HAPPENED UPON THE FILMING OF "BULLITT' AND PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS

HAPPENED UPON THE FILMING OF "BULLITT" AND PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS

You hear Bullitt.....you think Steve McQueen

To this day, Bullitt has one of the most intense car chase scenes ever filmed.

Well it was a laborious day in high school, which for people who thought outside of the box a form of torture, the claim to fame was one of the larger pot busts, ironically the kid related to the Mayor at that time…..this was in 1967….it was interesting in that our high school was mainly Chinese and not trying to generalize but at least as opposed to Bart and me, much more studious and had us in a position where we had to study more, which was not even on our priority list…had we one….so at certain times we felt in arrears in our educational bluster. Hence, there was no less an instant thought skipping a class or two in my last few remaining days in school.

With that idea and both of us in total agreement, we were going to cut a few classes, definitely French class as for some reason (we put cuss words and naughty words outside our French notebooks in French) so we were lucky enough to be picked upon, it seemed to be more often than desired. Next there was Aquatic Park…we called the park, "Neurotic Part" (the end of the pier where you could sit and smell the ocean) it was concrete like amphitheater seating and you faced the ocean and could see Alcatraz.

After going there, sometimes just for a change, we took the streetcar up Nob Hill, to downtown. The streetcar was turned the other way by being on a wood covered round plate that would turn the streetcar to the return tracks-that's another story, I digress….
The same at each end of the trip

There were a few homeless individuals about but more so lost drunks, hence, Neurotic Part.

On the way was Ghirardelli Square. In the 60's there was a soda fountain, even better you could go on a tour of the chocolate factory. There was a huge copper pot of chocolate and you would get samples of chocolate. As a teenager, it was a must daily visit if possible….

One day, a band was playing there, the Beatles had been about for a little while and I enjoyed the music and their look….they began to play a song and I recognized Paul Revere and the Raiders…I think the song faded away but what I was intent upon was the ponytail that Paul Revere wore….and that was when I decided to grow my hair long as of then it was Beatle length and to me was not radical or cool enough….probably passed out promo stuff but we were at an age where we were too cool to take any…not get an autograph…or photo….I digress.

Since we were cutting class, the best way to Aquatic Park was to go to the top of the hill from high school where there were stairs on the way to the park...once we reached there, taking the stairs down...we heard someone say, "Hey, they're filming over there"…the choice was made...we ambled over to the street and to the top of a street a sort of hill overlooking the street…..there were a few people we knew….Bart and I were our own clique. We knew the jocks...the hippies…the surfers…the brains...the stoners…the Potrero hill guys…pacific heights…the marina…the mission district...but were never part of any clique except ours...two, me and Bart...which made us venture about more than settled with one area or set.

And the street was quiet, at least in terms of any cars driving through…we saw a camera set-up…and the crew set-up below us, they were cool and we in turn were quiet...then a black car came barreling up the street and there was an immediate curve and as it slid and screeched, a monster Charger! As the Charger cleared the turn, it sideswiped several cars and stopped...then a Mustang came around and skid to a stop at the curve, someone went to the Mustang and said something…a minute later, Steve McQueen got out and leaned against the car….

It seemed the sideswiping wasn't planned so the crew set about knocking on doors to find out whose cars were hit to make preparations for the damage..it was a cool Mustang and if memory serves me right, with the film truck, was another Mustang being towed as an "extra".

McQueen leaned on the car and talked with someone on the film crew, not sure if he was smoking but could have been the case. They were leaving notes on some doors and had contacted others inside their homes. McQueen got in the Mustang and peeled out and roared up the street. The next scene they were heading past us to Neurotic Part, same as us and we stopped to watch the filming. As they barreled down the hill, they are passing our high school to the right.

It is legend that McQueen, Garner, Newman, and others did their own stunts (all three raced race track cars) to the chagrin and heart palpitations of Directors and Producers, who told them to please do closeups and maybe part of a scene. Needless to say, that was Steve McQueen jamming in the fastback Mustang…

one day...and some cool moments in San Francisco as we were interrupted on our journey to Aquatic Park by some filming.




AND TO TELL THE TRUTH THIS LOOKS LIKE WHEN MCQUEEN PEELED OUT IN THE MUSTANG
AND MAY BE WHAT WE WERE WATCHING I THINK HE WENT ABOUT THE BLOCK THEN THIS WAS SHOT I AM
FUZZY ON THIS BUT IT LOOK LIKE THE SHOOT