The etched and frosted glass-adorned main entrance for 1360 Montgomery, where key scenes in Dark Passage, featuring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were filmed. In the movie, Bacall helped Bogart, an innocent man wrongly-accused of murder, elude capture after his escape from San Quentin.
Film noir enthralls me. These black-and-white films of the '30s, '40s and '50s and their snappy dialogue, suspenseful stories and simple romance are pure escapism, worthy of multiple viewings. Some of the genre's best were made in San Francisco, including Dark Passage, The Maltese Falcon and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. Recently I was staying in an apartment around the corner from 1360 Montgomery building, at Union and Montgomery in the Telegraph Hill Historic District. I didn't realise my proximity to cinematic history, until my friend Tangobaby reminded me of the address.
The afternoon I arrived in San Francisco after a long absence, I took photos of this stunning Art Deco building, unaware of its film connection.
Steps leading from the hill above to the Malloch Apartments at Filbert and Montgomery Streets.
The apartment building with the sleek lines of an oceanliner has Art Deco exterior murals and glorious views overlooking San Francisco Bay.
Coit Tower, another famous Art Deco landmark, as seen at twilight from the hill at Union Street, opposite 1360 Montgomery. Check back Thursday for more photos of the tower and its amazing interior murals, painted under the first New Deal federal employment program for artists.
This is first of a series of posts about San Francisco.
Great photos, Tara. Bogie and Bacall would be proud of you.
;-)
Posted by: tangobaby | 19 June 2008 at 22:57
i love that pin!!!!
there is a nice book with a list of spots hitchcock used (he loved this city, as do i!)
http://www.footstepsinthefog.com/
it as a sad day in san francisco when the neogothic church at the corner of eddy and gough burned down. i still miss it.
Posted by: Lynne Rutter | 19 June 2008 at 06:34
gorgeous photos, dear one. as you know i am a huge art deco and film noir fan too, so it's wonderful to see these incredible captures. thank you so much for sharing them with us!
Posted by: studio wellspring | 19 June 2008 at 00:47
I am a huge film noir fan. At University I took a paper on the Femme Fatale figure in film noir and wrote screeds of undergraduate babble on the subject. Probably terrible stuff, but I was having sooooo much fun watching film noir and being able to say I was studying!!
Posted by: Frida | 18 June 2008 at 19:12
The picture of Coit Tower reminds me of the possibilities my life would have taken (it seems like a lifetime ago). I was all set to attend grad school at Lone Mountain College (now absorbed by USF) and Coit Tower would have been my view out my dorm room window. Sadly, Lone Mountain never happened and my life went in another direction.
Posted by: annieelf | 18 June 2008 at 19:07
Fabulous! I'm obsessed with film noir right now too! And I love your new banner too, did you do it?
Posted by: Claudia | 18 June 2008 at 18:46
your new banner is fabulous! what a cool drawing you have there of yourself in a beret. very sheik little cape too :) i looked all around your site today, loved seeing jordana's clothing line. i can't imagine being able to visualize something as complex as high fashion. i would wear that coat in a heartbeat...although miss j probably wouldn't find me runway worthy to show it off. and the leather...i love the fitted leather jacket!
oh yes...todays post from your san francisco trip. you have a way of capturing the most interesting aspects of a place. and by instinct! thanks for coming to visit me tara :)
Posted by: robin bird | 18 June 2008 at 16:16