San Francisco Movie Locations

OK people, let's head to San Francisco and find these places.

From Buzzfeed - 

A Guide To The Coolest Movie Locations In San Francisco

1. The Rock (1996)

Hollywood Pictures

 

Location: Alcatraz Island

We’ll start with one of the most iconic San Francisco movie locations, The Rock: the movie dedicated to that slightly twisted idea of an island prison floating in the bay, Alcatraz. To visit the prison, you can take the tour, but make sure to do it early in the day as it’s a popular attraction in the city. Also, be careful of potential hostage situations, weird chemical gas, or rogue ex-military operatives when you do go.

2. The Graduate (1967)

StudioCanal

 

Location: The Bay Bridge

In one of the most climactic scenes of this 1967 classic, protagonist Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) drives from Pasadena to Berkeley (though he’s going the wrong way in the film) — crossing the city’s second most popular (and newly remodeled) bridge, the Bay Bridge — in search of Elaine, after she discovers that Benjamin had been having an affair with her mother, the famous Mrs. Robinson.

3. Basic Instinct (1992)

Carolco Pictures, StudioCanal

 

Location: 1158 Montgomery St.

1158 Montgomery is the home to San Francisco detective Nick Horran (Michael Douglas) in the North Beach neighborhood. Throughout the movie, Horran becomes more and more troubled, but it’s definitely not because of his dwellings — you know, since he lives in another (read: one of many) expensive San Francisco neighborhood.

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Paramount Pictures

 

Location: Columbus Tower

If you’re aren’t a Trekkie, you would have no idea that San Francisco is actually home to the Starfleet Command. Yes, in the future imagined by Star Trek, San Francisco settles the longtime debate: the West Coast is the best coast (for intergalactic travel at the very least). And in the 1986 film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the USS Enterprise crew travels back in time to an older San Francisco in order to save Earth. They visit most of the main attractions, but they also visit this gem of a landmark, Columbus Tower, on 916 Kearny St.

5. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

20th Century Fox

 

Location: 2640 Steiner St.

Ahh, can you hear the sweet sounds of “Jump Around” bumping in this memorable San Francisco house just before everything would be turned upside down in Mrs. Doubtfire? It’s the home of the dear Hillards — and some Scottish nanny — on 2640 Steiner St.

6. The Wedding Planner (2001)

Intermedia

 

Location: Taylor St. & Pleasant St.

The fateful encounter between the titular wedding planner, Mary (Jennifer Lopez), and pediatrician Steve (pre-McConaissance Matthew McConaughey ) happens right on Taylor St. and Pleasant St. in the Nob Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. Although Nob Hill is prime territory if you want to find a rich spouse, we don’t advise recreating this scene.

7. The Birds (1963)

Universal Studios

 

Location: Union Square

Alfred Hitchcock had some fascination with the Bay Area, where a few of his movies are set. Before Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) heads off to the North Bay Area and follows lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) to Bodega Bay in the 1963 classic, The Birds, she stops at a bird shop in Union Square and meets Mitch who wanted to purchase lovebirds for his 11-year-old sister.

8. Vertigo (1958)

Paramount Pictures

 

Location: 940 Sutter St.

After San Francisco detective John “Scottie” Ferguson retires, he is asked by a former college friend to follow his wife, Madeleine, around whom he fears is possessed. One day, Scottie sees a woman who reminds him of Madeleine and follows her back to her hotel room in Hotel Empire. You can visit that hotel (formerly Hotel Empire, then the York Hotel, and now Hotel Vertigo) on 940 Sutter St.

9. Zodiac (2007)

Paramount Pictures

 

Location: The San Francisco Chronicle building

One of San Francisco’s most infamous unsolved cases – the Zodiac Killer (HE STILL MAY BE OUT THERE, PEOPLE) – was the subject of David Fincher’s 2007 film, Zodiac. Political cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) worked for the San Francisco Chronicle, who received and published encrypted letters from the Zodiac Killer as a way to taunt and flaunt his murders.

10. Full House (1987–1995)

ABC

 

Location: 1709 Broderick St.

Before you even go there, yes, it’s not a film. But as one of the most iconic San Francisco settings, the Full House house deserves a mention as a reminder of a happy, loving, nonnuclear family in some San Francisco real estate we’d all kill to have. Maybe that’s why Frisco has a cinematic serial killer problem? Affordable housing.

11. Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Warner Bros.

 

Location: 1000 Market Street

The titular interview between professional reporter Daniel Molloy (Christian Slater) and professional vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt) goes down here on 1000 Market Street. It’s a nice walk up one of San Francisco’s most popular streets — for humans, not vampires (we’re pretty sure, at least).

12. A View to a Kill (1985)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

 

Location: Lefty O’Doul Bridge

Among other things, part of San Francisco’s appeal is owed largely to the fact it’s home to a James Bond movie — a rare and distinguished honor that not all cities can claim. A View to a Kill features both an epic fight scene on the Golden Gate Bridge, but also this car chase on a less well-known drawbridge, the Lefty O’Doul Bridge on Third St., by AT&T Park.

13. Blue Jasmine (2013)

Sony Pictures Classics

 

Location: 305 South Van Ness Ave.

In another Woody Allen film not set in New York, Jeanette “Jasmine” Francis (Cate Blanchett) leaves New York (HA!) after her husband Hal’s (Alec Baldwin) arrest for white collar crimes causes her to have a nervous breakdown. She moves in with her sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), in her small apartment on 305 South Van Ness Avenue in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco to try to get her life back together.

14. Milk (2008)

Focus Features

 

Location: 575 Castro St.

On 575 Castro St., you will find the old camera store, Castro Camera, that Harvey Milk and boyfriend Scott Smith open when the couple moves to San Francisco from New York in 1972. The store later evolves into a meeting place for gay rights activism and Milk’s campaign headquarters. Set designers recreated the store on 575 Castro for Milk, and since 2011, a Human Rights Campaign action center and store has taken up the residence.

15. Play It Again, Sam (1972)

Paramount Pictures

 

Location: Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park

The most neurotic, romantic duo of the 70s didn’t just live in New York. In his 1972 movie, Play It Again, Sam, Woody Allen decided to ditch his New York muse and bring Diane Keaton along with him to San Francisco. In the movie, Allen plays Allan (what did you expect) Felix who falls in love with his best friend’s wife, Linda (Keaton), after divorcing his ex-wife. It’s kind of like Manhattan, but in San Francisco, with the same amount of city-worship — shooting memorable shots all across San Francisco, including this one in the Music Concourse at Golden Gate Park.

16. Dirty Harry (1971)

Warner Bros.

 

Location: Kezar Stadium

After trying to catch serial killer Scorpio (fictional, unlike the Zodiac Killer WHO IS STILL OUT THERE) running rampant in San Francisco in the first movie of the popular Dirty Harry franchise, SFPD detective Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) chases him through Kezar Stadium — former home to the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders — in Golden Gate Park.

17. Sister Act (1992)

Touchstone Pictures

 

Location: St. Paul’s Catholic Church

The gospel-funk fusion sounds of Sister Mary Clarence’s revitalized choir changed the lives of all who attended St. Katherine’s Parish, located in a fictional, seedy neighborhood of San Francisco. You can visit the real St. Paul’s Catholic Church that production used on 221 Valley St. in the much more real (read: absurdly expensive) neighborhood of Noe Valley.

18. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Columbia Pictures

 

Location: Glen Park BART station

I don’t know why you’d want to go relive this crushing movie moment, but if you’re one of those people who likes to chase gutted feelings of despair and hopelessness, then head on SF’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Get off at the Glen Park station, and head to the bathroom where father Chris Gardner (Will Smith) locks the door so he and his son (Jaden Smith) could sleep for the night.

19. Blue Jasmine (2013)

Sony Classic Pictures

 

Location: Ocean Beach

It’s San Francisco; even our beaches are foggy. And Woody Allen captures what Ocean Beach looks like most of the year in Blue Jasmine: gray, cold, and with enough wind to fly a kite by yourself.

20. The Graduate (1967)

StudioCanal

 

Location: San Francisco Zoo

After realizing that he does have feelings for Elaine and not her mother, Mrs. Robinson, Benjamin follows an annoyed Elaine (because he took her to a strip club on their first date…) to the San Francisco Zoo, where she planned to meet someone else at the monkey exhibit.

21. The Princess Diaries (2001)

Disney

 

Location: 742 Brazil Ave.

If you head over to 742 Brazil Ave., we can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to go down that dope fire pole or up the sweet spiral staircase leading to one Mia Thermopolis’ (aka Her Royal Highness, Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo, Crown Princess of Genovia) loft/room, but you will be able to see her mother’s house from The Princess Diaries in all its artsy glory.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexmagdaleno/a-guide-to-the-coolest-movie-locations-in-san-francisco#.gdprP27OQ

Rent-a-Mourner

From Now I Know - 

The High Price of Fake Tears

For better or for worse, funerals send out a certain social signal about the life of the person who has recently passed. If a lot of people show up to mourn the dearly departed, that typically means that she was well-loved and respected. But if a person passes and no one shows up to his funeral, that's sad for an entirely different set of reasons. It probably doesn't matter to the person in the casket, though -- vanity is fleeting in death -- but like any rule, there are exceptions. If you want to make sure that people show up to your funeral (and you don't want to have friends or the like), there's a solution:

You can rent some mourners, at least in the UK.

The service is called "Rent a Mourner" -- the name doesn't leave much to the imagination, not that a dead person can imagine anything. Per the company's website, Rent a Mourners are "typically invited to help increase visitors to funerals where there may be a low turnout expected." The company notes that this isn't a service reserved for those who were jerks while still alive -- it "can usually be a popularity issue or being new to an area, or indeed, the country." Rent a Mourner doesn't care, as long as you (or your estate or whomever is paying your funeral bills) can pay up: the service costs £45 ($70) an hour per mourner hired.

The rent-a-friends aren't stooges, either. As Business Insider reports, "the mourners-for-hire are briefed on the life of the deceased and would be able to talk to friends and relatives as if they really had known their loved one." TIME reports that the company promises that the mourners will be "professional, polite, well dressed individuals” as well -- one wouldn't want their fake friends to appear boorish or aloof at one's real funeral. It's unclear if tears are guaranteed.

As outlandish as the practice sounds, it's actually not uncommon in other parts of the world. The Huffington Post reported that "In some African countries, China and Middle Eastern countries it's tradition to hire professional mourners who come to publicly grieve at funerals. In Ivory Coast, the job is a sought-after career for some women, who can make make up to several hundred dollars per day for their weeping services." And an article from the New York Times (pdf) dating back to 1877 reported that the practice of hiring "professional weepers" was a custom in China at the time.

For those in the U.S, there isn't a well-established way to rent funeral-goers -- at least not yet. Rent a Mourner's founder told the press that he's looking to expand in the UK, and a hop across the pond can't be long out of the question. After all, there are dead people with $70 and no friends here, too.

http://nowiknow.com/how-to-make-sure-people-attend-your-funeral/

She's the 63rd Black Female PhD in Physics in US History

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a 32-year-old theoretical astrophysicist. Her academic home is arguably the nation's most elite physics department, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

So begins the article by Nico Pitney about this spectacular young woman.

It's a lengthy one, but well worth the time to discover this phenomenal woman.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/chanda-prescod-weinstein_n_7574020.html

Another excerpt - 

I want to ask about your experience in higher education. You've studied and researched at a variety of schools. Looking back, would you have handled your own education differently in any way?

My husband likes to ask me this question periodically. [Laughter] I think because I have a tendency to be very critical of how higher education is delivered, particularly in STEM, and particularly to people from marginalized communities. This is something that I think about a lot. I think if I had to go back in time, I would maybe have younger Chanda apply to some HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities). 

In particular, Spelman does a phenomenal job producing Black women who go on to Ph.D.'s in STEM. They're not given a lot of credit for that. They don't get awards for it. You don't hear President Obama coming and giving commencement speeches and thanking them for their service to the country—which it really is a service they provide—but they're one of the top three producers of Blacks who go on to Ph.D.'s in STEM.

Going to an HBCU can be a different experience for Black students. What I've read is that Black students come out of HBCUs with higher levels of self-confidence than ones who go to predominately white institutions. So when I'm talking to Black high school students who are interested in going on to do STEM, that is something that I tell them about, that there are some significant advantages to going to HBCUs. I believe one third of the physics majors in the United States who are Black are produced by HBCUs. That's actually fairly recent, it used to be over half of them were. That's actually a change that's just happened in the last 10 years.

So they really are providing a service to the country that I think goes unrecognized. I needed a full ride to college, so when I was applying to college, I applied to twelve schools. I got into all of them. Five of them were University of California campuses. I couldn't afford any of the public universities that I got into. I could only afford Harvard College, the California Institute of Technology, and Carlton College. Of the three, Harvard seemed like the best choice for a Black student in terms of access, being part of Black student community and being in an urban area. So that ended up being the major determining factor for me.

"Smart" Condoms

These Teens Just Invented A Condom That Changes Color If You Have An STD

It’s called the S.T.EYE and it could help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Originally posted on Jun. 23, 2015, at 8:10 p.m.Updated on Jun. 24, 2015, at 12:06 a.m.

Rachel Zarrell

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Tweet

A group of 13- and 14-year-old students just developed a “smart” condom that glows in different colors if it detects a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

Creators Muaz Nawaz, Daanyaal Ali, and Chirag Shah, from London’s Isaac Newton Academy, wanted to “make detecting harmful STIs safer than ever before” without invasive testing. 

Their invention, cleverly named the S.T.EYE, nabbed them the top health innovation prize at the city’s TeenTech Awards, which are intended to promote science, engineering, and technology in schools. At the competition, groups of kids ranging in age from 11 to 16 attempt to create “technology to make life better, simpler or easier.”

TeenTech Awards

The condom uses a built-in indicator that changes to a different color depending on the bacteria or infection it detects. The students said it may glow green for chlamydia, yellow for herpes, purple for human papillomavirus, or blue for syphilis.

Molecules in the condom attach to the bacteria of common STIs, causing the contraception to fluoresce in low light.

“We wanted to make something that make detecting harmful STIs safer than ever before, so that people can take immediate action in the privacy of their own homes without the invasive procedures at the doctors,” 14-year-old Ali said. “We’ve made sure we’re able to give peace of mind to users and make sure people can be even more responsible than ever before.”

Other top entries included a hair clip with Wi-Fi that changes color based on your outfit, and sneakers that can charge electronics.

TeenTech Awards

The inventors at the competition.

The boys’ prize is £1,000 and a trip to Buckingham Palace, where they will be presented with their award.

It’s important to note the colorful condoms are still in the conceptual stage, with a spokesperson for TeenTech telling the Daily Dot they’re “very much a concept and… not a finalized design.”

Remembering Mr. Rogers

From Now I Know -

http://nowiknow.com/how-mr-rogers-made-friday-the-13th-less-scary/

A Tribute to Michael

A "Breakup App"

It's supposed to be a joke, but I'd bet the farm some folks are using it break up with their significant other anyway.

There are some things that shouldn't see the light of day.  This is one of them.

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/binder-breakup-app?intcid=mod-latest

"Dude, Play With Me"

A New Online Database of Black Family Records

From The Root - 

Slave-Era Black Family Records to Be Accessible on Free Online Service

Handwritten federal documents will be digitized to form a new free online service that will help millions of black Americans trace their families back through slavery and, in some cases, even to their countries of origin.

BY: BREANNA EDWARDS

Posted: June 23 2015 4:21 PM

 

Cumberland Landing, Va., group of fugitive slaves at Foller’s House (1862) JAMES F. GIBSON/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Black Americans will be able to trace their family roots further back than ever before—to the slavery era and, in some cases, to the countries of origin from which their ancestors were stolen—with the development of a new free online service that is digitizing old federal records for the first time, The Guardian reports.

According to the report, the handwritten documents, which contain information about newly freed slaves, were put together just before the Civil War. The documents come from the Freedmen's Bureau, an administrative body that was created in 1865 to help the newly freed slaves transition into citizenship. Previously, The Guardian notes, the slaves were legally viewed as property and names were often not recorded, even on the slave owners' records.

These documents will soon be available for easy searching on the new website discoverfreedmen.org. The Smithsonian, the National Archives, the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, the California African American Museum and FamilySearch are all collaborating on the effort.

FamilySearch, an online genealogy organization run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made the announcement with some project partners in Los Angeles last Friday for the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth.

Black Americans attempting to find their family roots often hit a roadblock in any search going back beyond 1870, the year black people were included in the census for the first time. But soon, thanks to the digitization of more than 1.5 million handwritten documents, there will be more than 4 million names readily accessible online for further tracing. 

According to The Guardian, the records are expected to be fully uploaded by late 2016, hopefully coinciding with the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

"The records serve as a bridge to slavery and freedom. You can look at some of the original documents that were created at the time when these people were living. They are the earliest records detailing people who were formerly enslaved. We get a sense of their voice, their dreams," Smithsonian genealogy specialist Hollis Gentry told The Guardian.

"I predict we’ll see millions of living people find living relatives they never knew existed. That will be a tremendous blessing and a wonderful, healing experience," he added.

When "Do No Harm" Failed

From The Detroit News' Laura Berman -

Whistle-blower:  How doctor uncovered nightmare

Oncologist's discovery leads to the downfall of a cancer treatment empire

An excellent article on the unimaginable wrongdoing of an esteemed cancer doctor.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/special-reports/2015/06/10/whistle-blower-doctor-uncovered-medical-nightmare/71027690/

Licensing Music?

True confession.

I have no idea what this site is really, but I was drawn to it because you can choose music based on your mood.

But, it looks like it so much more than this.

Anyway, check it out and if you can figure it out, please let me know.

http://www.youlicense.com/default.aspx

Top Books. Agree?

From Stumbleupon -

13 "Top 100 Books" lists combined and condensed into one master list, for the benefit of your reading pleasure. 623 books in all -- can you collect them all?

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1l9EMS/:qNJ19joB:2o7LYprP/www.alistofbooks.com/

This Is What It Looks Like

An excerpt from Salon - 

Dear white allies after Charleston: Please understand this about your privilege

The Charleston shooting is a textbook example of White Privilege. Let’s start with the manner in which the cops apprehended Dylann Storm Roof, the murderer and domestic terrorist.

Note that at the time of his arrest, Roof was an armed and dangerous fugitive, who heartlessly gunned down nine church members — and still received the utmost care when he was taken into police custody. The cops gave him a nice bulletproof vest to assure that he wouldn’t receive any damage on his way to the station and genteelly guided him out to the squad car. When the cameras flashed, he was clean and spotless, with every hair of his Lloyd from “Dumb and Dumber” cut in place.

If he were black, he probably would have ended up like the innocent, unarmed Cleveland couple, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, who fled in a similar manner as Roof, but received no love or restraint — just 137 shots for being on the wrong side of privilege. And this is the norm; there’s a collection of contemporary cases that display similar results.

Walter Scott was black and unarmed. He died at the hands of law enforcement while Craig Stephen Hicks, a white male who shot three unarmed Muslims over a parking space in North Carolina, is alive and well.

Michael Brown was an unarmed black teenager who was on his way to college before he was murdered by a white police officer. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the white guy who bombed runners in the Boston Marathon, is alive and received his day in court.

James Holmes, another white domestic terrorist, shot up a movie theater during a Batman movie; Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old kid. was murdered for having a toy gun.

Freddie Gray, black and innocent with a pocket knife equals dead. White killers like Roof get award-winning restraint. The list goes on and on: White privilege allows you to survive and being black could get you killed.

Always remember that talking about white privilege makes white people uneasy — probably because no one wants to feel like they have an unfair advantage over another person solely based on skin color. However, if you are white in America, you have an unfair advantage solely based on skin color.

You’ll probably go to a better school, never be profiled by police officers, get lower interest rates, and always have the luxury of walking around convenience stores in peace. It is that way, it has been that way, and chances are it will remain that way.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/22/dear_white_allies_after_charleston_please_understand_this_about_your_privilege/

No Farting

(NEWSER) – What to do when you let rip a fart so noxious you're afraid it might offend patrons of the blues bar at which you're performing? If you're in Washington, DC, and it's after 12:30am, the answer is not "open a window." But that's what a farting drummer did last year while his band was performing at Madam's Organ Blues Bar, and the move has now cost the bar $500, the Borderstan blog reports. The fine was imposed last week per an order of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, though the bar may appeal.

A 2008 settlement agreement dictates that "the doors and windows of the establishment will remain closed from 12:30am until closing when live music is being played," but on June 22, 2014, the report states, an inspector noticed that a live band was playing "directly in front of one of the establishment’s ground floor windows" while said window was open. "He opened the window to let [a] fart out,” says the owner of the bar. “He cracked it open for five minutes, then the inspector showed up. Twenty f---ing years with not one violation and this is what they came up with. People get stabbed and shot in these other establishments. In ours, someone farts and cracks a window and they spend a year on it."

Justifying Wrong

From The Huffington Post - (Bold mine)

How White Christians Used The Bible -- And Confederate Flag -- To Oppress Black People

On Jan. 4, 1861, a Catholic bishop named Rev. A. Verot ascended a pulpit in The Church of St. Augustine, Florida, and defended the right of white people to own slaves.

The apostle Paul, Verot claimed in his sermon, instructs slaves to obey their masters as a “necessary means of salvation.” Quoting Colossians 3:22, he said, “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but in simplicity of heart, fearing God.”

It's no secret that hundreds of Christian pastors like Verot used the Bible during the Civil War to justify slavery. But the massacre last week of nine black people inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, has once again forced white Christians in America to re-examine the white church’s historical ties to racism -- and how hateful rhetoric like Verot's had more power because it came from the pulpit. 

White Christians in the South didn't just support slavery -- the Southern church was the backbone of the Confederacy and its attempts to keep African Americans in bondage, according to Harry Stout, Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History at Yale University. 

"If you pull the church out of the whole equation, it’s highly likely that there never would have been a Civil War,” Stout told The Huffington Post. “Southern clergy had no doubt that slavery was not a sin.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/christian-confederate-slavery_n_7638676.html