Archie's friend Barney invites him to his home, hoping to cheer him up after Petulia's brutal beating. He and his wife Wilma show him old slides of them from the days when they hung out with Archie and his ex, Polo, but they can't snap Archie out of his depression.
Â
Then ... Barney's home is a fine residence in an upscale neighborhood. During his visit we get to see Archie's car parked outside two homes, presumably one of them is Barney's but there is no indication which of those two front doors he entered.
... and Now, These homes are 3234 (on the left) and 3232 Pacific Avenue (on the right) bordering the Presidio in the Presidio Heights neighborhood. 3234 was undergoing a teardown interior renovation when the recent photo (below) was taken but the exteriors remain the same. Unchanged too is the red brick parking strip which enabled Citysleuth to find this location.
... and Now, the homes are very close to the Presidio Gate at the junction with Presidio Ave. Below is another look at the two homes today; the gate on the right, the homes on the far left.
Â
Then ... On a trivia note - a decade earlier, James Stewart followed Kim Novak's Jaguar through the Presidio Gate in the 1958 movie Vertigo, shown below and detailed here. Note the iron gates which allowed the road to be closed off back then when the Presidio was a U.S. military installation.
... and Now, the same gate today taken from the same spot. Now that the military have left and the area is run by the National Park Service (since 1994) the iron gates are gone, no longer needed.
A horse-drawn carriage is next shown entering Central Park.... but, these scenes weren't filmed in Central Park at all. The location was re-created on the Columbia Pictures' Columbia Ranch backlot in Burbank, Southern California.
Then ... None of Central Park's entrances match up exactly with the view below - instead, these street blocks appear to be loosely based on Central Park South as viewed from the Merchant's Gate entrance near Columbus Circle with the 5th Avenue junction at far left.
... and Now, the real Central Park South (part of W. 59th Street) looking east towards 5th Avenue from 7th Avenue. Central Park is on the left.
Then ... The carriage is carrying the stunning Elsa Bannister (the normally redheaded Rita Hayworth now with short platinum-blonde hair). Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles), an Irish journeyman seaman with a philosophical take on life, is walking in the park and engages her in conversation.
... and Now, today, carriage rides are a popular tourist attraction in Central Park but the drivers now are up front and sitting down.
O'Hara is immediately smitten by the enigmatic beauty. In Irish brogue voiceover he confides "That's how I found her and from that moment on I did not use my head very much, except to be thinking of her". Neither is he fazed when she hints at a racy background, having lived in Shanghai (hence the movie name) and gambled in Macao.
The police continue to watch Eleanor in hopes she will lead them to her missing husband. She gives them the slip and takes a cab to meet up with Leggett.
Then ... This is Union Street at the corner of Montgomery on Telegraph Hill - the cab drives up Union from the left which incidentally is a cul-de-sac in the real world! (And on a trivia note the cab picks Leggett up outside Midge's apartment in the movie Vertigo). The white building at far left is the Sidney Kahn house, built in the 1930s on lower Calhoun Terrace and across from it on upper Calhoun Terrace the low building on the corner is the famous Hoeffler's Compound, a warren of tiny studio apartments once favored by artists and bohemians.
... and Now, in today's view below, the Kahn house is still there but a modern apartment house has replaced the Compound. Next to that are some of the oldest homes on Telegraph Hill including the 1860s Cooney house at 291 Union (on the right of the purple house).
Â
Then ... They head off west down Union Street. The store on the left corner at Montgomery is the beloved Speedy's New Union Grocery Store, a venerable neighborhood institution since 1915. This store was also featured in the movie The House On Telegraph Hill released a year later.
... and Now, in the same view today we see that the store has finally closed (in 2008), after serving generations of local denizens for almost a century. Such is life. Sad. Incongruous 1960s high rise apartment buildings mar the Russian Hill skyline in the distance. At least the older highrises there had class. (CitySleuth apologizes for taking this opportunity to pulpit a pet peeve).
The cab drops them off at the Hart & Winston store downtown where Eleanor's husband Frank had worked as a window dresser. As they look at one of his displays, featuring bathing suit cladded mannequins in her image, her memory is jogged and she suddenly solves the riddle in Frank's letter - he is asking to meet her on the beach at Carmel, a seaside resort they had visited shortly after their marriage.
At a welcome party for Victoria, who should turn up but Major Marc Bennett (William Lundigan), the army officer who interviewed her following her liberation. He has resumed his civilian career as a San Francisco attorney and, as it turns out, is an old school friend of her husband Alan.
Then ... Victoria bumps into Marc Bennett again while shopping at her local corner store.
... and Now, This is the venerable Speedy's New Union Grocery at 301 Union on the corner of Montgomery, a two block walk from Victoria's house. Union Street is seen dipping down into North Beach before climbing west to the top of Russian Hill.
Then ... The store name can be clearly seen from the different angle, below. Incidentally, the same store made a passing appearance a year earlier in the 1950 movie Woman On The Run in a scene filmed at the same junction.
... in 2006 ... Here's a photo of the store taken a few years ago, still going strong.
... and Now, sadly, this beloved icon of Telegraph Hill finally closed in 2008, after ninety three years. In the recent picture below the new tenant, a guys & gals boutique, offers local shoppers snacks, pastries and Blue Bottle coffee.
... in 1926 ... The name Speedy's alludes to the Spediacci family who bought the building in 1915 and took over the store in 1923. In a peek at the past here are Emma Spediacci and her daughter Mary behind the counter in 1926.
Then ... They part and Victoria drives home, crossing Union and heading down Montgomery.
... and Now, other than the trees blocking the view of the distant bay, not a whole lot different.
... in 1870 ... for history buffs, here's how this corner looked circa 1870. The house on the corner is the same one, with the original brick walls. Behind it is Telegraph Hill with a building housing a telescope on the peak.
... and Now, the corner building has been plastered over (the windows and doors still match) and Coit Tower has ruled the hill since 1933.