Post #758960 by HopeChest on Wed, Feb 10, 2016 8:52 PM

PART 2 -

A search reveals that the property / parcel is listed as actually starting at that Jack In The Box at 2739 Taylor and wraps around the corner to encompass addresses up to 229 Jefferson Street. As you can see from the google screenshot, there are storefront doors on Taylor that are not in use which must be considered 2755 Taylor, as that is the other official address on the books.

However I found two dates for the build year: 1953 and 1967. I've a distinct feeling it existed sometime between these years.

For some reason this was all seeming familiar, but couldn't suss out why. All this "close but not quite" was very frustrating, especially considering the location: with the famous fish markets and restaurants like Alioto's across the street, the famous Fisherman's Wharf sign kitty corner, and the iconic Sabella Building across the street, the chances are you'd be standing on our corner taking a picture of one of the other three. There simply wasn't any reason to take a picture of our particular corner and lord knows I couldn't find one.

Until I stumbled across this.

I saw this in my desperate Fisherman's Wharf searches and was struck by the fact that 2795 Taylor (no longer extant but obviously at the end of the block) was listed on the same matchbook as 211 Jefferson - FAR too coincidental. Not to mention the fact that The Sea Captain's Chest is a brilliant name for a bar at Fisherman's Wharf.

BOOM!

http://reelsf.com/reelsf/experiment-in-terror-rendezvous-at-fishermans

Thanks to the brilliant folks at Reel SF, there's the building captured in the film "Experiment In Terror"! It was released in 1962. The Sea Captain's Chest is on the far right and the Sabella Building is on the far left. You remove this guy's head (hell, maybe even just his hat) and you've probably got the Waikiki right there!

After staring at that movie screenshot for ages and cursing my "even closer but STILL not there" luck, I finally twigged what was so damn familiar about all of this. To the right of the brim of his hat you see the right-hand side of a neon sign he's blocking. "yo" finishes the first line, "yaki" finishes the second, and "RANT" finishes the last. When I saw that, it immediately hit me - that's Tokyo Sukiyaki! A famous restaurant that was in the wharf area since the 50s. I went there a bunch of times as a kid and it was as awe inspiring as going to Trader Vic's in its own way.

So, all of this to say if anyone can watch and screenshot "Experiment In Terror" we might actually get a shot of the Waikiki.