Fort Point National Historic Site

Fort Point, known historically as the Castillo de San Joaquín (Spanish for "Saint Joachim's Castle") is a masonry seacoast fortification located on the southern side of the Golden Gate at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. It is also the geographic name of the promontory upon which the fort and the southern approach of the Golden Gate Bridge were constructed.^[3]

Fort Point National Historic Site

San Francisco, California, U.S.

37°48′38″N 122°28′38″W / 37.81056°N 122.47722°W / 37.81056; -122.47722

29 acres (12 ha)

16 October 1970

1,682,041 (in 2005)

National Park Service

Fort Point National Historic Site

Harbor defense installation

United States Army

6th Air Defense Artillery Regiment

1861 (1861)

Decommission 1970

Castillo De San Joaquín^[1]

10/16/1970

70000146^[2]

The fort was completed just before the American Civil War by the United States Army, to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships. The fort is now protected as Fort Point National Historic Site, a United States National Historic Site administered by the National Park Service as a unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is now popular as a tourist viewing point of the Golden Gate Bridge directly over top of it.

Fort Point in 1934, Golden Gate Bridge under construction

View from under bridge.

A general view of the northwest wall, in relation to the Fort Point arch of the golden gate bridge.

A view toward the southwest corner of the interior, showing the octagonal wooden structure atop the southwest circular staircase.

In (1947), a fight scene with Humphrey Bogart on the bluff above the fort ends with his opponent falling to his death in what is now the fort's parking lot.

Dark Passage

In the 1950 film , there is a five-minute search scene near the end of the film that was filmed at Fort Point and shows many shots of the fort.

The Man Who Cheated Himself

The most famous example is 's 1958 thriller Vertigo, wherein Kim Novak's character jumps into the San Francisco Bay in an apparent suicide attempt.

Alfred Hitchcock

In , the 1967 John Boorman noir movie starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson, it is shown as the location for the "Alcatraz Drop" at the closed Alcatraz Prison. However, in the final scene a continuous camera shot rises to show Alcatraz Prison in the distance, revealing this to be Fort Point.

Point Blank

In 's 1968 film Petulia, George C. Scott's character plays with his boys, ignoring 'No Trespassing' signs, at Fort Point.

Richard Lester

In the 1969 pilot film for the TV series , Martin Sheen's character jumps to his death from Fort Point.

Then Came Bronson

The phone booth scene in the 1977 comedy High Anxiety took place beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point, where the crucial water rescue scene takes place in Vertigo, part of the film's thematic homage to Alfred Hitchcock.

Mel Brooks

In the 1985 film A View To a Kill the fort can be seen in various aerial shots particularly the final scene which takes place above the Golden Gate Bridge.

James Bond

The 1999 film Starring Robin Williams has a scene featuring Fort Point as a bustling market. With the main building being home to NDR Robotics.

Bicentennial Man

In the 2014 film the humans use Fort Point's armory to dramatically increase their firepower in the form of armored vehicles and large amounts of munitions.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The 2019 film filmed throughout San Francisco, with several scenes filmed outside and around the fort.^[10]

The Last Black Man in San Francisco

The fort is briefly shown on a television during the opening of the 2019 horror film .

Fort Point National Historic Site