Down in the boiler room Red Moran, determined to avenge the Chronicle’s exposé of his boss, plies the boilerman with booze and challenges him to a coal shoveling contest, having first closed off the steam line. Tension mounts as the camera cuts repeatedly to the pressure gauge slowly moving into the danger level, an audience suspense-building technique often used later by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
Then … His sabotage causes an explosion and fire at the Chronicle headquarters; multiple alarms summon a frantic response from the city’s fire brigade.
… a vintage photo … here’s a 1915 photo image showing the Chronicle Building as it was when the movie was filmed.
… and Now, the building, also seen earlier in the movie, is still there today at 690 Market on the corner of Kearny Street. It has since been remodeled and doubled in height to create the swanky condominiums of the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences.
Then … Firehouses in San Francisco and in Los Angeles were filmed for the response scenes. The director jumps all over the place with random cuts between firehouse and other scenes but for this post Citysleuth presents the firehouses sequentially. After this first truck exits the firehouse (below, left) the camera cuts to a wider view allowing us to see where it was filmed.
… in 1950 … here’s that location, unchanged even though this c. 1950 photo was taken 25 years later. The arched doorway at the bottom right corner is where the fire engine exited, top left above. In San Francisco, this is the Truck Company 1 firehouse at 418 Jessie Street, South of Market, in what’s now known as Mint Plaza (map).
… and Now, a recent view of Mint Plaza today, again mostly unchanged except the firehouse is no longer there; today it’s the restaurant Burma Love, now readdressed as 8 Mint Plaza.
Then … In this shot the building on the left looks familiar …
… and Now, that’s because we are still in Mint Plaza alongside the old Mint Building. The restaurant that replaced Truck Company 1’s firehouse is over on the right side and the building facing us is the one on the left, two images above.
Then … Inside the next firehouse a message is received on a Gamewell Punch Register (top corner) that identifies the source of the originating alarm on a ticker-tape. Firemen waste no time manning a fire engine (on the left) and a fire truck (on the right). Fire engines usually carried water; fire trucks usually did not , instead carrying a rescue ladder and other equipment such as jaws of life.
Then … As the fire engine leaves, the firehouse name is the clue to its location; this was filmed at the Engine Company 24 / Truck Company 1 firehouse in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district at 204 South Hewitt Street (map).
… in 1922 … here’s a vintage 1922 photo showing the station three years earlier. At that time a different truck company, No. 5, shared the building with Engine Company 24.
… and Now, the station, on the corner of S. Hewitt and E. 2nd Streets, is no longer there; the space is now a parking lot. What a waste of a fine old building.
Then … Two engines from Engine Company 2 at 460 Bush Street in San Francisco’s Financial District are the next to respond. The compact 1908 firehouse, at far left, was the first firehouse rebuilt following the 1906 earthquake. The columned building next to it was a Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company building at 444 Bush Street.
… and Now, the classy Beaux Arts firehouse building is still there but it has been converted to office space.
The movie has many scenes filmed both inside and outside the San Francisco Chronicle Building.
Then … For the exterior shots the movie crew filmed outside the Chronicle headquarters at 690 Market on the corner of Kearny (map), built in 1889. This opening movie shot of the building was filmed from the Call Building kitty-corner opposite. The Chronicle moved in 1924 to a new location at Fifth and Mission Streets across from the old U.S. Mint, so this building must have been vacant when the movie was filmed here the following year.
… and Now, 690 Market is still there; it became a for-lease office building after it was vacated in 1924, known as either the Old Chronicle Building or the de Young Building. In 2004 a developer secured a permit to double its height in return for seismic-strengthening and restoration of the original building. By 2007 the odd-looking 24-story hybrid structure opened as the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, offering condominium apartments in the $1 million to $4+ million range.
Then … Tom MacDonald (Ralph Lewis) has been the Chronicle’s assistant Chief of Printing for over 20 years. Here he is operating one of the newspaper’s printing presses. But this and all of the other Chronicle interior scenes were filmed in the new building just 3 long blocks away.
… in 1924 … here’s the new Chronicle Building at 901 Mission Street (map) the year it opened. Architecturally styled as Gothic Revival, it included an apartment below the clock for proprietor and publisher M. H. de Young who alternated between weekdays here and weekends at his Hillsborough residence. The building extended along Mission to the right and along 5th Street to the left as far as Minna Street. (Photo by Moulin Studios).
… and Now, the Chronicle is still housed here, but no longer occupying all of the building as some parts have been leased out during periods of downsizing. In 1968 the exterior was ‘modernized’ with stucco and some of its ornamentation was removed; it’s now arguably inferior compared to its prior grandeur. Note at far left there’s an added extension across Minna Street. Note too that one of the original arched entrance doors on Mission (behind the bus shelter, below) is no longer there.
Here’s Chronicle owner M. H. de Young relaxing in his palatial apartment in the new Chronicle Building in 1924. His permission would have been required for the moviemakers to film there a year later. (Photo by Moulin Studios).
Then … This shot of Tom in the Press Room shows the massive printing presses behind him. They were in a double-height space that extended vertically from basement level. On the left beneath the wall lamp are two man-lifts that transported employees down to and up from the sub-basement where the paper reels were stored. (there is a moment later in the movie when you see them being used).
… in 1924 … this vintage photo shows those same presses, 14 in a row, viewed from the other direction, with what appears to be man-lifts on the right. (Photo by Moulin Studios).
… in 1924 … photographer Gabriel Moulin took this photo of another pair of man-lifts elsewhere in the building. The one with the pole whisked the man down; the other, up. No way would OSHA allow their use nowadays. (Photo by Moulin Studios).
Then … Next, a brief shot shows newspapers sliding down a chute. The man on the right leans down from the back of a Chronicle delivery truck, scooping up the bundles.
This grainy 1920s photo shows the truck or one just like it backed up to the chute outside the building. The chute connected to a mailroom upstairs.
… in 1924 … this is the mailroom where the papers were bundled up prior to sending them down to the delivery trucks. The employees are all obediently posing for photographer Gabriel Moulin. (Photo by Moulin Studios).
Then … We see a vendor selling the papers on the corner of 5th Street, opposite the Chronicle building. The fenced garden fronts the U.S. Mint just off the frame on the left side and on the right is the 5th Street Stage Terminal at the corner of Jessie, owned by the Pickwick Stage Lines. Market Street crosses in the distance.
… and Now, the 5-globe streetlight and an updated fire hydrant can still be seen at this corner today. The Pickwick Hotel across 5th on the right, built in 1928, incorporated the Stage Terminal which later became a Greyhound Terminal (featured in the 1947 movie Dark Passage). It has long since closed down.
Then … The insurance investigator handling the death of Susan Dumurrier looks up at his office building on his way to deliver his report to his superiors.
… and Now, he’s on Sansome Street with Pine Street crossing behind him. Today’s matching view 52 years later is the same.
Then … As he walks in, the camera pans up to the building’s name - the Royal Insurance Building at 201 Sansome Street in the Financial District (map).
… and Now, the matching view is unchanged in appearance but the sidewalk clock is gone.
… and Now, the 11 story 1907 landmark office building was converted into 46 luxury condominium units in 2006, renamed The Royal.
The investigator presents photos of Susan and Monica and reports that George has become, shall we say, involved with Monica. Suspecting that they are one and the same woman and that Susan is still alive, they decide to turn the case over to the police.
Then … Monica is picked up for questioning; the patrol car is seen here pulling up to a nearby police station.
… and Now, but this isn’t San Francisco - it’s South San Francisco, a separate city just, well, south of San Francisco. This view looks south along Maple Avenue; the building on the left with the sign is the Caledonian Club of San Francisco at 312 Maple - it’s still there today, with a modified sign.
Then … The detective pushes Monica up the steps to the station. Note the insignia on the side of the police car - SSF Police. This is what prompted CitySleuth to search in South San Francisco.
… and Now, the building is still there, at 315 Maple Avenue, but is now used by the city as a departmental annex. It was the city’s only police station when the movie was filmed until the PD moved to another building, 33 Arroyo Drive, in 1981. An even newer station at 900 Antoinette Lane is scheduled to be ready by the end of this year.
Then … Looking to the left across the street from the steps there’s another view of the Caledonian Club on the east side of the 300 block of Maple Ave.
… and Now, the railings on the steps have been upgraded and that’s about it.
Inside the station the police investigator assigned to the case, Inspector Wald (Canadian actor John Ireland, on the left), tries to figure out Monica’s role in the mystery.
A search of her apartment uncovers a hieroglyphic-like ink blotter. A hand-writing specialist (director Lucio Fulci in a cameo role) discerns clear evidence of her having practiced writing Susan Dumurrier’s signature.
To help sort out the confusion over the Monica/Susan identities the police decide to exhume the body of Susan Dumurrier. Director Fulci would, with subsequent movies, go on to make a major contribution to the horror movie genre but his only nod in that direction in this movie was this brief shot of the corpse. When Susan’s sister Martha identifies it as Susan and an autopsy determines she died by poisoning the police have George and Monica squarely in their sights in what is now a case of murder.
Then … The action returns to San Francisco where from an elevated vantage point we see Lotta’s drinking fountain, an iconic monument at the busy junction of Market Street, Geary and Kearny (map). Streetcars pass by in each direction along Market.
… and Now, here’s Lotta’s fountain today, viewed from street level - the blank sign at the far left corner is where the Willett Chiropractor sign (above) was, at 690 Market Street. Modern streetcars pass by on Market now but wait a minute, check out the fountain - its column is way shorter than it was.
… another view … Here’s a fascinating contemporaneous 1930s vintage photo looking down Geary Street from Market. A man hunches over the fountain, mid-drink; a lively bustling scene is captured, of bars and hotels, of restaurants, of professional offices, tailors, dentists and doctors (why, you could even get your piles cured here). Vibrant, unlike today’s stagnant version. CitySleuth has indicated the four story corner building at 2 Geary Street from whose roof the Then movie clip at the top of this post was filmed.
… and Now, the 2 Geary Street building was built in 1908 and is still there, as are many of the buildings stretching down the block. The St. Francis Hotel at Union Square three blocks down Geary, above, is mostly hidden from here by trees but its added tower block is clearly visible rising above them.
… the original fountain … The fountain was gifted to the city of San Francisco by vaudeville actress Lotta Crabtree in 1875. Here it is, c. 1880, again looking down Geary, so today’s fountain matches the original. In 1917 its column was extended to increase its height to match newly installed street lamps; this was the version filmed in the movie. Then in a 1998 restoration it was changed back to its original height after the ageing column was damaged in a windstorm.
But what most endeared the fountain to the City was its association with the 1906 earthquake and fire; for months afterwards it served as a reunion spot for separated friends and family members. Every year since then a memorial gathering has been held here at 5:12 am on April 18, the time the terrible temblor struck. Another memorable gathering, reportedly 250,000 strong (below), witnessed famed opera soprano Luisa Tettrazzini decked out in an ostrich boa and a large hat perform at a free concert on Christmas Eve 1910 next to the fountain, ending with a rousing ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Close your eyes and imagine for a moment how it must have sounded; for the huge throng joining in, still scarred by the recent earthquake, old acquaintances would indeed never be forgotten.
Now in jail, prime suspect Rhoda is visited by Perry Mason. Always the epicurean, the attorney even brings along a tasty meal. She recounts how she went to see her ex the night he died, but he started slapping her around. The lights went out, she felt the presence of someone else and during the whole incident heard the doorbell ringing. She ran off and returned home. The plot thickens … a slew of other suspects has emerged.
