Then … Our stern narrator informs us that the subject of the painting was the view from the rear of Igor Braun’s third floor studio apartment in this building.
… and Now, the building today is just as it was more than 70 years ago; it’s in Nob Hill on the southeast corner of Clay and Mason Streets; Braun’s apartment number is 1087 Clay (map). (But, as CitySleuth pointed out earlier, the painting actually depicted buildings on Market Street, miles from here).
Then … The FBI agents decide to set up an observation post in the 3rd floor corner apartment above Bedayan’s grocery store at 1101 Clay. Visible along Clay Street are traces of the torn-up cable car tracks of the Sacramento-Clay Street line that had closed down six years earlier, in 1942.
… and Now, No more groceries here, 1101 Clay currently houses an upscale furniture and lighting business. (Trivia time - the corresponding corner, at 1153 Taylor just one block up the hill from here, is where Steve McQueen’s apartment was in Bullitt).
Then … Agents O’Hara and Grayson walk past the grocery up Mason from Clay, heading to their observation room set up in the uppermost protruding bay window seen above them.
… and Now, isn’t it good to see a part of town mostly unchanged after close to three-quarters of a century?
Then … This is the same shot viewed from behind showing them approaching 1055 Mason Street, on the right below the awning, where their observation room is. On the left at the top of the hill are the Fairmont and the Mark Hopkins hotels, two of the City’s icons, then, as now.
… and Now, this recent wide angle view along Mason shows where the stakeout and the staked-out were.
From the corner window O’Hara looks across to Igor Braun’s studio.
From here they spy on him as he works on a new painting.
Then … Joe has quit the force and is free to conduct his own personal investigation. He heads to Malatesta’s seafood restaurant at Fisherman’s Wharf to check him out. When this location scene was filmed this was Andy’s Look Out, a 6-stool coffee shop serving breakfast and burgers to local fishermen.
… and Now, In 1965 brothers Al and Joe Scoma bought the restaurant, renaming it Scoma’s. Over the decades they have expanded it into today’s landmark eatery, seen here. In fact, Scoma’s became so popular that the city renamed the 2900 block of Jones Street that leads to it (formerly informally aka Jones Alley), as ‘Al Scoma Way’ (map).
The 1957 street directory of the 2900 block of Jones confirms the restaurant name as Andy’s Look Out.
Then … Inside the restaurant Joe strikes up a conversation with Malatesta who doesn’t flinch when Father Tomasino’s name is brought up.
… and Now, The window view today reflects building changes across Jefferson Street. In both images Coit Tower is seen in the background.
Then … Joe mentions that he is looking for work and Malatesta follows him when he leaves.
… and Now, this space is now a kitchen area for Scoma’s.
Insisting that “Any friend of Father Tomasino is a friend of mine”, Malatesta generously invites Joe to his home for dinner, telling him he might be able to give him a job.
Then … Local FBI agents fan out across town searching for the buildings depicted in Igor Braun’s intercepted painting. At upper right the vertical corner sign, reading ‘Marines’, belongs to the Marines Memorial Club which tells us where this was filmed.
… and Now, The view looks south down Mason with Sutter crossing in the foreground (map). The Marines Memorial Club at 601 Sutter still occupies the southwest corner of this junction but traffic on Mason has since been changed to one-way. In both Then and Now images, steeply sloped streets on Potrero Hill are clearly visible way off in the distance.
Then … Next, we see an agent in a different part of town; this appears to be somewhere South of Market.
… and Now, sure enough, this is 6th Street, unchanged since the neighborhood’s post-1906 earthquake and fire rebuild (map). That’s Minna Street on the left and straight ahead across Market is the Golden Gate Theatre.
Then … The agents spot buildings that might be those in the drawing. This shot was filmed in a studio using a rear-projected cityscape. To CitySleuth it looks very familiar but something about it isn’t quite right …
… that’s because the moviemakers reversed the image when they projected it! So let’s reverse it back - now it makes sense - it’s a view west across the Marina looking towards the Presidio in the distance. The prominent building in the upper center is the Marina Middle School. The eyesore gas holder at right used to be on the corner of Bay and Laguna.
… and Now, the movie’s view was taken from a Russian Hill apartment building, 1090 Chestnut on the corner of Larkin (map), as was the recent photo below. (That same building also appeared in the 1947 movie Dark Passage, described here by CitySleuth). The school is still there but the gas holder has been replaced by the Marina Cove Apartments.
They check the buildings in the painting …
Then … Bingo! The agent says “That’s it alright, it’s painted from the rear of one of those houses on Clay Street”. But this is nowhere near Clay Street; note the ‘McRoskey Airflex’ sign on the building at left - a giveaway as to where this actually is.
… and Now, both buildings are still there today, in the Mid Market section of Market Street. On the left is the McRoskey Mattress Company, a local family business founded in 1899 that has been at this 1687 Market Street location since 1925 (map). On the right is the Allen Hotel at 1693 Market which survived a fire in 1998 and today is a low-income housing facility with on-site support services.
In summary, the moviemakers used geographical trickery for Igor Braun’s studio location. The agent describes it as being on Clay Street but he’s in Russian Hill when he spots it, and the houses across the street from it are on Market Street. All miles apart. Go figure.
Then … Mourners gather outside a church for Father Tomasino’s funeral.
… and Now, the church, also seen earlier behind the movie’s opening credits, is All Hallows Chapel at 1440 Newhall Street in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood (map). The view down the hill looks north along Newhall Street across Palou Avenue in the foreground.
Then … Outside the church Joe notices some unusual behavior…
… and Now, The three houses behind him, 1687, 1691 and 1695 Palou Avenue have aged well for being over 100 years old. They were built between 1890 and 1900, before All Hallows Chapel kitty-korner from them was built (in 1906).
One of the mourners, ex-parishioner Sylvio Malatesta (Gilbert Roland), is shaking uncontrollably - “going through the tortures of the damned”, as Joe would later tell his police chief. He is immediately suspicious.
Then … Malatesta stumbles across the street to his car and drives off, leaving Joe wondering if he could be the killer.
… and Now, the chapel’s entrance is exactly the same but without the palm trees. The neighboring building, on the corner of Oakdale avenue, was replaced in 1983 by All Hallows Community, 45 units of permanent affordable housing and supportive services for low-income seniors.
Joe takes his suspicions to his superiors but his request to be put on the case is rebuffed. Disgusted and frustrated, he hands in his badge.
