The Big Thaw

[Tom]

vor 1 Minute schrieb pahonu:

Do you know when it was built?   It looks very much like many New Deal construction projects from the Depression era.  There are several elementary schools from that era here in Long Beach that it reminds me of.

No, but many significant public buildings in that area below 5th street were built in the 1920s and early 30s. The St. David Court hotel for example (which was the first hotel in that area and used as the first Jewish synagogue as well) was built in 1929.

[pahonu]

Just now, Tom said:

No, but many significant public buildings in that area below 5th street were built in the 1920s and early 30s. The St. David Court hotel for example (which was the first hotel in that area and used as the first Jewish synagogue as well) was built in 1929.

Thanks.  It’s likely not then.  New Deal projects didn’t start until 1933 after Roosevelt’s inauguration.  Stylistically it’s very similar to many of the New Deal projects.  The style became so ubiquitous around the country during the Great Depression that it was referred to as WPA style for the New Deal government agency, the Works Progress Administration.

[Tom]

MYSTERIOUS UNKNOWN DRIVING SEGMENT at 29:11

very mysterious this last missing driving snippet in this episode.

Facts: Crockett and Tubbs are driving for 7 seconds (29:11-29:18), which means it is quite a long stretch

• a bi-directional road with a high vegetation median between directional lanes (looks like two lanes per direction)
• there is a completely parallel coastline with houses on the other side of a canal, no bends or curves while driving to be seen
• the houses are 4 long stretched houses in a row with very significant looks (especially the middle two ones are more modern and have a very distinctive shape and front. Before the first house is a long unoccupied vegetation coastline, between most houses a small vegetation part.
• All houses are close to the waterline, the second of them has a boat house directly at the waterline, even partly hanging over the water (should be easily seen on historic aerials)

This long parallel canal clue leaves only one good and one bad potential location in whole Greater Miami left:

• (good) Mac Arthur Causeway with Hibiscus Island in the background
• (bad, as it is curved there) Collins Ave on the 4500-5500 block with houses on Pine Tree Drive in the background

Sounds easy, but there is no house that fits, let alone 4 long stretched ones in a row. I checked on Google Aerials, on streetview and on historic aerials.

Maybe someone else has an idea, but I don´t see any other potential location left where above pattern fits even remotely. I am stumped. @airtommy @Matt5 @daytona365?

Below are pictures in sequence of driving with all four houses to be seen.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Tom

[miamijimf]

Did you search along Dade Blvd/Collins Canal?  Lots of large houses along there.  I'll look at it later today when I get a chance.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by miamijimf

[Tom]

vor 1 Minute schrieb miamijimf:

Did you search along Dade Blvd/Collins Canal?  Lots of large houses along there.  I'll look at it later today when I get a chance.

 

No long parallel 4 lane street there with green median and the distance (canal width) does not fit either. Later in the episode there is a similar drive segment with even bigger parallel canal.

[airtommy]

15 hours ago, Tom said:

You mean these 4 houses?   

This screencap is from the "Smuggler's Blues" montage when C&T return to Miami.  It's MacArthur/Palm Island as you suspected.  The house on the left was seen in "Home Invaders".

 

[Tom]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb airtommy:

You mean these 4 houses?   

This screencap is from the "Smuggler's Blues" montage when C&T return to Miami.  It's MacArthur/Palm Island as you suspected.  The house on the left was seen in "Home Invaders".

 

Thanks!

Nearly impossible to identify this stretch without this old clip as the houses are completely different today. See my comparison below. The houses we see in this driving segment are 94-64 Palm Ave, Palm Island. Left of 94 Palm Ave (that was used in Home Invaders and also strongly remodelled) is the long green vegetation that the driving clip starts with behind Crockett. On the old picture we also see the high median vegetation between lanes that partly blocks vision during the driving.

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

ANOTHER APPARENT DRIVING MYSTERY SOLVED AND CONFIRMED 

And there is another driving segment with another stretch in the episode later on. Going by the small houses with less distance between them, only the westernmost shoreline of Palm Island. is possible.

But there are some strange deviations that would exclude Palm Island: the distance is much bigger, the waterline looks completely different than Palm Island (houses elevated from the waterline, very slim island) - there is no other parallel island around that fits ??? 

CGlide said on his website this was on Mac Arthur driving WESTBOUND. Driving in the opposite direction did not work either for me, as there is the Port background only and Fisher Island is not parallel and blocked by the Port, let alone that it was not that developed in 1987. See historic aerial of 1986 below. Another driving mystery? 

But then I realized when watching the current Port coastline that what we see behind Crockett are not houses, but shipping containers with their sharp, flat parallel edges! This was indeed filmed westbound on Mac Arthur with the eastern end of the Port of Miami in the background and explains the bigger distance and the elevation from the waterline as well! So, they simply filmed these driving scenes in both directions on the MacArthur Casueway!

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

LAST LOCATION FOUND: THE APARTMENT OF ESTHER

This is the same studio set that was used in this episode and then also in Childs Play (doctor´s office) and then again in Missing hours (doctor´s office): See comparison below. The significant layout matches (door, corners, window, the small glass block window was replaced or covered by a painting.

Click picture below to enlarge.

[Tom]

rare 1966 pic of South Beach Elementary School. Address was 335 Lenox Ave by the way (new school built on that lot has a 1050 4th Street address). Second pic as of 1976. Click to enlarge.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Tom