Chan Is Missing - Grant Avenue Montage 1
Wayne Wang ends the movie with an extended montage of real-life Chinatown juxtaposed against stereotypical lyrics of Pat Suzuki’s stirring rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song ‘Grant Avenue’ from the 1958 Broadway stage musical ‘Flower Drum Song' - a choice that he later said was “tongue in cheek”.
Then … Appropriately the montage begins with a view stretching south down Grant Avenue from Jackson Street. The banner strung across the street adds to the truncated array of exotic (to the American eye) blade signs, many of them restaurant names.
… and Now, there are not as many signs today as there used to be, but that’s mitigated somewhat by the colorful overhead array of lanterns.
Then … A young man passing by hardly notices the rain as elderly ladies huddle under umbrellas in front of a window displaying a draped selection of patterned materials. The magazine rack against the tiles on the left alerted CitySleuth to this location - he had seen it earlier in the movie. This is the Washington Street side of the Imperial Fashion corner store at 867 Grant Avenue.
… and Now, the Heart Of Shanghai souvenir shop is the current tenant. The tiles seen above are behind the bubblegum machine below; they are hidden here by the retracted security bars but they have since been stuccoed over anyway.
Then … Next up, a detail on a pagoda-styled roof.
… and Now, this is the roof of 743 Washington Street, a branch of Bank of Canton when the movie was filmed but now a branch of EastWest bank. It’s a building with a very interesting history …
This used to be the Chinese Telephone Exchange which opened in 1901 at which time, pre dialing, the operators had to know all of the Chinatown customers by name and address because it was considered rude to refer to a person by number. Each operator also had to speak the many dialects of Chinese spoken by the residents. It was no surprise perhaps that the original male operators were soon replaced by women, on account of their "good temper". Here’s the building in 1947 (as seen in the movie The Lady From Shanghai two years before the exchange closed). Since then it has over the years housed a succession of banks.
The Lady From Shanghai also preserved a record of the inside of the exchange with this shot of two of the "good tempered" operators.
Then … Moving on, a fascination with texture might have drawn the filmmakers to this brick wall. Old bricks, stains, repairs, rusted iron anchor plates, wilting wooden window frames - you name it, you’ll find them all here. Not to mention a voyeuristic glimpse of an undergarment hung out to dry.
… and Now, over a period of many months CitySleuth, having committed this movie frame to memory, looked out for it every time he walked the streets of Chinatown. Then one day … Eureka! … there it was. 44 years later the anchor plates and the brick repairs around the windows remain unchanged. One big difference - the ground level has been raised, covering the previously exposed basement. And the rough-hewn charm of the venerable brickwork has been marred by garish graffiti-covering paint.
… and Now, it’s the south wall of an old building set back at the rear of this parking lot on Washington Street between Kearny and Grant (map).
Then … A moment of levity follows as an elderly lady walks along a balcony then stops and sways back and forth to the background music.
… and Now, she is outside apartment 117 at the Ping Yuen Central public housing complex at 711 Pacific Avenue (map) - the red box below outlines the area framed above.
… and Now, here’s a wider view of the apartment complex - the arrow points to apartment 117. The movie footage in the Then image above was filmed from the street through the railings. Ping Yuen Central was one of 3 sections of the housing project that opened in 1951 (Ping Yuen East, Ping Yuen Central, Ping Yuen West). A fourth section (Ping Yuen North) was added in 1961. (The name Ping Yuen translates to Tranquil Gardens).
Then … Next, a peek into a bakery window that’s displaying a kung fu poster, possibly at director Wang’s request; he references Asian stereotypes several times in the movie. The menu is also on display - it tells us where it is: Ping Yuen Bakery.
Then … The Ping Yuen Bakery was at 1066 Grant Avenue, glimpsed from Jo’s cab earlier in the movie (on the right, on the southeast corner of Grant Avenue and Pacific).
… and Now, that site, just like the old Telephone Exchange that appeared earlier in the montage, is also a branch of EastWest Bank.