Reel SF

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

Filtering by Tag: Visitacion Valley

Harold And Maude - Save That Tree!

Then ...  Our odd couple head over San Bruno Mountain from their Half Moon Bay visit, on the way passing the large building below that sticks out like a sore thumb.

... and Now,  this is Visitacion Valley and McLaren Park to the north of Guadalupe Canyon Parkway from the spot marked on this map.  (The better-known Cow Palace is just out of sight off to the left).  The incongruous structure is gone, having been demolished by controlled implosion in 1998.  These were the twin Geneva Towers, a 576 unit public housing project built in 1967 that deteriorated into unmaintained squalor and drug-dealing prior to its being shut down.  For more information and a video of its sudden demise see here.

   Three years earlier Geneva Towers appeared in this shot of the bad guy in the high speed pursuit along Guadalupe Canyon Parkway during the thrilling Bullitt car chase.

 

Then ...  Maude is in high spirits today ... we next see her doing tight 360's around the junction of Marshall and Hamilton Streets in Redwood City (map).

... and Now,  Marshall Street crosses in the foreground and the building on the left is the San Mateo County Superior Courthouse.

 

Then ...  As Maude heads west on Marshall past the courthouse on the right the straggly potted tree in the foreground catches her eye.  She screeches to a halt, mounting the sidewalk, to the consternation of the passersby.

... and Now,  the buildings ahead are new but the U.S. mail is still picked up here.

 

    She is determined to save that tree.  As they discuss the best way to haul it away some cops are about to exit the courthouse and start checking out Maude's (well, the borrowed) straddled car.

 

Then ...  Without skipping a beat she beckons Harold into a Mustang conveniently parked in front of the cops and roars loudly off around the corner...

... and Now,  a new correctional facility has since been built across the street but the corner itself is still very recognizable.

 

    "Did I just see what I thought I saw...?"

 

The Lineup - Motel With A View

  A third member of the drug cartel drives to meet the two from Miami - they are staying at a motel with an expansive view - the Bayside Motel, 2011 Bayshore Boulevard at Hester Ave on Bayshore Heights (map).  (Click on the images for a closer look).

Then ...  The view looks south towards San Bruno Mountain across Visitacion Valley's Little Hollywood neighborhood.  The camera looks straight down Peninsula Avenue and the Cow Palace in Daly City can't be missed in the distance over to the right.

... and Now,  the motel was demolished a few years ago to make way for the Bayside Vista condominium development.  The recent photo below of the same view was taken from near to where the movie camera was set up.  Peninsula Ave is in the center and the distant Cow Palace is still there towards the right.

... where the motel used to be ...  (arrowed), taken from the neighboring Bayshore Park across Highway 101 - the new development is atop the Bayshore Heights bluff.

 

  Here's an entry from an advertising brochure showing a pictorial layout of the Bayside Motel.  The two-story block of units at far right, perched on the edge of the bluff and facing San Bruno Mountain, was used for the movie scene.  Their room, on the back side of the building, is marked by the arrow.

 

Then ...  The new guy, Sandy (Richard Jaekel), has been tapped to be the wheelman - he knocks on the motel door, room 33, to hook up with the other two.  The view looks west across Bayshore Boulevard to a Visitacion Valley hillside.  MacLaren Park is beyond the top of the hill.

... and Now,  after a half century of suburban sprawl.  

 

Then ...  Sandy has to explain to a skeptical Dancer, (Eli Wallach, below on the right) and his mentor honcho Julian (Robert Keith, on the left) why he's the right guy for the driving job.  They take some convincing.

... and Now,  the same view today.

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