A magazine has published a photo of the flag-waving protest that led to the murder of a Taiwan supporter by Chan’s friend, the old man, a Mainland Chinese supporter.
Then … That sets Jo musing about the unfolding mystery as he sits in his cab across Kearny Street from the Holiday Inn hotel under the bridge at Portsmouth Square (map
… and Now, the hotel has since been refurbished and renamed the Hilton Financial Center. That’s Merchant Street on the right in both images.
Then … He continues his voiceover while pottering around in the kitchen of his apartment. But where was this filmed?
… and Now, CitySleuth tracked Jo’s apartment down - it’s at 2104 Larkin Street in Russian Hill. Here’s that same kitchen now; it’s had cabinet and countertop upgrades, the appliances too, but is still squeezed into the same tiny space.
Then … Here’s how the apartment was found: earlier in the movie there was a brief night-time exterior shot of Jo in the apartment. The juxtaposed detail of siding, window trim and the bay window overhead molding plus a hint from director Wang led CitySleuth to the location.
… and Now, this is the same bay window today. The windows have been replaced but all else is identical 40 years later.
… and Now, director Wang’s recollection to CitySleuth was that the apartment was “either in Lower Nob Hill or Russian Hill”. A search of those neighborhoods revealed it to be the 3rd floor apartment on the corner building at Larkin and Vallejo in Russian Hill, address 2104 Larkin Street (map). The arrow points to the Then and Now window seen above, on the Vallejo side of the building. The corner store was Uncle Sam’s Grocery when the movie was filmed; it’s now a Pilates Studio.
The mood darkens when we learn that while Jo was cleaning out Chan’s cab he found a gun under the front seat. On hearing this, Steve speculates that it was Chan who killed the flag-waving protester with this gun and that the old man was covering up for him. But when asked, the old man tells Jo that Chan wasn’t involved.
Then … Director Wang presents more montage shots of Chinatown; this one looks west over Portsmouth Square towards several interesting buildings. In the background at left: the Hang Ah Tea Room on Hang Ah alley; side-by-side in the midground: the Bing Tong Kong and The Wong Family Benevolent Associations on Waverly Place and in the foreground: the Ying On Labor and Merchant Association building on Grant Avenue.
… and Now, the above shot was filmed from the 10th floor elevator lobby window of the Holiday Inn (now called the Hilton Financial District) at 750 Kearny Street. Within this frame little has changed over the past 43 years. Citysleuth is grateful to the Hilton Financial District for allowing him access to take the closely matching photo below.
… and Now, the Hang Ah Tea Room at 1 Hang Ah Street (map) has since been re-addressed 1 Pagoda Place - odd, since that alley is street-signed Hang Ah Street at its other end. It has been at this location since 1920, claiming to be the longest surviving Dim Sum restaurant in the nation. Below, the vertical sign which replaced the one seen above points to the entrance a few steps down the alley.
… and Now, here’s how the midground buildings in the ‘Then’ image above look today. The two benevolent association buildings are at 29 and 39 Waverly Place, “The Street Of The Painted Balconies”. On the left is the headquarters of the Bing Tong Kong, one of the powerful tongs of the early 20th century. Next to it is the home of the Wong Family Benevolent Association. Chinatown has over 200 such Associations - they were created to promote and support the interests of various community groups.
It’s worth mentioning the history preceding these two buildings. In the late 1800s these sites, back then addressed 33 and 35 Waverly Place, were occupied by two Chinese temples; on the left in this 1889 photo is the Tin How (or Tianhou) Temple, the oldest Taoist temple in Chinatown, founded in 1852. Next to it is the Gee Tuck Tong Temple, founded in the mid-1880s.
Here they are in April 1906 after the devastation of the earthquake and fire; both buildings were rebuilt by 1911.
… and Now, here’s how the foreground building in the ‘Then’ image at the top of the post looks today. The Ying On Labor and Merchant Association is headquartered here at 745 Grant Avenue; it was created to protect members from unfair and discriminatory business practices, provide them with social gatherings and even organize funerals for those who departed without family in America.
Then … a second montage frame, also filmed from the Holiday Inn, captures mostly a view of high density residential buildings not usually seen from street level but it also captures a retail block of Washington Street at lower left. Two restaurants are visible, Nam Yuen at 740 Washington and Sun Hung Heung Chinese at 744 Washington.
… and Now, in this matching photo we see little change, except for the scattered graffitti high up on some of the buildings.
… and Now, from street level, here are those two restaurants, still there and still in business.
Then … The montage continues with this great telephoto view looking south from Jackson Street along several blocks of Grant Avenue that presents a kaleidoscopic array of concertinaed signs and business and restaurant logos.
… and Now, without the elevated vantage point and a telephoto lens the effect may not be as dramatic but this same stretch of Grant Avenue is as colorful as ever.
… in 1982 … two years later competitors in the 1982 San Francisco marathon pounded along these blocks; this view is from Pacific Avenue, one block further north.
Jo enters the reception area of Mr. Lee’s office - he is the insurance agent who sponsored the Chan family; perhaps he knows where Chan might be. The receptionist asks him to wait; he looks around and sees attached to the walls an interesting collection of traditional Chinese wall altars with paper proverbs and statues of deities.
Then … Mr Lee steps out and introduces himself.
… and Now, here’s that same office today. Note the matching staircase and railing in the corridor outside.
How did Citysleuth find it? He came across an interview with director Wayne Wang where fortuitously he said that the actor who played the role of Mr. Lee (credited in the cast as Roy Chan) was in real life his insurance agent. The 1980 City Directory listed his business and gave his address as 915a Grant Avenue, Room 2.
But finding the office wasn’t straightforward, a visit to 915a Grant drew a blank. Fortunately a helpful office worker there told CitySleuth he should be looking next door because that used to be 915a before its address was changed to 917 Grant. Sure enough a sign inside 917 verified exactly that.
Here’s 915 Grant on the left, the red herring, and 917, flanked by the red brick facia; those stairs led up to Mr. Lee’s office.
… and here’s the office on the second floor at the top of the stairs. It’s now M & L Services, 917 Grant Avenue #1, a tax preparation and family-based immigration office.
Then … It’s another dead end for Jo because It’s been a week or so since Mr. Lee saw Chan Hung and he doesn’t know where he is now.
… and Now, the corner where Mr. Lee’s desk was has since been reconfigured.
When Scorpio drives into the Hutchinson Rock Quarry trying to throw Dirty Harry off the roof of the bus we get a brief glimpse of a cottage, shown arrowed at far right. The cottage has nothing to do with the movie but its story is worth recounting since it is of local historical interest. It was built in 1891 to house the superintendent of the adjacent Remillard Brick Company; today it is the lone surviving quarry complex building.
In this 1937 image the Hutchinson Rock Quarry is in the center (back then the site was part of Greenbrae before it was annexed to Larkspur). The arrows point to the cottage and the towering smokestack and brickyard kiln of the Remillard Brick Company. The kiln and cottage were built in 1891; the quarry followed it in 1924. San Quentin State Prison is in the background; still operational, it has been there since 1854.
What to do with the delapidated cottage became a cause célèbre when the Hutchinson structures were demolished in the mid 1970’s, a few years after Dirty Harry was filmed there. Here it sits alone awaiting news of its fate.
This 1977 article in the Marin Independent Journal reflected a lack of enthusiasm by the local city council for saving the structure. But thanks to the efforts of the town’s Historical Society and Heritage Committee and just as it was about to be burned as an exercise by the local fire department in 1982, the decision was made to save it.
Then … With doors and windows boarded up the cottage was temporarily moved next to the Remillard brick kiln smokestack, very fitting since these are the only surviving structures from the entire Remillard/Hutchinson site. The brick smokestack, whose letters proclaim ‘RB Co 1891’, survived the closing of the kiln in 1915.
… and Now, The redeveloped kiln site integrated the smokestack into an office and restaurant complex at 125 East Sir Francis Drake Blvd. (The restaurant closed in 2000, a victim of a parking issue). But the cottage is gone from here, moved one last time. (Note the same electric pylon at center on the distant skyline).
Then … A new purpose was found for the cottage; in this 1984 photo, below, a tow truck has taken it to its new home at 2900 Larkspur Landing Circle on the corner of Lincoln Village Circle (map).
… and Now, a $100,000 restoration in 1985 transformed the cottage into a nursery, still there today as the Children’s Cottage Cooperative Preschool.
This map shows 1: the original cottage location, 2: the temporary location, 3: the final (current) location.
