Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk bio-pic Milk is currently shooting in my hometown of San Francisco. But for some reason I’m stranded miles away in Park City. Anyway, the production designers are giving Castro street a retro make-over. The following photos shows work on some of the store fronts, which includes a new 70s psychedelic music store called Aquarius Records on Castro and 19th Street. More Photos after the jump.
Although now located on 24th Street in Noe Valley, Aquarius spent the bulk of its years in the heart of the Castro. For several years it was located next door to Harvey Milk’s camera shop. Indeed, Butch Bridges, owner of Aquarius, was good friends with our former supervisor, and remembers that both punks and gays (and gay punks!) always welcomed the store as part of the community. [source]
Next door to the recreated old Aquarius is China Court, a small family restaurant that was replaced by an upscale Thai restaurant a few years back.
And a wine store called Swirl has been retrofitted with a 1972-looking Castro Liquor signage.
Here is an old school desoto cab parked on the block.
The Castro Theatre is also getting a a well due makeover. They appear to be giving the exterior a paint job, and fixing the neon signage on this San Francisco landmark. The theater was featured briefly in David Fincher’s Zodiac, but Paramount opted for a matte painting recreation over using an on-location retrofitted set.
sources: bonforte, crusherrrr
January 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
everytime i think of noe valley, i think about those damn hills.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:48 am
@Peter:
I’ve heard that Ambien was found in the room with Heath Ledger when he sadly passed. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen, as so many rumors have been spread. If it is found to be true, will you guys still have the giant advertisement (above) - or any advertisements for this drug on your site? I am not whistle blowing, I’m not trying to be a prick, and I’m certainly not trying to tell you guys how to run your website. I’m just curious, so please don’t take this question the wrong way.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Gus Van Sant has a onrous responsibility in taking on this topic in film with Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk. We both agree that Sean is not the best choice to portray one of the greatest human beings to ever come onto the political stage. There is no doubt that Sean is a great actor and even better director. We hope Sean will play the part of Harvey Milk with a lot of feeling and sensitivity. Harvey was very complex and not easily duplicated, even on film. And, because Gus has a major star to portray Harvey Milk, the film will get a lot more attention and a lot more people will see it. This piece of history left an indelible mark on those of us that knew and loved Harvey, on San Francisco and the Bay Area, and on the larger political community. In short, history once-made may be once again be made in San Francisco. Thanks to Gus for taking on the challenge and to Sean for bringing Harvey Milk back to life.
March 24th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Boy, what’s up with all the Penn-bashing? Sean the actor is a totally different animal than Penn the public personality. His committment to issues of equality and justice goes without saying, so why couldn’t he channel that into his portrayal of Harvey Milk. I just finished watching the documentary Times of Harvey Milk (now on DVD,) so I have very fresh impressions of Milk from all the archival footage used in the film. Would Sean have been my first choice? Maybe not, but so what? How many times have we heard stories about pivotal movie roles that won critical acclaim and Academy Awards, only to discover the original choice to play the character turned out to be a different actor? Cut the man some slack will you? I have no desire to prejudge Sean or his performance - I will wait for the theatrical release, and make up my own mind when I leave the cineplex, thank you. I’m grateful the film is being made, since few folks will check out the documentary, and Milk’s story is an important one on so many levels: political, social, societal, historical………..and deserves to be told as many times by as many writer/directors that dare rise to the venerable challenge - just because a proposition is risky, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be attempted. I say, “You go, boys!”