Then … Teddy’s persistence has paid off - his fantasy is about to become reality. Charlotte’s limo pulls up to the entrance of her apartment building.
… and Now, This is the iconic Brocklebank Apartments atop Nob Hill, across Sacramento Street from the equally iconic Fairmont Hotel, at far right. In movies this building is most famously remembered as Madeleine’s home in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Then … The bedroom scene was filmed in a studio using a photographic backdrop to set the location. Perplexingly though, the photo isn’t a view from a Brocklebank window, instead it was taken from the roof of the neighboring Fairmont Hotel. The building seen on the left beyond Charlotte’s shoulder is the Condominiums at 1001 California Street, the white building to its right is 1055 California and the taller brick building at far right is the Huntington Hotel at 1075 California.
… and Now, this wide view shows the Brocklebank at left, 1001 California Condominiums at right and the Fairmont rooftop from where the above window photo was taken.
Even more surprising: later on in this scene there’s another window view (below) that really was taken from the Brocklebank. It shows the same three California buildings seen through Charlotte’s window in the Then image above. CitySleuth would have used this! Down on the left is the international flag array above the Fairmont’s entrance and, on the right, the Pacific Union Club.
My, oh my … she takes his hand and leads him to the bed where she urges him to “Come and get it, cowboy”. This is it! Dreams come true! But hold on … a call from the lobby comes over the intercom from … wait for it … Charlotte’s husband! He’s on his way up!
Chaos ensues - Teddy hastily dons the husband’s bathrobe then is urged out the window onto the building ledge by a frantic Charlotte (this was the flash-forward scene at the beginning of the film). Across Mason Street is the Park Lane Apartments, built in 1924-25 just one year ahead of the Brocklebank; its art deco moderne-styled upper floors were added in 1929.
Then … A crowd begins to congregate on the street below, staring up at the man on the 9th floor ledge.
… and Now, here’s today’s match - the street view shows the Pacific Union Club with Grace Cathedral beyond it.
Then … One of the street-side gawkers rushes into a nearby cafe gobbledygooking about a man about to jump - everyone rushes out to join the throng.
… and Now, this was the Nob Hill Cafe at 1152 Taylor Street, still in business to this day. The SF City Directory has listed it there under this name since 1978 (when it took over from Gene’s Nob Hill Coffee Shop). Today a parklet partially obscures the view through the windows but the wide set of apartment steps across the street is clearly visible both Then and Now.
Then … A fire department ladder truck responds to an emergency call. Note the Chinese stores across the way, the clue to this location.
… and Now, this is Fire Station 2 at 1340 Powell Street near Broadway on the edge of Chinatown.
… and Now, here’s Station 2. The ladder truck in the Then image above exited from the central bay.
There’s a plaque outside the station memorializing the brave firefighters who, dating all the way back to 1854, gave their lives while protecting their fellow citizens.
By now a huge crowd and a local TV station truck pack the Brocklebank courtyard. The movie ends when Teddy jumps down to a life safety net, but not before he muses in voiceover whether pursuing his fantasy was worth it for just “ … a piece of ass”.
Then … Herbert is desperate with nowhere to go. He drags his way up one of the city’s steepest streets.
… and Now, this is Nob Hill looking south down Taylor street from California towards Pine. At far left with a temporary ramp is a side entrance of the Huntington Hotel which was closed for extensive interior upgrades when CitySleuth took this photo.
Then … Exhausted, he sees a large church across California Street.
… and Now, this is Grace Cathedral on the northwest corner of California and Taylor (map). The sidewalk utility box is now twice as wide as it was then.
Then … A shot looking down from the Huntington Hotel reveals a little more. At far right in front of the cathedral’s front entrance there’s a brick building, Cathedral House, built as the George William Gibbs Memorial Hall in 1911 for the Church Divinity School.
… and Now, that building was demolished in 1993, enabling a grand staircase to the front entrance; the cathedral now stands resplendently unobscured as a result.
Then … Seeking solace he enters, standing reverentially next to a marble baptismal font.
… and Now, CitySleuth’s matching photo includes Beniamino Bufano’s statue of St. Francis on the left.
Then … Perhaps a silent prayer will help ease his plight.
… and Now, the pews have aged well. There are other, older murals along the walls but those visible here were painted after the movie was filmed.
Then … He gets a gentle reminder that the church is about to close.
… and Now, this fine view towards the apse and the main altar captures just part of the cathedral’s splendour. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon during the consecration of the cathedral in March, 1964 from the pulpit right of center.
Then … With nowhere else to go he spends the night on a bench next to a children’s playground in Huntington Park across Taylor Street from the cathedral. Cathedral House behind him is partially visible across Taylor.
… and Now, the playground has been moved to another part of the park and a parking garage has replaced Cathedral House.
Then … A birds-eye view of the cathedral from a high-rise apartment building on Sacramento Street clearly shows Cathedral House. Across California on the corner of Taylor is the Masonic Auditorium and Memorial Temple.
… and Now, Cathedral House is gone but the Masonic Auditorium is still there; this view also shows the Huntington Hotel across Taylor at far left.
Then … A misty early morning shot from the Huntington Hotel captures the park as Herbert awakens. But note the production goof here: the bench where he slept next to the children’s playground (check it out two Then images above) is missing. The arrow shows where it should have been.
… and Now, because the Huntington Hotel was closed when CitySleuth stopped by he resorted to a Google satellite image to show us the park from above today.
Then … Ms Milner has gotten over being stood up; she wants to try again. She calls Teddy from a bar and suggests they meet at Le Club restaurant at Clay and Jones. Once again he thinks it’s the Woman In Red who is calling and readily agrees.
… and Now, this was filmed in Koreatown, Los Angeles at the Prince Restaurant at 3198 1/2 W. 7th Street. Its retro period decor has made this place a go-to location for dozens of movies and TV series over the decades. Note both Then and Now the yeoman statue in front of a red latticed window frame.
Then … Teddy arrives trying his best to look cool with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Again, this is the Prince restaurant in Los Angeles. Note the red door over to the right…
… and Now, it’s been over 40 years but the door and the handrail have hardly changed. (Photo by Syd Rev).
Then … The instant he sits down he realizes who had called him. He lets out a yelp and promptly hightails it out of there.
… and Now, the three latticed windows behind them identify the two booths at The Prince used for the above scene. (Photo by J.P. Shelton)
This studio photo of Gene and Gilda relaxing before the shoot was used for a promotional lobby card.
Then … He rushes out - now we are back in San Francisco at the Clay-Jones residential highrise building at 1250 Jones Street, the very location that Ms. Milner had given Teddy. Note the signage at left on the awning above the window and the wall below it - there was indeed a Le Club restaurant in the 1980s in the lobby level of this building (the incongruous white ‘LE CLUB’ letters may have been added for this movie shot).
… and Now, 1250 Jones today. It has hosted a succession of restaurants over the years: after Le Club closed Charles Nob Hill succeeded it from 1995 to 2004, followed by C.A.L. Steakhouse then by the Michelin-starred Keiko a Nob Hill from 2011 to 2021. Currently the building is residential only - no restaurant.
Then … as he rounds the corner, the eye-catching view east down Clay Street encompasses the TransAmerica Pyramid and the Embarcadero Center high-rises with the Bay Bridge beyond. (Note the image on the back of the beer truck advertising San Francisco’s own Anchor Brewing Company’s Porter beer).
… and Now, the view is essentially unchanged today.
Here’s a closer look at the beer label seen in the Then image above. The dark Porter beer, released in 1972, supplemented the classic Anchor Steam beer which had been brewed in Potrero Hill in San Francisco since 1896. After being bought by Sapporo, the 125 year-old Anchor Brewing Company closed down in 2023 then was purchased in 2024 by the founder of Chobani whose stated intention is to revive the company. As of July 2025 it was still closed.
Then … Ms Milner pursues him, watching as he jumps into the back seat of his car.
… and Now, minor changes here - the corner mailbox is gone, awnings have been added at left on the side windows of 1250 Jones and the street signs have been replaced.
If looks could kill! Teddy fakes a heart attack but she shows no sympathy, leaning in to release the handbrake… fade out as the car rolls down the hill to blasting horns, screeching brakes and crunching metal.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned … still fuming the next morning she slowly and deliberately tips a bottle of ink onto Teddy’s desktop.
The movie opens with an establishing shot of the Golden Gate Bridge - we are in San Francisco. The view looks from the ocean side into the Bay; the misty outline of Angel Island is discernible under the span on the right.
We tag along with a nautical guide as it leads us into the city …
Then … A birds-eye view shows San Francisco’s crowded Financial District/Downtown area clustered around its tallest building, the 52-story Bank of America Center completed in 1969. Over on the right the Bay Bridge reaches out to Yerba Buena Island on its way to Oakland.
… and Now, it’s even more crowded today because of the encroachment of the Financial District into the South of Market neighborhood. In 2018 the 61 story, 1.1 billion dollar, bullet-shaped Salesforce Tower assumed the tallest building bragging rights. In the center Market Street, arrow-straight, points directly to the Ferry Building at the Bay’s edge.
Then … Finally we arrive in Nob Hill. The camera slowly pans from the Park Lane Apartments on the left past distant high-rise apartments atop Russian Hill, ending up at the classy building on the right where we see an apparently suicidal man standing on a ledge.
… and Now, that building is the Brocklebank Apartments at 1000 Mason Street (map). The photo below looks over the rooftop of the Pacific Union Club to the Brocklebank. On the left is the Park Lane Apartments and at far right the Fairmont Hotel from whose roof the above panorama was filmed (photo by Ron Henggeler. Check out his excellent website of San Francisco and Marin County photographs).
… and Now, here’s a closer look at the Brocklebank, again with the Fairmont at far right. The elegant building is approaching its centennial - it was built in 1926.
In 1958 Alfred Hitchcock chose the Brocklebank for the home of Kim Novak’s character Madeleine in ‘Vertigo’. Below, she walks to her green Jaguar parked in the courtyard. (Trivia time - San Francisco’s favorite journalist Herb Caen lived in this building and was a less-than-proud owner of a white Jaguar - persistent reliability problems prompted him to refer to it as “the white rat”).
Then … The seagull alights right next to the man on the ledge. This view looks out from the Brocklebank to the Pacific Union Club at lower right, the Huntington Hotel in the upper right corner and the Fairmont Hotel’s international flag array at lower left.
… and Now, viewed from behind the Brocklebank, here’s a recent Google aerial of those buildings. This wider view also shows Huntington Park on the right and the Mark Hopkins Hotel at upper left.
The man on the ledge is Theodore ‘Teddy’ Pierce (Gene Wilder). But why is he there? And why is he wearing a bathrobe? And what’s the significance of the seagull next to him? Even he doesn’t seem to know, asking himself in voiceover … “How the hell did I get up here?”. This scene is a flash-forward; all will be explained as the movie unfolds.
(If you are wondering if that really was Gene Wilder nine stories above the Brocklebank’s courtyard, not so - a stunt man was used for the wide shots. Gene filmed his close-ups at ground level on a Hollywood backlot).
