The Maze Hotel


MV86

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check out miami-vice.org , there is loads of info about the hotel in the google earth shooting locations topic.

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I believe the building was demolished years ago.

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  • 2 years later...

I think the old hotel was torn down in the early 90's...but I'm not positive. A high rise condominium now stands in the Blue Water's old location. But, I think that other buildings used in "The Maze" (in and around the Blue Waters Hotel) are still there.I love exploring and photographing old abandoned places--and even love being able to find out the history of them even more! However, I've not been able to find much on the Blue Waters. I've purchased several vinatage postcards of the Blue Waters off ebay--from the late 1950's to early 1960's. But, that's about all I've found on it. All we know is by the mid 1980's the old hotel had sadly long been abandoned and neglected.I wish someone had restored it, or it was still standing and I could photograph it...but nothing lasts forever. :cry:

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lovely to see .! A lot of the smaller hotels seen from "The Maze" around the Blue Waters are still relatively unchanged.:D

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Tommy: thanks. I love the history of the area & getting involved with searches from a distance!ViceFanMan and any others who are interested in the history/architecture of the buildings:I found this site a few years ago & although it is pretty heavy going to read, it gives dates and information which might be of interest. I've linked to the Miami section:http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/FL/Dade/state.html

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Wow! $14.95 a room and four cents to mail the card...color TV in the lobby!

Amazing, huh? On the second item I posted, the rates circa 1961 were $3 each per day. It sounded a hive of activity from night swims, weiner roasts and cha cha lessons to watermelon parties & free orange juice on arrival. It changed just a bit by the time MV got there ...
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CarolineUK' date='Thanks for the cool pic of the vintage Blue Waters Postcard! I have that one I'd purchased off ebay a couple years ago. The old rates and what they advertise was hilarious to me! They even made a big deal on some of the postcards that the [u']Blue Waters' rooms each had a "private bathroom!" :clap: I'm so glad that I would've had my own bathroom if I'd of stayed there when it was open! :)I think the old hotel was built in the late 1940's--as I've seen some old black and white postcards of it that claim they were from 1949 and the hotel was practically the only thing on that beach then (as it was an airial view). Most of the color postcards are from the mid-1950's to the early 1960's. I wonder when it closed? It was definitely in ruins by the time "Miami Vice" showed up and "The Maze" and "French Twist" were filmed. :cry:I've also seen some vintage postcards of another huge old Miami Beach hotel that was the old abandoned one used in the beginning of the episode "Smuggler's Blues"--the scene where Castillo has Crockett and Tubbs (along with Trudy) meet at a location so the DEA guy could secretly recruit them to catch who was smuggling in drugs then killing the smugglers. The "location" was the old abandoned Floridian Hotel--which at one time was huge and had many stories, from what I can see on the old postcards. It too would have been awesome to use in an episode like "The Maze", where we could've gotten to see more of the Floridian. Like the Blue Waters, though, the Floridian too has long since been torn down to make room for expansion and new businesses. I read once that Don Johnson stated that in order to film the scene in the old Floridian, real police had to be called in to rid it of squatters and homeless people, and professional fumigators had to be called in because it was immensely infested with fleas! :sick::eek:
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  • 3 weeks later...

Blue Waters Hotel Seen In Another Episode!We all know the Blue Waters Hotel was primarily used in the first season episode "The Maze" and it was used again for a scene in the second season episode "French Twist."But, I was watching the second season episode "Definitely Miami" (one of my favorites) the other night, and there's this scene where Crockett and Tubbs are walking on a beach talking about the case and the weird woman Crockett was trying to help--and if you look in the background you can see the old Blue Waters Hotel looming up towards the sky...like it was begging for someone to help it. I'm sure many or most here probably already knew this, but I'd never noticed that the old hotel (although not showcased like the other 2 episodes) was seen again in this episode. They must have filmed a lot in that same general area. "Definitely Miami" was before "French Twist" too. Probably not important and most probably don't care ;), but I thought I'd point it out. As I've stated before, I love exploring and photographing old abandoned places...so even though I never got to see the Blue Waters Hotel in person, it's one of my favorite abandoned places they used in "Miami Vice." I truly wish I'd gotten to explore and photograph it before it was torn down.:cry:

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We all know the Blue Waters Hotel was primarily used in the first season episode "The Maze" and it was used again for a scene in the second season episode "French Twist."But' date=' I was watching the second season episode "Definitely Miami" (one of my favorites) the other night, and there's this scene where Crockett and Tubbs are walking on a beach talking about the case and the weird woman Crockett was trying to help--and if you look in the background you can see the old Blue Waters Hotel looming up towards the sky...like it was begging for someone to help it. I'm sure many or most here probably already knew this, but I'd never noticed that the old hotel (although not showcased like the other 2 episodes) was seen again in this episode. They must have filmed a lot in that same general area. "Definitely Miami" was before "French Twist" too. Probably not important and most probably don't care ;), but I thought I'd point it out. As I've stated before, I love exploring and photographing old abandoned places...so even though I never got to see the Blue Waters Hotel in person, it's one of my favorite abandoned places they used in "Miami Vice." I truly wish I'd gotten to explore and photograph it before it was torn down.:cry:[/quote']Good observation ViceMan. There are no unimportant Vice locations.
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Another thing I think is interesting is that in "The Maze" the Blue Waters Hotel is obviously abandoned...and they used the old hotel for what it really was.But, later in "French Twist" the old Blue Waters Hotel was supposedly still going...a "flea-bag" sort of hotel, but still operating none-the-less as supposedly the French assassin Bandi was staying there.When they filmed the scenes when Crockett, Tubbs, and Switek tried to apprehend Bandi you can tell the outside shots of the hotel, as well as the ones with Tubbs on an old balcony-like walkway, are actually of the Blue Waters. But, the scenes of what was supposedly the inside of Bandi's room, as well as the old pink tiled shower, I don't think were actually in the Blue Waters...but possibly a set that was set up somewhere else??When the bomb that was supposedly Bandi's "booby-trap" went off you could see it supposedly blowing out of some upper windows of the old Blue Waters Hotel. I wonder if they actually set off some kind of explosive in the old hotel for the scene...and how much damage was actually done filming it?I really wish I could find out when the hotel closed and when it was torn down?? :confused:

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Another thing I think is interesting is that in "The Maze" the Blue Waters Hotel is obviously abandoned...and they used the old hotel for what it really was.But' date=' later in "French Twist" the old Blue Waters Hotel was supposedly still going...a "flea-bag" sort of hotel, but still operating none-the-less as supposedly the French assassin Bandi was staying there.When they filmed the scenes when Crockett, Tubbs, and Switek tried to apprehend Bandi you can tell the outside shots of the hotel, as well as the ones with Tubbs on an old balcony-like walkway, are actually of the Blue Waters. But, the scenes of what was supposedly the inside of Bandi's room, as well as the old pink tiled shower, I don't think were actually in the Blue Waters...but possibly a set that was set up somewhere else??When the bomb that was supposedly Bandi's "booby-trap" went off you could see it supposedly blowing out of some upper windows of the old Blue Waters Hotel. I wonder if they actually set off some kind of explosive in the old hotel for the scene...and how much damage was actually done filming it?I really wish I could find out when the hotel closed and when it was torn down?? :confused:[/quote'] most of "French Twist" including the "nice" Bandi Hotel interior was shot in and outside of the Mayfair in Coconut Grove. They used the Blue Waters in this ep simply because it was long abandoned at the time. Thus it was easy to prepare as a flea-bag hotel and no risk to stage the explosion scene.
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most of "French Twist" including the "nice" Bandi Hotel interior was shot in and outside of the Mayfair in Coconut Grove. They used the Blue Waters in this ep simply because it was long abandoned at the time. Thus it was easy to prepare as a flea-bag hotel and no risk to stage the explosion scene.

Thanks for the info! :thumbsup:
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  • 2 years later...

Just to add some probably useless but interesting info for the two old abandoned hotels used in "MV": As I'm going through "MV" again, the last time being almost 3 years ago, I actually came across some bits of info on the Blue Waters Hotel ("The Maze" and "French Twist"), and the Floridian Hotel (beginning DEA meeting scene in "Smuggler's Blues"). I'm still not sure when the Blue Waters Hotel was built (but I'm now guessing it was possibly in the 30's). I'm also not exactly sure when it closed...but I'm guessing a good 10-15 years before "The Maze" was filmed in it. However, I discovered that it was demolished in May of 1987--about a year after "French Twist" was filmed there.The old Floridian Hotel used in the beginning of "Smuggler's Blues" (with the secret DEA meeting of Crockett, Tubbs, Castillo, Trudy, and the DEA guy) was built in the mid 1920's. It closed for a while during WWII...but then reopened in the 50's. By the 70's, however, it was going down hill as it was no longer located in a desirable area. The city condemned it in 1978. It too was demolished by explosives in May of 1987--about two years after "Smuggler's Blues" used it for the scene. I actually found a couple pics of it being demolished online during an image search for things about The Floridian in Miami.1987 must have been a year for "clean-up" and revision in Miami Beach...however, it's sad when historic icons are abandoned and abused, then later torn down. :cry: A group trying to keep and restore some of Miami's history tried to stop the demolition of The Floridian...but was not successful.Someday I want to go to Miami and stay in a historical art-deco hotel that's been kept up and/or refurbished. I love art-deco and that era...and I love history! :thumbsup: I am NOT a fan of ripping it out to put plastic and styrofoam in its place! :evil::thumbsdown:

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  • 3 weeks later...

was demolished in May of 1987--about a year after "French Twist" was filmed there.The old Floridian Hotel used in the beginning of "Smuggler's Blues" (with the secret DEA meeting of Crockett, Tubbs, Castillo, Trudy, and the DEA guy) was built in the mid 1920's. It closed for a while during WWII...but then reopened in the 50's. By the 70's, however, it was going down hill as it was no longer located in a desirable area. The city condemned it in 1978. It too was demolished by explosives in May of 1987--about two years after "Smuggler's Blues" used it for the scene. I actually found a couple pics of it being demolished online during an image search for things about The Floridian in Miami.1987 must have been a year for "clean-up" and revision in Miami Beach...however, it's sad when historic icons are abandoned and abused, then later torn down. :cry: A group trying to keep and restore some of Miami's history tried to stop the demolition of The Floridian...but was not successful.Someday I want to go to Miami and stay in a historical art-deco hotel that's been kept up and/or refurbished. I love art-deco and that era...and I love history! :thumbsup: I am NOT a fan of ripping it out to put plastic and styrofoam in its place! :evil::thumbsdown:

Great info - those building stood empty for a long time :thumbsdown::D
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Great info - those building stood empty for a long time :thumbsdown::D

I know they did. The Blue Waters Hotel' date=' especially, was probably beyond repair by the time "The Maze" was filmed in it. :cry: Other than the one room we saw in the old Floridian Hotel, I'm not sure how bad of condition it was in when "MV" used it for the scene, and/or when it was demolished. I just wish our country would appreciate and take care of our history, things that have character, style, and "soul"--things that mean something and have a past. But, all we want to do is rip out anything 50 years old and older, and put up plastic, steel, and styrofoam--buildings that are "cold", have no character or style, and have no "soul". :thumbsdown:[u']Other countries have taken care of and are still using buildings that were there at the time of Christ...yet we can't appreciate or take care of anything after barely just 237 years? :eek: That's sad and pathetic! :sick: But, I could keep going on about that forever, so I'll stop and get off my "soap box"...for now. ;) But, here are a few pics of the Blue Waters Hotel:[ATTACH=CONFIG]7795[/ATTACH]Blue Waters Hotel in a scene-clip from "The Maze"[ATTACH=CONFIG]7799[/ATTACH]The Blue Waters Hotel swimming area in better days--1950's. Look at the top pic, from "The Maze", and you can see the remains of the old swimming pool area and the rusted out base of where the diving board once was.[ATTACH=CONFIG]7797[/ATTACH]A front view of The Blue Waters Hotel in better days...probably in the early-mid 1950's[ATTACH=CONFIG]7798[/ATTACH]A brochure picture of the inside of some rooms in the Blue Waters Hotel--1950's. Looks a little different than what the inside looked like in "The Maze". ;)

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Going along with my info and pics of vintage postcards of the Blue Waters Hotel right above this...this is a pic of a 1985 Miami Herald official press photo--something about the Blue Waters being on fire! :eek: Okay, now in the episode "French Twist"...they did explode something inside the old hotel...supposedly Bandi's "boobytrap" bomb. The episode aired in 1986...but could it have been filmed in 1985, and this is what the press photo is of--the aftermath of filming the explosion scene in "F.T."? The back of the photo is dated August 15, 1985. Interesting! [ATTACH=CONFIG]7806[/ATTACH]

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  • 3 years later...
On 4/8/2013 at 0:47 AM, ViceFanMan said:

Going along with my info and pics of vintage postcards of the Blue Waters Hotel right above this...this is a pic of a 1985 Miami Herald official press photo--something about the Blue Waters being on fire! :eek: Okay, now in the episode "French Twist"...they did explode something inside the old hotel...supposedly Bandi's "boobytrap" bomb. The episode aired in 1986...but could it have been filmed in 1985, and this is what the press photo is of--the aftermath of filming the explosion scene in "F.T."? The back of the photo is dated August 15, 1985. Interesting! [ATTACH=CONFIG]7806[/ATTACH]

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Referring back to my last post here 3 years ago...this pic and news info was from 1985. But, I also have a pic of part of the destruction of the Blue Waters as it was being torn down...this was from 1987. So, not sure exactly what year the hotel was built, but it was torn down in '87. ;(

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  • 1 year later...

Just finished watching the Maze & found some cool pics searching around. You’re all WAY ahead of me after seeing this thread lol. Still some cool history there and I hate that all these old buildings get torn down instead of keeping the style & renovating them. Very sad.

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I found an excellent brochure from the 1950’s with lots of info and pics of the Blue Waters on eBay. I posted some pics in another thread, but they were lost when photobucket.com went nuts. Hopefully I can get them reposted sometime. 

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