Reel SF

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

Vertigo - Gavin Elster's Club

  Scottie reports back to Gavin Elster in his exclusive gentleman's club.  Elster tells him Carlotta Valdes was Madeleine's great grandmother, what's more he believes his wife Madeleine has been possessed by Carlotta. The club was not named in the movie but production records identify it as the Pacific Union Club located at 1000 California Street across Mason from the Fairmont Hotel (map).  The scene below in the club was filmed on a studio set meticulously created by art director Henry Bumstead.

 

Then ....  the side and rear of the Pacific Union Club is seen behind Scottie's DeSoto as he waited to follow Madeleine on one of her wanderings.  Note Grace Cathedral behind it with only one tower, still under construction.

... and Now,  the club looks the same as when it was constructed in 1887 as the private home of James C. Flood.  Its exterior walls survived the 1906 earthquake and afterwards the Pacific Union Club bought the lot and remodelled it in 1910 as their clubhouse.

  Here's another look (below) at the Pacific Union Club today, viewed across California Street with the Fairmont Hotel behind it and Huntington Park to the left.  The Brocklebank Apartments (with the steeply pitched roof) where Madeleine lived is across Mason Street next to the Fairmont.

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