18.11.2005 · KEARNY ST · SAN FRANCISCOTony Shalhoub and Traylor Howard running down the Peter Macchiarini Steps, San Francisco, 18 November 2005. Frank Steele · CC BY-SA 2.0
San Francisco · USA Network · 2002–2009
Monk
Set in San Francisco. Made mostly somewhere else.
Vancouver2001 pilot
TorontoSeason 1
Los AngelesSeasons 2–8
San FranciscoNow and then
One thing on this mat is not straight.
Put it straight
Squared away.
Monk tries, endlessly, to make the world balanced. The show had its own imbalance: set in San Francisco, it was made mostly about 3,600 kilometres away in Toronto, and then about 550 kilometres south on a backlot in Los Angeles. Each tile below is a scene, slightly off true. Straighten it and it turns over to show where it was really made.
Case notes
Monk carries out endless attempts to make the world balanced; he is fixated on symmetry.
The card stays face down until a tile is straight.
Ten tiles, all crooked. Put one straight.
0San Francisco0Toronto0Los Angeles0/10Straight
The pilot · 2001
The first San Francisco was Vancouver.
Mr. Monk and the Candidate was shot in Vancouver in 2001, with some location shooting in San Francisco. A fan survey found two of those real corners in North Beach, and the Bay Bridge filmed from the Embarcadero.
North Beach · pilotFilbert Street in North Beach, with Saints Peter and Paul Church, 2006. Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 2.5
Jasper Place, off Columbus Avenue, and Grant Avenue at Filbert Street, North Beach
Jasper Place and Grant Avenue
The first episode, Mr. Monk and the Candidate, was shot in Vancouver in 2001, with some location shooting in San Francisco.
The Monk Fun Page found two of its North Beach corners: Jasper Place, where the scene’s bent No Parking sign was still bent three years later, and Grant Avenue at Filbert Street.
The pilot went out on the USA Network on 12 July 2002 and was watched by about 4.8 million people.
Jasper Place is a short alley a block from Washington Square; Grant and Filbert is two minutes uphill. Both are public streets.
Case notesEmbarcadero · pilotThe Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero, 2014. Runner1928 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Embarcadero at Howard Street, below Rincon Hill
The Embarcadero at Howard Street
A pilot shot of the Bay Bridge was made on the Embarcadero at Howard Street.
Although the series is set in the Bay Area, it was mostly shot elsewhere, except for occasional exteriors of city landmarks.
A public waterfront promenade with the Bay Bridge overhead to the south; the F-line streetcar runs along it.
Case notes
Season one · 2002
The police station is a tailor’s.
After the pilot the other eleven first-season episodes were made in and around Toronto. San Francisco’s police station was a 1920s menswear factory on Lake Shore Boulevard, and its cliff beach was in Scarborough, with Alcatraz added afterwards.
Case notes
The pilot was shot in Vancouver; the remaining first-season episodes were filmed in Toronto and the surrounding area.
Played the police stationThe Tip Top Tailors Building, now Tip Top Lofts, on Lake Shore Boulevard West. SimonP · CC BY-SA 3.0
637 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Toronto
The Tip Top Tailors Building
In the first season it was the outside of the San Francisco police station, in at least five episodes, with press conferences on its steps in Mr. Monk and the Red-Headed Stranger.
A sign for the Tip Top Lofts presentation centre gives it away in some shots.
The 1920s factory was the headquarters of Tip Top Tailors, a Canadian menswear firm, and has since been turned into loft apartments.
Now homes, the Tip Top Lofts. See the front from Lake Shore Boulevard West; don’t go in.
Case notesPlayed a cliff beachThe Scarborough Bluffs over Lake Ontario, 2009. Benson Kua · CC BY-SA 2.0
Brimley Road South, Scarborough, Toronto
Bluffer’s Park
In Mr. Monk and the Psychic it played a San Francisco cliff beach, with Alcatraz added digitally offshore.
In Mr. Monk Takes a Vacation its beach was used again, with the hotel cliff added digitally.
The Bluffs rise up to 90 metres over Lake Ontario and run for 15 kilometres; of the eleven parks along them, Bluffer’s Park is the only one with a beach.
A public park and beach at the foot of Brimley Road, under the Scarborough Bluffs. Keep off the cliff edges, which erode.
Case notesPlayed the asylumShouldice Hospital on Bayview Avenue, Thornhill. Silver Dovelet · CC BY-SA 3.0
7750 Bayview Avenue, Thornhill, Markham
Shouldice Hospital
In July 2002 the Globe and Mail met Shalhoub in the heat on the grounds of Shouldice Hospital, where an episode was being filmed; the paper noted that the series, though set in San Francisco, was made in and around Toronto.
It was the asylum in Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum.
The hernia hospital stands on the former estate of George McCullagh, who created The Globe and Mail in 1936.
A working private hospital. Look from Bayview Avenue only; the grounds are for patients.
Case notesPlayed the Hall of JusticeMississauga Civic Centre and its clock tower, 2021. Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0
300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga
Mississauga City Hall
In Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival it was the Hall of Justice; Sharona’s car crash was filmed across the road at the Living Arts Centre.
Finished in 1987 by Jones and Kirkland, it won a design competition with 246 entries. Its clock tower and its plan draw on the farmsteads that once covered Mississauga.
A working city hall; walk round it from Celebration Square, where the fountains are.
Case notesPlayed the runner’s hotelThe King Edward Hotel on King Street East, 2019. Leventio · CC BY-SA 4.0
37 King Street East, Toronto
The King Edward Hotel
In Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man the King Edward was the runner Tonday’s hotel; the race was watched from Roundhouse Park, by the CN Tower.
The King Eddy fills the whole block between King, Victoria and Colborne Streets and Leader Lane.
A working hotel; the lobby is open to walk into from King Street East.
Case notesPlayed Monk’s houseWalmer Road at the Spadina station entrance, 2024. This is the street, not the house. Canmenwalker · CC BY 4.0
Walmer Road, Casa Loma, Toronto
Monk’s house, Walmer Road
In the first season the establishing shots of Monk’s house were filmed on Walmer Road; no scene in the series takes place outside it.
A private house on a residential street. It is named here by its street only and kept off the map.
Case notes
Omni Hotels
The Omni King Edward Hotel
King Street East, Toronto
The runner’s hotel in Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man: the King Eddy, which fills a whole block of King Street East in downtown Toronto.
Broadway falling east from Russian Hill towards the Bay Bridge, 2013. Рустам Абдрахимов · CC BY 3.0
A weekend north · 2003
Broadway and Taylor.
By the second season the show was made in Los Angeles, but the cast still came north for a weekend at a time.
In 2003, just before the second season, the cast came north for a weekend and shot scenes for five episodes; the Chronicle found Shalhoub filming on the corner of Broadway and Taylor Street.
The scene: Stottlemeyer needs help on a case, but first he has to talk Monk out of stalking a mailbox. Monk wants to follow the postman to be sure he doesn’t drop his letter.
Between takes a real San Francisco police officer wandered into Shalhoub’s trailer to use the bathroom. Shalhoub told him to help himself.
The Monk Fun Page places a scene from Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico, a 2003 episode, at Taylor and Broadway.
While shooting outside, Shalhoub queried a script line that put Mexico eight hours’ drive away: that, he said, is how long it takes to reach San Diego with no traffic.
A steep residential corner; Broadway drops east from here towards North Beach and the bay. Homes on every side, so look from the pavement.
Case notes
Case notes
Shalhoub questioned a line describing Mexico as an eight-hour drive: eight hours gets you to San Diego with no traffic.
The Palace of Fine Arts rotunda over its lagoon, 2011. l0da_ralta · CC BY 2.0
Marina · 2003
The Palace of Fine Arts
The Monk Fun Page places a scene from Mr. Monk Goes to the Ball Game, a 2003 episode, at the Palace of Fine Arts.
It was built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition and is the only building from it still on its site, though it was completely rebuilt between 1964 and 1974.
Bernard Maybeck designed it to look like a ruin of ancient Rome; the open rotunda is 162 feet high and stands over a lagoon.
The rotunda and lagoon sit in an open park off Lyon Street and Marina Boulevard. The theatre behind them sells its own tickets.
Case notes
16–18 November 2005
Three days in November.
Once a year the cast and crew came north to film in the city. In November 2005 a fan rang the film commission again and again to find out where; the permits, when they came, were for a park on Nob Hill and for Union Square. On the third day the crew turned up on Kearny Street.
Case notes
Once a year the cast and crew travelled north to film on location in San Francisco; the parks department’s permits were for Huntington Park on 16 November and Union Square on 17 November 2005.
Wed 16The tortoise fountain in Huntington Park, Nob Hill, 2015. Daderot · Public domain
California and Taylor Streets, Nob Hill
Huntington Park
In November 2005 the parks department’s only Monk permits were for Huntington Park on the afternoon of Wednesday the 16th and Union Square the next day.
By dusk the crew had wrapped, but its long trailers still ringed the park. A woman at one of them was the caterer.
The 1.3-acre park has a playground and two fountains. The central one is a copy of the Fontana delle Tartarughe, given by the Crocker family in 1954 and installed in 1955.
A small public park on the top of Nob Hill, with Grace Cathedral across Taylor Street. Open daily; the cable car stops on California Street.
Case notesThu 17Union Square and the Dewey Monument, 2017. Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0
Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Streets, downtown
Union Square
By 6.30am on Thursday 17 November 2005 the crew was stringing cable round the square and building a portable fake fountain in front of the Dewey Monument.
In the scene Traylor Howard, as Natalie, puts her arm into the fountain. Wardrobe dried her off and handed her a duplicate jacket after every take.
The director led the crowd in a chant for the sun to go behind a building, because they could not shoot until the fountain was in shade. Andy Breckman, the show’s creator, came by later.
The monument, a column topped by a statue of Victory, was dedicated in 1903 to Admiral George Dewey.
A public plaza in the middle of the shopping district, with the Dewey Monument at its centre. Powell Street cable cars stop at its west side.
Case notesThu 17Maiden Lane from Union Square, 2021. Jdforrester · CC BY 4.0
Maiden Lane, between Stockton and Kearny Streets, off Union Square
Maiden Lane
On the same Thursday morning a second shot was set up in Maiden Lane, across Stockton Street from the square, with a shoe shop used in later scenes.
The lane is a pedestrian mall of boutiques and galleries, and has San Francisco’s only Frank Lloyd Wright building, the V. C. Morris Gift Shop.
A two-block lane of boutiques opposite Union Square across Stockton Street. Gates close it to cars from 11am to 5pm.
Case notes
Fri 18 · frame 01 / 08Shalhoub and Howard walk back up to their marks for another take, 18 November 2005. Frank Steele · CC BY-SA 2.0
Fri 18
Flip the take.
Back to the top. Shalhoub and Howard climb to their marks in the alley above the steps.
Kearny Street just above Broadway, Telegraph Hill
The Peter Macchiarini Steps
On the afternoon of Friday 18 November 2005 a crew on Kearny Street filmed Monk and Natalie being chased out of an alley and down these steps, with a stuntman on a Harley-Davidson behind them.
Part way down, Monk turns back up the steps, for a step he missed or a clue he saw, which brings the motorcyclist right past him. A golf cart with a fixed camera followed the action down.
Many parts of the season-four episode Mr. Monk and the Big Reward were shot on location, among them the closing chase by three bounty hunters.
In 2000 the city renamed this part of Kearny Street the Peter Macchiarini Steps, after the modernist jeweller who kept a studio on Grant Avenue for more than fifty years.
A public stairway at the top of Kearny Street, above Broadway. Climb it towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.
Case notes
Photographs by Frank Steele, who happened to be passing with a camera.
A Monk camera operator at the foot of the steps, under the Peter Macchiarini street sign, 18 November 2005. Frank Steele · CC BY-SA 2.0
The Universal backlot from above in May 2008, while Monk was in production. Rob Young from United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Universal City · seasons 2–8
The lot.
Universal Studios Hollywood
From the second season most episodes were made in the Los Angeles area, including the sets of Monk’s apartment, the police station and Stottlemeyer’s office, Dr Kroger’s office and Natalie’s house.
Much of the show was filmed on the Universal backlot, where New York Street was a favourite; in April 2006 the tour tram passed the crew shooting there.
Universal Studios Hollywood is a working film studio and a theme park that began as tours of its real sets.
The backlot can be seen only from the Studio Tour tram inside the theme park. Routes change with production, and sets are reused.
Case notes
A street on the Universal backlot, 2011. R.A. Perquin · CC BY-SA 4.0
In September 2005 the cast and crew spent two days filming an episode at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave, for broadcast in January 2006. When they wrapped, more than 200 people queued for autographs.
Case notes
More than 200 people received autographs from the cast at Edwards Air Force Base on 9 September 2005, after two days filming an episode due on the USA Network in January 2006.
The tram ride through the working backlot where Monk was filmed from the second season, New York Street included. Routes change with production; prices and hours vary by date.
Shalhoub, in Monk’s coat, waits with the crew and a camera cart, 18 November 2005. Frank Steele · CC BY-SA 2.0Tony ShalhoubAdrian Monk · November 2005
Traylor Howard in December 2005, in her first year as Natalie Teeger. Spc. Jon H. Arguello · Public domainTraylor HowardNatalie Teeger · December 2005
Ted Levine, Captain Stottlemeyer, in 2004. Kristin Dos Santos · CC0Ted LevineCaptain Leland Stottlemeyer · 2004
Jason Gray-Stanford, Traylor Howard, Tony Shalhoub and Ted Levine sign autographs at Edwards Air Force Base in September 2005, after two days filming an episode there. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Francesca Carrano) · Public domain
Tony Shalhoub played Adrian Monk for all eight seasons and was nominated for the Emmy for lead actor in a comedy every year from 2003 to 2010. Ted Levine was Captain Stottlemeyer and Jason Gray-Stanford his lieutenant, Randy Disher. Bitty Schram was Monk’s first assistant, Sharona; Traylor Howard took over as Natalie in the middle of the third season.
Andy Breckman is credited as the creator; the idea of a detective with obsessive–compulsive disorder came from David Hoberman in 1998.
Case notes
Shalhoub nominated for the lead-actor Emmy eight years running, 2003 to 2010, winning in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
9.4mPeople who watched the finale, a cable drama record until 2012
Case notes
125 episodes over eight seasons, 12 July 2002 to December 2009; the finale held the record for the most-watched scripted cable drama from 2009 to 2012, with 9.4 million viewers.
14 places you can visit, in San Francisco, Toronto and Los Angeles. Monk’s house on Walmer Road is a private home: named here, not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A steep residential corner; Broadway drops east from here towards North Beach and the bay. Homes on every side, so look from the pavement.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Jasper Place is a short alley a block from Washington Square; Grant and Filbert is two minutes uphill. Both are public streets.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public waterfront promenade with the Bay Bridge overhead to the south; the F-line streetcar runs along it.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public stairway at the top of Kearny Street, above Broadway. Climb it towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.
1Broadway falling east from Russian Hill towards the Bay Bridge, 2013. Рустам Абдрахимов · CC BY 3.0
Broadway at Taylor Street, Russian Hill
Broadway and Taylor
In 2003, just before the second season, the cast came north for a weekend and shot scenes for five episodes; the Chronicle found Shalhoub filming on the corner of Broadway and Taylor Street.
A steep residential corner; Broadway drops east from here towards North Beach and the bay. Homes on every side, so look from the pavement.
Case notes
2Filbert Street in North Beach, with Saints Peter and Paul Church, 2006. Daniel Schwen · CC BY-SA 2.5
Jasper Place, off Columbus Avenue, and Grant Avenue at Filbert Street, North Beach
Jasper Place and Grant Avenue
The first episode, Mr. Monk and the Candidate, was shot in Vancouver in 2001, with some location shooting in San Francisco.
Jasper Place is a short alley a block from Washington Square; Grant and Filbert is two minutes uphill. Both are public streets.
Case notes
3The Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero, 2014. Runner1928 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Embarcadero at Howard Street, below Rincon Hill
The Embarcadero at Howard Street
A pilot shot of the Bay Bridge was made on the Embarcadero at Howard Street.
A public waterfront promenade with the Bay Bridge overhead to the south; the F-line streetcar runs along it.
Case notes
4Shalhoub and Howard on the steps, 18 November 2005. Frank Steele · CC BY-SA 2.0
Kearny Street just above Broadway, Telegraph Hill
The Peter Macchiarini Steps
On the afternoon of Friday 18 November 2005 a crew on Kearny Street filmed Monk and Natalie being chased out of an alley and down these steps, with a stuntman on a Harley-Davidson behind them.
A public stairway at the top of Kearny Street, above Broadway. Climb it towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.
Case notes
Stay
Check in.
The runner’s hotel on King Street East, or a room on Nob Hill above the 2005 shoot.
Omni Hotels
The Omni King Edward Hotel
King Street East, Toronto
The runner’s hotel in Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man: the King Eddy, which fills a whole block of King Street East in downtown Toronto.
A hotel on the top of Nob Hill, about 200 metres from Huntington Park, where the crew parked its trailers in November 2005. Union Square and the Kearny Street steps are a walk downhill. The photograph is of the park.
The Universal Studio Tour, and live tours of the San Francisco and Toronto locations.
Universal Studios Hollywood
The Studio Tour, Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal City, Los Angeles
The tram ride through the working backlot where Monk was filmed from the second season, New York Street included. Routes change with production; prices and hours vary by date.
Live marketplace results for film and television location tours of San Francisco. None is built round Monk; check each route for North Beach, Russian Hill and Union Square.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The full case file
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
15 of 15 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Broadway and Taylor
Broadway at Taylor Street, Russian Hill
The mailbox
On Broadway at Taylor, Stottlemeyer has to talk Monk out of stalking a mailbox.
Jasper Place and Grant Avenue
Jasper Place, off Columbus Avenue, and Grant Avenue at Filbert Street, North Beach
Mr. Monk and the Candidate
The pilot is shot in Vancouver in 2001, with some location shooting in San Francisco, including North Beach corners.
The Embarcadero at Howard Street
The Embarcadero at Howard Street, below Rincon Hill
The Bay Bridge
The pilot films the Bay Bridge from the Embarcadero at Howard Street.
The Peter Macchiarini Steps
Kearny Street just above Broadway, Telegraph Hill
Mr. Monk and the Big Reward
Monk and Natalie are chased down the Kearny Street steps by a motorcyclist; Monk turns back halfway.
Huntington Park
California and Taylor Streets, Nob Hill
The permit
The crew has a permit for Huntington Park; by dusk only the trailers and the caterer are left.
Union Square
Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Streets, downtown
The fake fountain
A portable fountain is built in front of the Dewey Monument, and Natalie puts her arm in it, take after take.
Maiden Lane
Maiden Lane, between Stockton and Kearny Streets, off Union Square
The shoe shop
A second set-up in Maiden Lane, with a shoe shop for later scenes.
The Palace of Fine Arts
3301 Lyon Street, Marina District
Mr. Monk Goes to the Ball Game
A scene is filmed at the Palace of Fine Arts.
The Tip Top Tailors Building
637 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Toronto
The police station
A tailor’s factory on Lake Shore Boulevard plays the San Francisco police station.
Monk’s house, Walmer Road
Walmer Road, Casa Loma, Toronto
Monk’s house
Monk’s house is a house on Walmer Road in Toronto, seen only in establishing shots.
The King Edward Hotel
37 King Street East, Toronto
Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man
The King Edward on King Street East is the runner’s hotel.
Mississauga City Hall
300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga
Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival
Mississauga’s city hall plays the Hall of Justice.
Bluffer’s Park
Brimley Road South, Scarborough, Toronto
Mr. Monk and the Psychic
A Lake Ontario beach plays a San Francisco cliff beach, with Alcatraz added digitally.
Shouldice Hospital
7750 Bayview Avenue, Thornhill, Markham
Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum
A hernia hospital in Thornhill plays the asylum; Shalhoub talks to the Globe and Mail on its grounds.
Universal Studios Hollywood
100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City
The lot
From the second season the apartment, the station and the offices are sets in Los Angeles, and New York Street on the Universal backlot is a favourite location.
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