Scottie and Midge visit Pop Leibel (Konstantin Shayne), owner of the Argosy Book Store to find out if he knew who Carlotta Valdes was. He recalled that the McKittrick Hotel was built by a rich married man for a young girl, Carlotta. They had a child who he took in but he turned Carlotta out. She slowly lost her mind and finally took her life ... "by her own hand".
Then ... The book shop was created and filmed in the Paramount Pictures studios using a projected street scene for the window view. The shop location is inferred from this view which included passing cable cars. The stores across the street are on the east side of the 200 block of Powell Street. Macintosh, at 222 Powell, was a men's clothing store.
... from 1955 ... below, a vintage photo showing that same block, including the Macintosh store, as it was not long before Vertigo was filmed.
... and Now, the window view today. The Union Square Gallery Market is now where Macintosh used to be.
... from 1959 ... the bookstore's window view was filmed from the entrance of the Manx Hotel at 225 Powell Street, which makes it the virtual location of the book shop (map). This vintage photo shows the Manx as it was when Vertigo was filmed.
... and Now, here's the same block today. Cable cars still run past the hotel, now the Villa Florence.
According to the excellent Hitchcock locations book 'Footsteps In The Fog', the interiors of the Argosy Book Shop were modeled after the Argonaut Book Shop, still in business, which has specialized in Western historical books and maps since 1941. The shop was at 336 Kearny Street when Vertigo was filmed then in 1969 it moved to 786 Sutter. The photos below taken in the original Kearny Street Argonaut certainly show similar features to Hitchcock's Argosy, namely the mezzanine at the rear of the store, its staircase and the arch over the doorway.
But regarding the Argosy's exterior, it's different from the Argonaut, which had a central doorway (above).
Then ... This shot of Scottie and Midge after they leave the shop shows a large picture window with carved wooden posts on either side and an entrance door to the right. CitySleuth has found a location that may have inspired this exterior look ...
... in 2003 ... the Tillman Place Book Shop in Tillman Place across from Podesta Baldocchi's flower shop (another Vertigo location just a few blocks from the Manx hotel) was another well-known City book store, in business for over 50 years before closing down in 2003. The photo below taken just after the closing has the same storefront design as the Argosy with carved window posts and an entrance on the right. Hitchcock was known for being a stickler for location details and often used real places as a guide. The Tillman Place storefront disappeared when it and the store next to it were turned into the Zaza restaurant in 2004.
The sniper is at it again. Miller is lurking on a downtown rooftop - the roof of 14 Mint Plaza (called 54 Mint Street when the movie was filmed), a narrow building running between the narrow Jessie and Stevenson Streets (map). It's a half block south of Market Street, behind the old 5th Street Mint. Studio and location footage were seamlessly merged to create the scene and two buildings were used to appear as one.
Then ... The sniper looks down from his vantage point
... and Now, the same view, looking along Stevenson towards 5th Street. The rear of 14 Mint Plaza is now painted white.
Then ... Miller sets his sights on an unsuspecting woman below him on Stevenson Street. Behind him you can just see a painter starting to climb up a smokestack.
... and Now, 14 Mint Plaza, on the left with the four balconies, viewed looking down Stevenson in the other direction, with the same smokestack next to it. It belongs to the NRG Energy Center, a steam generation plant which was run by PG&E when the movie was filmed (map).
This 1940s image looking east down Golden Gate Avenue captured the smokestack on the right. (Take note SF Public Works … the road surface was in great shape then. It can be done).
Suddenly the painter sees the sniper and starts yelling a warning to the people below, not a smart idea if you are dangling from a rope within easy range. Sure enough Miller, angry for being distracted from his original target, fires and seals the fate of the fifth victim. This shot and the one above were filmed in the studio with a projection screen behind showing the smokestack.
The man who played the role of the painter was Ralph Clark, a San Francisco steeplejack well-known for his daring stunts. Below are two vintage photos of him at work: at left, installing a cross atop St. Paulus Lutheran Church in the Western Addition in 1950 and at right hanging from the Southern Pacific Building at 65 Market Street in 1951.
Then ... This however is certainly location footage ... still on the roof of 14 Mint Plaza, Miller makes his getaway, captured in this composited panorama.
... and Now, from the same spot, we can still see Potrero Hill in the distance and that white office building on Mission Street.
Then ... This is interesting - we next see the sniper climbing down a ladder from the roof towards a fire escape balcony, but this is a different building! It's the one opposite the smokestack building across Stevenson. This upper half of the building has since been removed but the lower half is still there.
Then ... And here, below, he continues down the building's fire escape. Note where the upper section of the building started, in the top left corner.
... and Now, the upper section of the building has been removed but the lower part is still recognizable. The upper row of three bricked-in windows below are the same as those above. Also remaining is the bracket to the left of the upper left window.
Then ... He climbs down the rest of the way and jumps to the pavement on Stevenson.
... and Now, the windows are bricked in but the bracket mounting holes over to the left and the two protruding pipes below them can still be seen. The red paint covering urban graffitti is an unfortunate sign of the times - in many ways the past was a better time.
Bullitt's boss in the police force is Captain Bennett (Simon Oakland). He is a church-going man and is shown below taking his family up the steps of Grace Cathedral, on the corner of Taylor and California, where he finds district attorney Chalmers waiting for him.
Then ... The landmark structure was built on the site of the railroad baron Charles Crocker's residential mansion which had been destroyed in the 1906 fire. Construction began in 1928 and when it was completed in 1964 it was the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the nation.
... and Now, the George Gibbs Memorial Hall which stood in front of the cathedral (just visible at the right edge of the movie capture) has been removed, making way for a grander expanse of steps up to the cathedral.
Then ... On the balcony, an angry Chalmers tries but fails to get Bennett to reveal where Bullitt has hidden the witness. The view behind them is of Huntington Park, formerly the site of the Collis Huntington mansion, looking towards the Pacific Union Club, formerly the James Flood mansion. Both mansions befell the same fate as Charles Crocker's in 1906.
... and Now, the park and club look the same today.
Then ... Chalmers storms off in a huff (below). The cathedral is to his right and we see the view west down California Street that includes a gas station on the corner of Jones.
... and Now, the Phillips 76 gas station was replaced in 1972 by the incongruously located Gramercy Towers condominiums that dwarfed its Nob Hill neighbors.
In a flashback we see Victoria (below left) and ailing fellow inmate Karin Dernakova (Natasha Lytess, who incidentally was the acting coach of Marilyn Monroe in the early 1950s) during their confinement in the infamous Belsen concentration camp. Karin spoke of a rich relative in America - "Aunt Sophie has a big house on the hill" - and pines for her infant son who has been sent to the aunt for safety. When Karin dies shortly before liberation the envious Victoria grabs the opportunity and surreptitiously switches identities with her.
Then ... Victoria eventually manages to emigrate to America. The director portrays her arrival in New York with this view looking north from downtown Manhattan. The tower in the foreground is the Singer Building and the one behind it is the Woolworth Building.
... and Now, the Singer Building was razed in 1967 to make way for the U.S Steel Building, now known as One Liberty Plaza (in the recent photo below it's the sleek dark building in the center). The original Woolworth Building is still there, just visible on the left.
Victoria has learned that Karin's aunt Sophie in San Francisco has died and left her estate to Karin's son Chris, under the care of guardian Alan Spender (Richard Basehart). She visits the office, below, of the attorney representing the estate and demands to be reunited with 'her' son. Both lawyer and Alan Spender are at first skeptical of her claim to be Karin but she does a convincing job of persuading them.
Alan Spender, now reassured that Victoria is Chris's mother, buys her a fine wardrobe and wines and dines her. It's clear he's attracted to her, a situation she privately admits she is prepared to take advantage of.
Then ... On a Manhattan patio Alan proposes to Victoria who is only too willing to accept, assuring stability and security in her life. Citysleuth thinks this scene was filmed on a studio soundstage using a background photo of a bridge to imply the location ...
... in 1935 ... Below is a vintage photo taken from Sutton Place near E 57th Street at the East River and has the same view. This is the Queensboro (aka 59th St) Bridge, which places the virtual location of the patio as Midtown Manhattan overlooking the Sutton Place neighborhood.
... and Now, here's the Queensboro Bridge today.