By Paul Iorio
Most of Woody Allen's films are so New York City, but the reality is that three of his best movies were set, with heavy location shooting, in San Francisco. And he has good reason for having filmed in the City by the Bay.
"We shot 'Take the Money and Run' in San Francisco...We had to find a city that would look like seven different places in the United States, none of which were San Francisco," Woody Allen said on "The Dick Cavett Show" in 1971. "The movie takes place in New Jersey, Indiana, down south, New York. And San Francisco, if you shoot it judiciously and hit the right parts of town, you can make it look like almost any place in the United States."
And Allen does have a way of making the city look very un-San Francisco. Filming in The Mission district and in obscure parts of SoMa and North Beach, he manages to make it look like, as he said, Anyplace, USA, in those three pictures: "Take the Money and Run," "Blue Jasmine" and "Play It Again, Sam" (the latter starring and written by Allen, but actually directed by Herbert Ross).
More important, he told some of his very best jokes in S.F. -- and I wanted to see exactly where.
I climbed hills and hiked to far flung corners of San Francisco to find the locations in these three movies and was surprised to see that several looked just as they did almost fifty years ago. Others, not so much. I found the locations (that some have never been able to find) by going through the San Francisco phone books of 1969 and 1972.
I visited the place where Allen slaps someone on the back in an overly friendly way, knocking the guy into the Bay; the spot where a small dog attacks Allen when he tries to pet it; the ramshackle house where Virgil Starkwell's cello was tossed out the window (a location no one has been able to find); the park bench where Jasmine, desolate and hopeless, talks to herself. And many more!
Here are 15 key San Francisco location's in Allen's work:
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"Take the Money and Run":
1. Virgil Starkwell's childhood home. (The place where his cello is thrown from the window!)
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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2. The bank Virgil and his gang rob.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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3. The alley in which Virgil was nabbed by the cops.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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4. Where Virgil played cello in a marching band.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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5. Virgil's date is interrupted by a worker rising from a lift
As it appears in the movie:
As it appears in real life:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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"Play It Again"
1. Allen slaps someone on the back and knocks him into the Bay!
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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2. Allan runs into Dick on a hill in North Beach.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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3. Allen's neighborhood in North Beach.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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4. Woody is bitten by a small dog he tries to pet.
photos and text TK
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"Blue Jasmine"
1 Jasmine and her sister walk near a mural in The Mission.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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2. The Music Shop.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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3. The soon-to-be unhappy couple shop for an engagement ring at Shreve's.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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4. The grocery store where Jasmine's sister works.
As it appears in real life:
contrasting photo tk
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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5. Jasmine at the door of her sister's house.
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
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6. Interior of music store
As it appears in real life:
As it appears in the movie:
Notes on the place, its significance in the film: TK
