Then … Mason returns to the room where Moxley was murdered, looking for more clues. This location, at 1850 Sutter Street in Japantown, was described in detail in an earlier post.
… and Now, new buildings were built on the 1800 block of Sutter Street during the Western Addition redevelopment project; the sidewalk tree below is in front of where 1850 Sutter used to be.
He finds a possible clue, a discarded matchbox with a hotel name on the cover.
… in 1938 … These are all of the hotels listed in the 1938 South San Francisco city directory. In the real world there was no Fremont Hotel here.
Then … Mason dispatches Spudsy to follow up on the lead. He finds out that Doris Pender, one of the hotel’s residents, had made a phone call to Moxley the night of his murder. He heads to the Irving Theatre where she is onstage singing.
San Francisco did indeed have an Irving Theatre, listed in the 1935 City Directory at 1342 Irving Street in the Inner Sunset (map). But from the 1941 photo below it’s clear that the marquee doesn’t match the one in the movie; clearly that was a studio creation. The Irving opened in 1926 and closed in 1962, destined for demolition.
… and Now, the building at far left above (back then it housed a Safeway grocery store) is still there today (below), but the theater and the rest of the block to the right were replaced in 1963 by two apartment buildings. The grey building, now re-addressed as 1330 Irving, is where the theatre used to be.
It turns out that the singer had married Moxley a year earlier (so the scoundrel was also a bigamist). After her performance she tells them only that he had been threatening her.
Spudsy tracks down her roughneck brother, Oscar Pender, suspecting that on her behalf he may have tried to get even with Moxley. Pender wasn’t exactly cooperative; his only response was a punch to Spudsy’s jaw.
Then … George has arranged to meet Monica at the Marina Green parking lot in the Marina district (map). The high-rise residential towers of Russian Hill array the skyline at left and upscale homes lining Marina Boulevard on the right have a view towards the bay across the Marina Green.
… and Now, Those homes are built on land filled in for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, in some cases using rubble from the 1906 earthquake. 20 years after the movie was filmed the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake resulted in significant damage here caused by liquefaction of the fill. Short memories equates to great opportunities - this would have been a great time to buy because today those homes sell in the 3 to 5 million dollar range. But they still sit on the same landfill.
The earthquake hit this Marina apartment building particularly hard - the car sits under what was its 3rd floor.
Then … A cab drops Monica off. She looks every inch the high-class hooker that she is as she walks to his car. At center in the Bay is Alcatraz and off to the left, Angel Island.
… and Now, second verse, same as the first.
Then … She gets in and they drive off, still tailed by the insurance investigator. Everyone will recognize the Golden Gate bridge but probably not that structure just ahead. It started life during WW2 as a wartime degaussing building for demagnetizing large boats…
… and Now, … eventually closing down in the 1970s but recently reopening as the Marina Harbor Master Office.
Then … Any SF showcase movie has to include Chinatown, right? Director Fulci obliges by routing them along Grant Avenue, San Francisco’s very first street (it was originally named Dupont Street).
… and Now, The shot looks south along Grant across Washington Street (map). Despite being so close to the transformed Financial District it’s great that this neighborhood has resisted change since its reconstruction following the 1906 earthquake and fire. May that continue to be the case.
Then … At her apartment she wastes no time getting down to business. George is more than happy to participate in what follows - the movie’s second salacious romp amongst the sheets.
Then … Scorpio has threatened to kill a Catholic priest; acting on a hunch that he might return to the Dante Building rooftop on the corner of Union and Stockton in North Beach where he was seen earlier (it has a clear view of Sts. Peter and Paul church), Callahan and Gonzalez station themselves on the rooftop of a taller nearby building, viewed here from the Dante Building roof. As if anticipating the sinful episode about to take place, its roof displays a Christian message on a rotating vertical neon sign.
… and Now, this is the rooftop of 1520 Stockton Street (map), a half block from the Dante Building. Looming in the background is the former Bank Of America building at 555 California Street; Scorpio picked off his first victim from there.
Coincidentally, the aformentioned earlier scene showed a brief glimpse of the sign, on the right below, which by the way was built especially for the movie.
… and Now, when the movie was filmed 1520 Stockton housed the Medical Insurance Division of California Blue Shield; the current tenant is the main clinic of North East Medical Services, a health provider in Chinatown mostly serving the Asian community. The Dante block is visible further down the block at 1606 Stockton.
Then … From his vantage point Callahan scans the Dante building roof for signs of the killer. Note the brightly-lit top floor apartment next to it at 570 Union Street - it will shortly become a major distraction. An illuminated block of Stockton Street recedes in the background and the Catholic Church is partially visible in the top left corner.
… and Now, this recent aerial view shows those buildings relative to each other. The yellow ‘X” marks where the ‘Jesus Saves’ sign stood.
Pay attention, Harry! A young woman walking around naked in the 570 Union Street apartment has caught his eye. She even unashamedly opens the door for visitors.
They suddenly realize that Scorpio is on the roof. A high intensity gun battle between the buildings ensues, Scorpio’s automatic weapon giving him the edge. He pins them down, gleefully destroying the neon sign before fleeing.
Then … They rush down; once again Scorpio has made his escape, on the way shooting a policeman dead, his third victim.
More of the location details are visible in this publicity still taken during the filming. It’s the narrow Jasper Place alley, looking south across Union Street (map). The exact spot is shown by the red cross in the aerial view four images above.
… and Now, here it is today, unchanged except for exterior house paint.
Then … The action returns to San Francisco where from an elevated vantage point we see Lotta’s drinking fountain, an iconic monument at the busy junction of Market Street, Geary and Kearny (map). Streetcars pass by in each direction along Market.
… and Now, here’s Lotta’s fountain today, viewed from street level - the blank sign at the far left corner is where the Willett Chiropractor sign (above) was, at 690 Market Street. Modern streetcars pass by on Market now but wait a minute, check out the fountain - its column is way shorter than it was.
… another view … Here’s a fascinating contemporaneous 1930s vintage photo looking down Geary Street from Market. A man hunches over the fountain, mid-drink; a lively bustling scene is captured, of bars and hotels, of restaurants, of professional offices, tailors, dentists and doctors (why, you could even get your piles cured here). Vibrant, unlike today’s stagnant version. CitySleuth has indicated the four story corner building at 2 Geary Street from whose roof the Then movie clip at the top of this post was filmed.
… and Now, the 2 Geary Street building was built in 1908 and is still there, as are many of the buildings stretching down the block. The St. Francis Hotel at Union Square three blocks down Geary, above, is mostly hidden from here by trees but its added tower block is clearly visible rising above them.
… the original fountain … The fountain was gifted to the city of San Francisco by vaudeville actress Lotta Crabtree in 1875. Here it is, c. 1880, again looking down Geary, so today’s fountain matches the original. In 1917 its column was extended to increase its height to match newly installed street lamps; this was the version filmed in the movie. Then in a 1998 restoration it was changed back to its original height after the ageing column was damaged in a windstorm.
But what most endeared the fountain to the City was its association with the 1906 earthquake and fire; for months afterwards it served as a reunion spot for separated friends and family members. Every year since then a memorial gathering has been held here at 5:12 am on April 18, the time the terrible temblor struck. Another memorable gathering, reportedly 250,000 strong (below), witnessed famed opera soprano Luisa Tettrazzini decked out in an ostrich boa and a large hat perform at a free concert on Christmas Eve 1910 next to the fountain, ending with a rousing ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Close your eyes and imagine for a moment how it must have sounded; for the huge throng joining in, still scarred by the recent earthquake, old acquaintances would indeed never be forgotten.
Now in jail, prime suspect Rhoda is visited by Perry Mason. Always the epicurean, the attorney even brings along a tasty meal. She recounts how she went to see her ex the night he died, but he started slapping her around. The lights went out, she felt the presence of someone else and during the whole incident heard the doorbell ringing. She ran off and returned home. The plot thickens … a slew of other suspects has emerged.
