The Last Edition - Opening Vista
‘The Last Edition’ is a critically well-received silent movie that tells two stories in one: First, it presents a turbulent period in the life of an employee of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper - we watch him in quick succession experiencing disappointment, pride, shock, rage and redemption - and second, actual employees reveal how from start to finish a newspaper article is written, typeset, composed, printed and distributed.
Then … The movie opens with a San Francisco establishing shot of a view looking east towards the Ferry Building and the Bay, it was taken from the top of the newly built (in 1925) Park Lane Condominiums at 1100 Sacramento Street atop Nob Hill (map). At far right is the shadowy outline of the Fairmont Hotel and there’s a tall scaffold in the foreground - the beginning of construction of the Brocklebank Apartments which were completed one year later in 1926.
… in 1963 … That matching view today from the Park Lane would be blocked by the Brocklebank but here’s a vintage photo taken from the Brocklebank 38 years later in 1963 of the same view revealing not a lot of change except for the Bay Bridge (completed by 1936) and, at the far right edge in the foreground, the Fairmont Tower (completed behind the extant Fairmont Hotel in 1962).
… and Now, taken from higher up in the Brocklebank, this recent photo captures how the Financial District has dramatically changed since then. The Fairmont Tower is just out of this view on the right.
… and Now, a Google aerial view gives another perspective (the Ferry Building is glimpsed between two of the Embarcadero Center high-rises).