Then ... Fleeing from the reporters, Val, driving her sister Arlene's car, heads north on Gough Street, about to turn right into Washington, here passing the corner steps at Lafayette Park.
... and Now, this is the northeast corner of the park (map).
A word about the car that Val is driving: it's a 1932 Packard Light Eight coupe roadster; at $1750 it was the cheapest of a range of similarly styled models including the Standard Eight and the ultra-classy long wheelbase Twin Six. The actor Clark Gable owned a Twin Six; he paid $4,250 for his when just 2 years into his MGM contract. When he posed for the photograph below in 1933 he had added wheel discs and a rear-mounted trunk.
Incidentally, the same car, refinished and reupholstered, won First in Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2009 and subsequently sold for $1,210,000 at the 2016 RM Sotheby's auction at Amelia Island, below.
Then ... On Washington Street a cable car rumbles downhill past the Crest View Garage, far left, as she turns into her own garage, far right. In the movie her garage is part of her mansion home, but in the real world this location is a block away from the mansion which, as we saw earlier was at the corner of Washington and Laguna at the other end of the park.
... and Now, Washington Street lost its cable car line in 1956 but the garage building on the left is still there, now privately used by residents of the adjacent CrestView Apartments. The building at right, 2080 Gough Street, was replaced in 1963; its side garage is at the same spot as was the Bradford's garage.
After Val takes an elevator up to her room prying reporters open the rumble seat of the car and are shocked to find the lifeless body of Arlene Bradford stuffed inside. They take a grisly photograph and decide to hold off informing the police until their newspaper breaks the sensational story.
Then ... Having reported Arlene's disappearance to the police, Val Bradford drives back to her Lafayette Park home, seen here heading north along Laguna Street on the west side of the park. In the foreground are cable car tracks along Washington, a line destined to close down 22 years later in 1956.
... and Now, the homes on this block today have all been replaced except for the setback 3-story white building on the corner of the intersecting Clay Street. The park steps too appear to be the same ones.
Then ... She makes a right in front of her home, the corner mansion, but screeches to a halt when she sees the reporters waiting for her. The home's address in the story was 923 Bates Avenue, fictitious, but in real life this mansion was 2180 Washington, built in 1899 by William G. Irwin, a banker and sugar magnate.
... and Now, the Irwin Mansion burned down in 1955; today there's a 12-story condominium building on this site (map). In this view of new and old the common denominator is the cluster of three tall buildings down Laguna.
Here's the mansion in 1953 by which time it had become the home of the Irwin Memorial Blood Bank. (Its cube-like architecture was certainly appropriate for an owner from the sugar business).
But just two years later, sadly, it was destroyed by fire.
... and Now, 2180 Washington today.
Then ... In an earlier scene a view from the home's window shows a shaggy-maned lion on a pedestal, one of a pair facing the park at the front entrance (you can spot it in the 1953 photo and the fire photo above).
... and Now, the lions, the only survivors from the original building, have lost their pedestals but still maintain their vigilant watch at the entrance.
... the fiercely-represented beasts hold an unfolding scroll in their teeth, a symbol of life and a hidden future.
Apparently Arlene's engagement was a sham ("For business reasons ...", she said) because It turns out that the radiogram was from her secret lover, Joshua Mayard (Douglas Dumbrille), an older man who runs a subsidiary of her stepfather's banking company. When he cuts off their relationship she slaps his face and storms out, with Mayard in pursuit.
Arlene fails to return home and sister Val reports her disappearance to the police; it didn't take long for a tipster to alert the local newspaper, setting off a mad rush of reporters to Arlene's home at Lafayette Park. The entrance of the fictitious newspaper building below was most likely filmed at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios but the taxi was a real San Francisco Yellow Cab.
.... a vintage photo ... here's part of a fleet of 337 of the same cabs idled at 245 Turk Street in San Francisco during the 1934 general strike. Note the same exterior sun visor and the telephone number and circular insignia on the sides.
Then ... The cab climbs towards Lafayette Park from Jackson Street up a steep section of Octavia in Pacific Heights (map); the view across the north bay takes in Alcatraz and Angel Island.
... and Now, rampant tree growth now blocks this view. Drivers today still navigate around the concrete-walled planters in the center of the pavement.
Then ... The reporters congregate on Washington Street at Octavia next to a large Pacific Heights mansion on the northern edge of Lafayette Park.
... and Now, the mansion, at 2080 Washington, was built in 1913 by sugar magnate Adolph Spreckels for his young wife Alma. Author Danielle Steel is the current owner and she is responsible for that swollen overgrown hedge that today denies passersby the sight of the classic French Baroque limestone home. Ms Steel, tear down this wall!!
... in 1953, 20 years after the movie was filmed unimpeded views of both mansion and bay were still being enjoyed.
Then ... Viewed from the Octavia intersection, Lafayette Park stretches back beyond the reporters. The cable car on Washington is a reminder that Pacific Heights used to be served by the Washington-Jackson line.
... and Now, from the same vantage point the park looks very different having been re-laid out and reworked over the years. The Washington-Jackson line was shut down in 1956, to the chagrin of the local residents.
... in 1906 ... For history buffs here's a composited image of Lafayette Park when it was home to a tent city erected for earthquake survivors. Those three homes on Washington Street have since been replaced; they are, from left to right, the William Dunphy mansion, the James V. Coleman mansion and, across Octavia, the Jean M. Boyd mansion at 2080 Washington on the site of the Spreckels mansion described above.