The Terrible Catsafterme

When I last wrote about Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo, I mentioned that it is not one of my favorite of the Master of Suspense’s films. While noting that it was a stylish and visually engrossing masterpiece, I found that it was not all that entertaining. Since that time, my opinion has been somewhat revised. While it would still linger near the bottom a top ten list, I have since come to appreciate the delicious story along with the stunning pallete on which Sir Hitchcock paints. So having said that, perhaps you might see how visiting several of the filming locations from Vertigo while in the San Francisco area was a top priority.  

When we last left our two heroes, Bob and Brad had just had a great sushi dinner at Blowfish Sushi in San Francisco on Monday, June 14, 2010. We had registered and checked into the Hotel Vertigo, aptly named as the hotel itself was a Vertigo location, and retired to our quarters. But over the last couple days, we had already visiting a few places that were prominent in the film – locations that I waited to share until this posting. For example:

On Sunday, June 13, 2010, Bob and I had visited the Mission San Juan Bautista (seen here) in the city of the same name. Hitchcock had employed the use of two missions in the area, this one coming second chronologically in the film. Although Hitchcock made no secret that these locations were in fact the actual mission, he did take liberties with the actual layout of each of them.

The key scene of Kim Novak’s character Madeline Elster jumping to her death occurred here, although the bell tower that she jumped from did not really exist, and was constructed only on the studio set, and added with matte photography to the location shots.

Directly across the grounds in front of the mission are two structures that were both used in Vertigo. The establishing shot of the area is taken from the front porch of the mission toward the Plaza Stables and Plaza Hall. Madeline and Scotty (James Stewart) are inside the stables at the beginning of the scene, and then after her suicide, the inquest takes place in the Plaza Hall. Both of these locations are virtually unchanged.

In the film, it is clear that Madeline and Scotty are heading to Mission San Juan Bautista

Establishing shot of the hall and stables taken from the porch of the mission

James Stewart and Kim Novak inside the stables

The Plaza Stables today

Establishing shot of the Plaza Hall, where the inquest is taking place

Plaza Hall today

The Mission San Juan Bautista itself is the largest of the California missions. Founded in 1797, it has served daily mass since that date. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived there, it had already been closed. But no scenes from the film actually take place inside, and as mentioned, the pivotal bell tower scene didn’t actually take place here – namely because there was no bell tower, only a bell wall.

James Stewart runs into the front door of the mission

In front of the mission with the recognizable arches and the bell tower wall

Establishing shot that begins on the porch of the mission and then tracks to the shot above of the hall and stables

From the opposite side of the porch, with the recognizable arched columns

On Monday, June 14, while in the heart of San Francisco, Bob and I visited several more locations seen in Vertigo. The first of these was near the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, at the fortress known as Fort Point. It was here that Kim Novak made her suicide attempt by stepping off the landing into San Francisco Bay. James Stewart jumps into rescue her, carrying up the stairs leading out of the bay. The stairs were added back at the studio, and had they ever actually been built, they would have defeated the purpose of Fort Point: to defend the bay from hostile warships.

Madeline jumps into the bay

The same area, although the actual spot where she stood was fenced off. I got closer to the actual location when I visited here in 1997.

After Madeline’s suicide, Scotty meets a girl named Judy (also played by Kim Novak) who looks exactly like her. As they get to know each other, they go for a walk right past the Palace of Fine Arts. The monument was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exhibition. It was rebuilt in 1965, so technically it is not the same structure today as it was in the film.

 I really wish that we had had more time to stop and check this location out and get some good pictures with it. As it was, I only snapped a photo of it one of the several times we drove past it. Maybe next time…

Scotty and Judy walk past the Palace of Fine Arts

The monument – as seen from afar

On Lombard Street, just down the road from the section of ‘world’s crookedest street’ was Scotty’s apartment, the exterior of which was shown several times in the film. Aside from some bushes that have grown much taller, the area is virtually unchanged.

Kim Novak and James Stewart at Scotty’s apartment on Lombard Street

At the same location today

Since I wasn’t smart enough to have actually watched the film again before visiting these locations, I missed the boat on the last location of this day. Madeline’s apartment complex was a giant structure that it would have been impossible to miss had we known what it looked like. Bob and I parked in front of it and promptly took my photo with the apartments on the wrong side of the street. Yet another reason to go back to San Francisco.

This brings us up to date on the locations we had already visited. We woke up the morning of Tuesday, June 15, inside the Hotel Vertigo. The night before Bob had borrowed the DVD of the film Vertigo in the lobby and watched it on my laptop. After playing on Facebook down in the lobby for a bit, I went back to the room and finished the film with him. It had been especially cool to watch the movie here because we were in fact spending the night inside one of the locations from the film.

Scottie trailed Judy the look-alike back to her residence – the Empire Hotel – a high-rise tenement on Sutter Street, just a few streets over from Chinatown. The hotel had been renovated in a stylish orange theme recalling the art deco of the fifties, with plenty of whirls to represent the feeling of vertigo. It was a bit expensive, but it was a cool place to stay. We gathered our photos and headed out just before 9am.

The Hotel Empire as seen in the film. Judy’s room was right next to the “P” in “Empire”

Judy enters the apartments at the ground level

The hotel today

Looking dizzy at the Hotel Vertigo

In the lobby, blending in to the largest couch I’ve ever seen

Bob catches up on the local news in the lobby

In the tastefully decorated Hotel Vertigo

The view from our room. I decided against inducing my own vertigo by not falling out the window.

The Mission Dolores scene came early in the film as Scotty first begins to trail Madeline. Again, Hitchcock made no secret about the location, but also again took liberties with the layout of the actual mission. The mission is first seen from Scotty’s point of view as he drives toward it. Madeline parks right outside (we weren’t so lucky; Bob had to search for nearly ten minutes for parking after dropping me off) and then enters into what would be the cemetery. However, the film implies that she has entered the chapel and then exits from there into the cemetery.

Scotty approaches the mission, with the basilica on the right corner

On the steps of the Basilica

Madeline arrives at the mission

Again, Hitchcock makes no secret that Kim Novak is entering the Mission Dolores

Entering the mission…

…as I do. The cemetery is just beyond this wall.

Bob was hoping to get by with just exterior photos of the mission, but I really wanted to check out the graveyard and the rest of the mission. It was in the cemetery section where Madeline visited the headstone of Carlotta Valdez, a fictional character upon whom she was fixated. In reality, the stone was placed there by the prop department. For years it remained for tourists to to gawk at, but was eventually removed after it was deemed that it was disrespectful to the actual people buried there.

After he found a place to park, we went in at about 9:30. Although the lady inside was a bit too lazy to come out and just showus where the grave of Carlotta Valdez was located, she did relate several other fictional stories about the film – telling us that there were once stairs at Fort Point and that the bell tower at one time did really exist at the Mission San Juan Bautista. She also told us that an investigator had recently shown up at the mission, asking about a former priest who is under suspicion for the Zodiac murders! But I digress…

We did locate the approximate spot of the Carlotta Valdez grave by finding the very real grave of John Tobin, that can be easily seen in the film. It appears that the sidewalks have been relocated, but it is very hard to tell from the glimpses we see in the film – which at the time were lined with shrubbery.

Madeline in front of the grave of Carlotta Valdez. Tobin’s grave is the tall one with the cross on top. The Virgin Mary to the right of it can also be seen in the ‘now’ photo below.

Close-up shot clearly reveals the John Tobin grave

The John Tobin grave today – minus the cross, which may have been added for the movie. The fake grave was located somewhere in front of it, although the area now is a sidewalk. The Virgin Mary is to the left of my head.

As I mentioned, before Madeline enters the graveyard, she goes through the chapel. In reality, the chapel is located elsewhere on the grounds. The interior of it hasn’t changed much though.

Scotty follows Madeline through the chapel – as the bone-chilling organ music quietly plays

Inside the chapel today

As for the historical significance of the location itself, the Mission Dolores was founded in 1776 and is today the oldest structure standing in San Francisco. So Vertigo aside, it was cool to explore the cemetery, the museum, the chapel and basilica, and of course the gift shop.

Among the real graves in the Mission Dolores, was Don Luis Antonio Arguello, the first governor of Alta California under Mexican rule

With the monument to Father Junipero Serra

This miniature diorama was created for the 1939 World’s Fair on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. It shows what the Mision complex looked like in 1791 – when it was known as the Misión San Francisco de Asís

And with that, Bob and I left behind the sites from Vertigo, moving on to a few additional graves in San Francisco, and then heading east toward Nevada.

The trip will continue…

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 6:17 am and is filed under 2010's - Early, Famous Graves, Film Locations, Historical Locations, Vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.