The Last Edition - Tailing Red Moran - 2
As Clarence follows Red Moran’s cab through the city streets the movie director continues to cut back and forth between footage filmed in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Moran’s cab has just driven past a long building with a vertical sign on its corner that reads ‘Evening Herald’.
Then … The camera cuts to Clarence in pursuit; it’s a view from the opposite direction and shows the same building - with an Evening Herald sign on its other corner. The building was the headquarters of the Los Angeles Herald newspaper and these scenes were filmed on Georgia Street in lower downtown Los Angeles - the Georgia Hotel at far right was at 1260 Georgia Street.
The Herald building was in the news In 1947, photographed here when a gas-main rupture and fire occurred right next to it. By then its corner sign had been changed from Evening Herald to Herald Express.
Then and Now aerial … The Evening Herald building was located at 1233-1235 Trenton Street. The rear of the building on Georgia Street is what is seen in the Then images above. That whole area was subsequently razed to make way for the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Staples Center arena. Click or tap this image to see how it looks today compared to a 1928 aerial view (as it was when the movie was filmed). X marks the spot where the camera was set up in the Then image above.
… and Now, this view looking north across Pico Blvd shows where Georgia Street used to cross over, parallel to the bridge on the right. Location X above would have been near the top of that staircase, but at street level.
Then … Now the cab is heading east on Pico Boulevard (just steps from the Herald building) about to make a right into Georgia Street by the corner grocery at 826 Pico. CitySleuth thanks ReelSF reader Notcom for finding this location. The large sign down the street advertised F.M. Parker Plumbing located at 714 Pico.
… and Now, the Pico Blvd boom-gated entrance to the Los Angeles Convention Center is where the above junction used to be (map).
Then … Next we jump to the Tenderloin in San Francisco; Clarence is traveling west along Market Street at the intersection of Mason and Turk having just passed the plinth of the Native Son’s Monument which incorporated a fountain to slake the thirsts of downtown shoppers. That’s the Ambassador Hotel sign partially visible along Mason Street.
… and Now, the Ambassador Hotel is still there at 55 Mason but the monument was relocated from here decades ago.
On a historical note here’s the monument, apparently built of stronger stuff than its surroundings, at that intersection after the 1906 earthquake. Also known as the Phelan Fountain or the Admission Day Monument (it commemorated California’s admission to the Union), it was erected in 1897, with critically acclaimed statues by sculptor Douglas Tilden.
It remained there until it was moved (below) in 1948 to Golden Gate Park before being returned to Market Street in 1997 to its current location at Market and Montgomery Street.
Then … Clarence catches up with the cab, but embarrassingly it’s the wrong one. The corner store was listed in a 1928 phone book as R. Kawasaki Grocer at 401 San Pedro Street in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles.
… and Now, the building today, on the corner of San Pedro and 4th Street, has been significantly remodeled but has retained its basic shape (map).
Then … The clue to Clarence’s next location was the sign - Seneca - at far left. He’s back in San Francisco, traveling east on Market at 6th Street.
… and Now, It’s the Seneca Hotel at 34 6th Street viewed Then and Now from Market Street. The hotel has been there for over 100 years.
Moran reports back to his boss, liquor bootlegger Sam Blotz, telling him about the ‘kid reporter’ who witnessed the bribe delivery. Blotz immediately calls his crony Gerald Fuller at the D.A.’s office, the intended recipient of the bribe, to let him know the money was dropped off on Ray McDonald’s desk. Fuller recognizes the opportunity to distance himself from suspicion…
… He accuses McDonald of taking the bribe and hauls him in front of D.A. Jim Lannigan who, ignoring McDonald’s frantic protestations, instructs Fuller to call the police.