Then … The bus carrying Scorpio and the kidnapped schoolchildren is seen at top right driving west along John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park past a small herd of bison, a species native to North America.
… and Now, this is the park’s 11-acre bison paddock; it’s been there since 1899 (map). The bison were introduced to the park in order to help save the species which at that time had been hunted close to extinction from an estimated 60 million in the wild when the European colonists first arrived. CitySleuth stopped by recently to take this matching photo from near the same spot.
Then … The bus next crosses the Golden Gate Bridge heading north to Marin County. The view looks back past the south tower towards San Francisco.
… and Now, from a macro perspective the bridge looks the same but a closer look below reveals added safety railings along the pedestrian walkways on either side and a center barrier that is moveable to accommodate the diurnal change in rush hour traffic flow.
Then … They are now in Marin County; the bridge is behind them as they climb the Waldo Grade on US highway 101 , about to enter the Waldo tunnel.
… and Now, a convenient little turnout area was the perfect spot for both the filmmakers’ and CitySleuth’s camera (map).
Then … The camera tracks the bus as it heads into the tunnel. The Waldo tunnel opened in 1937 as a single-bore (the one on the left); the second bore, completed in 1954, enabled one-way traffic in each direction. The archways were rainbow-painted in 1970, prompting an alternative name: Rainbow Tunnel.
… and Now, the tunnel was renamed in 2016 in memory of beloved Marin County comedian and actor Robin Williams following his tragic suicide.
… in 1947 … on a trivia note, here’s Lauren Bacall driving her Woodie wagon out of the original two-way bore in one of CitySleuth’s favorite SF movies: Dark Passage.
Then … Scorpio orders the bus driver to take the Sir Francis Drake Blvd Larkspur exit. The exit sign is outside the Larkspur city limit, marked by the next sign just ahead.
… and Now, what appears to be the same sign is still there but it’s now inside today’s city limit sign. One or both have been moved from where they were when the movie was filmed. A comparison of the background hills Then and Now reflects California’s seasonal brown/green change.
Then … As the bus exits, Scorpio’s jaw drops; he spots Callahan standing on a railroad trestle spanning Sir Francis Drake Blvd at the highway exit.
Boy, that Eastwood pose on the trestle sure looks familiar - remember him 6 years earlier in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly? Don’t mess with these guys, O.K.?
… and Now, the trestle, built in 1884 by the Northwest Pacific Railroad, is no longer there - it was removed in 2003 after being damaged by a passing tractor-trailer. More recently (2015) a bicycle/pedestrian bridge has been built alongside where the trestle used to be (the arrow points to extant trestle remains).
Then … Callahan gets set as the bus approaches …
… and Now, viewed from the same vantage point there’s now an unobstructed view of the 101 highway flyovers in the absence of the trestle bridge.
When he makes a daring leap onto the roof of the passing bus we fear for the schoolchildren, realizing the showdown must come…
Steve and Jo return to Chan’s hotel room (they had also tried earlier). Once again there’s no answer. But the neighbor whose door is opposite calls out through his closed door and tells them that they should look for the woman who took the photographs from Chan’s room. What the ? … the plot thickens.
Later, they persuade the manager to let them into Chan’s room but it was clear he had moved on. They find newspapers with cut-out articles - perhaps the clippings they had earlier found in Chan’s jacket pocket about the flag-waving murder at the parade? They could also see that a photo had been removed from a wall - they had heard Chan took photos at that parade and wondered if it could be one of those.
When a woman calls at their garage asking for Chan Hung, Steve follows her back to her house. He and Jo go there later and greet her with her daughter Jenny outside the entrance of her house; it turns out she’s Chan’s wife - they hadn’t even known that he was married. This shot was taken from her upstairs living room.
Then … Steve stays behind while the others enter the house. The sidewalk has three utility covers (arrowed) which helped lead CitySleuth to this location.
… and Now, the house is at 416 20th Avenue in the Richmond district (map). The small arrows point to the utility covers, unchanged in over 40 years; the large arrow points to the living room window through which the above shots were filmed. This same house was also used to film Steve and Amy’s kitchen scene earlier in the movie.
Chan’s wife (Ellen Yeung) hasn’t seen her husband since they separated over a year earlier. She tells them Chan never was happy in America … “He’s too Chinese”. The more he learns about Chan the more Jo realizes how little he had known about him. The window is the same one shown above.
The same room was filmed in Wayne Wang’s delightful 1985 follow-on movie Dim Sum: A Little Bit Of Heart. Note the same sofa. Interesting trivia - this was filmed in the home of Laureen Chew who plays Steve’s sister Amy in Chan Is Missing and who has a leading role in Dim Sum.
Then … Later, when Steve suggests they go to the police to report their missing $4,000 he gets ribbed mercilessly by Jo who’s often heard him complain about them. Steve gets defensive … “It’s a fine line between a criminal and a cop … forget you, man!”. This scene was filmed in front of Chester’s Cafe at 1269 Mason Street (a favored hang-out of theirs appearing several times throughout the movie - here it is in an earlier scene).
… and Now, the matching view looks south along Mason towards Nob Hill (the Brocklebank apartments visible on the left at the top of the hill, was the home of Madeleine, Hitchcock’s duplicitous femme fatale, in the 1958 movie Vertigo). The brick building on the right is the Washington/Mason Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse; the cluster of SF Muni vehicles on the sidewalk is in front of its garage both Then and Now.
The barn was built from 1885 - 1887 as part of the city-wide transportation system prompted by the 1873 invention of the cable car by wire-rope manufacturer Andrew Smith Hallidie (photo by Paul Vidler). The barn is still fully operational and since 1974 it has housed a free must-see cable car history museum.
Then … Once again Callahan has been summoned to the mayor’s office; Scorpio has sent another ransom note. The camera, filming from the Civic Center Plaza, slowly pans across the east side of City Hall (map). The impressive Beaux Arts building was completed in 1915 after its predecessor, a block away on Larkin Street and McAllister, was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake.
… and Now, City Hall anchors the Civic Center surrounded today by the not-quite-identical-twin Opera House/Veteran’s Buildings, Symphony Hall, Art Museum, Main Library, Civic Auditorium and other city and state government buildings.
On a history note, the north-facing image below left shows the original City Hall in 1900 three years after it was built (that’s Larkin Street at far left)). Just 6 years later it was reduced to ruins, below right. 27 years of planning and construction, 9 years of use. Such are the vicissitudes of life. Read more about it here in a FoundSF article with interesting archival photos and videos.
Then … When Callahan arrives he looks up to see Lt. Bressler, his boss, waiting for him on a 2nd floor balcony spanning the Polk Street entrance.
… and Now, this is the gilded balcony outside the mayor’s office.
Then … On the balcony Bressler enjoys a panoramic view across the plaza; at that time in 1971 it was bisected by a long reflecting pool.
… and Now, CitySleuth received permission to visit the Mayor’s office to take matching ‘Now’ photographs for his blog. Here he is enjoying the same view, wondering why the pool was taken out.
Then … Callahan enters City Hall; in following him to the office we are taken on a mini tour through the building. Here, he’s just inside the Polk Street entrance, approaching the entrance to the rotunda.
… and Now, these days, daytime visitors to the rotunda will often find themselves surrounded by newlyweds and their photographers.
Then … He effortlessly bounds up the Grand Staircase (no easy task), the centerpiece of the majestic rotunda. In addition to official business the rotunda is used year round for many community events including galas, weddings, dinners and celebrations. For a full pictorial tour that captures the grandeur of this magnificent building go here, lean back and wait a couple of seconds for the photos to begin scrolling by.
… and Now, this bride and groom are probably unaware they shared this spot with Clint Eastwood.
Then … He enters the mayor’s office suite, Room 200 on the second level.
… and Now, the U.S. and California State flags flank the doorway. When people leave the office they have a view down to the Grand Staircase on the lower level of the rotunda.
Then … The entrance door opens to an anteroom; Bressler greets Callahan there and leads him to the mayor’s office.
… and Now, same door, different desk. The portraits (former mayors Ed Lee on the left , George Moscone on the right) are by artist Elaine Badgeley Arnoux.
Then … They pass along a dimly-lit corridor.
… and Now, brighter now, the corridor links a number of small offices and, then as now, it’s lined with portraits of every mayor of the city …
… beginning in 1834 with the alcaldes under Mexican rule, a nod to the city’s Spanish heritage. Several of the most recent portraits were also done by Elaine Badgely Arnoux.
Then … In the mayor’s office they hear details of Scorpio’s ransom note. He wants $200,000 dollars and a jet aircraft to be ready and waiting for him at Santa Rosa Airport.
… and Now, incumbent Mayor London Breed has brightened the office with color and moved her desk across the room to the opposite wall ...
They receive a call from Scorpio and hear that he has kidnapped a school bus and the children will start dying if his demands are not met. He tells them the route they’ll be taking on the way to the airport, cautioning … “I don’t want to see any police cars, helicopters, whatever”.
Then … The mayor confirms the money and the jet will be ready at the airport, guaranteeing there will be no interference … “I give you my word of honor on it”.
… and Now, the wall-mounted flag trifecta behind the desk, above, has been replaced by a mirror and the formality of the space has been further mitigated by the addition of comfortable furniture. This photo was taken from behind the desk.
Callahan is disgusted. “When are you people gonna stop messing around with this guy? He’s gotta be stopped now!” When the police chief asks if he’ll take the money to Scorpio, he’s had enough: “You can just get yourself another delivery boy”. He turns and walks out.
(An earlier scene was also filmed in this office. Click here for that post).
A number of times during the movie director Wayne Wang takes us on a tour of Chinatown by way of a succession of images of people and places - windows, as it were, into the community.
Then … This first montage, lyrically set to a Chinese pop song about someone wandering without a home, plays out as Jo, hoping to see Chan Hung, waits outside his residentional hotel, the St. Paul at 935 Kearny (map).
… and Now, across the street the Chinatown service station at 900 Kearny on the corner of Jackson Street has been replaced by a modern building attached to the venerable Sentinel building seen at far left. Across Jackson on the right the empty lot that was the site of the International Hotel is now a low-income residential and community building.
Then … We next see a visual feast of Chinese language signs and banners along the 900 block of Grant Avenue. Even in black-and white it’s a colorful peek into the heart of Chinatown.
… and Now, here it is today in full color. The ever-popular Li Po lounge at 916 Grant on the right is still there. Its distinctive sign has survived, as has another directly above it, just out of the frame (it’s seen in the next image).
This recent image of the cave-like entrance and glowing neon signs hints at why Li Po has been a magnet for the thirsty since it first opened on February 10, 1937 (Chinese New Year's Eve), making it one of the first post-Prohibition bars in Chinatown. (Photo by Will Charczuk).
Then … On the corner of Grant Avenue and Clay Street a decorative street lantern aligns with a building built after the 1906 fire in a style, like many others in Chinatown, that met American preconceptions of traditional Chinese architecture.
… and Now, Grant Avenue’s ornate lanterns have been there since the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition. (Note Then and Now the cut-out that enabled the store awning to extend way out). 815 Clay Street in the background has long housed the Chin Wing Chuen Benevolent Association: Chinatown has many such tax-exempt organizations created for the benefit of community interests.
Then … Three generations of Chinatown residents gather outside New Maxim’s Bakery at 1249 Stockton Street. The Kum Yuen Restaurant at 1247 Stockton was next to it on the left.
… and Now, Both storefronts have since been modified but there’s still a restaurant, New Moon, at 1247 and a bakery, Little Swan, at 1249.
A little related history: New Maxim’s bakery at 1249 and its neighbor to the right at 1251 Stockton replaced a movie theater, the Times, after it was closed down in December 1976. Here’s a 1976 photo of the Times Theater. (The boarded-up store on the right would soon open as Hing Lung Barbecue which stayed in business there until closing in 2024 to the dismay of its many fans).
The theater, originally named the Acme Theater, was built in 1909. In this 1918 image its cheap pseudo-rococo frontage was more inviting than the modernized version, above. Check out too that wonderful 5-globe streetlamp.
Then … The background song closes with this shot of Steve and Jo walking on a busy street where a glimpse of an awning with the name Blanco’s is the clue to the location ...
… and Now, … Blanco’s Cocktail Bar was at 905 Kearny when the movie was filmed so this shot looked south along Kearny Street where Jackson Street crossed just ahead.
