Port of San Francisco

"I see..." said the vampire thoughtfully,
and slowly he walked across the room towards the window..........

Evil is a point of view







I grew up in San Francisco, my heart will always feel at home here.
The places Anne Rice mentions in her books are places I know. Please enjoy my pictures.






THE VAMPIRE CONNECTION:

"And he went out the door and into the tavern proper.
The front room, spacious and opulent with its black velvet hangings and fixtures of lacquered brass, was packed with noisy mortals.......An organ poured out the passionate Toccata and Fugue of Bach..... he loved even the age old smell of the malt and wine, and the prefume of the cigarettes... at last the moist air, the busy early evening pavements of Castro Street.... He crossed Castro Street and went swiftly up the wide pavement of Market." Marius, QotD.

"The infamous tavern on Castro Street was burning now, as the Queen hunted down those fleeing from it." (QotD 202)

In the book it was known as Dracula's Daughter, the tavern where Marius stopped that evening. But what's really at the corner of Market at Castro and 17th Street? A tavern!!




DIVISADERO STREET:

"Marius thought of Louis...... Louis, where are you?
Almost instantly, he saw Louis enter an empty drawing room. He had only just come up the stairs from the cellar where he had slept all day in a vault behind the wall. He had no awareness at all of anyone watching. He moved with silky strides across the dusty room, and stood looking down through the soiled glass at the thick flow of passing cars. Same old house on Divisadero Street. In fact, nothing changed much at all with this elegant and sensuous creature who had caused such a little tumult with his story in Interview with the Vampire."

I recently received an email from Lionel Faure from France and he sent me some pictures he took of the house in 2006.
I thank him for sending me the pictures and put them here to share:


• A new picture of the house taken in 2006 upclose.
  
  
• Here's a picture taken from across the street.
  
  
• An exceptional view of the entire front of the house.
  
  
• This is the lower window .
• This is the upper window .
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• I took this one at Christmas 2000:
  a picture of the upper window and a picture of the lower window.
• A picture of the house taken in 2000 from across the street.
  
  
• Here's a picture taken at dawn.
  
• A larger view of the window at dawn.
  
• The house a few hours later, notice what the sun does. The house is actually pale blue and the trim is dark blue and white. At dawn the house looks beige and the trim looks gold. When the day goes on, the sunburst practically disappears!
  

In October 1998, I met Anne in New Orleans at the TVA booksigning and she was kind enough to sign my picture of the house on Divisadero that I took so long ago. My signed picture



I was in San Francisco on Christmas day in 1998 and, much to my surprise, found the house had been repainted and fixed up nicely. It really looks great. Some of the pictures I took are:
A close up of the front of the house, including both stained glass windows, and the garage (I wonder if Louis' cellar is near the garage?).

The trim on victorian houses is called gingerbread. The house on Divisadero has some really pretty flowers, scripts, painted posts and window trim.

The house has two front bay windows with stained glass windows all around.

This is my favorite spot to view the house. From across the street you can see the whole thing.







This picture courtesy Nightfall©

THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED:

Anne Rice once lived in the house on Steiner Street that is on the cover of the paperback QOTD (the house with the light on, often referred to as "the coven house") In San Francisco, this is known as "postcard row".

• This is what it looks on a hazy San Francisco afternoon.
  
• Here's the house from the hill across the street (Alamo Square).
  
• This is a close up of the house.
  
• The folks at Glidden Paint company thought the house was interesting enough to feature in a 1996 advertisement. This is from September 1996 copy of HOME, the decorating and remodeling magazine.
  
• Christmas 1999, this is a picture of my son and I in front of the house. What better way to spend Christmas?
  

THE COW PALACE:

"Khayman watched from the archway as the Vampire Lestat's car entered the gates of the parking lot. He moved closer. At last he glimpsed the creature's blond hair, and then his violet blue eyes as he smiled and blew kisses to his adorers....."
"Khayman saw a tall elegant female blood drinker slice unnoticed through the mob, and slide behind the wheel of Lestat's car, calling to Louis and Lestat to join her. It was Gabrielle, the fiend's mother......the Porsche was halfway to the gates before the crowd forced it to stop."

• The street leading to the Cow Palace, Geneva Avenue.
  
• A view of the building and parking lot.
  
• Another view of the Cow Palace.
  

SOME OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST:

THE HOUSE FROM THE MOVIE: This is the building they used in the movie as the site of THE interview. In the movie the lower windows were boarded up.

CHRISTMAS 1999: Notice the Christmas stocking in the window!! This is a view from across the street.

PORT OF SAN FRANCISCO: From across the bay the opening movie scene pans in on the Ferry Building. This photo was taken from the Embarcadero looking out toward the bay. (That's why the writing is backwards!).

There is nothing more Gothic than "Cliff House" as it was around the turn of the century. Anne mentions the restaurant in her novel The Witching Hour. This is one of my favorite Anne Rice places Cliff House

© All photos were taken by me, except where noted, in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000.