Joe has a hard time tracking down Charlie Cuneo but fortuitously Malatesta invites him over for dinner. He relates how he and Malatesta played snooker together at the Vallejo Social Club until one a.m. on the night Father Tomasino was murdered. To Joe’s great relief his concern over Malatesta’s possible guilt is dispelled.
Then … But his precinct Sergeant arrives with disturbing new information. A detective had been following Cuneo that night on another case and witnessed him meet Malatesta at another club that backed onto the alley where the priest was killed then left for several hours leaving Malatesta behind. Cuneo had lied; Malatesta’s alibi was blown.
… and Now, they were at the cul-de-sac at the top of the Montgomery Steps, described in more detail in an earlier post.
Then … Joe asks to be dropped off; they pull up in front of a theater - its marquee is partly visible on the left.
… a vintage photo … This was the Palace Theater at Washington Square park at the junction of Columbus and Powell in North Beach (map). Here’s a c. 1970 image of the theater taken at a time when it was showing Chinese movies (the theater would later be renamed the Pagoda Palace). (The theater was briefly seen in Woody Allen’s 1972 movie Play It Again Sam).
… and Now, After being closed for years the theater was demolished in 2013 when it was deemed the ideal spot to extract the two boring machines that had dug the twin Central Subway tunnels extending the T-Third Street line from near the Giant’s ballpark into Chinatown. It is now a retail/condominium structure, retaining the blade sign in a nod to its past. More’s the pity it didn’t become a subway station (the tunnel had already been extended to here, right?).
Then … Across the park we see Saints Peter and Paul Church and Coit Tower.
… and Now, the same view below also shows the statue mostly obscured by the car, above. It’s a memorial to the Volunteer Fire Dept. of 1839-1866 who protected the city during several conflagrations before the first city fire department was created.
… in 1933 … The statue’s dedication ceremony was attended in force by firemen and residents with vivid memories of the city’s 1906 fire. The church is behind it, as too is Coit Tower which had been completed only months earlier.
Then … With Igor Braun temporarily absent, O’Hara and Grayson sneak into his studio.
… and Now, This is 1087 Clay Street, corner of Mason, in Nob Hill, described in more detail in an earlier post.
Then … Inside, they head straight for the easel to inspect the painting that Braun has been working on...
… and Now, this is a rendition of one of the oldest houses in Montmartre, Paris - the historic Le Consulat Restaurant at 18 Rue Norvins in the shadow of the Sacre Coeur Basilica (map). Once a favorite hangout for famous artists Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and others, the neighborhood today is overrun by tourists; here it is in 2019 as captured by Google Street View. It has also appeared over the years in a number of movies including Woody Allen’s 1996 film ‘Everyone Says I love You’.
O’Hara scans the painting with UV light, exposing both another stolen formula from the Lakeview Nuclear Physics Research Lab and Braun’s culpability.
Then … They are warned that Braun is on his way back so they quickly duck out the back door. In what could be a studio setup using a rear projection to set the location, the view looks across Market Street, filmed from the rooftop of the C. S. Mahoney Dodge Dealership, a real business at 1740 Market (map). (CitySleuth has already pointed out that this is miles away from the house in Nob Hill). The arrows point on the left to the Allen Hotel at 1693 Market and on the right to a Pacific Telephone & Telegraph switching station.
As recently as 2017 that block, seen here from street level, looked very similar to the movie image above …
… and Now, but today the arrowed buildings, viewed from the same rooftop, are still there, but dwarfed by newer ones. There’s now a bulky apartment complex slapped against the older but more architecturally interesting Allen Hotel building, reducing it to an afterthought. The gabled building next to it is the McRoskey Mattress Company at 1687 Market, in business since before the movie was filmed and still in business today.
The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph (now AT&T) switching station is unchanged - still as it was in the movie’s ‘Then’ image above. This 1937 Art Deco industrial gem occupies the corner of McCoppin and Otis Streets.
Then … Malatesta sits with Joe on the wall outside his house (described in the previous post). He has taken to Joe and generously suggests that he move in with his family. He also tells Joe that on the night Father Tomasino was murdered he was playing cards with friends at the Vallejo Social Club.
… and Now, the concrete wall at the end of the Montgomery Street cul-de-sac has been there since the Montgomery Steps were built in 1928.
Then … If Joe can confirm the alibi it would mean Malatesta was innocent and that he could stop agonizing over it. He moves into his house and settles into his job at Malatesta’s waterfront restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf, (previously described here). Below, he hauls a crate of fish along the side of the restaurant (which is just off the picture on the right).
… and Now, Scoma’s replaced that restaurant in 1965; in the matching shot today we see its dining room extension occupying the space of the shed and storage boxes (map).
… and Now, Scoma’s today. The original building was the gabled section at far right.
Then … He also lends a hand with the cooking. The original diner back then was called Andy’s Look Out.
… and Now, that modest space became Scoma’s kitchen.
Joe and Anna’s budding romance blossoms when he takes her to a local dance at the Vallejo Social Club, the same place where Malatesta claimed he played cards on the night of the murder. This building’s exterior style is typical of many in North Beach but CitySleuth cannot find this location, including on the North Beach blocks of Vallejo Street. Either the building has been replaced or it was a studio creation.
Then … At the club Joe talks to the card-playing group and learns that Malatesta had left during the evening of the murder to meet a friend, Charlie Cuneo. Later Joe calls his old precinct sergeant for help in finding Cuneo.
… and Now, the above scene was most likely filmed in a studio using a rear projection to set the location. Below is that location, at Fisherman’s Wharf in front of Pier 45 (map). Comparing Then and Now, the Fisherman’s Grotto building exterior on the left is the same but Alioto’s has since added an upper dining floor.
The same location, with another phone booth, appeared 5 years later in Experiment In Terror by which time the Alioto’s upper dining room had already been added.
Then … Igor Braun, unaware that the FBI have been watching him at work on his latest painting, takes a break for lunch.
… and Now, the previous post identified his address as 1087 Clay Street on the corner of Mason. Today there’s a security gate across the entrance, a sad comment on modern times but at least nicely styled.
Then … From the doorway of the 1055 Mason apartment building where the FBI had set up their stakeout an agent watches the suspect cross Clay Street.
… and Now, there’s now a fire escape on the house across the street, mandated by its added fourth story.
Then … Tailed by the agent, he approaches a crowd congregated around the scene of an accident.
… and Now, this is the junction of Sacramento Street and Grant Avenue in Chinatown; the brickwork of the business at far right is now covered by colorful painted murals. On a historical note, Grant Avenue’s ornately distinctive lampposts were installed in time for visitors attending the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition.
Then … Viewed across Grant from the reverse direction, Braun pushes his way through the crowd. The building at the top of Sacramento is the Brocklebank Apartments (famously the home of Madeleine Elster in Vertigo). Both the Brocklebank and the Western Union Telegraph Office on the corner at 669 Grant would appear one year later in scenes from the movie Impact. Note the Chronicle in the newsstand trumpeting victories by the Bay Area’s baseball teams, the San Francisco Seals and the Oakland Oaks.
… and Now, believe it or not, it is still possible to send a telegram (over the web, not via Western Union) but this Telegraph Office closed decades ago: its space is now part of the adjacent business, the China Bazaar at 667 Grant Avenue. (By the way, in 1929, more than 200 million telegrams were sent but by 2005 the number was down to 21,000).
Then … Braun crosses the road then turns right, along the 600 block of Grant. There are lots of eateries to choose from here, including the Far East Cafe seen across the street.
… and Now, 72 years later, the Far East, at 631 Grant, is still there. It dates back to 1920 so it will celebrate its centennial this year; how many restaurants in San Francisco can make that claim? But as we will see, Igor Braun has a different place in mind.
Then … This shot of him entering a restaurant offers two clues as to its location - the address number 723 next door and the window reflections of the buildings across the street. This is the famous Hang Far Low restaurant (a name that provoked many a smirk over the years) at 725 Grant (map). You can just make out - on the window at upper right - part of the decoratively written Hang Far Low. Click or tap the image to see how the gallery and windows of the buildings opposite 725 Grant today would match those 1948 reflections.
The restaurant’s menu, as did the window above, advertised Chop Suey & Noodles.
Then … Hang Far Low restaurant is no longer in business but it too had a long history. It opened in the 1880s, was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake fire, then reopened in 1907 on the top two floors of the building depicted in the vintage postcard below. The arrow points to the same street-level entrance seen forty years later in the Then image above. By 1960 Hang Far Low had closed, succeeded by the Four Seas restaurant.
… and Now, the Four Seas too was destined to have a long run, finally closing in 2013. Its entrance had been moved to the right below the awning. Today the upstairs restaurant tradition carries on with the Michelin-starred Mr. Jiu’s, now accessed from the rear of the building at 28 Waverly Place. A clothing store specializing in kimonos currently occupies the ground level.
… a vintage photo … this c. 1950 photo shows the Western Union office and the 700 block of Grant Avenue as the moviemakers experienced them; the arrow points to the Hang Far Low entrance. Note its vertical sign ‘Noodles, Hang Far Low’. Note too the ‘Kimonos Pajamas’ sign close by; they too had an extended Chinatown presence.
