About
The notoriety of Hayes Valley arose when film director Erich von Stroheim chose the corner of Hayes and Laguna for the filming of his 1924 epic "Greed." A 19th-century Victorian built in the early 1880s by Col. Michael Hayes as an amusement pavilion drew him to this location. Rumor has it Hayes constructed the building to lure an extension of the streetcar line to Hayes Valley. The building survived the 1906 earthquake and fire and at the time of filming was occupied only on the ground floor, by a French laundry and the Hayes Valley Pharmacy, which remained in business until the 1960s. Stroheim created signs for a dentist's office and a photographer's workplace for the movie, which fooled some locals into believing they were real. The film included several shots from the top floor of the building looking down on Hayes Valley. He also used 595-597 Hayes, a building that acted as a storeroom in the 1920s, as the site of the saloon in the film.
