Then … Armed with Stevenson’s address Herbert exits the chartered Bank of London at 465 California Street; he watches a woman hailing a cab then mimics her. The large building facing us in the distance is the 1917 Southern Pacific Building at One Embarcadero.

… and Now, in today’s view the e-biker deliverymen arrayed outside a takeout restaurant next to the bank is a common sight today across the city.

Then … The cabbie, asked to drive as fast as possible, complies by roaring through the city streets at breakneck speed. Here he crests California Street at Powell (chosen for the view because, four blocks down the hill, he will pass the bank where he picked up Herbert). Note the quaint signal booth on the corner at far right.

… and Now, it’s still there today. This junction is the only place where two cable car lines cross; the manned booth controls each passing cable car while the gripman drops the underground cable and coasts over the one that crosses.

… in 1968 … the booth and the crossing cable car lines were seen from above in the 1968 movie Petulia.

In 1935 the booth was knocked over by a reckless driver; It came to rest a short way down the hill in front of the Alta Casa Apartments entrance at 897 California, the corner building seen above (a newer building has since replaced the Alta Casa).

Then … They barrel down California, here approaching Grant Avenue (there’s the Southern Pacific Building again where California ends, with the Bay Bridge visible beyond). Chinatown’s iconic pagoda-styled Sing Fat building on the right and Sing Chong building on the left at Grant were built shortly after the 1906 earthquake in a style meant to look classically oriental to occidental eyes.

… and Now, this view hasn’t changed but ownership of the building at far right has - it’s now the Ritz-Carlton Hotel whereas in the above movie image it was the home of Cogswell College.

Then … the cab reaches the end of California at the cable car terminus. Unlike the Powell Street Lines there is no turntable here because the California Line cable cars are double-ended.

… and Now, today’s tourists waiting to board the cars outnumber those in the 1970s.

Then … The cab arrives at the Hyatt Regency California Street entrance.

… and Now, that entrance is still used by those on foot but guests arriving by car are now dropped off around the corner on Drumm Street in the covered porte-cochère seen on the left. Note how it has been opened up by removing some of its original concrete posts.

Then … Our first view of the inside is the spectacular atrium enclosed within the balconies of the hotel’s 17 stories. Opened in 1973 the brutalist-styled hotel immediately made an impact. The centerpiece sculpture, Eclipse, is by Charles O. Perry and behind it are pod-shaped glassed elevators that treat guests to breathtaking views.