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San Francisco in the Vertigo Era

Manton

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I bought Vertigo the other day as an impulse purchase while waiting in a University of California registrar's office-like queue at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. I love this film, and had not seen it in a while.

Seeing it made me a little nostalgic. I did a Google search to track the exact locations shot in the movie, many of which I recognized, some I did not. I stumbled across this amazing cache of photos. I wish they were better organized and somewhat easier to browse, but still ...

http://erato.dlib.indiana.edu/cushm...rancisco"&page=1&pagesize=20&display=thumbcap
 

Ivan Kipling

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Vertigo is one of my all time favorite movies. What atmosphere! I was fascinated too, by Kim Novak's eyebrows. They underwent various thicknesses and configurations, throughout the film.
Exciting photos. From some locations, San Francisco reminds me of Greece.
 

LabelKing

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Did you live in the Bay Area?

The best S.F. photographers were John Gutmann and Minor White; I did a review of the Gutmann biographical movie for Camerawork magazine once.
 

itsstillmatt

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great pics. i can see my house in one and where i grew up in a few more.
 

Full Canvas

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My trousers have polished the bench before the portrait of Carlotta on many occasions at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. Countless other times, our family made Sunday drives from Santa Cruz to the mission at San Juan Bautista. Interestingly, the mission appears to have a tall bell tower in the movie. In fact, the mission really doesn't have a bell tower. The tower was built in the studio specifically for the movie.

Hitchcock used to have homes in both Capitola and Scotts Valley. He was a client of my father's business in Santa Cruz. As a small child, I was at Hitchcock's home when his guests were Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossilini.

____________________________
 

Stax

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Really great find, Manton. Thank you for sharing these.
 

Manton

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Originally Posted by Full Canvas
Interestingly, the mission appears to have a tall bell tower in the movie. In fact, the mission really doesn't have a bell tower.

It did at one time. As I recall, Hitchcock remembered the tower from a prior visit when he sent his location scout out there. When they got there to shoot, no bell tower! In the intervening years, a fire or a quake or both had damaged the tower, and it was torn down. The tower depicted in the movie (not fully built, BTW, but partially; the rest was done with glass paintings) was much taller than the actual tower had been.
 

Ivan Kipling

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Here's Kim Novak, wearing the famous gray suit from VERTIGO. Edith Head made this suit for many of her heroines . . . what do you think of it? Because my eye is trained to Saint Laurent, I see flaws at once. And speaking of turnback / gauntlet cuffs, here are a few more . . .
suit_vertigo.jpg
 

Manton

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Originally Posted by Ivan Kipling
Here's Kim Novak, wearing the famous gray suit from VERTIGO. Edith Head made this suit for many of her heroines . . . what do you think of it? Because my eye is trained to Saint Laurent, I see flaws at once. And speaking of turnback / gauntlet cuffs, here are a few more . . .
suit_vertigo.jpg


I would be interested to read what you think the flaws are. I know, basically, nothing about women's coture.
 

Ivan Kipling

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Many. The sleeves are a little too long. The pocket flaps on the jacket are not well made; they're not placed rhythmically in proportion to the rest of the jacket. The sleeves are not particularly smooth, the cuffs are not precise enough. The fit I would call, 'so-so.' When a Saint Laurent suit for women came down the runway, you looked at perfection. The lapels were the right size for the buttons, which were spaced the correct distance apart. If the jacket had a forward emphasis, the pockets were installed EXACTLY where they should be, in order to maintain the visual and sartorial flow. Also, his fit was . . . unmatched. Not tight, not baggy, but loose. With an airy layer between the wearer and the garment. Naturally, YSL had 'hands' at his atelier with decades of experience behind them; Balenciaga's premiere ended up at YSL'S couture salon. It was she who taught Saint Laurent the secret, of the true 'flou.' I have seen and touched YSL haute couture. It is exquisite. Here is a Saint Laurent haute couture suit, for women:
00059.jpg

When I gave my YSL exhibition, an art historian, also a couturier level seamstress named Dr. Esther Sparks Sprague, told me that the finishing on the collars of these YSL READY-TO-WEAR garments, was EXQUISITE. Just about the finest she had ever seen.
 

richstyle

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Originally Posted by Manton
I bought Vertigo the other day as an impulse purchase while waiting in a University of California registrar's office-like queue at the Union Square Barnes & Noble. I love this film, and had not seen it in a while.

Seeing it made me a little nostalgic. I did a Google search to track the exact locations shot in the movie, many of which I recognized, some I did not. I stumbled across this amazing cache of photos. I wish they were better organized and somewhat easier to browse, but still ...

http://erato.dlib.indiana.edu/cushma...splay=thumbcap


If you ever get to San Fran there is well-informed gent who gives a tour in a vintage convertible of all the old Vertigo locations. I took it a few years ago. The Neiman Marcus in Union Square, across from the Palace Hotel, where Kim tries on dresses under the snippy watch of Jimmy Stewart is still there"”the showroom is notable for its big bow window, which is visible from the street, much as it looks in the movie. They tried to demolish it but the historical society prevailed.

I haven't checked out all of these photos but I hope Jimmy Stewart's apartment at the bottom of Lombard Street is among them. It's still there. Exactly as it looks in the movie--just the facade of course. The interiors were shot on a soundstage.

And he takes you to the exact spot where Kim jumps into the soup--an exterior shot and the actually dunking was filmed on a sound stage too. That water is cold!

Also on the tour is the art deco apartment Bogart and Bacall inhabited in DARK PASSAGE--unchanged, amazingly, and the building itself, with its hone-combed windows and working wrought-iron elevator, is quite beautiful. When I was there the current resident placed a life-sized cutout of Bogart peering out from behind the curtains, no doubt a man with a sense of humor.
 

richstyle

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Originally Posted by Ivan Kipling
Many. The sleeves are a little too long. The pocket flaps on the jacket are not well made; they're not placed rhythmically in proportion to the rest of the jacket. The sleeves are not particularly smooth, the cuffs are not precise enough. The fit I would call, 'so-so.' When a Saint Laurent suit for women came down the runway, you looked at perfection. The lapels were the right size for the buttons, which were spaced the correct distance apart. If the jacket had a forward emphasis, the pockets were installed EXACTLY where they should be, in order to maintain the visual and sartorial flow. Also, his fit was . . . unmatched. Not tight, not baggy, but loose. With an airy layer between the wearer and the garment. Naturally, YSL had 'hands' at his atelier with decades of experience behind them; Balenciaga's premiere ended up at YSL'S couture salon. It was she who taught Saint Laurent the secret, of the true 'flou.' I have seen and touched YSL haute couture. It is exquisite. Here is a Saint Laurent haute couture suit, for women:
00059.jpg

When I gave my YSL exhibition, an art historian, also a couturier level seamstress named Dr. Esther Sparks Sprague, told me that the finishing on the collars of these YSL READY-TO-WEAR garments, was EXQUISITE. Just about the finest she had ever seen.


That is one fine looking suit. I like it so much I'd even wear it. But the thing is, don't you think a suit on Kim in that movie would not have matched her down-at-the-heels character?
 

Manton

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Originally Posted by richstyle
The Neiman Marcus in Union Square, across from the Palace Hotel, where Kim tries on dresses under the snippy watch of Jimmy Stewart is still there—the showroom is notable for its big bow window, which is visible from the street, much as it looks in the movie. They tried to demolish it but the historical society prevailed.
It's the original rotunda from the old City of Paris department store. As late as the 70s, Union Square was still ringed by native SF institutions, including CofP and I. Magnin. When CofP closed in (I believe) '75, Neiman's wanted to replace the whole building, but preservationists forced them to retain the rotunda. The rest of the facade is new, or was new to Neiman's. (BTW, it is a couple of blocks from the Palace, which is actually on the south side of Market.)

Back then, even a few private houses remained on the square. I dimly recall visiting a house on Stockton, at the east side of the square, where the mother of one of my father's law partners lived alone. Or, really, not one of his partners because at the time he was not a partner. Anyway, she was an intimidating old dowager. I could have the location wrong, but I don't think so, because he and I have spoken about it in more recent years.

I haven't checked out all of these photos but I hope Jimmy Stewart's apartment at the bottom of Lombard Street is among them.
It's in there. There are also great shots of the "McKitrick Hotel," a/k/a Carlotta Valdez's house, at Eddy & Gough. The movie was filmed shortly before the house was torn down. The pictures were taken just after the film, and right before demolition. Today, the lot is a soccer field.

And he takes you to the exact spot where Kim jumps into the soup--an exterior shot and the actually dunking was filmed on a sound stage too. That water is cold!
That water is unbelievably dangerous. If the tide sucks you out even a little bit, you are going to have a problem. Sailing out the gate, while a hell of a lot of fun, has a delightful element of danger, in that if you pitch into the drink between the towers, over the channel, you are probably not coming out. The water is like 300 feet deep in the channel, and the sides are steep as hell, and that narrow gauge combined with the tides means that the water zips in and out of there at incredibly high speeds.

Also on the tour is the art deco apartment Bogart and Bacall inhabited in DARK PASSAGE--unchanged, amazingly, and the building itself, with its hone-combed windows and working wrought-iron elevator, is quite beautiful. When I was there the current resident placed a life-sized cutout of Bogart peering out from behind the curtains, no doubt a man with a sense of humor.
There is a guy who is convinced that he lives in Dashiell Hammet's Tenderloin apartment, where he wrote The Maltese Falcon. He can't prove it, but he makes a good circumstantial case.
 

LabelKing

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The room with the bowed window is now the Fur Salon at Neiman Marcus, if I recall correctly.

The old I.Magnin is now anchored by a Louis Vuitton and Ferragamo after housing a DFS store a brief period.
 

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