Then … On the lookout for Scorpio carrying a tan suitcase, they drive north on Grant Avenue, here approaching Union Street, passing the dimly lit New Star Cleaners at 1445 Grant and the brightly lit Nirvana Gifts at 1443 Grant (map).
… and Now, the most recent tenants at those two locations were Therapy Stores and Knitz & Leather.
Then … They cross Union, continuing on towards Filbert Street. The Chevron sign ahead on the corner is at the Grant Avenue Garage at 501 Filbert.
… and Now, the garage is still there (the red building); now an auto repair shop, it no longer pumps gas.
Then … Gonzalez spots a man carrying a tan suitcase walking along Grant and the chase is on. They hang a left into Filbert Street.
… and Now, this view today is unchanged. The Grant Avenue repair shop is at far left; Filbert continues on past Sts. Peter and Paul Church then climbs up to Russian Hill.
Then … Mid-block, the suspect darts up an alley - Callahan leaps out and chases after him.
… and Now, this is Krausgrill Place, one of North Beaches many narrow alleys, looking exactly the same as it did back then.
Then … The alley turns to the right at the top of Krausgrill, becoming Medau Place. Callahan sees the suspect enter an apartment - he balances precariously on a trash can, peering in just long enough to realize it’s not Scorpio, just a guy foolin’ around with his girlfriend.
… and Now, this is the window of 57 Medau Place (map). Krausgrill is seen ahead at the end of Medau.
Then … A group of men jump Callahan, thinking him a peeping tom. But the beating is curtailed by Gonzalez’s arrival. He holds them at bay with his gun, threatening an arrest, but Callahan tells them to clear off.
… and Now, they were in front of 57 Medau Place, filmed from the opposite direction.
The whole commotion caught the attention of Hot Mary, the lady in the apartment.
Then … A cityscape is presented at this point (why?) - it was filmed from high up in the 100 McAllister building on the corner of McAllister and Leavenworth (map). The arrow points to the Golden Gate Theater with its octagonal tower and in the distance are the Hunter-Dulin Building at far left and the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Building at far right which coincidentally was designed by the same architect, Timothy Pflueger, who designed 100 McAllister.
… and Now, Citysleuth stumbled upon a recent photo taken from the 14th floor of 100 McAllister which captured the same view. The arrow again points to the Golden Gate Theater, still there today on the corner of Golden Gate Ave and Taylor Street. Several foreground buildings are recognizable but those downtown are replaced or dwarfed by newer high-rises.
The 28-story Neo-Gothic-styled 100 McAllister building was built in 1925 as a Methodist Episcopal church with a ‘dry’ hotel (no alcohol) above it. Wouldn’t you know it, the project failed. Today it’s a student residential tower for U.C. Hastings College of Law.
Knowing that the police think Rhoda Montaine has killed Moxley, Mason returns to her home at 2100 Washington Street (shown in an earlier post). Her husband Carl tells him she left earlier that day with a suitcase and a trunk.
Then … Mason surmises she went to the airport to flee the police, not a good idea because it would for sure implicate her. He hastily drives there in a mad dash through town. Here he is approaching Market Street in the ‘00’ block of Fell Street (map), closely followed by the police in an unmarked car. The tower of the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church can be seen at the top of the hill on the corner of Fillmore Street.
… and Now, The distant tower is still visible from here. Since 2014 the 19th century church has been used as a rollerskate venue, aka The Church Of 8 Wheels. The Spanish Colonial building at far right at 50 Fell Street is currently a Montessori school.
Then … They make a right from Fell into Market Street. The Ferry building is barely visible way in the distance. The Fox Theater can be seen behind them at 1350 Market, advertising the movies Woman In Red and Little Men as the ‘A’ and ‘B’ features.
The 4,651 seat Fox was one of many grand theaters on Market Street that saw their heyday in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. It was built in 1929 but closed after years of declining attendance as television became popular. Here it is in 1963 just prior to demolition.
… in the 1960s … A telephoto shot down Market c. early 1960s captured the Fox at far left with its fellow theaters arrayed along the street. Only the Orpheum and the Warfield have survived.
… and Now, a mostly rebuilt Market Street is a very different thoroughfare than its neon-blazed predecessor.
Then … The drive through the city jumps all over town as was typical in movies. Here the cop car tailing Mason has just turned left from Van Ness into McAllister (map). That’s the War Memorial Veterans Building on the left.
… and Now, The Beaux-Arts-style Veteran’s Building dates from 1932; it commemorates those who served in the first World War. The hodgepodge block across McAllister was sacrificed for the California Public Utilities Commission headquarters at 505 Van Ness.
Then … Next, they turn north into Van Ness from Market Street (map). Across Market check out what these days would be a very rare sight - the Fur Doctor, a fur repair store, at 1521 Market.
… and Now, The same Market/ Van Ness junction is unrecognizable today and not only because of the mess created by the Van Ness Improvement Project, now in its 5th year.
… in 1944 … this vintage photo looking east down Market across the Van Ness junction was taken 9 years after the movie was released. The Fur Doctor was still in business, on the right.
(Part 2 of the chase to the airport will continue in the next post).
Then … George has a meeting with a potential investor in Reno, Nevada. Jane accompanies him on the drive there from San Luis Obispo, on the way passing a small town alongside the snow-blanketed freeway. Note the metal structure arrowed on the right, a clue to this location.
… and Now, They were driving east on Interstate 80 with a view of Truckee, California, right after passing the Truckee exit (map). Trees along the freeway’s edge now block most of the town from here but that structure (railway control lights are mounted on it) is still there; it spans the railway line that passes through Truckee.
Then … They arrive at their destination, here driving under the famous Reno Arch on the way to their hotel (map).
… and Now, The arch, on N. Virginia St. at Commercial Row, first appeared here in 1926 but has seen several changes over the years. The one seen above in the movie was a 1963 redesign, the second version. Today’s (third) version was installed in 1987 and repainted in 2018 (photo by Richard Wong). Elsewhere in this blog is the original arch, seen in the 1947 noir movie Born To Kill.
Trivia time: What happened to the old arches? They are still around - the first arch was relocated in Reno to Lake Street near the Truckee River; the second was bought by the northern California town of Willits who discarded its gaudily colored plastic panels and reconfigured it to pronounce their town ‘The Gateway To The Redwoods’.
Then … While playing the slot machines at their hotel George receives an urgent phone call from his brother Henry; Jane can see from his face that it’s not good news. George’s wife Susan has died from an asthma attack.
… circa 1960 … ‘Mapes Casino’ was visible on the slot machine above, revealing where it was filmed - in Reno’s Mapes Hotel. This vintage photo of the art deco-style building, built in 1947 at the junction of N. Virginia and the Truckee River (map), closed down in 1982 before being spectacularly demolished by implosion in 2000 (watch it here).
… and Now, the site of the grand hotel is now a city-owned plaza.
More trivia … the Mapes Hotel casino also appeared in the 1961 movie The Misfits. The Mapes served as the production center for the movie and many cast and crew stayed there, including Marilyn Monroe and then-husband Arthur Miller, pictured here in their hotel suite after a day’s shooting. They were to divorce very shortly afterwards, ending five years of marriage.
George rushes back to his San Francisco home and, with Henry and Susan’s sister Martha, gazes down on Susan for the last time in this solemn scene. Martha, still angry at George’s lack of commitment to the marriage, angrily asks him to leave.
They watch as Susan’s body is transferred into a hearse. Citysleuth is still looking for this location, described earlier in more detail. The license plate on the hearse is Q 25 416 which was the California commercial plate format (1 letter + 5 numbers) in the 1960s when the movie was filmed. So was this a California location? Maybe, maybe not. Can any reader amongst you shed light on this?
Then … Callahan and Gonzalez are cruising along Broadway in the heart of the North Beach red light district. Here they pass the Hungry-I club, but don’t confuse it with the original and more famous hungry-i which began life in 1949 in the basement of the Sentinel Building at Kearney and Columbus before moving to the International Hotel on Jackson Street in 1954 where many well-known folk groups, comedians and other entertainers got their start. It then morphed into a rock venue in Ghirardelli Square before closing down in 1970 and selling its name to a consortium who transferred the name to this Broadway strip joint at 546 Broadway (map).
… and Now, the club is still there, but shuttered because of the pandemic.
Then … They move along the same block, passing two adjacent clubs: The Roaring 20s and Big Al’s. Another Roaring 20’s used to be a few blocks away on Montgomery Street, named Varni’s Roaring 20s (prominently featured by the way in 1962 in Experiment In Terror, described elsewhere in this blog).
Then … Again, the whole area was in lockdown when CitySleuth (masked, of course) took these photos. Big Al’s had devolved from a club to a cigar and gift store before the lockdown but retained the name and its giant blade sign.
Then … They turn the corner into Columbus Avenue, passing by the most famous, or is it infamous, of the North Beach clubs - the Condor. Featuring the attributes of Carol Doda, the Condor was the first club in America to go topless, in 1964, then bottomless, in 1969. Less is more?
… and Now, the club awaits Covid relaxations at which time no doubt the entertainment will return. The main entrance has been moved; the one seen above has since become a window, matching its neighbors. Note the metal plaque on the wall between the windows - it’s a historical marker celebrating the dates of the Topless and Bottomless debuts.
CitySleuth would be remiss not to let us sneak a peek at why Ms. Doda was smirkily dubbed “the new Twin Peaks of San Francisco”. Injections of silicone reportedly boosted her from a 34 to a 44, at the same time boosting her reputation.
From 1973 here’s a vintage photo of that busy corner as it was when the movie was filmed. Note the redacted Condor signs advertising Ms. Doda’s show - this might have been have been during the time that the City banned the use of the word ‘Topless” in signs until it was ruled an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.
… and Now, this night shot was taken in 2020 before the lockdown. Not many changes, given the half-century separation in time.
Then … Opposite the Condor at 606 Columbus we see El Cid, the second club that had gone topless.
… and Now, The building now houses a Chinese Restaurant on the ground floor and a residential (SRO) hotel above. The mural covering the exterior of the building was painted by a local artist, Bill Weber, in 1987. Dubbed the ‘Jazz Mural”, it gives a nod to the many North Beach Jazz clubs of yore, all of which are sadly long gone. Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa are prominently on display amongst North Beach scenes: fishermen, Bocce Ball, moonrise over Coit Tower. The mural continues around the corner on Broadway with mostly Chinese images, in a nod to the adjacent Chinatown.
The full 3-story Jazz Mural is shown below after recent restoration by the artist, mostly funded by the city.
A police bulletin comes across the radio to look out for the escaped rooftop suspect who might be “carrying a tan suitcase which probably contains a thirty-aught-six rifle”. Gonzalez is about to spot him… maybe.
