The fire horn blasts out its beckoning call across town and all, including Walter, come running. This is a diaphone air horn - the diaphone saw its earliest use as a fog horn before a smaller version by the Gamewell Company became popular with fire stations and municipalities all across America (listen to one here).
CitySleuth thanks Larkspur resident Paul Penna for his contributions about the light-hearted footage that follows.
Then ... The horn is seen atop a tower on the roof of Larkspur's City Hall (map) right next to the fire station on the left.
... and Now, it's still there and operational to this day. It used to sound a test call three times daily but backed off over time to once per day at noon. Now there are no daily tests in deference to peace and quiet. Note the extension protruding from the City Hall building, not there in 1949 - it housed the entire Larkspur Police Dept. in the 1950s.
Then ... A newlywed interrupts his honeymoon to report for duty but remembers to kiss the bride.
... and Now, they were facing south on Magnolia at King Street close to the fire station. The property across the street is still bordered by the same locally quarried sandstone wall.
Then ... One of the volunteers rushes out of his home mid-shave, trades his shaving mug for a helmet and fire axe and legs it to the station (click image to enlarge).
... and Now, he lived at 121 William Avenue (map), steps from the Tavern at Lark Creek restaurant on Magnolia - apart from the windows and fence the house has changed very little. (click image to enlarge)
Then ... All scramble aboard a vintage 1927 fire engine, preferred for this scene by the movie director to a more recent model belonging to the Fire Dept.
... and Now, the same view today.
... and Now, here's a wider view of the side-by-side Larkspur Fire Station and City Hall with the fire horn tower at the rear.
Then ... We see Bon Air Hill in the distance as the fire engine roars north, hangers-on hanging on, along Magnolia approaching Cane Street, on the right. There's a garage on the nearest Cane corner at 444 Magnolia.
... and Now, today a large retirement home has been built on Bon Air Hill and the garage is now a hair salon, on the right. Across Cane is the Silver Peso bar where Bob's Tavern used to be in 1949. The tavern's small but distinctive side windows can be seen in both Then and Now images.
A police paid informant, Popcorn by nickname because he always seems to have a bag of it in his hand, has information on Red Lynch but he slyly implies he may sell it to the press first. Ripley sets up a plan to appeal to his conscience ...
Then ... Popcorn (Ned Glass) is first seen in a silent movie theater watching comedy clips.
CitySleuth doesn't know if this was filmed at a real theater or a studio set - can anyone out there enlighten him? But he can tell you who the comedians on-screen are, thanks to John Bengtson, who hosts a well-researched silent movie website. Per John, the incompetents on the right (below) are Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops in a clip which can be seen here. The man on the left is Billy Bevan, possibly from the short 'Be Reasonable', being chased by those same hapless Kops.
Then ... Ripley asks Popcorn to meet him at the Marin Town and Country Club, a short drive north of San Francisco in Fairfax, also featured earlier in the movie (go there for location and details). He spots Popcorn from the snack bar near the ping-pong tables.
... and Now, those buildings in the background (they were public toilets), are still there, unused since the club closed down in 1972.
... a vintage photo ... in this undated photo we see the snack bar as it must have been when Ripley was there.
... and Now, what's left of the structure is all boarded up.
Then ... They meet up and walk towards a couple of gabled cabins. As they talk, Ripley points in the direction of the swimming pool.
... and Now, the same cabins, next to the pool fence, are still recognizable.
Then ... He points out Kelly and Toby chatting alongside the pool and tells Popcorn that if he sells his information to the press that one or both of them may be dead by the weekend. Having planted the thought he then leaves Popcorn to mull it over.
... and Now, forty years without grounds maintenance has led to this matching view. You can still see the basketball hoop backboard, now rusted, in the background.
The strategy works - Popcorn takes the police to a public telephone in a seedy part of town (CitySleuth thinks this was a studio location) where Red Lynch has been calling an accomplice nightly about Kelly Sherwood. They watch and wait for the next call ...
... but the accomplice spots them and is killed in the ensuing exchange of gunshots - unfortunately Popcorn is caught in the crossfire, collateral damage, never to snack again.
Kelly's sister Toby and boyfriend Dave choose a sunny day and outdoor setting to go for a swim. They are at Max Friedman's Marin Town and Country Club in Fairfax, 30 minutes or so by car north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County (map). (CitySleuth is indebted to reader Janice Pearcy for bringing this location to his attention). Although termed a club, it was open to the public and by the 1960s hosted thousands of visitors on a typical summer weekend who could enjoy swimming, basketball, baseball, volleyball, dancing, movies and more. Families, especially from San Francisco, would rent out summer cottages here for a leisurely week or two for their annual vacation.
Then ... Toby shrieks as she's about to leap backwards from the diving board.
... and Now, the country club closed down in 1972 - the site is now privately owned - and since then the pools and buildings have steadily deteriorated over the decades as evidenced by this sorry sight.
... a vintage photo ... the diving board Toby jumped from is seen in this undated photo, taken in the club's heyday from the opposite direction, with the pool house behind it.
... and Now, the same view today. The diving board is gone but the pool house still stands
... an early aerial view ... This aerial from the 1940s of the Marin Town and Country Club clearly shows the swimming pool featured in the scene above. To it's right is a basketball court and a small diving pool and the tennis courts are partially visible near the top right corner. Baseball diamonds are on either side of the oval parking lot, which used to be a horse ring.
... and Now, the algaed pool and pool house from the air today. The surrounding spaces have been claimed by many uninvited trees.
This amusing poster for the country club reminded Casper-the-ghost-like denizens trapped in the nearby bleak city of the glorious paradise but a short drive away.
Then ... Toby and Dave (Harvey Evans) flirt outrageously in the pool and we get a closer view of the diving board structure and the pool house.
... and Now, the original tiles are still there, also one of the diving board mounting brackets. The drooping downspout on the dilapidated pool house is but one example of the ravages of time.
Toby then gets a fright when she finds a note from the stalker in her sports bag commanding Kelly to meet him at the Roaring 20s night club the following evening. He was that close to her, playing mind games to heighten the threat.
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.