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.
Incensed with the police for trying to take him out on the roof of the Dante Building, Scorpio has kidnapped 14 year-old Ann Mary Deacon and buried her alive with just a few hours of oxygen. He demands $200,000 in cash to reveal her location.
Then … The authorities gather up the money and assign Callahan to be the bag man. He gets word to take it to the Marina Green East Harbor.
… and Now, the matching view looks east from the path along the Marina Green side of the harbor toward Fort Mason (map).
In this south facing overview of the harbor the Marina Green is at lower right, Fort Mason at upper left. The locations of the harbor scenes are indicated; the Then and Now images above were taken from location 1. (Photo by David Oppenheimer).
Then … With the yellow ransom bag at his feet Callahan waits to be contacted (location 2 in the overview above). Lit up in the distance is the Marina Safeway store, at location 4 above.
… and Now, the lampposts on the path today are at the same places as they were above. The Safeway store is still there but now hidden behind distant trees from here.
Here’s a recent nighttime shot of the Marina Safeway - note its distinctive curved roofline, clearly discernible in the Then image above.
Then … A public phone at the end of the path (location 3 in the overview above) starts to ring; Callahan sprints towards it. The gangway behind him is the same one that’s behind him in the Then image above.
… and Now, from the same spot today that gangway, still there, is hidden by shrubs, but the gangway next to the phone booth above has been removed.
Scorpio tells him he will bounce him all over town from phone booth to phone booth to make sure he’s alone. He can’t use a car; he’ll be given time to get there… but if he’s late… “the girl dies”.
… but Callahan isn’t alone - he is radio wiretapped to his partner Gonzalez who is parked nearby (that’s the Marina Safeway glowing behind him). When he overhears Scorpio say the next phone booth is at Forest Hill Station, he immediately heads over there. (San Franciscans will sympathize with Callahan - the Forest Hill Metro Muni station is 6 miles across town!).
Then … George has arranged to meet Monica at the Marina Green parking lot in the Marina district (map). The high-rise residential towers of Russian Hill array the skyline at left and upscale homes lining Marina Boulevard on the right have a view towards the bay across the Marina Green.
… and Now, Those homes are built on land filled in for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, in some cases using rubble from the 1906 earthquake. 20 years after the movie was filmed the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake resulted in significant damage here caused by liquefaction of the fill. Short memories equates to great opportunities - this would have been a great time to buy because today those homes sell in the 3 to 5 million dollar range. But they still sit on the same landfill.
The earthquake hit this Marina apartment building particularly hard - the car sits under what was its 3rd floor.
Then … A cab drops Monica off. She looks every inch the high-class hooker that she is as she walks to his car. At center in the Bay is Alcatraz and off to the left, Angel Island.
… and Now, second verse, same as the first.
Then … She gets in and they drive off, still tailed by the insurance investigator. Everyone will recognize the Golden Gate bridge but probably not that structure just ahead. It started life during WW2 as a wartime degaussing building for demagnetizing large boats…
… and Now, … eventually closing down in the 1970s but recently reopening as the Marina Harbor Master Office.
Then … Any SF showcase movie has to include Chinatown, right? Director Fulci obliges by routing them along Grant Avenue, San Francisco’s very first street (it was originally named Dupont Street).
… and Now, The shot looks south along Grant across Washington Street (map). Despite being so close to the transformed Financial District it’s great that this neighborhood has resisted change since its reconstruction following the 1906 earthquake and fire. May that continue to be the case.
Then … At her apartment she wastes no time getting down to business. George is more than happy to participate in what follows - the movie’s second salacious romp amongst the sheets.
Then … Local FBI agents fan out across town searching for the buildings depicted in Igor Braun’s intercepted painting. At upper right the vertical corner sign, reading ‘Marines’, belongs to the Marines Memorial Club which tells us where this was filmed.
… and Now, The view looks south down Mason with Sutter crossing in the foreground (map). The Marines Memorial Club at 601 Sutter still occupies the southwest corner of this junction but traffic on Mason has since been changed to one-way. In both Then and Now images, steeply sloped streets on Potrero Hill are clearly visible way off in the distance.
Then … Next, we see an agent in a different part of town; this appears to be somewhere South of Market.
… and Now, sure enough, this is 6th Street, unchanged since the neighborhood’s post-1906 earthquake and fire rebuild (map). That’s Minna Street on the left and straight ahead across Market is the Golden Gate Theatre.
Then … The agents spot buildings that might be those in the drawing. This shot was filmed in a studio using a rear-projected cityscape. To CitySleuth it looks very familiar but something about it isn’t quite right …
… that’s because the moviemakers reversed the image when they projected it! So let’s reverse it back - now it makes sense - it’s a view west across the Marina looking towards the Presidio in the distance. The prominent building in the upper center is the Marina Middle School. The eyesore gas holder at right used to be on the corner of Bay and Laguna.
… and Now, the movie’s view was taken from a Russian Hill apartment building, 1090 Chestnut on the corner of Larkin (map), as was the recent photo below. (That same building also appeared in the 1947 movie Dark Passage, described here by CitySleuth). The school is still there but the gas holder has been replaced by the Marina Cove Apartments.
They check the buildings in the painting …
Then … Bingo! The agent says “That’s it alright, it’s painted from the rear of one of those houses on Clay Street”. But this is nowhere near Clay Street; note the ‘McRoskey Airflex’ sign on the building at left - a giveaway as to where this actually is.
… and Now, both buildings are still there today, in the Mid Market section of Market Street. On the left is the McRoskey Mattress Company, a local family business founded in 1899 that has been at this 1687 Market Street location since 1925 (map). On the right is the Allen Hotel at 1693 Market which survived a fire in 1998 and today is a low-income housing facility with on-site support services.
In summary, the moviemakers used geographical trickery for Igor Braun’s studio location. The agent describes it as being on Clay Street but he’s in Russian Hill when he spots it, and the houses across the street from it are on Market Street. All miles apart. Go figure.
