Miscellaneous: Things We Need Words For

Things we need words for: The uncracked or barely cracked pistachios that accumulate at the bottom of the bag, having been repeatedly rejected for the easy-to-open ones.

Places I'm Visiting: San Francisco Film Locations

The plaque on Burritt St., near Bush and Stockton

111 Sutter St., the Hunter-Dulin Bldg.

Walking around San Francisco last week I looked up some old film locations. I finally figured out where the plaque is that locates the murder of Miles Archer in The Maltese Falcon (1941). It's on the wall of a building on Burritt St., near the corner of Bush and Stockton. There is now a building in the spot where Archer breaks the railing and tumbles down the hill in the film, which is why the location is a bit confusing today, but the plaque is there. It reads "On approximately this spot, Miles Archer, partner of Sam Spade, was done in by Brigid O'Shaughnessy" 
(The coordinates 37.7902, -122.4075 will take you to the location of the plaque on a map.)

Elevator lobby of the Hunter Dulin Bldg. Spade and Archer had offices here

Entrance to the Hunter-Dulin Bldg.

In the opening scenes, there's a view of the Bay Bridge from Spade's office windows (that establishing shot is one of the few actually done in San Francisco, apparently; most of the film was made on set). The view is supposed to be from the fifth floor of the Hunter-Dulin Building at 111 Sutter Street. Built in 1927, it was originally the head West Coast office of NBC. The entry and interior are rather ornate. They don't build them like they used to....

Irene Jansen (Lauren Bacall) lived here, in Dark Passage (1947)

Art Deco reliefs at 1360 Montgomery St.

I also found the building that was Lauren Bacall's apartment in Dark Passage (1947), where Humphrey Bogart hangs out while waiting for his face to heal after his plastic surgery. The building has some interesting Art Deco-style reliefs. The address is 1360 Montgomery St., but it's best approached by car on Union St. On foot, you could walk up the Filbert St. steps to approach the apartment (with a view of Coit Tower behind) as Bogart does in the movie....

View from the top of the Filbert St. stairs