Then … Stevenson has already struck twice in the red light district of North Beach but he returns, on the hunt for more victims. From a cab he spots a promising multi-block array of clubs emblazoned in neon.
… and Now, this is the south side of Broadway looking east from Columbus Street. There aren’t as many clubs today but still enough to transform these blocks at night when their bright lights turn on. The Garden of Eden girlie club is still in business mid-block but the vertical Off Broadway blade sign seen above on the corner of Kearny Street now displays that of the Little Szechuan Chinese restaurant.
Then … The cab slowly cruises by the Garden of Eden at 529 Broadway. At left is Coffee Ron’s sandwich shop whose overhead sign is clearly visible in the Then image street view above. The doorway between them led to hotel apartments on the upper floors.
… and Now, today’s Garden of Eden sign appears to be the same one. The Coffee Ron’s space, its facade since remodeled and clad with black tiles, is now the home of the Paname night club.
Then … They pass the Penthouse Cinema at 515 Broadway whose offerings include nude girls on stage plus a bonus: the adult porn movie The Devil In Miss Jones.. Next to it at left the Off Broadway stage entertainment club on the corner of Kearny Street trumpets its Lady Wrestlers show.
… and Now, today a French drinks and tapas lounge, Paris 75, occupies the cinema site while the Off Broadway has morphed into a Chinese restaurant offering Szechuan cuisine.
Here’s a vintage 1970s photo giving us another look at the Penthouse Cinema as it was back then.
… this photo of Off Broadway alongside the Penthouse Cinema was taken in 1980 a year or so after Time After Time was filmed.
Two blocks further down at 345 Broadway on the corner of Osgood Place Stevenson spots a girl dancing atop a pole outside Gorman’s Gay 60’s nightclub. The building in the background advertises its occupant, the Homestead Ravioli Company at 333 Broadway.
… In 1967 … in this vintage photo we can see how the dancer accessed the high perch. Behind her is the parking lot of Gorman’s club (the club itself was set back some from Broadway down Osgood). Note the line of lights to the right of the searchlight in the distance outlining the span of the Bay Bridge.
… and Now, an office building, currently for lease, has been built on that corner parking lot. The Bay Bridge is clearly seen from here.
… In 1964 … this earlier photo was taken of the parking lot and club with its original name of Gorman’s Gay 90’s. Osgood Place runs downhill on the right. Above and behind it are the US Appraisers Building on Sansome (center) and the Gateway Apartments on Battery (left).
… and Now, this recent photo of Osgood Place shows the building that replaced Gorman’s.
Then … The next day Amy drives to work, here passing a block-long brick building.
… and Now, she was approaching Larkin heading east on Beach Street past Ghirardelli Square in the Fisherman’s Wharf/ Aquatic Park neighborhood. Note the octagonal store in the upper left corner - we are about to get a closer look at it …
Then … As Amy turns into Larkin the camera pans up and zooms towards an elevated corner store selling women’s clothing where we see Stevenson turning on the charm with the pretty assistant. The barely legible window sign - it reads William Silva - led CitySleuth to its location; it was listed in the 1978 City directory as the William A. Silva Salon in Ghirardelli Square.
… and Now, the distinctively shaped building is still there, occupied since 2021 by Mexican restaurant Barrio.
She invites him to her place. Bad idea.
The swish of a blade and the deed is done. Once again director Nicholas Meyer chooses to show the consequence, not the gore.
Chan Hung resided at the Hotel St. Paul at 935 Kearny Street (map). Jo and Steve go there a number of times to try to find him but each time he was, er, missing.
Then … In this composited vertical panorama of Jo parked in front of the hotel note its art deco sign. Note too across Kearny the Chevron Chinatown service station with its Chinese styled buildings. The Sentinel Building, aka Columbus Tower, is partially visible on the left and on the right across Jackson Street from the gas station is the empty lot where the International Hotel used to be before being callously demolished in 1979, only months before this scene was filmed.
… and Now, the hotel is still there but has been renamed Hotel North Beach; how neat that the original art deco sign was retained. A modern extension of the Sentinel Building with commendable integral styling has replaced the gas station and across Jackson a new residential International Hotel opened in 2005 on the site of the old - a long-overdue salve on the wound caused by the City’s brutal overnight eviction of its elderly residents in 1977.
…. In 1960 … Stepping back in time a little more, here’s a 1960 photo of the Sentinel Building from FoundSF showing the gas station before its structure was orientalized, the original red-brick International Hotel and off to the right the Hotel St. Paul blade sign at the corner of Kearny and Pacific.
Trivia for Trekkies: in this 1986 scene from Star Trek - The last Voyage Home Kirk, Spock et al appeared at this same location. Note the blade sign partially visible above the Winchell’s sign. By then the International hotel had been demolished.
Then … As Steve exits the hotel you can see the name written on the overhead glass.
…. In 2007 … an archival Google Street View image from 2007 captured the same Kearny Street doorway when it was being remodeled as a window. The hotel still had its original name then.
… and Now, here it is today. Note the blade sign on the corner of the building - compare it to the original on the far right side of the 1960 image above; the name was simply changed at the top.
Around the corner on Pacific two ghost signs on the side of the hotel still display the original name.
Then … They return later. Note that the door is an in-swinging half-glass single door whereas the earlier exterior view of the main entrance (see the Then image above) shows an out-swinging all-glass double door.
… and Now, director Wang has confirmed to CitySleuth that this staircase was filmed inside the Hotel St. Paul. The closest match that CitySleuth found at the hotel is the one below, looking down to the converted main entrance; the issue of the different doors is still unexplained.
They knock on Chan’s door but there’s no answer. CitySleuth recently walked the Hotel North Beach corridors; they had not been modernized but he found them not to match the styling in this movie shot. What’s more, a corridor junction next to an exterior window, as below, doesn’t exist there, suggesting that it was filmed elsewhere. Except director Wang recalls that it was indeed filmed in the St. Paul.
Scorpio is next seen watching pole dancers perform on a platform in the middle of the dimly-lit Roaring 20’s nightclub at 552 Broadway Street (map)…
Then … but he’s less than thrilled when he spots Callahan, clearly not there for the show.
… in 2010, the nightclub closed down during the pandemic, preventing CitySleuth from getting a current interior photo. But Dirty Harry fan Malcolm Czopinski has been there; in 2010 he took photos of the manager and one of the dancers by the pole dance platform for his Dirty Harry appreciation blog.
Scorpio heads for the exit, barely (excuse the pun) heeding the action alongside him. Callahan follows him out.
Then … in this panorama Callahan is walking past the Hungry I club on the right after exiting the Roaring 20’s. A liquor store sits between the two clubs.
… and Now, the liquor store, Broadway Cigars and Liquors, is still there under the same name; the clubs on either side of it however have yet to reopen since the pandemic (reportedly the Hungry I has just reopened only the bar). Ominously the sad facade of the Roaring 20’s on the left recently posted a For Lease sign.
Pre-pandemic, below, this block was the centerpiece of Broadway’s red light district; it’s now a sorrier version with only the Condor back in business.
Then … Scorpio has threatened to kill a Catholic priest; acting on a hunch that he might return to the Dante Building rooftop on the corner of Union and Stockton in North Beach where he was seen earlier (it has a clear view of Sts. Peter and Paul church), Callahan and Gonzalez station themselves on the rooftop of a taller nearby building, viewed here from the Dante Building roof. As if anticipating the sinful episode about to take place, its roof displays a Christian message on a rotating vertical neon sign.
… and Now, this is the rooftop of 1520 Stockton Street (map), a half block from the Dante Building. Looming in the background is the former Bank Of America building at 555 California Street; Scorpio picked off his first victim from there.
Coincidentally, the aformentioned earlier scene showed a brief glimpse of the sign, on the right below, which by the way was built especially for the movie.
… and Now, when the movie was filmed 1520 Stockton housed the Medical Insurance Division of California Blue Shield; the current tenant is the main clinic of North East Medical Services, a health provider in Chinatown mostly serving the Asian community. The Dante block is visible further down the block at 1606 Stockton.
Then … From his vantage point Callahan scans the Dante building roof for signs of the killer. Note the brightly-lit top floor apartment next to it at 570 Union Street - it will shortly become a major distraction. An illuminated block of Stockton Street recedes in the background and the Catholic Church is partially visible in the top left corner.
… and Now, this recent aerial view shows those buildings relative to each other. The yellow ‘X” marks where the ‘Jesus Saves’ sign stood.
Pay attention, Harry! A young woman walking around naked in the 570 Union Street apartment has caught his eye. She even unashamedly opens the door for visitors.
They suddenly realize that Scorpio is on the roof. A high intensity gun battle between the buildings ensues, Scorpio’s automatic weapon giving him the edge. He pins them down, gleefully destroying the neon sign before fleeing.
Then … They rush down; once again Scorpio has made his escape, on the way shooting a policeman dead, his third victim.
More of the location details are visible in this publicity still taken during the filming. It’s the narrow Jasper Place alley, looking south across Union Street (map). The exact spot is shown by the red cross in the aerial view four images above.
… and Now, here it is today, unchanged except for exterior house paint.
