19 D M Wilmot from Bath, England, UK: On holiday in San Francsico, I stayed at Holiday Inn Chinatown, Where the police headquarters building in Ironside, stood.
The hotels rooftop pool featured in Dirty Harry 1971
18 R Harrison from Dudley West Midlands: My wife ad I still watch Ironside when ever and were ever we are, and still think they are as good today as they were in the 80s
17 Kelli N. from Texas: I used to watch "Ironside" on the weekends when I was a kid. This was in the early '80s. It became one of my favorite shows. I liked everything about it. I bought the pilot, and first 5 episodes on DVD several months ago, and watched the pilot last night. It was still as good as I remember.
16 Deirdre from Brora: I just love Ironside, I remember it 1st time round. (Should I admit that?!) It's great to see the old team again. I wish ITV3 would put it back on a prime time slot. I'm sure a lot more people would tune it both old and young. As it attracted all ages the first time round. Wish HMV would supply Ironside dvds for sale too. You can get every Amercian Cop Series apart from Ironside.
15 Peter Rose from San Francisco, Cal: As a follow up to my previous post, the Ironside HQs building was located at 750 Kearny Street. If you look at a map, it was at the corner of Washington Street on the east side of Kearney, and the building extended from Washington Street to Merchant Street. If you look it up on Mapquest, you can look at a satellite photo of what the site looks like today. The building that is built there now is the Chinese Culture Center and Holiday Inn at China Town. You can see a modern day picture of Portmouth Square and the Culture Center/Holiday Inn at http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sftravel.com/hotels/soma/images/hiltonsanfrancisco.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sftravel.com/hiltonfinancialdistrictsanfrancisco.html&h=350&w=233&sz=34&hl=en&start=18&um=1&tbnid=AENHCBOlH6tIRM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=80&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dholiday%2Binn%2Bchinatown%2Bsan%2Bfrancisco%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GGIH_enUS209US209%26sa%3DN
You may have to copy this address and paste it on your web browser. Take note of the white office building to the left of the picture that you will recognize right away because it showed up in just about all the scenes that showed the HQs building.
You can also see an very cool early picture of the HQs building at this site http://www.sfsheriff.com/october.htm Scroll down the page until you see it.
14 Peter Rose from San Francisco, Cal: Andy,
Unfortunately, Ironside's HQ building was torn down in 1968, soon after the series started. It is (or was) located on Kearney Street directly across the street from a park called Portsmouth Square. You can look it up on a map of SF. There is a High Rise built there now. It is a shame that they tore that building down, it was beautiful. I love the series by the way, own the first season on DVD, can't wait for the second season.
Pete
13 Dan from IOW: watched ironside for the first time last night and i have only 1 thing to say.........LOL
12 Andy from Hull UK: Great fan of Ironside, does anyone know the address of the HQ where Ironside lived? I've checked lots of San Francisco info sites, tourist sites, travel brochures online, etc to no-avail. Even scanned high detail ariel photos of SF. It seems SanFranciscans don't know or don't want to be associated with Ironside, (Like the GTA thing; Its bad for the SFcity to be associated with a controversial PS2 Game)..!
I would love to visit SF with my main interest in film locations!
11 andy from Hull UK: Ironside is the best, for all the series facts see
http://aa.1asphost.com/CTVA/US/Crime/Ironside.htm
This is not my site, just a link for the other Ironside fans. I am still looking for the address in SanFrancisco, of Ironsides HQ building..!
All the best. Andy.
10 Stephen Tisshaw from UK: Ironside season one has now actually been released on dvd.
It's on amazon.
For me Ironside will always win over Perry Mason.
Not that I feel Perry Mason wasn't good but I pefer police dramas to court room dramas.
And for your information gregory battaglia, i do happen to enjoy courtroom dramas, we had one's here in the UK that were better such as Crown Court and Rumpole of the Bailey, which were much more intellectually stimulating than US's Perry Mason.
9 gregory battaglia from New York: I always loved everything about the Ironside series-including that hot Quincy Jones musical score. But I totally disagree with anyone's idea of Perry Mason as "boring". That's like saying Robert Towne's award-winning screenplay of "Chinatown" was "too talky" or "hard to follow". If all you want is "action" may I suggest Saturday morning cartoons. If nothing else, Burr's performance, Max Steiner's music, the film noir camera direction and loads of memorable guest stars make Perry Mason an eternal first-rate crime drama. The great news is that the Perry Mason first season has just been released on DVD. Not so for Ironside.
That's why we all should head over to Universal Home Video's website and e-mail them about releasing at least the first season on DVD.
Incidentally, apart from the excellent pilot episode, my favorite Ironside episode is “Once More for Joey”, from the 7th Season.
8 tracey c. smith from stratford, ontario. canada: "Ironside" was on TV stations in Ontario in 2004 and I enjoyed it for the first time. I never forget Don Galloway met an actress at the hotel and they loved each other and Don Mitchell loved the girls too.
7 Sue da Costa from Brighton, Sussex.: I simply love all the Ironside shows. Raymond Burr is brilliant and I always watch him in Perry Mason films as well. Just wonderful.
6 Stephen Tisshaw from Ilford: Ironside for me is "King of the Cops".
(Second is Cannon and Third Columbo)
Unlike "Perry Mason" which I found rather boring, "Ironside" is more exciting and I prefer to see someone like "Ironside" getting the better of villians and putting them away, rather than defending them as "Perry Mason".
There was always an edge to Ironside, where there was none with Perry Mason.
5 David Nightingale from Blackpool: Do you remember when the series first aired in the UK (BBC-1 Saturday nights) it was called "A Man Called Ironside". Evidently this was because research showed people didn't latch on to the simple title "Ironside" as being about a bloke - a good percentage thought it was about battleships ! You couldn't make it up...
4 Sharon from Weston-super-Mare: Just like to say, how much I have enjoyed watching Ironside. Keep it going.
3 David Blake from Basingstoke: Just a friendly response to Florence's comment - I didn't, in fact, comment on the paddy wagon or the people carrier.
I said I preferred the first two seasons (because the storylines were, for me, fresher). And the first two seasons happen to be the ones with the paddy wagon.
If you want my comment on the vehicles - I admit to liking the exterior shots of the paddy wagon driving around the streets of San Francisco. It's a bit out of the ordinary.
2 Florence Pellegrin from Châteauroux: It is really hard to describe a favorite moment as I like every episode from Ironside. However I prefer the early episodes starring Barbara Anderson. Her character was far more interesting than Elizabeth Baur's.
I disagree with David Blake from Basingstoke about Ironside's vehicle: the van was better than the paddy wagon. It gave Ironside more freedom and independence especially in the last three seasons when he was able to drive it.
I'm very much interested in trying to get hold of all the episodes in original version. But they are hard to find: Columbia House has released only 10 VHS and I know that in GB there are only 2 VHS and 1 DVD (one was due but never came out)about the show. What a shame!
Anyway I wish I could have the whole collection as I enjoy each episode.
1 David Blake from Basingstoke: I have to say first I prefer the "Perry Mason" shows to "Ironside". Nevertheless, after eight seasons of Mason, I expect Raymond Burr himself was pleased to move into a new show.
I MUCH prefer the first two seasons, when Ironside was driven around in a converted paddy wagon. Once he got his customised people carrier, it all started - for me - to get a bit formula driven.
Still, even at its worst, it's often a fascinating look at American Establishment's opinion of teenage hippy culture and the "black is beautiful" movement.