Clarence and on-duty cops are at the police station when he hears the news of the Chronicle fire …
They pile into a car, Clarence hanging on the side, to rush across town to Chron headquarters. (This doorway location is yet to be found - a Los Angeles precinct, a studio back lot, somewhere else?).
Then … They drive out of Golden Gate Avenue in downtown San Francisco, captured here turning east on Market Street. The projecting marquee of the Granada Theater at 1066 Market Street can be seen in the block behind them near the corner of Jones.
… and Now, the same block today. The Granada Theater is no longer there; after being renamed the Paramount in 1931 it was demolished in 1965.
Then … They are on Market again. This view was filmed looking east from 1st Street towards the Ferry Building in the background. Note at top center the ‘MOISE’ sign on the corner of Fremont Street…
… in 1930 … Here’s a photo taken a few years later from the same spot. A city directory entry revealed that the ‘MOISE’ sign belonged to the Moise-Klinkner store that sold a mix of rubber stamps, badges and signs.
… and Now, the traffic nightmare omnipresent on Market Street over the past century has recently been exorcised by the simple expedient of restricting access to commuter vehicles and taxis. Dead center in the distance the Ferry Building still stands like a sentinel on the Embarcadero, visible along most of the 3-mile length of arrow-straight Market Street.
Then … Now heading north they are on Stockton Street entering the south portal of the Stockton Tunnel near Union Square. Market Street crosses at the south end of Stockton.
… and Now, the first block on the left was rebuilt in 1960 as the Sutter-Stockton garage.
Here’s a reverse look at the south entrance of the tunnel in 1953 seven years before the current Sutter-Stockton garage was built.
… and just for fun check out this cool 1913 photo of the tunnel being excavated. It opened in 1914 after taking only 17 months to build. People worked hard in those days. The building at top right at 590 Bush Street is also visible in the image above.
Then … We then see them emerging from the tunnel’s north portal into Chinatown.
… and Now, the north portal today looks the same.
Clarence arrives outside the Chronicle press room to find an angry crowd surrounding Tom, wrongly accusing him of starting the fire. He is hauled off to jail where he briefly sees Ray before being dragged off to his own cell.
Meanwhile the fire rages on while a growing crowd of onlookers gather where Market Street and Geary come together. Customers of Bercovich Cigars on the ground floor at 700 Market Street could conveniently head up to dentist Chas. Strub on the 3rd floor to take care of the yellow stains. The stylishly-hatted lady in white on the 2nd floor windowsill has the best view of all.
Then … Across Market another crowd stands in front of the Monadnock Building at 685 Market adjacent to the Palace Hotel.
… and Now, The Beaux Arts building, built the year after the ‘06 earthquake, now features in its atrium lobby colorful murals depicting in Renaissance Baroque style many well-known San Francisco personalities including Mayor Adolph Sutro, fountain donor Lotta Crabtree and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
For history buffs here’s a 1910 postcard photo of the Monadnock showing the original iteration of Lotta’s Fountain in the foreground.
Then … Teddy’s wife Didi (Judith Ivey) drops him off at a park to play tennis with his three closest friends.
… and Now, These are the public tennis courts on what was then Middle Drive East in Golden Gate Park. The road is now called Nancy Pelosi Drive, renamed in her honor in 2012 (map). The 130 year-old site recently underwent a $30M renovation, reopening in 2021, with 17 rebuilt courts and a new clubhouse.
Then … As Didi leaves she approaches John F. Kennedy Drive, about to make a left past the statue straight ahead and the large white structure at far left.
… and Now, the statue and the structure are of course still there. The only change here is Nancy Pelosi Drive, now much narrower at the junction.
The statue, erected in 1885, is a monument to James Abram Garfield, the 20th President of the United States who was assassinated in 1881. Below him on the pedestal Lady Columbia is holding a broken sword and wreath, referencing the heinous act. The white structure is the Conservatory of Flowers greenhouse and botanical gardens; completed in 1879, it’s the oldest building in the park.
Teddy greets his buddies on the tennis court. From left to right: Joey (Joseph Bologna), Buddy (Charles Grodin) and Mikey (Michael Huddleston). As the movie progresses we’ll find out that Teddy isn’t the only one harboring libidinous thoughts; they are all involved in affairs, Joey in particular serially so.
As they play, note the residence on the left and the palm tree in the background. Hmmm…
Then … In this shot we see a wider view of the same residence between Teddy and Buddy and more palm trees; this is clearly not Golden Gate Park, it was more likely filmed in Southern California. A search for this house, it has two gabled wings (the left one with a chimney stack built against it), led Citysleuth to the Los Angeles Tennis Club in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles just a short drive from Hollywood (map).
… and Now, the house is 591 Cahuenga Blvd on the corner of Clinton Street, across Clinton and directly opposite the venerable clubhouse (compare it with the movie view above). The gable with the arched window is also visible two images above at far left.
Then … The boys let out a whoop when they get an unexpected eyeful from the adjacent court.
… and Now, here’s the Los Angeles Tennis Club today; the movie scene was filmed on the court marked with the red marker. Next to it the court in the ‘Then’ image above has since been converted to a parking lot prior to which, coincidentally, this club too had 17 courts.
The iconic Los Angeles Tennis Club at 5851 Clinton Street was incorporated in 1920 and constructed in 1924. Over the past century it has hosted many famous tennis champions and Hollywood celebrities.
In the clubhouse after the match Mikey takes a call; Joey’s wife has just been seen leaving their home with the furniture and all of her belongings; Joey’s philandering has caught up with him. (Check out the subliminal ad - is the Nortel logo subtly suggesting “hey - replace this vintage Western Electric switchboard with our modern one”?).
Yet another fire truck responds to the alarm, this one with a dog chasing after it. We saw the same distinctively liveried pooch in an earlier post, playing the role of Tom McDonald’s dog.
Then … The truck was heading south on Hope Street in downtown Los Angeles. On the left side of the block behind it is the Schools And Colleges building at 625 Hope and beyond that the Hotel Acacia on the corner of Hope and 6th Street.
… and Now, this stretch of Hope Street has become a canyon of steel and glass. Facing us at the cul-de-sac across 6th Street is the Los Angeles Central Library which opened in 1924, the year before the movie was released. So, what then is that turreted building at the same location in the movie shot above?
Here it is … it was the State Normal School (the precursor college to UCLA), seen here at the end of the Hope Street cul-de-sac photographed from 6th Street. Built in 1898, the college was leveled in 1922 to make way for the new Central Library, predating when the movie was filmed so archival footage must have been used for the fire truck scene in the Then image above.
Then … Still in downtown Los Angeles we cut to what’s probably a different truck, traveling east along 5th Street with Pershing Square on the left. The firemen on board are from two different LAFD stations: Truck 2 and Truck 7. The building with the vertical ‘FIREPROOF’ sign right of center in the background is the Hotel Clark at 426 Hill Street.
… and Now, here’s the same view today; most of the buildings have been replaced over the last hundred years but the the Hotel Clark is still there.
Speaking of which, this fine 1920s vintage image of the Hotel Clark reveals all of the signs partially visible in the Then image above.
Then … As the truck takes a right around the corner of Pershing Square into 6th Street we see Sid Grauman’s Metropolitan Theatre on the corner of 6th and Hill. When it opened in 1923 it was the largest in Los Angeles with 3,600 seats.
… and Now, The theatre was renamed the Paramount Downtown Theater in 1929, closed in 1960 and demolished in 1962 to make way for an office project that never materialized. The 16-floor International Jewelry Center was built on the site in 1981; it’s still there today.
This is the theatre when the The Last Edition was filmed. Fans of old cinema can read all about it here.
Then … Now it’s the turn of yet another fire engine, smaller but fully laden, to careen through the streets …
But this was filmed on a studio backlot … the same set appeared 2 years earlier in the 1922 Buster Keaton film Cops featuring Buster performing a stunt on a ladder.
… in the 1920s … The set, circled in the aerial view below, was on the United Studios’ backlot at 5341 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. (Credit goes to John Bengston’s silent movie location blog for revealing this). The park area beyond it is the Forever Hollywood Cemetery.
… and Now, The Paramount Studios complex occupies the studio site today. The lot has been reconfigured continuously over the decades but the cemetery layout unsurprisingly has not. Melrose Avenue runs across the foreground, Gower Street is on the left side and Van Ness Avenue on the right.
The responders converge on Market and Kearny and waste no time dousing the Chronicle headquarters. Lotta Crabtree’s fountain is seen in the foreground surrounded by gawkers.
Then … This shot looking east down Market Street gives us a closer look at Lotta’s Fountain with a good view of the Palace Hotel on the right, built in 1909 on the site of its predecessor after it burned down in the 1906 fire.
… a vintage photo … the fountain was captured in this matching 1920s photograph taken from the same vantage point. The column of the original fountain was much shorter in height; it was extended in 1916.
… and Now, over the last century the fountain has been used as an annual gathering place of remembrance for survivors of the 1906 earthquake. The last survivor, 3 months old when the earthquake hit, died in 2016 at the age of 109. Note that the fountain’s column has been significantly foreshortened compared to when the movie was filmed, reverting in 1999 back to its design as originally built in 1875. The survivors have all gone but the landmark Palace Hotel is still there, minus the external balconies.
Then … Teddy is the Director of Information for the San Francisco Municipal Railway which operates the city’s famed cable cars. Here he rounds the corner of his office building where a large sign references the city’s campaign to save its aging cable car system (director Wilder’s nod to the real citizen’s revolt that saved the cable cars in 1947 - read all about that here).
… and Now, But this (as were several of the movie’s locations) was filmed in Los Angeles. The building is the art deco beauty at 601 W. 5th Street built by the Southern California Edison Company in 1931 on the corner of Grand Avenue, also known as One Bunker Hill or the CalEdison Building. It’s now home to a number of businesses including Torrey Pines Bank. Note the structure and steps that have since been added on the 5th Street side.
… during filming … while the film crew was filming in San Francisco in the fall of 1983 the cable car system really was once again in the midst of a major upgrade. Here’s an example of how 69 city blocks along the cable car routes were affected by the rebuilding. This is Powell Street viewed from the corner of Jackson Street, shared by the north-bound Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines.
… and Now, Those two lines continue to operate along Powell Street today. That’s the Fairmont Hotel Tower in both images atop Nob Hill.
As Teddy parks in his office building basement garage he sees a beautiful woman (Kelly Le Brock) in a flaming red dress crossing in front of him …
… they both get a surprise as she steps over an air vent …
… Thinking she’s alone she sways to the background strains of Little Stevie Wonder’s song ‘The Woman In Red’. Teddy sits there, agape, smitten. The chance meeting is about to turn his world upside down.
Not for the only time in this movie Gene Wilder has referenced a well-known scene from an earlier film, this one inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s famous frolic above a New York City subway grate 29 years earlier in the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch.
Up in his office Teddy spots the mystery woman visiting an adjacent office. He calls the desk she’s sitting at to ask her out that evening. But unseen by him a co-worker, Ms. Milner (Gilda Radner), picks up the phone. As it happens she has a crush on him; she recognizes his voice and agrees to meet. (Trivia time - Wilder and Radner were engaged at the time and were married one month after the movie was released).
