MOST DAYS IN HER HOME OFFICE MISS JO WATCHES “THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO.” So on this day after Karl Malden passed away at 97, it was extra special to see his Lt. Mike Stone solve another murder.
Today’s episode: “Superstar.”
The script was a classic “Streets” episode. Lt. Stone and his sidekick, Inspector Steve Keller (Mike Douglas) were reining in New York police Sgt. Bert D’Angelo (Paul Sorvino), who’s looking for a fugitive witness to his partner’s killing. “You’re not a cop in this city,” Lt. Stone warned the interloper.
“What do you do in `Frisco,” D’Angelo continued his arrogance, using a moniker for the City that pegs you as an outsider and can be insulting to local ears.
“San Francisco,” Lt. Stone corrected.
Filmed 1972-1977, the show’s SF backdrop and great acting has kept it fresh to watch as a 1970s time capsule, complete with bell-bottom, paisley and wide-tie fashions. Malden’s fedora-wearing Lt. Stone, a role he began at 60, is classic hard-boiled detective delivery.
For San Franciscans, it’s also a gas to neighborhood watch as Stone and Keller zip around the City in their SFPD black-and-white cruiser. What’s also so striking is to see how little has changed in the street scapes over almost 40 years— thanks largely to neighborhood zoning that keeps development and chain stores in check.
However, there are some differences in SF since Malden roamed its streets, like the absence of highway ramps along the Embarcadero that obscured views and encircled the Ferry Building in an ill-conceived idea to zip cars between the Bay and Golden Gate bridges. Thankfully, the ramps were torn down after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which made them unsafe.