Bullitt - Bullitt's Apartment
Below, director Peter Yates captures one of San Francisco's many vistas on a misty morning as Bullitt heads east down Broadway from Taylor on his way to his apartment (locals will recognize he's actually heading away from his apartment).
Then ... The Bay Bridge is in the distance and there's a small twin-domed church on the left.
... and Now, the church, Nuestra Senor de Guadalupe, was bult in 1906 to serve the local Catholic community. It's now a Chinese day school.
Then ... He drives his Mustang down Clay Street, crosses Taylor, then makes a slick reverse (below) in front of the cream Austin Healey (CitySleuth is salivating - he used to own one). Bullitt's apartment house, 1153 Taylor Street, is the dark blue house on the corner of Clay - his place is on the top floor.
... and Now, the building is repainted a light color and a garage has been added at the front corner.
Then ... At the corner market opposite his apartment he isn't above helping himself to a newspaper when he's short of change.
... and Now, the recent photo finds a market, V-J Grocery, still at the same location, 1199 Clay Street, where customers can still get their daily paper out front.
Then ... In the composited image below, Bullitt crosses Taylor and climbs the front steps to his apartment door.
... and Now, today's view, north along Taylor across Clay, is pretty much unchanged in over 40 years.
... and Now, below are the entrance steps of 1153 Taylor leading to the building's three apartments, 1153, 1155 and 1157. Bullitt's was 1153, the door on the left, which leads up to the top floor.
Inside the apartment Cathy has breakfast in the living room. The corner window view looks east down Clay Street - San Francisco Bay and part of Yerba Buena Island can be seen in the distance.
Comments (10)
More fabulous sleuthing. I see the green Volkswagen has finally gone to wherever it was going in all those shots during the tailing and car chase sequence. If ever Aesop drove a car, that had to be him.
Take another look at that scene when he returns home. He is not carrying his rain coat, he has it on. He is carrying his sports coat, presumably because he had used it at the airport to cover Ross's dead body. He does have the turtle neck on as he enters the apartment but then when he looks in the mirror he has the sweater on instead of the turtle neck.
There is some weird continuity in the film, highlighted by the scene where Delgetti goes to wake Bullitt up. He picks up a newspaper from the bureau in the bedroom, and it seems to be the same paper Bullitt swiped from the machine outside the grocery store. But that part happens later in the film. Also, at the very end of the movie, Bullitt returns home with his raincoat under his arm, but wearing the button-down shirt and cardigan he wore to the hospital. He also is wearing that outfit when he runs the sink and looks in the mirror. Hours earlier, he was wearing the tweed jacket and turtleneck during the airport scene. So, it would seem that the scene where he drives home and goes to the market happens early on Saturday morning (though it was light out - he responds "about five" when Delgetti asks him what time he got to bed that morning). Then, Delgetti wakes him up on Saturday afternoon to go see Chalmers. That has to be late afternoon, as Chalmers is hosting some kind of tea party, and Ross chides them for not arriving at the Hotel Daniels by 5:00.
Ah, Cathy carrying a plate of breakfast. One of the silliest scenes in film. She cooks bacon, scrambles eggs, etc., and then when she hands him the plate, he says "Just coffee." Shouldn't she have asked him BEFORE she went to all that trouble? And apparently she didn't eat the hot breakfast either, as she sits down and start consuming a bowl of cold cereal.