Then … Taking advantage of his wife being away for the weekend Talbot invites Nora to take a trip with him to his family cabin. Flattered, she accepts; we see them leaving the city heading east on the upper deck of the Bay Bridge (filmed in the studio with rear projection footage).
… and Now, this looks back towards San Francisco to the bridge’s first tower. Note that the upper deck is now one-way traffic into the city whereas back then it was two-way. Note too the Bay Bridge light display LED’s arrayed vertically on the right. More recently they have been added to the left side, resulting in a spectacular nighttime display on both sides of the bridge.
Then … in the distance looking to the north, Coit Tower is prominent at far right atop Telegraph Hill.
… and Now, here’s that view today; those high-rises were yet to be built back then.
This contemporaneous capture from a 1940s video shows the view in more detail. The two buildings on the Russian Hill skyline at far left were visible between Nora and Talbot in the movie’s Then image above. The Ferry Building clock tower is in the center.
They arrive at the cabin in a scene almost certainly filmed at the studio’s back lot.
The shot can’t be duplicated so let’s talk about Talbot’s car instead. It’s a 1939 Plymouth Deluxe Convertible Coupe, pictured here in a photo from a classic car sale where it sold for $31,900. The seller claimed it belonged to MGM studios; if so it’s possible this particular car was borrowed by Warner Brothers for Talbot’s use in the movie. It’s fun to speculate from time to time.
In the cabin Nora begins to have qualms, tearfully questioning the wisdom of carrying on with a married man. But she yields to his passionate embrace and kiss.
Then … Talbot for his part has no qualms whatsoever; he’s head-over-heels with the lady. We next see him buying flowers for her in Union Square. The name on the window - Joseph’s Florist - and 1940s city directories revealed its address: 322 Post Street. Facing us across Union Square is the 200 block of Geary Street.
A 1940s vintage photo showed that same block as it appeared in the movie (outlined within the yellow box). Note the same rooftop billboard (blank at that time) and the white vertical Santa Fe Railway ticket office blade sign beyond the Dewey monument, both partially visible above. The iconic City of Paris Store is at far left.
… and Now, the same block today. Macy’s buildings have taken over half of the block and Nieman Marcus has replaced the City of Paris.
Another 1940s vintage photo captured Joseph’s Florist at 322 Post.
… and Now, this whole block has since been replaced except the Bullock and Jones building with its distinctive 3rd story triple arched windows, now vacant. The yellow circle reveals where Joseph’s Florist used to be, overlapping the left end of today’s Apple Store.
Then … They head to Baker Street near Beach to admire the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina district at the eastern edge of the Presidio.
… and Now, the Palace is the lone surviving structure at this site from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It continues to be a hugely popular visitor attraction.
Then … And why not pay a visit to Chinatown? Like all of the restaurants back then Canton Low down the block at 708 Grant and the Far East Cafe at 631 Grant down and across the street advertise chop suey, the dish of choice back then for visitors. Talbot may be enjoying himself now but he’s chosen a slippery slope and there’ll be no climbing back to normality for him.
… and Now, they were on Grant Avenue; Commercial Street tees off to the left and Sacramento Street crosses behind them. Canton Low is gone, the Far East Cafe is still there but you won’t find chop suey on their menus thanks to pioneering restauranteur Johnny Kan who opened Kan’s restaurant in 1953 at the Canton Low site. Herb Caen at the time wrote … “A word of warning. Don’t ask for chop suey. The highest compliment to Kan’s conception of Chinese food is the absence of this most ersatz of Oriental dishes from his menu” . Foodie historians may want to read Johnny Kan’s interesting life story here.
Then … Amy takes Herbert to a movie at the Cinema at Ghirardelli Square at 901 Beach Street in the Marina District where he’s scared out of his wits by the violent action, the likes of which he has never seen before. Below, they have just exited the theater. The movie name is interesting, The most recent Exorcist movie back then then was Exorcist 2 … this was a dig by director Meyer at the Hollywood penchant for sequels (but years later he would himself co-write the sequels Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.)
… And Now, the cinema is no longer there; the site now houses commercial offices.
This Dec 1974 photo shows the cinema as it was whenTime After Time was filmed - note the same Marquee sign. The preceding tenant in the building (it used to be an old Power House) was the Hungry-I nightclub which had moved there in the 1960s from its better-known North Beach location. The cinema opened in Aug 1971 but never did well, closing in Dec 1986. The movie entrance was the 3rd archway from the left; today that has been remodeled as a matching window and the entrance is now in the first archway on the left. On the right, Polk Street tees into Beach.
Then … They walk by a newspaper stand not noticing, but we do, the chilling headline … is Stevenson up to his old mayhem again? Behind the gawkers across the street is an interesting building …
… and Now, this is part of the ship-shape ship-shaped port-hole windowed Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park.
Then … By now Herbert is more than happy to tag along with Amy and when she invites him to her place for dinner he readily agrees. Her home happens to be in the Marina district across from the Palace of Fine Arts (we get to see it later in the movie) so on her way home after buying some food she introduces him to the grand edifice (although she bungles the facts a little, telling him it was built for the 1914 Pan American Exposition) …
… and Now, whereas in fact it was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It underwent an extensive rebuilding program from 1964 to 1974. This view looks across the lagoon from Bay Street near the corner with Baker Street. The fountain is still there!
This south-east facing enhanced vintage aerial photo shows the grand scale of the glorious exposition. The Palace, at lower right, is the sole on-site surviving structure. (There’s one other survivor, Firehouse No. 9, now called Firehouse No. 35, which was moved in 1915 to the Embarcadero next to Pier 22).
Then … She walks him through the Palace’s grand rotunda. Originally a wood and plaster structure, the replacement was built with steel and concrete.
… and Now, the Palace is exactly as it was other than an accumulation of grime but the Baker Street residences in the distance have undergone significant changes.
There’s nothing quite like an intimate dinner and a glass of wine to put one in the mood. He stays over and they do it.
But he is jolted out of his reverie by a radio news bulletin about a second North Beach brutal murder of a prostitute. Startled, he realizes who must be responsible.
Then… Amy suggests they take a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. Herbert is fascinated by her futuristic transportation machine and carefully watches with great interest as she operates each control. Filmed from the Marin County side, this view looks towards San Francisco to the Marina left of center, the Presidio on the right and Mount Sutro/Twin Peaks in the hazy distance.
… and Now, today’s view from the same vantage point, Battery Spencer on Conzelman Road at the Marin headlands (map), shows little change (the Sutro Tower communication mast that was built next to Twin Peaks 6 years in 1973, barely visible above, stands out more clearly here).
Then… She takes him to Muir Woods, a hugely popular secluded redwood forest on the slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County (map). Named after famed naturalist John Muir, it has been a U.S. National Monument since 1908. They stop and admire siamese twin trees, joined at the hip, one of several throughout the forest.
CitySleuth’s best guess for this location is that they were on the Redwood Creek Trail, filmed from the higher elevation Hillside Trail.
… and Now, much of the Redwood Creek Trail has been paved for easier walking but it has retained the rustic style of railings seen in the Then image above.
A number of movies have over the years included scenes from Muir Woods, examples being Petulia (1968) andSudden Fear (1952) in which Joan Crawford and Jack Palance (below) strolled along the same stretch of the Redwood Creek Trail pictured above . Back then, 27 years earlier, there were no railings. (The leaning tree remnant in the middle of the trail was removed years ago).
Amongst a quiet stand of young redwoods they share a little more about each other with Herbert being the more reticent.
Teddy almost misses TWA’s L-1011 flight to Los Angeles but persuades the ramp truck to head back as the exit door re-opens for him. As if. (In return for its cooperation with the filmmakers TWA gets lots of exposure in the airport scenes that follow).
Then … Unfortunately for Teddy once in the air the flight is diverted to San Diego due to fog in L.A. On arrival he sits in the lounge, musing about Didi and Charlotte, two women waiting for him in the middle of the night. But was this scene filmed at San Diego airport? (No, it was not - read on).
… in 1977 … it turns out the same airport lounge had been filmed 7 years earlier in a scene, below, in the Mel Brook’s comedy High Anxiety as evidenced by the same red pin-striped carpet, seats, circular columns, quad elevated flight status screens, cone-shaped cigarette ashtrays and silver lamp arrays.
When Mel Brooks exits the terminal in High Anxiety the address on the window - 300 World Way - is that of TWA’s Terminal 3 at Los Angeles International Airport. This then was the location used for Teddy’s ‘San Diego’ airport lounge scene.
… a vintage photo … This c. 1970 photograph shows TWA Terminal 3 as it still was when theThe Woman In Red scenes were filmed rhere.
… and Now, the terminal, still addressed 300 World Way, Los Angeles, has significantly changed since then including the addition of an elevated road to access the expanded upper level. TWA as such disappeared when it was acquired in 2001 by American Airlines; today Terminal 3 is used primarily for Delta and Aeromexico arrivals and departures. Further changes are currently underway at LAX in preparation for the flood of 2028 Summer Olympics visitors.
Then … All is not lost though - the two wanna-be lovers, undeterred, meet again in San Francisco at Baker Street near Beach in the Marina District with the Palace of Fine Arts across the lagoon behind them (map).
… and Now, the impressive edifice was built for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition; it was rebuilt in concrete and steel in the 1960s and seismically retrofitted in 2009 but has retained its original appearance to this day.
Alfred Hitchcock beat Gene Wilder to it - the identical view was captured in his 1958 classic Vertigo when James Stewart and Kim Novak stroll by along the Baker Street sidewalk.
Even earlier, in 1947, Ann Sheridan and Kent smith were filmed there in Nora Prentiss.
And later, in 1979 around the corner on Bay Street, Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen were there in Time After Time. It’s easy to see why this location is a magnet for filmmakers.
