(A Bunker Hill movie in a San Francisco blog? CitySleuth explains why).
Homer and his friend Rico (Rico Rodriguez) stop by Rico's pad by way of the 3rd Street tunnel.
Then ... They first swing by the newspaper stand at the lower terminus of the Angels Flight funicular (described earlier in this blog) on the southwest corner of Hill and 3rd Street (map) where the impassive, ever patient vendor waits for the next late night customer.
... and Now, here's how this corner looks today.
Then ... As they walk across Hill Street in this panorama the 3rd Street tunnel regresses behind them for three blocks to where it emerges near Flower Street. At far left is the Redondo Cafe at 301 S. Hill Street next to Angels Flight (with the newspaper stand) and at far right is the Royal Liquor store at 259 S. Hill (click image to enlarge).
... and Now, it became a very different junction after the massive redevelopment of the late 1950s and 1960s. The buildings on either side of the junction were razed and Angels Flight was relocated a half block south. The tunnel is still there but its entrance was extended to create a foundation for the modern structure built above it.
... in 1957 ... the vintage photo below captured the same junction by day.
... in 1965 ... and here's what urban cleansing had wrought just a few years later, part way into the Bunker Hill redevelopment program.
Then ... Rico nips into the Royal Liquor store for a bottle of booze then they head through the tunnel on their way to his rented rooms, swigging the bottle (overtly wrapped in a paper bag - who are they trying to fool?) as they go.
... and Now, a recent photo reveals that the tunnel looks just the same inside, except for the painted-over graffiti (a modern, not a 1950s, phenomenon).
Then ... They climb the stairs to Rico's place on the third level of this apartment house.
... in 1955 ... this is the backyard of 916 W. 1st Street between Figueroa and Fremont (map). Long since demolished, the building was captured here in this vintage 1955 photograph, looking northeast - the hillside across 3rd Street can be seen on the left. Two of the same clotheslines can be seen in both images.
... and Now, the Promenade Towers apartment complex now sits not only on this site but also the entire block. The arrow points to where Rico's backyard used to be, at the far corner of its pool area.
Looking in the opposite direction we see, from Rico's balcony, the narrow alley that led to the backyard (it ran along the right side of the pool above). The view across the city looks to the southwest.
If it's a genuine San Francisco police thriller then it has to include the old Hall Of Justice. This movie is no exception.
Then ... Taking a break from the murder investigation the two brothers leave the Hall Of Justice, stepping out to Kearny Street for a Chinese lunch.
The same shot was used a year earlier in the 1949 movie Impact.
... and Now, the old Hall Of Justice faced Portsmouth Square Plaza from its location at 750 Kearny Street in Chinatown. It was demolished in 1967 and replaced by a Holiday Inn hotel, now the Hilton San Francisco Financial District (map).
Then ... They walk the few steps to the Yen Yen Cafe at 716 Kearny on the corner of Merchant Street. Its sign juts out, just above Andy's fedora.
Three years earlier in the 1947 movie The Lady From Shanghai, the identical camera placement captured Orson Welles fleeing from the Hall of Justice with the Yen Yen Cafe sign again clearly visible.
... and Now, there's still a Chinese eatery, the Garden Restaurant, at that corner location. But at left we see that the imposing Hall Of Justice is gone.
Then ... Inside the cafe Andy cannot understand why Ed persists in trying to pin the Frazer murder on the youth who shot the liquor store owner. Yes it was the same gun but the evidence suggested he didn't have access to it until after Frazer was killed. Portsmouth Square Plaza is seen across Kearny through the window but what's that white building in the park?
... and Now, the plaza today is no longer a gently sloping open space - it was sacrificed to make way, behind these trees, for an uninspiring two level park with underground parking.
And that white building? It was a replica of the city's first schoolhouse, originally located at Portsmouth Square, which happened to be on display in the plaza for the California Centennial observance when the movie was filmed. Here's the schoolhouse in 1951 as it was being moved from the plaza to City College, slated to be a museum exhibit.
There isn't a view of the front of the Yen Yen Cafe in the movie but in this capture from The Lady of Shanghai filmed three years earlier as Rita Hayworth runs through the plaza we can see the half block of Kearny between Merchant (just off the left edge of the picture) and Clay Street to the right. The white van on the left is parked in front of the cafe. The awning just to the right of the van belonged to Puccinelli Bail Bonds at 714 Kearny (also visible in the other Lady From Shanghai image above).
... and Now, the half block today still looks the same except for different store tenants. The Garden Restaurant at left has expanded from the original Yen Yen Cafe corner space and now spans the full width of the host Wood Building.
After she discovers the two bodies Helen decides she doesn't want to get involved - she was just about to leave Reno for home anyway so she heads straight to the station for the late night train to San Francisco.
... from 1928 ... The Reno depot was built in 1925 by Southern Pacific. This postcard image shows the station three years after it went into service and it still looked like this in 1947 when the movie was filmed. The station fronts E. Commercial Row but this view, from Lake Street, of the rear track-facing side of the building shows us where the following scene was filmed (map).
... and Now, because the depot is in the center of town the tracks have since been lowered and street-level bridges built to alleviate traffic-crossing problems. The depot has been kept in its original form and the building is now on the National Register For Historic Places.
Then ... While Helen waits for the train (her luggage is on the left) who should walk up but Sam (the killer - we know it but she doesn't, yet). He too is making a hasty exit from the scene of the crime.
... and Now, the red border outlines the same part of the depot (CitySleuth must confess that he used the front exterior for these comparisons because 1) the rear is harder to photograph the matching shot due to the major changes resulting from lowering the track, and 2) the depot architecture is identical front and back.
Then ... They strike up a conversation, recalling their first meeting in the casino. Sam offers to carry her luggage onto the waiting train and she is quite happy to accept.
... and Now, the red border outlines the same part of the depot (again using the more accessible but identical front of the building).
... and Now, this recent photo taken track-side shows where the filming took place, on the right, before the tracks were lowered.
In the club car they waste no time flirting with each other as the train pulls out past the glitter of downtown Reno.
Then ... By the time they get on the ferry at Oakland Pier to complete the journey to San Francisco it's obvious they will continue to see each other. But wait a minute ... there's a continuity goof in this footage - with Yerba Buena Island on the left this is a view from San Francisco showing the ferry going in the wrong direction, cruising under the Bay Bridge from left to right towards Oakland.
Then ... But in the next shot their ferry is on the other side of the bridge and heading, correctly, towards San Francisco.
... and Now, six decades of development has transformed the San Francisco shoreline.
( A Bunker Hill movie in a San Francisco blog? CitySleuth explains why).
How does a filmmaker keep the viewer entertained during a voiceover? Director Kent MacKenzie used several voiceovers in this movie and his solution was to fill in the time with downtown street scenes filmed at night using the street lamps, retail shop window lights and neon signs as highlights. They were all located within a few short blocks.
Then ... In this shot we can see the tower of City Hall in the upper right corner.
... and Now, the view looks north along Main Street with 3rd Street crossing in the foreground (map). City Hall is still there but the corner building at left has had the upper two stories removed. What is unusual is that its retail stores were left in place - the previous location showed surviving threshold tiles in one of the stores in this block.
Then ... Here's a bustling street corner.
... and Now, this is at the same junction as the prior scene, Main at 3rd. The store on the left, on the northwest corner, is now the Persian restaurant Shish Kebob but back then was called Optimo (you can see it in the first 'Then' image above). El Progreso across the street was at 260 S. Main Street but this half of that block is now a parking structure.
Then ... This was filmed from below the Angels Flight funicular as one of its cars approached the lower terminus at Hill and 3rd (map). As we look east from here along 3rd Street the F P Fay Building sign is seen at right across 3rd and that hotel facing us a few blocks down is the St. George at 115 E. 3rd Street. Hard to see from here but below the word 'HOTEL' is a stylized 'One Dollar' sign, its daily room rate.
... and Now, the funicular has been moved a half block south along Hill Street and the old F P Fay corner building on the right has been replaced by a parking structure. The St George hotel, distantly small in this non-telescopic photo, is still there, now providing low income housing.
... in 1952 ... the St George survived a fire a few years before The Exiles was filmed, captured in the photo below which clearly shows the stylized 'One Dollar' neon signs (the one on the left is the one visible in the 'Then' image above). Incidentally the Enderle hardware store, on the left below, and a recent photo of the St. George can be seen here in an earlier post.
Then ... More drinking joints but this shot includes an architecturally interesting building on the left. This is the south side of the 300 block of 3rd Street (map). From left to right were Radio-Electronics at 316 S Main, a liquor store and Saddle Rock Cafe at 320, the posh entrance to the F P Fay Building at 326, and Buggy Wheel Cafe at 328 (most bars in those days seemed to prefer the pseudonym 'cafe'. Who were they kidding?).
... and Now, the stylish building with the arches, an extension of the Metropolitan Water Board Building, is still there but those on the right including the F P Fay building have been replaced by a parking structure.