Reel SF

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

The Lady From Shanghai - Acapulco - Hotel Los Flamingos

  Grisby is anxious to talk to O'Hara.  During their long walk director Welles created for his audience a scenic tour of the Caleta Peninsula.  After visiting some of its favorite beaches (see the previous location) they head over to the Hotel Los Flamingos, which in the 1950s and 1960s was owned by John Wayne and Tarzan's Johnny Weissmuller, who ran it as a private club for their Hollywood friends.  The hotel, still going strong, is located at the arrow on the map.

 

Then ...  They head down a rock-bordered path - in the distance is a scenic point and beyond that, the nearby Isla Roqueta.

... and Now,  the recent photo taken from near the same spot reveals, below, some additional homes on the point.

... and Now,  the rock-bordered path is still there at the Hotel Los Flamingos - the Isla Roqueta is also in this view.  The path leads down from the hotel's then-named Casa Redonda, a circular two-room cottage, John Wayne's room of choice, now known as Casa Tarzan in recognition of Johnny Weissmuller's last years spent there.

 

Then ...  The path leads down to a dramatically filmed vertiginous lookout point where Grisby, in a sweaty state of enhanced excitement, makes a bizzare offer to O'Hara - $5,000 if he kills someone for him ... Grisby himself!

... and Now,  here's the same lookout today perched below the Casa Tarzan ...

... and Now,  over 60 years on, these are the rocks below the lookout.  Compared to the 'Then' image above there's been some erosion by the incessant waves, but not much.

 

  The Hotel Los Flamingos, pictured below, was built in 1932.  It's a totally unpretentious hotel today but its unsurpassable location, with some of the best sunsets in all of Acapulco, is what the place is all about.  The lack of extravagent interiors for many simply adds to its dreamy, laid-back feel.

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