The Sniper - Desperate Dash Home
Running scared after picking off his fifth victim, Miller makes a desperate dash home. Below, clear across town from SOMA where his dash began, he is on the flats east of Telegraph Hill. He turns from Battery Street and is seen here running west along gritty Filbert Street. Today this junction of Battery and Filbert is at the center of Levi's Plaza, home to the venerable Levi Strauss & Co (click images to enlarge).
He continues along the same block towards Sansome past the Gibraltar Warehouse, now replaced by the Levi Strauss headquarters (map).
Miller then heads up a steep set of wooden steps with the Gibraltar Warehouse visible across Sansome behind him. These are the lower Filbert Steps, still there today but replaced with sturdier steel and concrete (map).
He staggers to the top of the steps but these aren't the Filbert Steps! They are in fact private steps leading down from the end of the Green Street cul-de-sac at Montgomery to three homes perched on the east side of Telegraph Hill. The sweeping view takes in the Embarcadero, the Bay Bridge and the Financial District (map). A similar panorama was featured in the 1951 movie 'The House On Telegraph Hill'.
The recent photo below shows the entrance gate to these private steps - they lead down to 267, 269 and 271 Green Street.
Next we see him crabbing across an ugly street-wide expanse of concrete. This is Vallejo Street between Kearny and Montgomery as viewed from Montgomery (map). The same block today has been transformed into a colorful garden of trees and plants, urban beautification at its best - a silk purse from a sow's ear.
Almost there! The two views below show him at each end of Varennes Street, typical of the many narrow alleys found around Telegraph Hill. He is cutting through from Union to Filbert (map).
And finally he runs across Filbert to his rented room in the apartment building at 450 - 456 Filbert Street. His room is the upstairs one on the right.
In this classic noir fright shot, the landlady (Mabel Paige), having just heard about the sniper's burned hand on the radio, realizes who her tenant is. We fear the worst for the poor lady but he's had enough and locks himself in his room.