The rooftops of San Francisco

The opening chase in Vertigo (1958) was staged on the rooftops of Taylor Street, San Francisco, with a sweeping camera pan from right-to-left.

Here’s a composite image of the rooftop sequence (download image)…

Vertigo Skyline

It’s worth noting that the camera pan starts with Brocklebank Apartments in the background and ends on Coit Tower, representing Madeleine Elster and John “Scottie” Ferguson (or possibly even Midge, whose apartment is half-a-mile closer to the tower than Scottie’s?) respectively.

You can see what the block on Taylor Street looks like today on Google Street View.

Leave a Reply