Dark Passage - Cable Car Ride
After Parry climbs down the 1201 Greenwich Street fire escape he hops onto a passing cable car.
Then ... There weren't many tourists back then as the cable car rumbles south on Hyde Street between Greenwich and Filbert (map).
... and Now, we could be in a time warp as another cable car passes by the same spot.
Then ... The cable car is next seen heading down Powell Street alongside Union Square. (A reader has pointed out that, unlike today, it would have required a change of cable cars to make this journey from Hyde Street prior to 1957). On the Post Street block seen across the square the Fitzhugh Building that housed the Robert S. Atkins department store is on the left and the Hotel Plaza is at far right.
... and Now, all but one of the Post Street buildings, the smallest, have since been replaced and the square has been redesigned but the bronze Victory statue still surveys the scene from atop the Dewey Monument at far right.
Then ... The cable car reaches its turntable terminus at the corner of Powell and Market (map) and Parry jumps off. The Owl Drug Co. store, one of 19 branches throughout the city at that time, occupies the prime corner site in the Flood Building. The stores were subsequently taken over by Rexall's.
... and Now, the cable car line still ends at the same place but bollards surround the turntable and The Gap has replaced The Owl.