Tosca Cafe
Featured in: Basic Instinct (1992)

Michael Douglas, hanging out in character in San Francisco's Tosca Cafe (Screenshot courtesy TriStar)

Alright, so nobody in 2015 is exactly clamoring for the Basic Instinct San Francisco Bus Tour, and Bay Area locals are far more likely to snidely remind you of the geographical ludicrousness of this movie’s dramatic car chase north across the Golden Gate Bridge that suddenly cuts to Hwy 1... south of San Francisco. But a visit to SF’s North Beach neighborhood is still made even more fun with a visit to the century-old Tosca Cafe, which has a sort-of-starring role as the SFPD watering hole where detective Michael Douglas, rattled by that notorious Sharon Stone interrogation, dramatically abandons his sobriety.

The bar at Tosca Cafe in San Francisco (Thomas Hawk via Flickr)

These days Tosca’s almost certainly prefers to be known for its 2013 reinvention as a restaurant than for its brief appearance in a dubious classic of nineties erotica. But it’s still fun to spot its stenciled door and distinctive red booths onscreen, and let’s face it: given Tosca’s popularity, its growing number of awards and its invitation-only back room’s reputation as the place to spot visiting celebrities, Netflix might be the only way you’ll see the inside of this North Beach institution for a while.

The Tides Restaurant, Bodega Bay
Featured in: The Birds (1960)

The Tides Restaurant, as featured in The Birds (Screenshot: Universal Pictures)

Ever noticed that small-town movie settings -- particularly ones subjected to strange things -- are often given fictionalized, generic names? Not Bodega Bay, the North Bay setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds which is why visiting this windswept spot off Hwy 1 is such a fun experience for movie buffs. The town's Tides Wharf Restaurant provided the backdrop for multiple moments, although the actual cafe scenes were filmed (you guessed it) hundreds of miles away on the Universal Studios lot.

The Tides complex in Bodega Bay under bird attack in The Birds (Screenshot: Universal )

Although the Tides complex has been remodeled several times since those days, it’s still a real kick for Hitchcock fans to experience its windswept, slightly dilapidated charms, especially since the buildings and parking lot were also used for the boat dock scenes and gas station scenes. (Bodega Bay was thankfully spared the famous “gas station explosion” in real life, which took place at the studio.)

The Ramp
Featured in: Blue Jasmine (2013)

Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins drink at The Ramp in Blue Jasmine (Screenshot courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)

According to his cinematographer, Woody Allen “always wanted to avoid the postcard sights” while filming his San Francisco-set Blue Jasmine. Chinatown scenes aside, this commitment to showing the “real” San Francisco results in a cameo for Mission Bay spot The Ramp: the waterfront setting for an excruciating first meeting between a Martini-oiled Cate Blanchett and onscreen sister Sally Hawkins, her boyfriend and his dimwit pal.

Caption — The Ramp, as featured in Blue Jasmine (Screenshot: Sony Pictures Classics)

You’re meant to think Jasmine somewhat pompous when she proclaims the location “reminds me of the Mediterranean” but The Ramp really does boast legimately beautiful views of the bay, and you’re so close to the water on its foliage-filled deck that it’s easy to forget you’re within spitting distance of the freeway.

That's a Wrap: The Bay Area Foodie Film Locations That Are Long Gone

Ernie’s, San Francisco
Featured in: Vertigo (1958)

Kim Novak entering Ernie's in a scene from Vertigo (Screenshot: Paramount Pictures)

With its deep-red silk wallpaper and chandeliered opulence, Ernie’s just looks like the cinematic ideal of a classic restaurant on-screen in Vertigo. By all accounts this SF institution, which opened on Montgomery Street at the turn of the 20th century and finally closed in 1995, was quite the hot spot in its heyday but here’s the thing: the restaurant interior James Stewart and Kim Novak are dining in onscreen is actually a painstaking recreation of Ernie’s.

Ernie's as seen onscreen in Vertigo (Screenshot: Paramount Pictures)

Hitchcock wanted to have this authentic San Francisco location featured in his movie but when he discovered its size wouldn’t accommodate the panoramic shots he wanted, he just built a fake Ernie’s on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood. According to local food writer T.J. Jacobberger’s fantastic account, Hitchcock’s dedication to authenticity also extended to flying Ernie’s proprietors Roland and Victor Gotti to L.A. to play the maitre d’ and bartender onscreen.

Coffee Cantata
Featured in Bullitt (1968)

Steve McQueen hangs out at the long-departed Cantata Cafe in San Francisco (Screenshot: Warner Bros. Seven Arts)

Don’t you just want to hang out in Bullitt’s impossibly Mad Men-esque jazz cafe Coffee Cantata, where Steve McQueen drinks with Jacqueline Bisset? Well tough, because you can’t. This place in SF’s Cow Hollow neighborhood really was called Coffee Cantata, but it’s long-gone, and in its place lies culinary hotspot Betelnut. There is actually still a spot called Cantata Coffee on Haight Street, but it’s no relation.

Steve McQueen and Jacqueline Bisset hang out at the long-departed Cantata Cafe in San Francisco — Steve McQueen and Jacqueline Bisset dine out at Cantata Cafe in San Francisco -- but you can't (Screenshot: Warner Bros. Seven Arts)

While you’re watching this movie, look also for dearly departed North Beach cafe Enrico’s on Broadway, where Bullitt meets an informant: it’s now the site of the restaurant Naked Lunch.

Mel’s Drive-In
Featured in: American Graffiti (1973)

Mel's Drive in, as featured in George Lucas' American Graffiti (Screenshot: Universal Pictures)

Not even burger-happy film fans back in the 70s got to pay pilgrimage to this one. George Lucas used Mel’s Drive-In on South Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco as a location for his Modesto-set coming-of-age tale American Graffiti just prior to its scheduled demolition, and by the time it was released, this particular drive-in was reduced to rubble.

Mel's Drive-In on Geary Street in San Francisco (Thomas Hawk via Flickr)

Happily, if you really want to recreate scenes from the movie you can head to one of the many other Mel’s Drive-in incarnations in San Francisco. They’re novelty pastiches now of course, but of all of them, the Geary Street location probably most resembles the Mel’s onscreen.

Burger Island (a.k.a “Acorn Cafe”)
Featured in: Sudden Impact (1983)

Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) waits for his coffee at the 'Acorn Cafe' in San Francisco (Screenshot courtesy Warner Bros.)

“Go ahead… make my day” has become so iconic a pop culture reference that it’s easy to forget which scene this line is actually spoken in (or indeed, in what Dirty Harry movie.) But of course, it’s the climax to the cafe robbery in Sudden Impact, set in what was called the 'Acorn Cafe' in the movie, but actually filmed in an unremarkable corner spot called Burger Island in SOMA.

Sudden Impact's hold-up at the Acorn Cafe (Screenshot courtesy Warner Bros.)

It’s now a McDonald’s, so technically you can still go there and order a coffee like Harry... but that’s almost certainly where your homage should end.

What Bay Area foodie film locations have I missed? Let me know in the comments!

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