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Hitchcock’s classic “Vertigo” continues to inspire with tours and a newly renovated SF hotel
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Madeleine (Kim Novak) contemplates her fate at Fort Point
Somehow, it seems oddly fitting that the movie perhaps most closely associated with San Francisco - Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” - is about sexual obsession. Last year, the classic film starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak moved up an astonishing 52 spots from a decade earlier to #9 on the American Film Institute’s updated list of the Greatest Movies of All Time. Now a half-century old, it plays like grandiose opera full of preposterous twists and turns, yet it’s still one of the most consistently involving of his films. Fans know the labyrinth plot winds around Scottie Ferguson, a former plainclothes detective suffering from a severe case of acrophobia. He’s hired by an old college acquaintance to follow his disturbed wife Madeleine, who eventually falls to her death at the church steeple at Mission San Juan Batista. Or does she?
Judy (Novak again) contemplates her own predicament at the Empire Hotel...soon to be Hotel Vertigo.
Well, the church steeple never existed in real life. It was matted in with a painting, and much of the picture was filmed on Hollywood sound stages. However, Hitchcock filmed several pivotal scenes in San Francisco where he used key locations to great effect, in particular, the Palace of the Legion of Honor where Madeleine stared at the Carlotta Valdes portrait, the cemetery at Mission Dolores where Madeleine visits Carlotta’s grave, Fort Point where she jumps into the bay, and the Palace of Fine Arts where Scotty and Judy stroll after Madeleine’s death. Inevitably, other places like Ernie’s Restaurant and the Podesta Baldocchi flower shop have either moved, closed or been completely repurposed. Just last month, Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle provided a pretty complete rundown of the film’s various locations and what exists today (‘Vertigo's' San Francisco locations).
Customized chair at Hotel Vertigo (Photo: Hotel Vertigo)
However, a simple list does not satisfy those who prefer the full service treatment when checking out these sights. Consequently, “Vertigo” fans who may be on the verge of fanatic may want to consider the “Vertigo” tour conducted by a personalized service called “A Friend in Town”. For a cost of $295, they offer a tour that lasts 4-5 hours with an expert guide taking you to the movie’s key San Francisco locations. For an additional $250, you can also venture to Mission San Juan Batista over ninety miles south. This adds about five hours to the tour. The costs apply to either couples or solo travelers who are yet again being punished for being single. Unfortunately, due to escalating gas prices, the tour company is adding a fuel surcharge starting this month - $15 for the San Francisco-only tour and $30 for the all-inclusive.
Those San Franciscans who prefer the staycation route can check into the Hotel Bijou at 111 Mason Street, where each room is named for a film shot in the city. You should check to see if the Vertigo Room is available. The hotel even has double features of San Francisco-based films playing on a TV every evening in their Petit Theatre Bijou replete with old-fashioned theater seating. However, the big news is happening at the nearby York Hotel. Located at 940 Sutter Street, it was called the Empire Hotel when Hitchcock filmed the scenes in Judy’s apartment where she gets picked up by Scottie and undergoes her painfully eerie transformation.
Owner of several boutique hotels in Union Square York San Francisco
For more info: 'Vertigo's' San Francisco locations
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