Reel SF

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

Woman On The Run - Doctor's Office

  The police tell Eleanor her husband Frank, still in hiding, suffers from a heart condition and should be found to make sure he is getting his medication.  This is news to her and she goes to Frank's doctor for confirmation.

Then ...  The California Street cable car crests the hill and she gets off at Powell.

... and Now,  the building on the left, the University Club, has occupied this site since 1908.  The view today down California is dominated by modern buildings but the Bay Bridge tower can still be seen.

 

  She enters the doctor's office in the Alta Casa apartment building at 897 California on the corner of Powell.  Just down the block, at 895 California, was the Crest Garage.

Then ...

... and Now,  the garage, now a parking garage,  has survived but the Alta Casa building has been demolished and is still a vacant corner lot.

... a contemporaneous photo ...   this 1950s photo shows the same corner as it was when the movie was filmed.  The Alta Casa building is on the corner and the signs tell us that the Crest Garage doubled as a Chevron gas station and car rental (U Drive) site. 

... in 1968,  the Alta Casa building also showed up 18 years later in the movie 'Petulia'.  The entrance used for the doctor's office is clearly seen; note too the cable car signal booth on the corner from which an operator controls the crossing of the cable car lines.

and Now (update), after decades of this corner remaining (surprisingly) an empty lot, a swanky new condominium building has been built on it and the garage site next to it. Cable cars still pass by on California and on Powell and the manned booth is still there too.

 

Trivia, but related - here's a 1935 news photo showing the same signal booth after it was knocked over by a reckless driver (one wonders what happened to the signal man inside), with the entrance to the Alta Casa Building behind it.

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