A film about a newspaper · 2007 · rebuilt in Los Angeles
The Chronicle newsroom was built in an old Los Angeles post office, down to working pneumatic tubes. This page runs on them.
Two newsrooms
The story is set in San Francisco. The newsroom you see was in Los Angeles.
The paper · San Francisco
The Chronicle commissioned its headquarters at 901 Mission Street in 1924, a Gothic Revival design by Charles Peter Weeks and William Peyton Day.
Most of the Gothic detailing was removed in 1968, when the building was re-clad in stucco.
The Zodiac sent a cryptogram in three sections, in letters to the Chronicle and two other papers; Chronicle staffer Paul Avery followed the trail.
The set · Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, the San Francisco Chronicle newsroom was built in the old post office in the Terminal Annex Building downtown.
The notes quote author Robert Graysmith on that newsroom: authentic light fixtures, old typewriters, moulding and a U-shaped copy desk.
The desk drawers were stocked with Chronicle notepads and Eagle pencils.
Terminal Annex was built in 1939 to 1940 to designs by Gilbert Stanley Underwood and opened in May 1940. Wikipedia gives the address as 900 North Alameda Street. It was Los Angeles’s central mail-processing building from 1940 to 1989, and the Postal Service moved out in 1995.
Seen from Alameda Street. Most of the building is a secure data centre, not open to the public; the lobby still has a postal counter.
The tube room
On the set the pneumatic mail tube stations worked. Here, each slip of production news belongs to one of seven places. Load it, pick a station, and see if it is taken.
0 delivered · 0 returned · Slip 1 of 7
Slip 1
Copy desk wanted: U-shaped, with working pneumatic tubes and Eagle pencils in the drawers.
A slip is in the tray. Pick a station.
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Napa County
The tubes are quiet.
Seven stations, one right answer. A wrong one sends the slip back with a hint.
Two oaks
Production designer Donald Graham Burt called Lake Berryessa one of the costliest sets on location, the place where Shepherd and Hartnell were attacked.
The crew finds a bare peninsula.
When the crew arrived there was a small peninsula jutting into the water, and the oak trees the killer hid behind were gone.
Burt said the site was reconstructed from photographs taken there by day.
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, formed by Monticello Dam, which was built from 1953 to 1958. The reservoir filled by 1963 and the town of Monticello was abandoned.
A large public reservoir. The peninsula the film rebuilt could not be identified, so no spot is marked. Treat the shore quietly: a real attack happened here in 1969.
Out of the building
Terminal Annex, the Chronicle building, the Sentinel Building and the Hall of Justice are seen from the street. Spring Street is a street, not a pinned door, and Downey and the lake are named areas. The newsroom set and the stand-in streets are not marked as places to go.
6 places across Los Angeles, San Francisco and Napa County, some marked as areas or streets only.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from Alameda Street. Most of the building is a secure data centre, not open to the public; the lobby still has a postal counter.
Area reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A city south-east of downtown, ordinary streets. The notes name no address, so there is no spot to go to; the pin marks the city.
Los Angeles · 900 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, the San Francisco Chronicle newsroom was built in the old post office in the Terminal Annex Building downtown.
Seen from Alameda Street. Most of the building is a secure data centre, not open to the public; the lobby still has a postal counter.
Los Angeles · Downey, Los Angeles County; no street is named
The notes say Vallejo has changed dramatically, so some of its scenes were shot in Downey to simulate it.
A city south-east of downtown, ordinary streets. The notes name no address, so there is no spot to go to; the pin marks the city.
Kearny Street, San Francisco
The ground-floor cafe of the Sentinel Building. Its official page lists the address and opening hours; check them before you go. Pictured: the building, 2019.
See hoursHistoric Core, Los Angeles
Guided walks of historic downtown Los Angeles, including Spring Street. Check the schedule for dates. Pictured: South Spring Street, 2008.
Plan a walkStay
A hotel in downtown Los Angeles, the city that played San Francisco.
Downtown Los Angeles
A 174-room hotel at 1060 South Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles where Spring Street and Terminal Annex are. No rates are shown on its page; check availability there. Pictured: South Spring Street, 2008.
Check roomsGo there
A North Beach cafe in the Sentinel Building, a walking tour of downtown Los Angeles, and location tours in both cities.
Kearny Street, San Francisco
The ground-floor cafe of the Sentinel Building. Its official page lists the address and opening hours; check them before you go. Pictured: the building, 2019.
See hoursHistoric Core, Los Angeles
Guided walks of historic downtown Los Angeles, including Spring Street. Check the schedule for dates. Pictured: South Spring Street, 2008.
Plan a walkSan Francisco
Live marketplace results for San Francisco movie location tours. Check which routes pass South of Market and North Beach.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursLos Angeles
Live marketplace results for movie and TV location tours in Los Angeles. Check each route for downtown stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated for the film is listed at these places now.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
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.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
7 of 7 places · 9 of 9 stories
900 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles
The Chronicle newsroom is built in the old post office in the Terminal Annex Building.
The set’s pneumatic mail tube stations, phones, drinking fountains and elevators all worked.
Production began on 12 September 2005 and wrapped in February; five weeks were in the Bay Area and the rest in Los Angeles.
Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles; the building is not named
A building on Spring Street doubles for the Hall of Justice and the SFPD.
Downey, Los Angeles County; no street is named
Some Vallejo scenes are shot in Downey because Vallejo has changed so much.
Lake Berryessa, Napa County
Two protected oaks are flown in and watered with hauled water to rebuild the lake shore from day photographs.
916 Kearny Street, San Francisco
Reference photographs from the Sentinel Building roof help make a time-lapse of the Transamerica Pyramid.
901 Mission Street at 5th Street, San Francisco
A cryptogram in three sections is sent to the Chronicle and two other papers.
850 Bryant Street, San Francisco
A survivor of the 1969 attacks plays a detective in the Hall of Justice scenes.
Places to stay
A notable hotel in San Francisco.
San Francisco · Source · Check dates on Expedia (Ad / affiliate)
Nob Hill hotel where Tony Bennett first sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.
950 Mason Street, Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco, 94108 · Source · Check dates on Expedia (Ad / affiliate)
Where George Washington Vanderbilt III died.
999 California Street, Union Square, San Francisco, 94108 · Source · Check dates on Expedia (Ad / affiliate)
What’s on
Punch Line Comedy Club - San Francisco · 450 m from Sentinel Building
August Hall · 650 m from Chronicle Building
The Moroccan Lounge · 1.0 km from Terminal Annex
We may earn a commission on qualifying hotel bookings. Affiliate disclosure.
Links go to each venue’s or organiser’s own site. Check dates, access and availability there before you go.
Every place in Zodiac leads somewhere else.
