Kelly's home is in Clarendon Heights between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro. No doubt chosen for its views, it is shown a number of times throughout the movie.
Then ... At the beginning of the movie Kelly drives over the Bay Bridge and we see this nighttime view of her home as she drives into her garage.
Then ... later, as she reverses out of the garage, daylight reveals the full extent of the view. Kelly lives in the small house, 100 St. Germain Avenue, squeezed between the two larger homes with gabled roofs (map).
... and Now, taken from the top of Glenbrook Avenue, this (below) is how it looks today. From here, 100 St. Germain is mostly hidden by bushes but the roof and chimney peep over the top. That's the Golden Gate Park panhandle above the house and the Buena Vista Park hill is over to the right. Angel Island and Alcatraz are in the distance on the left.
Then ... From across the street there's a closer view of the garage and the home's front fence and entrance gate.
... and Now, still the same, as too is the neighboring house to the left.
Then ... This panorama shows an even closer look at the garage and entrance gate.
... and Now (2011), it still looks amazingly similar, even down to the three angled fence supports and the quaint awning over the gate. The neighbor to the right, though, has traded a chimney for a skylight. (Update - these photos were posted in 2011. Since then the house has been drastically remodeled … read on… CS)
... update (2019) … reader Jessica Thrasher (see her comment below) alerted CitySleuth to a recent sale of this house for a whopping $6.4 million. Only in San Francisco! It had been torn down to the studs and rebuilt with an added 3rd story into a 4,200 sq ft high-end contemporary commanding magnificent views. The modest street-level entrance below only hints at the extent of the new structure. (Note the only nod to its predecessor - at the fence gate).
This 2019 aerial photo of the remodeled house (center foreground) reveals its panoramic views - compare this to the movie view at the top of this post. For more information of the remodel and a slideshow of the house visit Sotheby’s listing here.
Victoria and Marc meet at a yacht harbor, the west harbor on Marina Boulevard in the Marina district (map). Below is a map of the harbor marked where the movie scenes took place.
Then ... An establishing opening shot of the yacht harbor is shown below taken from near the St. Francis Yacht Club (location A on the map above). The view looks east across the harbor towards the Russian Hill skyline with Fort Mason on the far left.
... and Now, absent the extra buildings atop Russian Hill you would never guess 60 years have slipped by. (Incidentally, Orson Welles's 1947 movie The Lady From Shanghai featured this same location - see it here).
Then ... Victoria meets Marc outside the harbormaster's office (location B on the map above). There's an old stone lighthouse behind her at the harbor entrance.
... and Now, the office and lighthouse are still there but the harbor entrance has been moved to the east by an extension of the spit on which the lighthouse stands.
Below is a closer look at the lighthouse, built in 1931 but no longer in use.
And here's a recent look at the harbormaster's office.
Then ... They talk outside the harbormaster's office. This scene was filmed in the studio using projected views behind them, a common movie technique known as process photography which gives better control over sound and lighting.
... and Now, the background was indeed filmed outside the harbormaster's office looking southwest across the harbor towards the dome of the Palace Of Fine Arts. The view today looks just the same.
Then ... Victoria reveals to Marc that she isn't Chris's mother after all, that she had assumed Karin Dernakova's identity after she died at the Belsen concentration camp. Marc, unfazed by the revelation, confesses his love for her. This background, supposedly at the same spot, was filmed on the south side of the harbor at location C on the map above - it looks west towards the Golden Gate Bridge.
... and Now, the same view today, with the bridge partially obscured by, no surprise, fog.
The cast stayed at the newly opened luxury Hotel Casablanca during the making of The Lady From Shanghai and director Orson Welles made a point of incorporating it into his movie. Its location atop Camino de la Pinzona (arrowed on the map) rewarded guests with spectacular all-around panoramic views.
Then ... We get our first look at the hotel, perched high upon a hill, as soft background dance music conveys the viewer to another world. This image, though, could be a painting.
... and Now, the hotel, pictured below in a recent photo, has over the decades become a faded shadow of what it once was. The symmetrical roofline has been compromised by rooftop additions but its views remain matchless. The hotel is currently being renovated and converted to condominiums. Just look at how the hillside has become jammed with hotels and villas!
Below is a snapshot of our leading lady relaxing on a small boat on Santa Lucia (aka Acapulco) Bay with the Hotel Casablanca behind her in the background.
Here's Rita on the grounds of the hotel having her picture taken for a promotional movie still. She sure knows how to pose.
... from a vintage aerial photo ... The photo below, circa 1945, shows the almost completed hotel (the circular rooftop level is not yet finished). Interestingly - first, you can clearly see the lawn where Rita was posing in the photo above. Second, the construction-scarred hillside adds to CitySleuth's suspicion that a painting was used for the movie's 'Then' image above.
Then ... A puzzlingly brief scene follows on the Casablanca's rooftop with Elsa walking hurriedly away from her agitated husband for, as we soon find out, a meeting with O'Hara. Behind them is a southeast view over the bay to the shoreline of the Caleta Peninsula, with their yacht Circe cruising below.
Then ... the scene below was filmed from the same place earlier in the movie during O'Hara and Grisby's walk, capturing even more of the view. In both shots the moored boats on the bay are in exactly the same positions.
... and Now, taken recently from the hotel - there's a lot more development and a lot more boats, especially the crowded marina across the bay at center.
Then ... As dusk falls Elsa, almost angelic with her flowing dress brightly shining in the foreground, runs down the hill from the hotel towards the old town. Just above her, alongside the Zocalo central plaza, is the Nuestra Senora de la Soledad church, built in 1930 (the Zocalo is marked on the map above).
... and Now, the mountain's profile is partly obscured by clouds but the encroachment of the town of Acapulco up its slopes is clear to see. The blue-domed church now has two added Byzantine towers.
... a vintage aerial photo ... This aerial view - by now the rooftop level has been completed - shows the church location in relation to the hotel.
Elsa meets O'Hara in the old town (filmed at the 20th Century Fox ranch). Unhappy, she talks of suicide, but, when O'Hara offers to take her away, sagely says "You just don't know how to take care of yourself, so ... how could you take care of me?". Soon after, they up anchor and sail on to Sausalito, California.
Archie and ex wife Polo (Shirley Knight) take their two boys to the roller derby, a uniquely American contact sport which was at the height of its popularity in the 1960s.
During the action director Richard Lester uses a flashback to juxtapose the staged violence, so much a part of the sport, with the real violence visited upon Petulia.
Then ... The competing teams are the San Francisco Bay Bombers (in orange) and the New York Chiefs.
... and Now, the sport isn't as big as it was but roller derby rolls on. CitySleuth took the photo below at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco - by happenstance featuring the same two teams. The Bombers are in the white and orange strip. But the movie scene was filmed somewhere else and it took CitySleuth a while to find out where.
Then ... In the movie there's a closeup of (below, L to R) Bob Dancel, Pete Boyd and Eddie Krebs. CitySleuth tracked Eddie down and confirmed that the filming took place at Winterland, on the corner of Post and Steiner streets (map). One of Eddie's favorite recollections of that day was hanging out after a long day of filming with George C. Scott in a nearby bar - "George suggested it and I just threw my jacket on over my uniform", he said.
... in 1941 ... Winterland was torn down in 1985 but here's an early photo taken there when it was an ice skating rink (hence its name), with the upper gallery transformed into a winter wonderland.
... in 1950 ... here it was, below, configured for a boxing tournament
... in the 1970s ... from 1966 through the 1970s Winterland was best known for the legendary music concerts put on there by promoter Bill Graham. This photo shows a concert setup in progress.
Take a look at the Winterland concert schedule during the winter of 1968 when the roller derby scene was shot - an amazing array of the hottest bands around. Oh, to be a time traveler! (Actually, CitySleuth was there then).
... before demolition ... Winterland's final concert featured the Grateful Dead, the Blues Brothers and New Riders Of The Purple Sage on New Year's Eve, 1978. The arena is shown below forlornly awaiting the wrecker's ball in 1985. On the right is St. Dominic's Catholic Church two blocks along Steiner on Bush Street.
... during demolition ... taken just after the familiar red 'Winterland' sign that adorned the corner of the building had been lowered to the ground.
... and Now, an apartment complex covering the entire block in both directions sits on the site today.