Dirty Harry - Ransom Run: Church and 20th
Then … At the Forest Hill station Gonzalez’s radio link has picked up Scorpio’s instruction to go to Church and 20th; he immediately races over there. On the way he rounds the corner at the Doggie Diner at 2099 Lombard Street in Cow Hollow (map), one of six in the city back then. Geographically illogical because this would increase the 2 1/2 mile actual trip to a 10 mile loop.
… and Now, The Doggie Diner chain shut down years ago; the Chelsea Motor Inn now occupies the 2099 Lombard site. In the light of day Fillmore is seen from here rising in the distance to Pacific Heights.
… in 1973 … the same corner was filmed in Francis Ford Coppola’s movie The Conversation two years after Dirty Harry.
Then … Callahan’s K-Ingleside car rounds a bend approaching the Church and 20th Muni stop in the Mission Dolores neighborhood, but… hang on, this is the J-Church line , not the K line. The car number is 1169, the same one that he boarded at Forest Hill station so SF Muni was clearly complicit with the filmmakers in this subterfuge.
… and Now, the J-Church continues to be the sole user of this section of the line. While many streetcar lines have over the years been converted to bus lines, the J-Church has not because of the steep grade on the private right of way on Church Street between 18th Street and 22nd.
Then … The streetcar pulls away after Callahan gets off at the stop, a covered bench structure next to a concrete pole.
… and Now, a bare patch is all that is left of the structure but that pole still marks the spot.
Then … He runs across the road as the phone is ringing in the booth on the corner, again reaching it just in time to get his next instruction: “Public phone, hamburger stand, Aquatic Park”. Scorpio cackles, knowing he is sending him all the way back to where the ransom run began.
… and Now, this is the corner of Church Street, left, and 20th Street, right, at the southwest corner of Mission Dolores Park in the Mission Dolores neighborhood (map). Today the J car now crosses 20th from the right side before stopping at the relocated stop just past the left side of this photo.
The park is one of SF’s most popular, especially on the glorious California spring weekend when CitySleuth stopped by. The city’s downtown high-rises rise high in the distance. The tower of Mission High School is towards the left and the domed building on the far right at 650 Dolores is an old church, formerly the Second Church of Christ Scientist. It was built in 1915 but condemned in 2006 after falling into disrepair. A developer bought it and converted it into four 5000 square foot townhouses, each offered for sale at $6.5M in 2016. What do you get for that? Curious wannabe purchasers can check out the townhouses here and the spectacular penthouse, now the developer’s home, here.
