Nob Hill
on Film
Madeleine’s apartment in Vertigo, the cathedral where Hitchcock staged an abduction for his last film, and the hotel that played the St. Gregory in the TV series Hotel. Five stops, all on the top of the hill.
Four blocks, a lot of film.
Nob Hill packs its film history into a few blocks around California and Mason Streets: two grand hotels, the apartment building Hitchcock gave to Madeleine, a park with a Roman fountain, and Grace Cathedral. The route is under half a mile with about ten minutes of walking. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, more if you go inside the cathedral or up to the Top of the Mark.
Every film credit on this page comes from the San Francisco Film Commission permit record, which the city publishes as open data.
Mark Hopkins and the Top of the Mark
The hotel stands where railroad baron Mark Hopkins built his mansion, which survived the 1906 earthquake and then burned in the fire that followed. Up on the 19th floor, the glass-walled Top of the Mark is where servicemen bound for the Pacific met their sweethearts during World War II.
The permit record lists The Lineup (1958), Bullitt (1968), Sudden Impact (1983) and Innerspace (1987) shooting at the hotel.
The Fairmont and the Tonga Room
The Fairmont was nearly finished when the 1906 earthquake struck. The building stood, the fire gutted the interior, and the opening slipped to 1907. It played the St. Gregory in the establishing shots of the TV series Hotel, and it is in The Rock (1996).
The permit record goes back to Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938) and I Remember Mama (1948), and on through Freebie and the Bean (1974) and Hitchcock’s Family Plot (1976). Downstairs, the Tonga Room keeps a band on a barge in a former swimming pool, with artificial thunderstorms; it appears in the HBO series Looking.
Brocklebank Apartments
At Mason and Sacramento, next to the Fairmont. This is where Kim Novak’s Madeleine lives in Vertigo (1958). The permit record also lists Sudden Fear (1952), Bullitt (1968) and The Woman in Red (1984).
The columnist Herb Caen lived in the building. It is a private residence, so look from the sidewalk.
Huntington Park
This was the site of the Huntington mansion until the 1906 fire; Arabella Huntington gave the land to the city in 1915. The fountain in the middle is a copy of Rome’s Fontana delle Tartarughe, the Fountain of the Tortoises, given by the Crocker family and installed in 1955.
The permit record lists Time After Time (1979), Smile Again, Jenny Lee (2015) and the TV series Ballers (2017) filming in the park.
Grace Cathedral
The main doors are casts of Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, made in 1956 from molds of the Florence originals. Inside is a floor labyrinth modeled on the one at Chartres, with a second labyrinth outside.
Alfred Hitchcock filmed an abduction scene here in 1975 for Family Plot, his last film. The cathedral is also in The Pleasure of His Company (1961), Bullitt (1968), Time After Time (1979), Bicentennial Man (1999) and Milk (2008).
Before you go.
Getting there
The California Street cable car runs along California Street past the Mark Hopkins, the Fairmont, Huntington Park and Grace Cathedral, and the Powell Street lines cross it at Powell and California. Walking up from Union Square is steep.
The hill
Getting up Nob Hill is the hard part. Once you are on top, the route is close to flat.
Grace Cathedral
It is a working church, so sightseeing gives way to services. Check the cathedral’s own visiting hours before you plan to go inside.
Private homes
Stop 3 is an apartment building people live in. Look and take photos from the sidewalk.
Frequently asked.
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Keep exploring.
Walk Nob Hill’s film history with the guide in your pocket.
The full route and the map for every stop, free on iOS and Android. Written by a local guide. No ads, no affiliate nonsense.
