Maude wants to know what Harold does when he isn't visiting funerals? Cut to a construction site where a wrecking ball is demolishing a building; They watch intently from a balcony across the way.
But where was this filmed? The only skimpy clue that may still be around is that house on the right; CitySleuth has yet to find the location and appeals to his readers for help ...
Then ... They move on to a scrapyard, fascinated by the clattering sounds of recycling at work. In this view from the crane's cab there's a message emblazoned on the hillside in the distance proudly proclaiming 'South San Francisco - The Industrial City'. It enabled this location to be pinpointed.
... and Now, here's that site today, a bare lot next to Exelixis, a genomics company seen on the right at 170 Harbor Way in South San Francisco. This map shows its location with a red marker and, in blue, the hillside sign location, on the aptly named Sign Hill just below Sign Hill Park. If you compare these Then and Now images closely you can match up some of the pylons of the PG&E substation across Gateway Boulevard.
This recently taken aerial photograph gives us a closer look at the Sign Hill slogan. First appearing in 1923, the letters were made permanent in 1929 using gunite, a new material back then, now widely used for forming swimming pools. Cleverly, to compensate for hillside changes in slope, the letter heights vary so that from ground level perspective they appear the same. The city of South San Francisco has morphed over the last century from heavy to light industry, in particular establishing itself as a biotechnology center.
Then ... Back to the scrapyard; this time the camera looks in the opposite direction across Harbor Way.
... and Now, from the same spot today we see a covered bridge crossing Harbor Way, linking two Exelixis buildings.
Then ... But rather than witnessing things being destroyed Maude's preference is watching things grow. In a greenhouse she explains to Harold how the plants represent an affirmation of life - the gospel according to Maude, one might say.
CitySleuth came across an unconfirmed claim that this was filmed at the Avansino-Mortensen Nursery in San Bruno (this map shows where it was). If so, it would have been one of the cluster of greenhouses seen in this c. 1950 aerial photo of the nursery in its prime. Sneath Lane separates the greenhouses from the Golden Gate National Cemetery on the right and across El Camino Real along the bottom that's the Tanforan horse-racing track. Its grandstand is partially visible on the left.
... and Now, two new freeways meeting at the 280/380 interchange now dominate this same aerial view. The nursery served the Bay Area's flower market for 45 years from 1929 until it was dismantled in the 1970s. Tanforan racetrack, opened in 1899, was replaced by a shopping mall in 1971.
Then ... Larsen has been assigned to tail suspect Camerero, beginning at a small gym alongside the bay.
... and Now, the gym, still there, belongs to the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club at 502 Jefferson Street at Aquatic Park (map). On the right, above, the schooner moored at the Hyde Street pier is the Wapama; it has since been dismantled and in its place, below, we now see the square-rigged sailing ship Balclutha. On the left, there's a small jetty...
... here's a view of the gym in a recent photo looking back from that jetty. The Dolphin Club is cheek by jowl with another club, the South End Rowing Club on the left.
Then ... next up, an energetic game of handball.
... and Now, the court, in the same building, continues to keep club members on their toes.
Then ... Camerero moves on to a hairdressers with a window view that identifies this location... that's Fredericksen's venerable Cow Hollow hardware store across the street.
... and Now, the same view from inside the store that currently occupies this site. To the left it has since been expanded into the store next door.
The store is currently the Simply Chic boutique at 3038 Fillmore (map) but back then it was a men's hairstylist called Forum II.
Fredericksen's has been serving the Cow Hollow neighborhood at 3029 Fillmore since 1896. In this recent photo the part of the store visible through the hair stylists' window in the Then image above is outlined in yellow.
Then ... The surveillance continues in a parking garage as the suspect walks to his car.
... and Now, this was filmed on level A of the underground garage of One Embarcadero Center in the Financial District.
Then ... But when Camerero exits the garage, this isn't One Embarcadero Center...
... and Now, instead, it's the Clay Street exit of the Golden Gateway Garage across the street from One Embarcadero Center (map), viewed from a pedestrian bridge spanning the road.
Then ... Jake follows him to a narrow street and watches him pull up outside a club where an awning marks a discreet entrance.
... and Now, this is Ritch Street, an alley in the SoMa South Beach neighborhood close to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants (map).
Then ... As Camerero enters the club the awning displays the address - 330 Ritch Street. This was the Ritch Street Health Club, one of the many bath houses that catered in the pre-Aids era to the gay men's community before they were all shut down by the City in the interest of public health.
... and Now, that same doorway has since been re-addressed as 360 Ritch Street. Comparing the Then and Now images you can see the identical outline of the bricked-in former windows next to the doorway. Today retail and commercial businesses occupy the building including the Little Skillet whose Southern Comfort food serves an eager lunch crowd daily from the shuttered window on the left.
Here's a vintage poster advertising the club that left no room for the imagination as to the activities inside.
Then ... Inside the club entrance a stairway draped with a colorful tapestry leads up to their "exciting psychedelic 3rd floor".
... and Now, a storage closet has been built under the stairway at left and plain white walls make for a more appropriate approach to the offices above.
Then ... Another day but still tailing. Larsen tries his best to look inconspicuous when Camerero walks right by him after exiting the narrow alley flanked by the pair of concrete bollards. Note the vertical sign - 'Poster Alley'.
... and Now, this is Union Street in Cow Hollow - Larsen was sitting at the steps of 1960 Union Street (map) in the center of the seven-block stretch that back then was a much-touted tourist shopping favorite. Poster Alley ran alongside the Artisans poster and framing store at 1964 Union, there since the early 1950s. Customers could view posters and prints hanging in the alley and buy them in the store.
Artisans is still in business but recently moved to the Sunset district. In a sign of transition the photo below taken in January 2016 pictures the empty store up for lease. The bollards are still there on either side of the garage door that now blocks access to the old Poster Alley.
Katrin has been sending stories to a long list of publishers. Thoroughly devastated after the tenth rejection, she declares it would be a waste of time going to college because she will never be a writer. But when Mama reads that the famous author Florence Dana Morehead is in town staying at Nob Hill's Fairmont Hotel (map), and that she is also passionate about gastronomy, she has an idea ...
Then ... We next see her, clutching some of Katrin's stories under her arm, in the hotel lobby. This shot was reflected in a mirror; CitySleuth has reversed the image in order to compare it with the Fairmont's lobby now.
... and Now, those beautiful marble Corinthian columns have been standing there for over one hundred years. But in the movie, above, there are less columns in the back corner than there should be. Also, the column flanking the far side of the staircase on the left, below, is missing, above. Clearly the lobby scenes were filmed on a studio set, not on location. One wonders if the hotel denied the moviemakers permission to film in the lobby (unlike 20 years later when the opening scene of Petulia was filmed here).
Then ... she waylays Mrs. Morehead near the revolving door of the lobby's main entrance. The author is not interested in reading Katrina's stories but when Mama tells her she has a secret recipe for Lutefisk and Koetbullar - Norwegian Meatballs in Cream Sauce - her curiosity is piqued.
... and Now, the real Fairmont's main entrance.
Then ... they sit down in front of the registration desk and Mama offers to write down the recipe while Mrs. Morehead reads Katrin's stories, an offer the gourmand cannot refuse.
... and Now, the set designers did an excellent job simulating this part of the real lobby but there's a tell-tale difference - the ingrained patterns of the marble columns, the one thing that would never change over the years, don't even come close to matching, more confirmation that the scene was filmed on a set.
Back home Mama finds Katrin in her attic room dejectedly tearing up all of her stories. She tells her about her visit, how Mrs Morehead found the stories too formulaic but nevertheless recognized a gift and suggested Katrin write about something or somebody she knows really well then to send it to her agent. Mama suggests she write about Papa.
Maude lives in a railroad Pullman car parked near Oyster point in South San Francisco. When Harold first steps inside he is amazed by what he sees.
Then... The railcar is chock full of Maude's collectibles, a reflection of who she is. A piano, sculptures large and small, plants, porcelains, pottery, paintings, decorative plates, lamp shades, a smiling corpulent Buddha, a hookah, books, empty picture frames, bric-a-brac of all kinds and much more.
... and Now, the railcar used in the movie was Western Pacific's lounge car number 653 (see the previous post for more information). The car is on public display at the Western Railway Museum located between Fairfield and Rio Vista, California (map). This 2015 photo (and the next one, both courtesy of Hunter Lohse of the Western Railway Museum) shows the car preserved in 1930s style. The multi-paned art deco partitions are in the center of the car . For the movie a faux fireplace, partially visible above, covered the door at the far end of the carriage.
Then... In this view from the opposite direction Harold and Maude stand next to a piano beyond the sculpture. There's a round dining table on this side of the central glass partitions and Maude's bed with peacock headboards is in the left foreground.
... and Now, at the Railway Museum, the same view today.
Then... Maude sits at the piano and treats Harold to an impromptu rendition of If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out. (Watch it here, or listen to Cat Stevens' version - he composed the song for the movie - here).
... and Now, Maude had a stained-glass window on the left side of the partition wall, above, but the original car has plain glass panels.
In this scene by the fireplace at the bedroom end of the car she pauses damp-eyed while reminiscing about her husband Frederick, a doctor in Vienna. A later glimpse of a tattooed number on her arm suggests she had been imprisoned in a concentration camp; perhaps Frederick was a Holocaust victim? This might explain why Maude embraces life so passionately, and why she has no time for convention or authority.
Oh, and in case you were wondering what that gadget is on the left? ... it's Maude's "olfactory banquet" ... a device that delivers an aromatic experience to the user. Watch the movie for a demonstration!