Cathy drives to the waterfront to pick up her boyfriend Blake for a dinner date. The scene was filmed on a pier at Fisherman's Wharf that no longer exists.
This 1950s aerial photo looks west across Fisherman's Wharf in the lower half and Hyde Street Pier above it. In it, we see the pier, an extension from what is now called Al Scoma Way, before it was removed.
... in 1951 ... here's another aerial photo, this one looking north, showing a closer look at that pier.
... and Now, a Google Maps satellite view of the same spot. Dotted lines have been added to show where the demolished pier used to be (a shorter pier next to it was also removed). The arrow marks the end of the pier where the filming took place (map).
Then ... Cathy drives to Blake's tug, berthed at the end of the pier - behind her, across the water, we see the side of Pier 45. Note the gap between the two sheds, more clearly seen in the above aerial.
... and Now, to match this view Citysleuth walked over to the adjacent Hyde Street Pier marina. From this vantage point he could look towards and beyond where the pier used to be.
Then ... In this shot Blake's tug is in the right foreground as we look down the length of the pier behind Cathy's car towards the glowing neon signs of Fisherman's Wharf restaurants. The building on the right at the far end of the pier was a small coffee shop serving the local fishermen.
... and Now, the pier (approximated by the dotted lines) is gone and only a remaining stub-out faces us, now used as the parking lot for the iconic Scoma's restaurant (which started life in 1965 as that coffeeshop). At far left in both Then and Now images is the front corner of Pier 45's Shed B. The white building to the left of the far end of the pier, above, has been replaced by a gabled chapel, below, under the green Alioto's restaurant sign. (Click the image to enlarge it).
... in the 1970s ... this 1970s photo shows the pier as it was when the movie was filmed. The coffee shop on the right of where the pier begins and part of the white building to the left are both visible.
... in 1939 ... This vintage photo reveals a closer look at that white building. CitySleuth has heard, he hastens to say second hand, that it was a rooming house for sailors but was eventually closed down to put a stop to illicit nocturnal visitors. This building also showed up in the 1950 movie Woman On The Run. Pier 45 Shed B with the twin Shed A alongside it is off to the left.
... and Now, the building was replaced in 1981 by the Fishermen's and Seamen's Memorial Chapel. Inside hang plaques bearing the names of those whose lives were taken by the sea and a bell in the campanile tolls periodically in their honor.
But Blake sends Cathy away - still smarting from Mason cancelling his tugboat contract, he intends to shake him down, unwittingly setting himself up as a prime suspect.
Myra suggests they meet at the Fairmont Hotel - we see them dancing there at the Sky Room.
Then ... But in real life back then the Fairmont had the Venetian room and the Cirque Room but not a Sky Room. What's more, CitySleuth recognizes the window view behind her friends, personal lawyer Steve Kearney (Bruce Bennet, who lived to be 100 years old) and assistant Ann Taylor (Virginia Huston), as being the view from the Top O' The Mark at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, across California Street from the Fairmont (map).
... in the 1950s ... here's the same view, looking east to the Bay Bridge, captured by this vintage daytime photo taken from the Top O' The Mark. The window view above is the portion outlined in yellow.
... from another movie ... the same view appeared five years earlier in the 1947 movie Born To Kill.
... from yet another movie ... and it was seen six years later in the 1958 movie Vertigo.
San Francisco did however offer several so-named Sky Rooms. The first one opened in 1938 on the 24th floor of the Hotel Empire (formerly the William Taylor Hotel), but closed down only 5 years later. In the postcard image of the hotel, below, you can see the oversize Sky Room windows glowing red. Since 1978 this grand 1930 structure at 100 McAllister Street (map) has belonged to the University of California's Hastings College of the Law.
And check out this postcard extolling, with more than a little hyberbole, the virtues of the Hotel Empire Sky Room - a very swanky place indeed.
Then there was the Sky Room at the Marines Memorial Club at 609 Sutter Street. In the 1947 photo below we see a more functional restaurant and bar but it too had panoramic views.
And let's not forget Andy Wong's Chinese Sky Room on the southwest corner of Grant and Pine, offering visitors even more entertainment by way of a Chinese floor show.
Getting back to the movie ... Myra and Lester next head over to the Chapeau Blanc. CitySleuth is not aware of this club - was there such a place in San Francisco? Let him know.
Then ... Finally, in the wee morning hours after the long journey west and dancing through the night, Myra drives Lester to her palatial home in Cow Hollow. The view from Green Street looks north down Scott across the Marina district.
... and Now, other than the trees, an unchanged view.
Then ... A sweeping U-turn brings her home - note the angle of the car on this very steep block. Opening the driver's door against gravity would have been a challenge for Myra but Lester plays the perfect gentleman - he leaps out and does the honors for her.
... and Now, today's view of the home at 2800 Scott Street on the corner of Green.
Inside, Myra proudly shows Lester her state-of-the-art dictating machine which she custom ordered for recording her scripts. The machine turns on when it hears a voice and off again when the speaking stops. We don't know it yet but it will play a major role as the story unfolds ...
Su Lin worries that if she is called to testify at Walter's trial she may harm his case and has laid low, but when she is spotted in the courthouse she takes off, closely pursued by Marsha.
Then ... Su Lin dashes from the Hall of Justice and across Kearny to the junction with Washington Street. Portsmouth Square plaza is over to the left and we see at far left a night club advertising 'Dancing' at 720 Washington. She hustles across Washington and jumps in the cab parked outside the jewelry store.
... and Now, the night club is now the Buddha's Universal Church, the largest Buddhist church in the United States. Beginning in 1952 it was incrementally built by volunteers and congregation members over an 11 year period, paced by the availability of funds.
Marsha pursues Su Lin through several blocks in Chinatown. As the chase unfolds in the Then and Now images below, readers can follow along using the yellow arrows on this Google satellite map (click or tap it to enlarge).
Below, (location 1 on the map) Marsha hails a cab ... "Follow that yellow cab!" ... (haven't we all wanted to do that?) and as it turns left into Washington we again see, to the north along Kearny, the Sentinel Building sign and the Shasta billboard seen moments before from inside the Hall of Justice. In the same view today, the top of the wall that carried the billboard is just visible above newer buildings. (Click or tap these images to enlarge).
Behind Su Lin's Yellow cab on the Washington block (2 on the map) the trees of Portsmouth Square almost hide the Hall of Justice. Today, a Hilton hotel sits on the old Hall of Justice site. In both Then and Now pictures, below, the mid-span caisson of the Bay Bridge can be seen in the distance.
Marsha's DeSoto cab follows Su Lin south along the 800 block of Grant Avenue between Washington and Clay (3 on the map). The most glaring change between Then and Now ? ... the one-way traffic has been reversed.
In the next shot (4 on the map) we see them, still on Grant, crossing a junction but this is a cut-back to Washington, the cross street behind location 3 above. The bar facing on the corner on the left in the Now image is the Buddha Lounge at 901 Grant. Rita Hayworth crossed this same junction two years earlier when she chased Orson Welles through Chinatown in The Lady From Shanghai.
Location 5 is the same block of Grant as location 3, a little closer this time to Clay. The tapered pagoda sign up on the left marked the Chinese Pagoda restaurant at 830 Grant, now the Peking Bazaar just past the Empress of China sign below right. In both Then and Now images the distinctive pagoda rooftops of the Sing Fat and Sing Chong buildings stand out against the sky two blocks down the road at California Street.
The next shot (6 on the map) shows Su Lin's cab turning into Ross Alley from Washington Street - this chase is cutting back and forth with no regard to continuity. These pictures were taken almost 70 years apart? CitySleuth loves how Chinatown has resisted change! Too, it's commendable that folks back then picked up the trash.
Su Lin leaps out of her cab and darts up a narrow passage connecting Ross Alley to the adjacent and parallel Old Chinatown Lane (7 on the map) - for some reason a gate now blocks this handy short cut. That's a rather revealing view of Marsha in pursuit as her form-fitting suit is stretched to the limit.
They emerge from the passage and Su Lin enters 11 Old Chinatown Lane and up a flight of stairs to her apartment (8 on the map). CitySleuth can only shake his head over the graffiti in the Now image, a modern-day phenomenon not seen in the 1940s.
Here's a closer look at 11 Old Chinatown Lane today. This is the shuttered office of Mabel Y. Kao, a long serving obstetrician in Chinatown who died in 2007 at the grand old age of 98 ... this remarkable woman was delivering babies in Chinatown in 1949 when this movie was filmed! The doorway on the right is the one Su Lin entered and through the window above it you can just make out the stairs she took to get to her apartment.
In the apartment (Su Lin's uncle's place, seen earlier in the movie) Marsha beseeches Su Lin to testify on Walter's behalf. Su Lin then remembers that Walter's wife Irene had gone out late the night that Torrence, her lover who Walter was accused of murdering, had died. This suggests Irene had pre-planned a rendezvous with Torrence, a contradiction of her evidence.
Marsha gets Lt. Quincy to follow up on Su Lin's tip and they find supporting information which leads to Walter's release and Irene's arrest for conspiring with Torrence to kill Walter. All ends happily ever after and the audience files out fervently hoping that Walter and Marsha go on to do the right thing.
CitySleuth is more than a little bummed to reach the final location post from this, one of his all-time favorite movies. The intersecting lives of Elsa the scheming seductress and O'Hara the hapless drifter rendered in innovative high contrast black-and-white cinematography delivered entertainment of the highest order.
Then ... Inside the Crazy House O'Hara trips and falls down a long slide to the Magic Mirror Maze, a room packed with replicating and distorting mirrors. Suddenly Elsa appears, admitting she shot Grisby after he messed up her plan to do away with her husband Bannister. The mirror maze sequence, as illustrated by the composited image below, was a highlight of the movie.
... in 1949 ... Below, visitors of all ages enjoyed the real Hall of Mirrors in the Fun House at Playland-At-The-Beach (the inspiration for the movie's Crazy House). The movie however used an elaborate set built at the Columbia Ranch back lot, with more than 100 plate-glass mirrors, some of them two-way to let the camera shoot through them.
Now it's Bannister's turn to show up - he knows she was planning to have him killed and tells Elsa she would be foolish to fire her gun - "... these mirrors - it's difficult to tell - you are aiming at me aren't you? I'm aiming at you, lover!
Bullets fly and mirrors shatter as they desperately target each other's multiple images. The dramatic footage includes this chilling view of the ice-cold femme fatale.
Both Elsa and Bannister are hit. " I don't wanna die!! " she screams, but die she does. Bannister too, leaving O'Hara unscathed but in a state of numbed shock. In this scene, director Welles was unhappy with the studio's addition of crashing background music. He felt (CitySleuth agrees) that the gunfire and breaking glass alone would be more effective and realistic.
Then ... the next shot showing him leaving the Crazy House was filmed on location at the Fun House at Playland-At-The-Beach. The amusement park was open year-round in 1947 so this was likely filmed in the early morning hours before it opened.
... in 1972 ... 23 years later Playland-At the-Beach was closed down to make way for new condominiums. This photo of the Fun House, next to the Merry-Go-Round carousel, was taken on closing day.
... and Now, in the matching view today, the Ocean Beach Condominiums at 825 La Playa Street now straddle this spot (map).
Then ... The camera paints a panorama as it follows O’Hara. At far right is the Laff In The Dark ghost ride; the twin tower structure at far left is the entrance to Shoot The Chutes (a boat ride down a steep chute into a lake) alongside the Great Highway (click the image to enlarge).
... and Now, the same panorama reveals that condominiums have also replaced this northern block of the park. The Laff In The Dark location is now the end-of-line turnaround for the 5-Fulton and 31-Balboa Muni bus lines (click the image to enlarge)..
... a vintage aerial ... the dotted line in the 1940s photo below traces O'Hara's short walk during this final scene.
Then ... The camera continues to follow O'Hara as he (appropriately for a sailor) heads towards the Pacific Ocean. The rising sun behind him casts long shadows, signalling the dawn of a new day, the chance for a fresh start. His final musings close out the movie ...
"Well, everybody is somebody's fool. The only way to stay out of trouble is to grow old, so I guess I'll concentrate on that. Maybe I'll live so long that I'll forget her ... maybe I'll die tryin' ".
... and Now, The condo at 798 Great Highway has usurped the Shoot The Chutes entrance and through traffic no longer runs along this block of Cabrillo Street. The offshore Seal Rocks formation can be partially seen in both Then and Now images.
