San Francisco: Dreams Achieved! Or, "Scratch That Off the Bucket List!"

Cindy and I spent the week of September 10 through 17 in San Francisco, visiting Caleb and JR. It was a GREAT vacation—so many beautiful places. I’ll probably be saying more about it in future posts.

I always said if I ever got out there, I would visit as many of the sites where Hitchcock filmed his 1958 classic, Vertigo, as possible—one of my all-time favorite movies (second only to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow—but I digress). I succeeded at that goal, thanks to my family’s patience in running from one obscure location to another. These places may not mean much to you, but they mean a lot to me and it was SO MUCH FUN for me to see them! Photos below compare the locations as shown in the movie (1958) with the way they look today.

Brocklebank Apartments, 1000 Mason Street, Sept. 2022. The Brocklebank was built in 1926 in the Nob Hill section of San Francisco, and it remains a high-end and sought-after location today. In fact, none of its 50 apartments are available at this time. I’m unable to find an exact rental price, but similar apartments in the area go for $2000 to $3000 a month—plus $400 to $500 if you want to park your car there.

Brocklebank Apartments, 1000 Mason Street, Sept. 2022. Here’s a closer shot, mimicking the shot used in Vertigo below. Notice the address, 1000 Mason St., at the bottom of the left column.

Brocklebank Apartments, 1000 Mason St., 1958. Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) exits the Brocklebank and gets in her green 1957 Jaguar MK VIII. Throughout the film the color green is associated with both characters played by Novak.

Claude Lane, 1958. Here’s a site I was really eager to find. It’s a short alley that cuts between Bush and Sutter Streets. Scottie Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) is a private detective hired to follow Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak), and one of her first stops is here.

Claude Lane, Sept. 2022. Here’s the same location today. See the person walking under a small overhang? You can see the same overhang in the photo above.

Claude Lane, 1958. Scottie Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) follows Madeleine into this dark doorway.

Claude Lane, 1958. Same shot with three openings numbered.

Claude Lane, Sept. 2022. Same three openings today—except they aren’t open anymore!

Mission Dolores, Sept. 2022. The Mission Dolores (320 Dolores St.), aka Misión San Francisco de Asís, is the oldest building in San Francisco, completed in 1791. Its adobe walls are 4 feet thick.

Mission Dolores, 1958. Scottie Ferguson enters a back door to the mission, still following Madeleine Elster.

Mission Dolores Chapel, 1958. Scottie follows Madeleine through the mission’s chapel, past the decorative altar that dates back to 1796.

Mission Dolores Chapel, Sept. 2022. Same location today with the decorative altar still in place.

Mission Dolores Cemetery, 1958. After passing through the chapel, the mysterious Madeleine stops at the gravestone of her great-grandmother, Carlotta Valdes, in the Mission Dolores Cemetery. The fake gravestone of Carlotta was left in the cemetery for years after the movie was filmed. Sadly, it’s not there today, but the cemetery still exists.

Mission Dolores Cemetery, Sept. 2022. This is a shot of the cemetery as it exists today. Notice the same building on the right in both shots. The stone object behind Madeleine (garden tomb, maybe?) has been replaced by a memorial to the Native Americans who were buried in this area before the cemetery existed.

Legion of Honor, 1958. Scottie follows Madeleine to the Legion of Honor art museum, which dates back to 1924 and was dedicated to California soldiers who lost their lives in World War I. Notice Madeleine’s green Jaguar in front of the pillars on the right.

Legion of Honor, Sept. 2022. Same location today. The impressive collection includes works by Rembrandt, Seurat, Rodin, van Gogh, Titian, El Greco, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Cézanne, Manet, and Rubens. At only 15 bucks to enter, itʼs probably the best deal in the city!

Legion of Honor, 1958. Scottie watches Madeleine in Gallery VI from the Rotunda. Sculpture by Rodin (The Age of Bronze) is on the left.

Legion of Honor, Sept. 2022. Gallery VI from the Rotunda today.

Legion of Honor, 1958. Madeleine (Kim Novak) gazes at the Portrait of Carlotta in Gallery VI. The painting was a prop created for the movie and is no longer at the museum.

Legion of Honor, Sept. 2022. Same location today.

Legion of Honor, 1958. Scottie passes in front of several paintings that can still be found in the museum.

Legion of Honor, Sept. 2022. Portrait of a Gentleman by Nicholas de Largilliere, 1710.

Legion of Honor, Sept. 2022. Architecture by Carle Vanloo, 1753.

Fort Point National Historic Site, 1958. This dramatic shot from the movie is taken at Fort Point right before Madeleine throws herself into San Francisco Bay in an apparent suicide attempt. NYC may have DUMBO (“Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass”), but SFʼs DUGG (“Down Under Golden Gate”) has it beat all to pieces!

Fort Point National Historic Site, Sept. 2022. Yes, I kept saying, “I canʼt believe Iʼm really here! I canʼt believe Iʼm really here!”

900 Lombard Street, 1958. This is the exterior of Scottieʼs apartment. It was (and is) an actual apartment on Lombard Street, east of the one-block section of Lombard that has earned it the reputation as “the crookedest street in the world” because of its 8 hairpin curves.

900 Lombard Street, Sept. 2022. If you think this doesnʼt really resemble the photo above, youʼre right. For years Vertigo aficionados would stop by “Scottieʼs” porch and take photos—until a curmudgeonly owner grew tired of it and erected a wall to hide it! I read that the apartment recently changed owners again. I wish I had known it was for sale—if I had bought it, the first thing Iʼd have done would have been to “tear down that wall!” It has 2 BR, 2 BA, and is just over 2100 sq. ft. Oh, and, according to Zillow, itʼs worth over $2.8 million.

Empire Hotel, 1958. Located at 940 Sutter Street, the Empire Hotel serves as Judy Barton’s (Kim Novak) residence in the last third of Vertigo.

Empire Hotel, 1958. As Madeleine has done earlier in the movie, Judy enters a hotel and looks out a window while Scottie Ferguson looks on. (Notice that she’s wearing a green dress!)

Empire Hotel, Sept. 2022. Since 1958 the Empire has been renamed the York Hotel and, finally, the Vertigo Hotel (!). (See the name on the awning?) Sadly, it’s now permanently closed.

Empire Hotel, Sept. 2022. Had to take this kind of a shot. I hope it doesn’t give you vertigo!

Empire Hotel, Sept. 2022. I found one remnant of the old Empire Hotel on this alternate entrance.

Palace of Fine Arts, 1958. Late in the movie Scottie and Judy walk past this awe-inspiring edifice. For years when watching the movie, I wondered what in the world this thing was! Read on. . . .

Palace of Fine Arts, Sept. 2022. Located at 3301 Lyon St., the Palace of Fine Arts was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. It’s now used as a venue for weddings and other events.

Palace of Fine Arts, Sept. 2022. The dome rises to 162 feet.

BONUS CONTENT! Just to prove how obsessed I really am. I also visited these sites.

Buchanan Street, 1976. This is the garage used by the kidnappers in Hitchcock’s last film, Family Plot.

Buchanan Street, Sept. 2022. Same garage door today. Yes, I went to San Francisco, and one of the things I wanted to see was . . . a garage door.

Intersection of Powell and Geary Streets, Sept. 2022. Why did I take this shot? Keep reading. . . .

Intersection of Powell and Geary Streets, 1963. The intersection of Powell and Geary with Union Square in the background is the spot where Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) crosses the street in the opening shot of The Birds.