555 California Street

555 California Street, formerly known as the Bank of America Center, is a 52-storey skyscraper at the intersection of California Street and Kearny Street in San Francisco’s Financial District, California, USA. Completed in 1969 as the world headquarters of Bank of America, the building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in collaboration with Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons and consulting architect Pietro Belluschi. Rising 237 metres (779 feet), it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until the completion of the Transamerica Pyramid in 1972. Its exterior is clad in reddish-brown Carnelian granite, with thousands of projecting bay windows giving the façade its distinctive appearance. The complex includes A.P. Giannini Plaza, named after the founder of Bank of America, and a large black granite sculpture by Japanese artist Masayuki Nagare titled Transcendence, popularly nicknamed the Banker’s Heart. The building also formerly housed the Carnelian Room, a fine-dining restaurant on its uppermost floor that offered panoramic views of San Francisco before closing on 31 December 2009. Bank of America maintained its global headquarters in the tower until its merger with NationsBank in 1998, after which the combined company relocated its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. The building subsequently adopted its street address as its official name and remains a major commercial landmark in downtown San Francisco.

555 California Street has appeared in Bullitt (1968), Dirty Harry (1971), The Towering Inferno (1974), An Eye for an Eye (1981), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), Godzilla (2014) and San Andreas (2015). The unfinished skyscraper is visible in Bullitt, while its rooftop was used for Scorpio’s first murder in Dirty Harry and later appeared in An Eye for an Eye. The entrance plaza and lower lobby represent part of the fictional Glass Tower in The Towering Inferno, and the former Carnelian Room was used in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. More recent productions have incorporated the skyscraper into the computer-generated destruction of San Francisco in Godzilla and San Andreas.

In Bullitt (1968), directed by Peter Yates, 555 California Street appears under construction in several views of San Francisco. When Albert Renick (Felice Orlandi), posing as mob informant Johnny Ross, leaves the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill by taxi, the unfinished Bank of America building can be seen rising above the Financial District in the distance. Its exposed structural framework is clearly visible, with construction still underway at the time of filming. The skyscraper also appears behind Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn) and Captain Sam Bennett (Simon Oakland) during their conversation outside Grace Cathedral. The building is noticeably further advanced in this shot, reflecting the different dates on which the scenes were filmed. These appearances capture the transformation of San Francisco’s skyline during the late 1960s, shortly before the tower was completed.

In Dirty Harry (1971), directed by Don Siegel, the rooftop of 555 California Street provides the setting for the film’s opening murder and the subsequent police investigation. The serial killer Scorpio (Andrew Robinson) takes up a concealed position on the roof of the Bank of America building, overlooking downtown San Francisco. Using a high-powered rifle fitted with a telescopic sight, he aims at a young woman swimming in the rooftop pool of the Holiday Inn Chinatown at 750 Kearny Street, several blocks to the north. Unaware that she is being watched, the woman continues swimming until Scorpio fires a single shot, killing her in the water below. The sequence cuts between the killer’s position high above the Financial District and the distant swimming pool, with the surrounding buildings establishing the considerable distance between them.

Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) subsequently arrives to investigate the killing. After examining the swimming pool, he traces the trajectory of the shot to the Bank of America building and makes his way onto its roof. Harry approaches the edge and looks down towards the hotel, retracing Scorpio’s line of sight. Searching the rooftop, he discovers a spent rifle cartridge and a handwritten message left by the killer. Scorpio demands $100,000 from the city and threatens further murders if his instructions are ignored. Harry reads the letter while standing above the streets of San Francisco, with the surrounding Financial District and sections of the bay visible behind him. Both the sniper’s position and Harry’s investigation were filmed on the actual rooftop of 555 California Street, while the swimming pool sequences were filmed at the Holiday Inn Chinatown, now the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. The hotel pool has since closed.

In The Towering Inferno (1974), directed by John Guillermin, 555 California Street represents the entrance and lower levels of the fictional Glass Tower, a 138-storey skyscraper celebrating its official dedication. The building’s elevated A.P. Giannini Plaza and broad granite staircase are used for the entrance to the new tower, where developer James Duncan (William Holden) is preparing to welcome guests to an elaborate opening-night celebration. Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) returns to San Francisco for the event, only to discover that the building’s electrical systems have been compromised by cost-cutting during construction. The opening scenes use the Bank of America complex to establish the public entrance to Duncan’s skyscraper, with the building’s granite façade and surrounding plaza clearly visible.

As a fire breaks out and spreads through the upper floors, the entrance plaza becomes the centre of the emergency response. Fire engines arrive outside the tower, and firefighters move up the granite steps towards the main doors while Chief Michael O’Hallorhan (Steve McQueen) organises the rescue operation. The area gradually fills with emergency personnel as the blaze threatens guests attending the dedication party far above the streets. Several sequences were filmed around the actual entrance and lower lobby of 555 California Street, with the California Street staircase appearing repeatedly as firefighters and other characters enter and leave the burning building.

The same staircase appears in the film’s closing scenes, after the disaster has ended. Outside the building, Roberts speaks with O’Hallorhan about the catastrophe and the dangers of constructing increasingly tall buildings without adequate fire precautions. Susan Franklin (Faye Dunaway) joins Roberts on the steps as the surviving characters come to terms with what has happened. The conversation takes place at the actual Bank of America entrance, bringing together three of the film’s principal actors at one of its most important San Francisco locations.

The production combined 555 California Street with several other buildings to create the fictional Glass Tower. The spacious lobby with its glass elevators was filmed at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco at Embarcadero Center, while many of the offices, corridors and burning interiors were constructed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Los Angeles. Miniature models and photographic effects supplied the enormous exterior of the 138-storey tower, which was considerably taller than any actual building in San Francisco at the time. Although the story presents these locations as parts of the same skyscraper, the Bank of America complex provided the street-level entrance, plaza and portions of the lower lobby rather than the entire building.

In An Eye for an Eye (1981), directed by Steve Carver, 555 California Street was used for scenes involving former San Francisco police detective Sean Kane (Chuck Norris). The Bank of America building doubles as a police headquarters, with its modern offices and upper floors used during the production. One of the action sequences filmed inside the skyscraper involved Norris fighting two opponents in a high-rise conference room, where the combat was rehearsed with stunt performers Aaron Norris and Bob Barrow. The fight made use of the room’s furniture and walls, with Norris performing kicks and throws while his hands were tied behind his back. The production also returned to the rooftop location previously seen in Dirty Harry. The filming took place in January 1981, ten years after Don Siegel had used the same skyscraper for Scorpio’s opening murder.

In Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), directed by Bill Duke, the former Carnelian Room restaurant at the top of 555 California Street was used for interior filming. The restaurant occupied the uppermost level of the skyscraper and was known for its large windows overlooking San Francisco Bay and the Financial District. Its dining room, furnished as an elegant restaurant high above the city, was still operating when the production took place. The film follows Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg), who returns to San Francisco and resumes her disguise as Sister Mary Clarence to help the nuns of St Francis Academy. The Carnelian Room was one of several real San Francisco interiors used during the production, which also filmed at locations including St Peter and Paul’s Church in North Beach. The restaurant remained open for another sixteen years before closing on New Year’s Eve in 2009.

In Godzilla (2014), directed by Gareth Edwards, 555 California Street appears during the climactic battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs in downtown San Francisco. The creatures fight among the high-rise buildings of the Financial District, causing extensive destruction as military forces attempt to recover a nuclear warhead. The Bank of America tower is visible among the skyscrapers surrounding the confrontation, its rectangular form and distinctive upper floors remaining recognisable in the devastated cityscape. The building and surrounding streets were recreated and modified through computer-generated imagery, allowing the filmmakers to depict destruction on a scale that would have been impossible to achieve through practical effects. Unlike its appearances in Dirty Harry and The Towering Inferno, the skyscraper functions here as part of a digitally constructed San Francisco rather than a location for scenes involving actors.

In San Andreas (2015), directed by Brad Peyton, 555 California Street represents part of the business empire of wealthy property developer Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd). His girlfriend’s daughter, Blake Gaines (Alexandra Daddario), accompanies him to San Francisco shortly before a massive earthquake strikes the city. During the disaster, Blake becomes trapped inside a vehicle in a collapsing underground parking garage associated with Riddick’s offices. Daniel initially attempts to help her but abandons her when the situation becomes increasingly dangerous. She is eventually rescued by British brothers Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) and Ollie Taylor (Art Parkinson), who have also been caught in the earthquake.

The Bank of America skyscraper provides part of the exterior identity of the fictional Riddick corporate complex, while the collapsing garage and surrounding destruction were created using other filming locations, studio sets and visual effects. The tower appears within the film’s digitally devastated Financial District, where buildings buckle and collapse as the earthquake spreads through downtown San Francisco. The film also features a separate fictional high-rise development called The Gate, which becomes central to the later tsunami sequence. Although both properties belong to Riddick’s business interests within the story, they represent different buildings.

---