Just around the corner from Grant at Washington was the venerable Chinese Telephone Exchange at 743 Washington (map). It opened in 1901 at which time, pre dialling, the operators had to know all of the Chinatown customers by name and address because it was considered rude to refer to a person by number. Each operator also had to speak the many dialects of Chinese spoken by the residents. It was no surprise perhaps that the original male operators were soon replaced by women, on account of their "good temper".
Then ... The charming and compact pagoda-style exchange was briefly seen in the movie during O'Hara's desperate dash along Grant Avenue. Note the name on the shop to its right, on the corner of Grant - Dupont, a throwback to Grant Avenue's previous name.
and Now ... the exchange closed in 1949 two years after the movie was filmed and since then has housed banks, including Bank of Canton and, in this recent photo, United Commercial Bank. (Update: East-West Bank is the newest tenant but the building remains unchanged). It says a lot about San Francisco's mild climate that the painted sign on the brick side wall has aged so gracefully.
Then ... Later in the movie when Elsa makes a phone call we see inside the exchange as the call goes through.
... a vintage photo ... here's the pretty Harriot Ng at work in the exchange back in 1929. Check out her chair - it's obviously still in use almost 20 years later, in the movie scene above.
... another vintage photo ... this undated photo shows the exchange in its very early days with a small bank of equipment and a handful of operators.
... a later photo ... by the time this vintage postcard photo was taken the equipment takes up the full width of the room and more and there are many more operators.
and Now ... the room may have been refigured for a bank but the same two dragons partially visible above continue to face each other on the back wall.
How does a lady meet with her lover when she can't drive and her husband's chauffeur takes her everywhere? Sheila has just heard that her amour David Rivera, who also happens to be her husband's doctor, is leaving the country to take up a new job. She is desperate to see him.
Then ... She has the chauffeur drop her off at I. Magnin's flagship store on Union Square, asking him to return later. They pull up in front of the main entrance on Geary near Stockton (map). The signs along along the Geary block include Macy's, Frank Werner's Shoes and Dohrmanns.
... and Now, the same view today. The St. Francis Hotel takes up the whole Powell Street block in the background and there's still an entrance to the parking lot below Union Square at far right. The plaza itself has been relaid out with many more steps for easier access from the sidewalks.
... a vintage photo ... this early 1960s postcard pictures the block on Geary as it was when the movie was filmed. I. Magnin's is the tall white building left of center and to its right is Blum's and Macy's Geary street entrance (its main building is behind it on O'Farrell) and Dohrmanns department store is further along. The City Of Paris store with its rooftop Eiffel Tower is at far left across Stockton Street.
... and Now, I. Magnin was purchased by Macy's in the late 1980s and its store is now a Macy's building but the original entrance, left of center below, today leads into a Louis Vuitton store.
Then ... Sheila makes her way through the store. Behind her, across Union Square on the Post Street block, we see a narrow three story building with arched windows on the top floor and a balustrade at roof level.
... a vintage photo ... here's the same block back in 1947 where we see the same narrow building next to the Hotel Plaza. These are the two buildings seen in the movie image above.
... and Now, the same block today. The narrow building, at 340 Post (with awnings over the arched windows), is the only survivor on this block since the 1940s. Built in 1923 for Bullock and Jones, they were there for over eighty years until Sonoma Williams recently took it over.
Then ... But shopping is the last thing on her mind. She passes directly through I. Magnin's, exits onto Stockton Street, hails a cab and directs it to Rivera's apartment. Sneaky. The cross street is Geary and the store at right across Stockton is the City of Paris. Across Geary is Guaranty Savings. Check out that $8,000 tourmaline mink coat worn by Lana Turner - it was flown in from New York just for this scene.
... and Now, the same view. The City of Paris store at far right has been rebuilt with a glass facade and is now the home of Nieman Marcus. Bulgari is the tenant now across Geary where Guaranty Savings was.
The two-timing Irene has been arrested and accused of Walter's murder while the police continue to look for Torrence. Walter follows the news in the papers but decides to lie low in Larkspur under an assumed name and let his wife suffer in jail.
Then ... Marsha suggests he room in her house next to the garage and It soon becomes clear that they are falling for each other. In this scene they chat on the porch of her house, in real life the home of garage owner Hil Probert, at 234 Magnolia Avenue in Larkspur (map). That's Hil's greenhouse next to the house.
... and Now, the house today is the Tavern at Lark Creek restaurant (formerly the Lark Creek Inn) and the greenhouse and surrounding garden is now a parking lot.
... and Now, here's a wider view of the house. The newer structure in the front was appended in the early 1970s when the Probert house became a restaurant. The garage site, described in the previous location, is next door to the left, just off the picture.
Then ... Walter readily adapts to quiet rural town life, even joining the local Volunteer Fire Brigade. Below, he attends the local church, St. Patrick's, which faced onto King Street at the corner of Locust (map). For this scene the director chose the older, quainter church over the newer St. Patrick's that was built eight years earlier at the end of the block at Magnolia.
... and Now, the old church has been replaced by St. Patrick's Parochial School, seen below. A good cause, yes, but what a pity such a picturesque structure was abandoned.
Then ... They take a stroll across a bridge at a nearby lake. Did I say nearby? This scene was filmed in Southern California at the Corriganville Movie Ranch, an outdoors spread in Simi Valley including extensive Western town sets and used by countless movies from 1937 - 1965. The lake was known as Robin Hood lake after the Robin Hood movies filmed there.
... and Now, the Western town on the ranch today has reverted to foundations and hiking trails and is open to the public as Corriganville Park. The cement-lined man-made lake, located on the Corriganville loop trail near the 118 freeway (map), is now dry and exposed. The bridge is gone but the supports are still there. If Marsha and Walter were re-creating the above scene below, they would be approaching from the left.
Then ... In this pastoral setting Walter admits to her that he is married but before she can ask how he ended up in Larkspur the town's fire horn (the real one) blares out, beckoning the volunteer brigade. Note the large rock across the lake ...
... and Now, the rock, now with a safety railing, used to be called the stunt rock.
... a vintage photo... here's a circa 1950s shot of Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, taken from the same spot, again showing the stunt rock across the lake.
In this not-to-scale map of the Corriganville movie ranch in its heyday, the lake, which was a mile from the Western town, is sketched in over to the right (click on the map to enlarge it).
Kelly and a coworker at their bank go out to lunch together. She doesn't know it yet but she's about to come face-to-face with her tormentor ...
Then ... They leave the bank by a side door and cross over the alley to the Orange Grove, a restaurant at 57 Lick Place, an alley described here in an earlier post. At the end of the alley across Sutter is the steel and glass Hallidie Building at 130 Sutter Street.
... and Now, Lick Place has been replaced by the Crocker Galleria mall (map). The mall parallels Montgomery Street between Sutter and Post. Below is the same view as above, except that Lick Place used to run at street level where those stores on the right are now, so the mall is offset some and a few steps below street level. The restaurant used to be just beyond the two foreground planters, at street level. Facing us, the Hallidie Building is currently being renovated behind wood and scaffolding.
Here's the 1962 Street Directory entry confirming the address and name of the restaurant.
... in 1964 ... This vintage photo taken from Lick Place (you can see its street sign) shows a wider view of the Hallidie Building two years after the movie was released. Designed by Willis Polk, the 1918 structure was the second building in the nation to feature a glass curtain wall.
... and Now ... The building is currently hidden behind scaffolding but here, looking east along Sutter Street, is how it looked just before then.
As Kelly enters the Orange Grove we see a reverse view through its front window of the Hunter-Dulin building across Lick Place. But CitySleuth thinks this is a studio set, in part because the patterned wallpaper and tables close to the window aren't seen through the window from the outside in the Then image above.
She retires to the powder room and gets the fright of her life when in walks Red Lynch, disguised as a doddering old lady. At gunpoint, he tells her the time has come to steal the money from the bank later that week.