Then … Still trying to find out where he is, Herbert asks a passerby what city this is; his exasperated response before striding on? … “Come on!”. This shot was filmed on the 1800 block of Union Street in Cow Hollow (map) in front of the French restaurant La Cabane at 1838 Union.
… and Now, it’s now Kaiyo, a Peruvian restaurant, not open at lunch time when CitySeuth stopped by.
Then … He walks on and tries again with a passing blonde; she walks on without a word … who is this kook? The What’s Cooking restaurant was at 1830 Union Street - (open 7 days a week and 24 hours on the weekend? Unheard of today).
… and Now, the current tenant at 1830 is the Roaming Goat Wine bar and Restaurant; the parklets are holdovers from the Covid era and appear to now be permanent, usurped parking be damned.
Then … Further along the block Herbert finds the answer from a newspaper stand in front of 1840 Union. La Cabane at 1838 is behind him.
… and Now, Is that the same sidewalk tree? A sapling then, a stalwart now.
The newspaper reveals that he’s in San Francisco. (On a trivia note, the paper’s name was fictitious, it’s font mimicked that of the San Francisco Chronicle, the period after the name was superfluous and the two columns at top left were (tsk, tsk …) replicated - sloppy work by the prop master.
Then … as his lightbulb goes on we get a good look at the stores across the street.
… and Now, of interest is the yellow One Medical building at 1832 Union. Compare it to the Then image above - it has since been redone but unlike most rebuilds where older styles are architecturally modernized, in this case the plain facade has been traditionalized.
Then … Here’s a panorama of the five adjoining businesses that spanned this scene. From left to right, the newsstand was in front of Settepu’s Imported Clothing at 1840 Union, next is La Cabane French Restaurant at 1838, then a doorway leading to Nancy’s LTD Exercise Studio at 1836, Earthly Goods Jewelry at 1832 and, at far right, What’s Cooking Restaurant at 1830.
… and Now, Today’s tenants, left to right: Topdrawer Gifts at 1840, Kaiyo Restaurant at 1838, Real estate brokers at 1836, Union Nail Spa at 1832, the Roaming Goat Wine bar and Restaurant at 1830.
Then … Gonzalez takes the high road while Callahan takes the low road to the hamburger stand at Aquatic Park. Here, traveling west on Lombard Street Gonzalez is about to make a left turn into Fillmore, where he will pass the Doggie Diner that is just beyond the right edge of this image. The same footage of the left turn, but revealing the Doggie Diner, was used earlier, seen in the previous post. Note the corner gas station on the left, note too the gas prices: 29.9 and 33.9 cents per gallon. After adjusting for the 715% inflation since then that’s equivalent to $2.14 and $2.42 per gallon today. Hmmm.
… and Now, today the gas station site is occupied by a Honda Service Center; it was shuttered when CitySleuth took this recent photo.
Here’s an interesting blast from the past of workers picketing that gas station in 1947. It’s the same corner as above but the view looks across Lombard towards Fillmore.
Then … Cut to the Marina district - Callahan is racing towards the tunnel that runs under Fort Mason to Aquatic Park (map).
… and Now, the tunnel is still there but there is no train activity today, the tracks are gone and the tunnel entrance is fenced off and boarded up. Those vehicles are making the right hand sweep from Marina Boulevard into Laguna Street.
… and Now, here’s the tunnel viewed from Laguna Street.
This aerial view outlines the path of the tunnel. 1500 feet long, it was constructed in 1913 to serve the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition that was built in the Marina to herald to the world that San Francisco had recovered from the 1906 earthquake and fire. The single track tunnel continued to be used for freight train traffic until the late 1970s.
In the tunnel he is accosted by 3 deadbeats who demand the ransom bag and his wallet; he tells them to get lost but they persist. No worries, his Smith and Wesson and yet another of his classic lines … “You don’t listen do you, asshole” do the trick - they flee.
Then … You can see the distant Marina entrance as he emerges at the Van Ness Avenue end in Aquatic Park (map).
… and Now, it’s now boarded up but there is currently a proposal to have the City extend the Muni F-Market & Wharves vintage rail line from Fisherman’s Wharf to here then continuing on through the tunnel, terminating at the Marina (read about it here and for policy wonks the favorable EIR report is here).
Then … The hamburger stand is directly opposite the tunnel; a pair of phone booths is alongside them, one of them ringing. When Callahan sees an old man step to the phone to answer it he jumps over the low railing and snatches it from him.
… and Now, the stand is still there but it has been closed during the pandemic. It’s one of two extant streamline moderne-styled concessions stations built in the 1930s, part of the Aquatic Park project. Note the drain pipes on either side of the counter, also visible in the Then image above. The low railing bordering the sidewalk curb is gone but visitors can still see evidence of their existence in the sidewalk pavers. No phone booths though, CitySleuth would be surprised if they weren’t a movie prop.
“You know Mount Davidson Park? Go to the cross”. Callahan’s expression says it all - the cross on Mount Davidson is more than 6 miles away.
Then … At the Forest Hill station Gonzalez’s radio link has picked up Scorpio’s instruction to go to Church and 20th; he immediately races over there. On the way he rounds the corner at the Doggie Diner at 2099 Lombard Street in Cow Hollow (map), one of six in the city back then. Geographically illogical because this would increase the 2 1/2 mile actual trip to a 10 mile loop.
… and Now, The Doggie Diner chain shut down years ago; the Chelsea Motor Inn now occupies the 2099 Lombard site. In the light of day Fillmore is seen from here rising in the distance to Pacific Heights.
… in 1973 … the same corner was filmed in Francis Ford Coppola’s movie The Conversation two years after Dirty Harry.
Then … Callahan’s K-Ingleside car rounds a bend approaching the Church and 20th Muni stop in the Mission Dolores neighborhood, but… hang on, this is the J-Church line , not the K line. The car number is 1169, the same one that he boarded at Forest Hill station so SF Muni was clearly complicit with the filmmakers in this subterfuge.
… and Now, the J-Church continues to be the sole user of this section of the line. While many streetcar lines have over the years been converted to bus lines, the J-Church has not because of the steep grade on the private right of way on Church Street between 18th Street and 22nd.
Then … The streetcar pulls away after Callahan gets off at the stop, a covered bench structure next to a concrete pole.
… and Now, a bare patch is all that is left of the structure but that pole still marks the spot.
Then … He runs across the road as the phone is ringing in the booth on the corner, again reaching it just in time to get his next instruction: “Public phone, hamburger stand, Aquatic Park”. Scorpio cackles, knowing he is sending him all the way back to where the ransom run began.
… and Now, this is the corner of Church Street, left, and 20th Street, right, at the southwest corner of Mission Dolores Park in the Mission Dolores neighborhood (map). Today the J car now crosses 20th from the right side before stopping at the relocated stop just past the left side of this photo.
The park is one of SF’s most popular, especially on the glorious California spring weekend when CitySleuth stopped by. The city’s downtown high-rises rise high in the distance. The tower of Mission High School is towards the left and the domed building on the far right at 650 Dolores is an old church, formerly the Second Church of Christ Scientist. It was built in 1915 but condemned in 2006 after falling into disrepair. A developer bought it and converted it into four 5000 square foot townhouses, each offered for sale at $6.5M in 2016. What do you get for that? Curious wannabe purchasers can check out the townhouses here and the spectacular penthouse, now the developer’s home, here.
Then … Allan relives his tryst as he strolls the streets with a smile on his face: “I was dynamite last night … I gave her my best moves”.
… and Now, filmed at the junction of Vallejo and Buchanan Streets in Cow Hollow (map), the view looks north along Buchanan across the Marina and the bay towards Angel Island and Tiburon. The tall masts provide night-time illumination for the George Moscone Softball Fields.
Then … Next, a couple of sight gags; first a tiny tyke yaps at him as he walks by, startling him into jumping backwards. Perhaps the perceptive pup somehow knew he’d been a naughty boy.
… and Now, this is a block and a half south of the previous shot, in front of 2614 Buchanan between Broadway and Pacific (map), which just happens to be Linda’s house.
Then … And finally nobody notices as Allan nonchalantly slaps an unsuspecting man reading a newspaper, knocking him over the edge of a low wall. The camera’s telescopic lens expands and draws in the distant Bay Bridge.
… and Now, this is the Vallejo Street cul-de-sac above Montgomery Street in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood (map). Despite being 5 blocks from the waterfront there’s an unobstructed view of the Bay Bridge from here … well, absent the trees, that is. (Much as CitySleuth would have liked an unobstructed matching view of the wall it’s nigh on impossible to capture because of residents’ omnipresent parked cars).
Then … In an antique store Allan shops for a music box, presumably a gift for Linda. He bumps into his ex, Nancy, and when she asks about girlfriends he denies he has one. Guilt is starting to set in. As she leaves the store note the business across the street; its sign is mostly obscured by the door but it ends in ‘GUE’. This is the big clue as to the location.
Union Street in Cow Hollow used to be the go-to place for antique stores and the 1972 city directory lists a men’s clothing store at 1858 Union called Union Rogue (which matches the U…….GUE above). And, there was an antique store directly opposite at 1861 Union called Urban Antiques which must have been where the scene was filmed. In a comment below, reader Ron Morehen describes how he was recruited to walk back and forth outside the store while the shooting took place inside. He confirms it was on Union Street but recalls the name as Seawall Antiques. A later directory lists both Urban Antiques and Seawall Newthings Gifts as being at 1861 Union in 1973 but this was published at least a year after the filming took place. Urban or Seawall, either way the antique store was at 1861 Union Street in Cow Hollow (map).
… and Now, this is a photo of the most recent business at 1861 Union, called Eurasian Interiors. But when CitySleuth stopped by for a matching photo he found it stripped bare in the midst of a major interior remodel. The Union Rogue men’s store that was across the street is now Ambiance, a women’s boutique.
