A Broke-Ass Tour of Movies Shot in San Francisco

It’s summer time in San Francisco. That means bitching about the weather, summer time visitors, and summertime visitors bitching about the weather. To help keep you from killing your friends and kin and keep them amused, we’ve got the answer for you – the ultimate cheapo tour. No matter if your guest is your laugh-a-minute sibling, an action loving bro-cousin, classic monster nut friend, or noir obsessed college roommate, we’ve got you covered. Our San Francisco movie tour is the perfect thing for giving your visitor a tinsel down experience of the city on a broke ass budget. So turn your cell phones to silent and get ready to step onto the silver screen.

So I Married an Axe Murderer – Palace of Fine Arts

Woman, wooooaaahhhhhh man! Mike Myer’s 1993 movie So I Married an Axe Murder has it all: love, mystery, murder, laughs, and, of course, some serious San Francisco cameos. So, grab your guest, a Campbell’s Cup-o-Chino, and get your asses over to the Palace of Fine Arts where you can both dance like the creatures of the night that you both are.

Big Trouble in Little China – Chinatown

You can’t say Big Trouble in Little China without saying San Francisco. To be honest, you also can’t say tit without mentioning the warriors with weather-themed powers, Kurt Russell, or dim sum. Set among seedy gambling houses, steamed buns, all bathed in the dim red glow of paper lanterns, this flick revolves around SF’s Chinatown. Grab your bud and your buddy and lose yourselves in the twisting cacophony of this living movie set.

Godzilla – Financial District

This is a selfish add on my part. I have a very limited capacity of love for the Financial District of San Francisco. I toiled there for three years and was greeted every morning by the scent of chilled urine and was inundated by hordes of chodes upon the close of every day. It wasn’t a happy time. However, when the 2014 interpretation of Godzilla came with a shot of the high rise I worked in being torched, let me tell you – instant fan girl. If you have a tourist in tow, take them on a stroll down Market and explain to them the giddy joys of a hell-lizard induced inferno.

Vertigo – Mission & Dolores

On the brink of its 60th birthday, Vertigo is an OG mind fuck. A true Hitchcockian love letter written in blood, this movie is the ultimate out-of-towner tour. There are lots of spots to visit but we suggest, above all, taking them to Mission Dolores to visit Carlotta’s grave. Located at Mission and Dolores this mission was founded in 1776 and is as beautiful as it is haunting. You can grab some picnic beers and ooky out about its spooky vibes across the street at Dolores Park after (throw out your god damn bottles though).
We hope that this tour makes you out to be the cinephile of your guest’s dreams. With a little luck this will reighn in the “I thought this was California” weather bitching and bring them into the foggy, dramatic, confusing magic that is San Francisco is the summer.