Following his visit to Madeleine's grave Scottie suffers a nightmare, causing him to spiral into a state of melancholia requiring treatment at a sanatorium.
Then ... To usher in the nightmare scene a night vista is briefly shown with SP and Mobilgas neon signs glowing in the distance. This was filmed looking east from the Top O' The Mark at the Mark Hopkins Hotel (map).
... a 1950s archival photo ... We get a better look from the photograph below taken from the same spot. The 32 story Russ Building, at that time the tallest office building in San Francisco, is over to the right and the Bay Bridge is seen crossing over to Yerba Buena Island.
... and Now, the relentless growth of the Financial District has transformed this view. The tallest skyscrapers now are the Transamerica building at far left and the Bank Of America building right of center - the Russ building is still there, behind it and to the right, and several buildings in the lower foreground are little changed.
The nightmare scene which followed included special effects by artist John Ferren who also painted the Portrait of Carlotta seen earlier in the Legion Of Honor art museum.
Then ... Scottie has to spend time recovering in a sanatorium, St. Joseph's Hospital at 355 Buena Vista Avenue East facing Buena Vista Park (map). Scottie's friend Midge's Karman Ghia is parked out front.
... and Now, the building looks the same today (OK, they moved the mailbox) but is now the Park Hill Condominiums. Designed by architect John Foley, the six story building was built in 1928 in Spanish Revival style.
In the sanatorium (the interior scenes were filmed in a Paramount Pictures studio) Midge plays Mozart to help ease him from his catatonic state but it will be months before he can recover and deal with his profound sense of guilt.
Then ... Scottie's recuperation was represented by Hitchcock with soothing music played over a slow left-to-right panoramic sweep of the city, filmed from Twin Peaks (map). Tiburon and Angel Island are in the left background, the Buena Vista Park hill is in the center, and that's Market Street at far right (click image to enlarge).
... and Now, more than half a century later the almost identical view continues to be enjoyed from the popular Twin Peaks vista point. Coincidentally, the red-roofed sanatorium building can be seen in the panorama, marked below by the arrow (click image to enlarge).
Kelly drops her sister Toby off at school. The police, who she had alerted after being threatened the night before, maintain a discrete watch on them.
Then ... She drives up the hill to the school, on the left. For this scene director Blake Edwards chose George Washington High School in the Richmond district (map).
... and Now, though lacking the elevated perspective, this is the same view north down 30th Avenue to Geary Boulevard from Anza Street.
Then ... Toby gets out and is puzzled when Kelly, without explaining why, warns her to watch out and be careful. Meanwhile, filmed on 30th Ave close to Anza Street, we get a good view of George Washington High behind them.
... and Now, trees and added structures obscure the school today at street level from this spot but here it is, looking essentially the same, viewed on a misty day from the upstairs level of a house opposite.
Below is a recently taken aerial shot of George Washington High. Lincoln Park is on the left and the Presidio on the right. At the top, left to right, are the headlands of Marin County, the Golden Gate Bridge, Bevedere/Tiburon and Angel Island. The arrow shows where this scene was filmed.
... in 2005 ... George Washington High was built in 1936 and is a well-regarded public school. A bonus for the students are Golden Gate Bridge views from various vantage points at the school. As an example, the photo below was taken from the bleachers of the sports field at the 2005 Senior graduation.
On the boardwalk at Whaler's Cove in Sausalito , O'Hara again tries to persuade her to run away with him, telling her he can get his hands on $5000, but she continues to resist.
Then ... The turretted house along the boardwalk behind Elsa used to be a beer garden and rooming house where Jack London is said to have written his novel 'Sea Wolf' while staying there. Just off to the left up the sloping walkway is the Walhalla, a bar and restaurant at 201 Bridgeway (map) with a long and checkered history (click the image to enlarge)..
... and Now, In this recent photo we see that the turreted house is still there as is the Walhalla building, most recently the Gaylord India restaurant but currently vacant (click the image to enlarge)..
Below is another recent view of the Walhalla building. Compared to the 'Then' movie view above, the original building has been expanded out towards the water and has a gabled section added to the right side.
Then ... Later in the movie the Walhalla is seen from a different perspective. Incidentally, the bar was always called the Valhalla but the sign, seen below, had been misspelled with a 'W'.
... and Now, the same view today.
The Walhalla received Marin County's first liquor license in 1870 when Sausalito (Spanish for 'Little Willow', named after a row of willow trees along the shore) was known as 'Dirty Ol' Sausalito'. In 1946 Sally Stanford, who in her storied past had run a high-class San Francisco bordello, became Walhalla's owner. After a dispute with the town over an electric sign outside her building she got into politics and eventually became Mayor of Sausalito in 1976 when she was 72. Sally is pictured below in 1962.
In the Walhalla George Grigsby reminds O'Hara that there's $5000 in it for him if he goes along with his scheme. He wants to feign a murder, Grigsby's murder no less, and have O'Hara sign a confession. Then Grigsby will disappear to a new life, away from the threat of nuclear warfare, in a safe distant place. He tells O'Hara he won't be at risk because ... "There's no such thing as homicide unless they find a corpse - according to the law I'm dead if you say you murdered me but you're not a murderer unless I'm dead".
Director Lester simply had to include music from San Francisco's psychedelia phase somewhere in this movie. He does it by having Archie visit a club where the Grateful Dead are playing. As the group sings Viola Lee Blues a montage of short video clips is shown. You might first want to watch the movie sequence here before reviewing the locations below, or you could go here and listen to an extended audio version of the song as you read on.
Then ... In the club the band belts out the song ... clockwise from top left are Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, 'Pigpen' Ron McKernan and Bob Weir. Behind Pigpen, Mickey Hart was on drums.
Where was this club? Via a mutual friend CitySleuth recently asked Mickey Hart where the scene was filmed. His telling response... "No one remembers"! In an earlier scene the girl in the green dress standing next to Bob Weir is Rosie McGee. She told CitySleuth that she was present at the shoot but to her recollection it was a much smaller place than the Fillmore, a favorite venue of the Dead at that time. Reader Eric commented (below) that a 1967 Grateful Dead Fan Club newsletter reported that the band was shooting a scene for the movie 'Petulia' "live in a warehouse here in the city". It was left to ReelSF readers Tom Ditto and Paul Hawken to finally reveal the location (see their comments at the bottom of this post) ... the scene was filmed at the closed-down Reno Hotel, at 252 6th Street in the SoMa district (map). The hotel burned down in the 1980s but here's a 1938 aerial showing where it was.
... and Now, the same aerial view today - the Gene Friend Recreation Center has been built on the site.
By the 1960s the Reno Hotel had closed down. It's 6th Street frontage was boarded up and the building was being used by a group of artists who entered at the rear at 69 Harriet Street, referring to their space as The Warehouse or The Pie Factory. The Petulia nightclub scene was filmed in 1967 in the basement space occupied by the Calliope Company, a music/light show production company. Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters also hung out here around that time- this 1966 photo of their bus gives us a glimpse of 69 Harriet on the right.
... and Now, the line of palm trees at the rear of the Recreation Center delineates where the Reno Hotel used to be.
Then ... We next see Archie with his friend May enjoying a cigarette and glass of wine on the balcony of, presumably, her house.
... and Now, this fine Italianate Victorian is the historic Talbot-Dutton House at 1782 Pacific on the corner of Franklin (map), built circa 1869 by William Talbot, a lumber tycoon, as a wedding gift for his daughter Mary. The house survived when the 1906 fire that ravaged the city stopped just one block away. It still looks exactly as it did in the movie in 1968.
Then ... During the montage several distant views of the city are shown, including this one ...
... and Now, this was filmed from Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands (map) looking south to the city skyline through the suspenders of the Golden Gate Bridge. The yellow border in the recent photo outlines the movie view above.
Then ... There's also a dreamlike crepescular image of Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill with one of the Bay Bridge towers visible at left.
... and Now, snapped from a higher elevation in the Marin Headlands, here's almost the identical view.
Then ... Next, Archie and his boys spend time at a park.
... and Now, this scene was filmed at the Muir Woods National Monument redwoods park a few miles north of San Francisco in Marin County (map) . Here's a recent photo of what could be the same redwood round display.
Director Lester adds a trademark touch of whimsy when he shows Archie and his doctor friend Barney supervising bodypainting of a patient. Hippie - i - ay!
Then ... Archie and May are shown in a restaurant - in the twilight behind them the view looks east across the bay towards the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena Island.
... and Now, this is the view from the Julius Castle restaurant at the end of the Montgomery Street cul-de-sac on Telegraph Hill (map). The restaurant has closed after 84 years of operation but the building survives and below is the same view taken from there.
... and Now, Julius Castle today, an icon in search of a new owner. Incidentally, this restaurant was featured as 'the house' in the 1951 movie The House On Telegraph Hill.
Then ... And finally Archie and Petulia spot each other as their cable cars cross paths at a street junction.
Then ... The next shot reveals the junction - Archie's red-roofed cable car is heading to the left down California Street and Petulia's to the right down Powell Street (map). Note the cone-roofed cable car signal booth on the corner and behind it the Alta Casa Apartments which were featured in the 1950 movie Woman On The Run.
... and Now, the manned signal booth, used for controlling the crossing of the two cable car lines, is still there but an empty lot is all that is left of the Alta Casa Apartments.
(2004 update)… after decades of this corner remaining (surprisingly) an empty lot, a swanky new condominium building has been built on it and the garage site seen above next to it. Cable cars still pass by on California and on Powell and the manned control booth is still there too.
Unrelated trivia ... back in 1935 the signal booth ended up in front of the Alta Casa Apartments entrance after an altercation with a passing motor car.
