Dirty Harry - Second Victim
Then … While cruising through Potrero Hill Callahan and Gonzalez receive a call to respond to a report of a body found nearby. Check out the dramatic skyline where the tallest of those downtown high-rises is the Bank of America building.
… and Now, they were cresting the steep block of Mississippi at 19th Street (map). The view today is even more dramatic now that downtown expansion has overflowed into South of Market where the tallest bragging rights now belong to Salesforce Tower.
Then … they continue on up Mississippi towards 20th Street. The monster Potrero Hill gas storage tank, visible for miles around, looms right ahead.
… and Now, the tank is not there anymore. Not all, but many, of the homes on the right side of the block have been remodeled over the decades.
Then … They arrive to find a young black boy shot dead on a large open lot. Apparently Scorpio has struck again, exactly as threatened.
… and Now, the lot bordered Texas Street near Sierra Street (map). In 2006 the 67 unit Sierra Heights condominium complex at 640 - 690 Texas was built on that lot.
Then … Callahan turns towards the boy’s sobbing mother. Across the street behind her are the premises of Wm. McIntosh & Son at 635 Texas. The two large gas holders in the distance were at the Potrero Point Power Plant prior to being removed years later.
… and Now, the office building is still there - note the matching doors and windows - but no longer McIntosh’s; it is now dwarfed by an adjacent building on the corner of Sierra Street.
Then … A police officer on a nearby rooftop reports that he found a shell of the same caliber used by Scorpio’s rifle. Beyond the hill we see that omnipresent Potrero Hill tank again; at that time it was the world’s largest natural gas holder. The buildings arrayed along the top of the slope are part of a housing project built in 1941 - Potrero Terrace, a large complex of over 600 apartments that are still there today.
… and Now, Citysleuth was able to get this matching shot of those same buildings by climbing a staircase between the Sierra Heights condos and a newer condo complex, The Landing, whose 7 stories rise to the elevation of Potrero Terrace. Omnipresent no more, the storage tank was removed years ago.
Here’s a great 1950 image of the storage tank towering over three neighboring houses; all three (right to left at 1002, 1016 and 1018 Pennsylvania Avenue) have survived to this day. How could their residents sleep at night knowing they were cheek-by-jowl with a 300 ft tall tank containing 17 million cubic feet of natural gas?
… and Now, advances in high-pressure gas line technology made the need for neighborhood gas storage redundant, enabling removal of the tank in 1988. The three surviving houses, now hiding behind trees, share the block with newer structures. At far right on the site of the former tank is the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.
Here’s another image of the tank, c. 1980, next to 1002 Pennsylvania Avenue (photo by Jo Babcock); the modest home dates from 1900. Sold in 1986 for $75,000 when the tank was still there, it’s currently valued by Zillow at $1.3 Million. The Potrero Terraces housing project can be seen on the hilltop beyond.
This Google Satellite View aerial shows all of the locations referenced in this post.