The Exiles - Joyride
(A Bunker Hill movie in a San Francisco blog? CitySleuth explains why).
At the Ritz bar Homer's well-oiled buddies Tommy and Cliff pick up friends Claudine and Mary. They hop into Cliff's car.
Then ... they pull out and head north on Main Street. 3rd Street crosses ahead of them. and the floodlit City Hall peaks (pun intended) over the building at upper left.
... and Now, the area has been completely rebuilt but City Hall is still there.
With the top down and wind in their hair they whoop and holler at high speed west through the 3rd Street tunnel. Tommy has a bottle and cigarette in hand and is feeling no pain.
Then ... They exit the tunnel on the 700 block of 3rd Street. On the far right is the narrow Cinnabar Street and further down the block we can see the lighted sign of Jack's Cafe at 731 W. 3rd.
... and Now, again, unrecognizable. A major civic redevelopment in the 1950s and 60s transformed the vibrant if dilapidated area into a stretch of wide, soul-less streets and modern commercial buildings. Cinnabar Street disappeared altogether, becoming a site housing a Veolia Energy facility (map) providing heating and cooling to private companies (on the right, below).
... in 1952 ... a few years earlier in the movie Sudden Fear Jack Palance prowled past this same Cinnabar Street junction looking for Joan Crawford, intent on killing her. Compare it with the Then image above.
Some 3 miles on they pull into Hane's Magnum service station at 3510 W. Sunset Boulevard (map) and stop so suddenly that Tommy nearly tips into the front seat. He speaks in voiceover, talking of how he likes to get high on drink ... "That's what drinks are for" ... and couldn't care less that it sends him in and out of jail.
The freeloaders hang back when the attendant asks for the gas money, leaving Mary to pay it. Then while she is in the restroom and after they pocket her change they impatiently take off, leaving her stranded. What jerks!
Then ... As they leave we can't help but think that those gas prices were a better deal than today. Sure enough, allowing for inflation, $0.28 then would be around $2.40 now, a price we haven't seen in California in years. The cinematography effectively utilizes the symmetry of the gas pumps, lined up as they are in regimental ranks.
... and Now, this location has become a strip mall in which a restaurant, Alegria On Sunset, now owns the service station's 3510 W. Sunset Boulevard street address.