's living room with the front door to the right. Appropriately for a bachelor, there's a tiny kitchen, This is apartment C of 307 Filbert.
... and Now, below is apartment C today, not a whole lot different except for an updated kitchen and a more contemporary decor.
Then ... this is a view from the same living room looking towards the front door. Archie's bedroom is seen through the wall opening exposing the adjacent apartment B.
... and Now, the same apartment C view today with the wall opening filled in, back to normal.
Then ... This view shows Archie up in his loft.
... and Now, the loft is the bedroom in apartment B.
Then ... And this is what Archie sees looking down from the loft to Petulia who has spent the night in his bed.
... and Now, the same view today in apartment B. Its living room was converted to the bedroom for the movie, necessitating removal of the fireplace which is seen here back in its normal position. Note the same fluorescent lighting strip, still there below the loft railing.
Then ... And finally, here's a view from the bed looking towards the wall opened up for the movie, with apartment C visible through it.
... and Now, the same wall of apartment B (below) has a door which was hidden by the bookshelves in the movie (above). On the right is this apartment's kitchen, masked by fake closet doors for the movie (there's a better view of them above in the second 'Then' image from the top). Cleverly done.
After the picnic in the park Archie brings his friend May to his apartment, 307 Filbert Street on the Filbert Steps in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood.
Then ... When they arrive, just a few steps up from Montgomery Street, Petulia is waiting for them and she has brought somebody along with her.
... and Now, today's view looks as it did then with a view of the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena Island across the Bay.
Then ... Petulia has brought Mr. Howard of the Companions of the Evergreen Lodge to retrieve the tuba. Archie's apartment entrance, number 307, is behind him.
... and Now, other than the railings these two buildings (below) haven't changed in over 40 years. The Christmas tree adds a seasonal touch - coincidentally one of the interior apartment scenes later in the movie is at a Christmas gathering.
Bigelow has been told he only has days to live because of a poison in his system. In disbelief he rushes to another doctor for a second opinion.
Then ... This is the Southern Pacific Hospital at 1400 Fell Street at Baker in the Haight district, facing Golden Gate Park's Panhandle. It was built in 1908 by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a medical center for its employees throughout the West.
... and Now, the hospital eventually became uneconomical and was sold in 1968, becoming the Harkness Hospital. It was finally closed down after several years of large losses. It now houses Mercy Terrace, a senior housing retirement facility.
... and Now, here's another view of the imposing structure today.
The second doctor confirms the diagnosis. He dramatically turns out the light to show the lab sample glowing in the dark - a luminous toxin. Again, a dumbstruck Bigelow hears that he has at most one week to live. Not one to mince words, the doctor tells him "You've been murdered".