15 Smuggler's Blues

[C Glide]

I was just working on this episode for my web site. There was one location that has been eluding and bothering me for some time. The phone booth where they make contact with the kidnapper near the end of the episode. I decided to take another stab at it since I think practice has made my location detecting skills better than the last time I had worked on this episode. It worked. Through process of elimination using the street layout and the height of the metro rail I finally figured out where this was filmed. Now I wonder why it took me so long to get it. SE 6th Street by Associated Photo. It seems so easy now that I know it.

[COOPER&BURNETT]

Your amazing C Glide.

[Tom]

Great, C Glide!I am looking forward to the next MV episodes posted on your location site. I know most of the locations anyway but you still have some surprises up in your sleeve regarding previously undetectable locations.

[C Glide]

I just published this episode on my site.

[Matt5]

The Amelia Earhart field ( aka Opa Locka Airport Strip ) was seen in a number of episodes including "Back In the World", "The Afternoon Plane", "Freefall" , etc. Surely the end scenes in "Stone's War" were filmed in that area too?.

[C Glide]

The Amelia Earhart field ( aka Opa Locka Airport Strip ) was seen in a number of episodes including "Back In the World"' date=' "The Afternoon Plane", "Freefall" , etc. Surely the end scenes in "Stone's War" were filmed in that area too?. [/quote'] And don't forget Baby Blues

[Matt5]

And don't forget Baby Blues

Of course - look forward to your work on "Score" and "Golden Triangle Pt 2 " - on your website .

[airtommy]

The boat that was blown up in the teaser is the Madelaina.  You can see the name clearly in the photo on the left side this page, about halfway down:

 

http://flashbackmiami.com/2014/09/24/miami-vice/

 

The text refers to it as the "Magdalena, formerly Betty Davis' Christmas Tree". Her actual name is Bette Davis. Given those mistakes, we can't take that as a very reliable source.  The book "The Making of Miami Vice" says the boat was originally owned by Betty Grable. But that book is full of mistakes, as well.

 

You can see a daytime view of the boat before demolition around 12:00 of this video:

 

http://www.wolfsonarchives.info/view/?id=69398&accession=X135&status=DIGITIZED&wc_no=X135&search_term=miami%20vice&fileid=X135.mp4

 

and around 20:23 of this video:

http://www.wolfsonarchives.info/view/?id=69376&accession=X114&status=DIGITIZED&wc_no=X114&search_term=x114&fileid=X114.mp4

More behind the scenes MV videos:

http://miamiviceonline.com/index.php/topic/12159-miami-vice-behind-the-scenes-no-exitlombard-episode/

[Matt5]

The boat that was blown up in the teaser is the Madelaina.  You can see the name clearly in the photo on the left side this page, about halfway down:

 

http://flashbackmiami.com/2014/09/24/miami-vice/

 

The text refers to it as the "Magdalena, formerly Betty Davis' Christmas Tree". Her actual name is Bette Davis. Given those mistakes, we can't take that as a very reliable source.  The book "The Making of Miami Vice" says the boat was originally owned by Betty Grable. But that book is full of mistakes, as well.

 

You can see a daytime view of the boat before demolition around 12:00 of this video:

 

http://www.wolfsonarchives.info/view/?id=69398&accession=X135&status=DIGITIZED&wc_no=X135&search_term=miami%20vice&fileid=X135.mp4

 

and around 20:23 of this video:

http://www.wolfsonarchives.info/view/?id=69376&accession=X114&status=DIGITIZED&wc_no=X114&search_term=x114&fileid=X114.mp4

More behind the scenes MV videos:

http://miamiviceonline.com/index.php/topic/12159-miami-vice-behind-the-scenes-no-exitlombard-episode/

 

 

Great info!!

[damrod]

Cool stuff

[airtommy]

When Trudy is tied up in the trailer, we look north and get a good shot of the Miami Tower under construction:

When Crockett and the bomb specialist go around the corner of the trailer, we seem to get another glimpse of the same building:

However, we are actually looking south at the construction of "One Brickell Square" at 801 Brickell Ave ( http://www.emporis.com/buildings/122302/one-brickell-square-miami-fl-usa ). The building with the shiny windows is Northern Trust at 700 Brickell Ave ( http://www.emporis.com/buildings/338792/northern-trust-bank-of-florida-miami-fl-usa ).

Bing Bird's Eye View:  http://binged.it/1UIJAVz 

Google Street View from the Miami Ave bridge (trailer with Trudy was in the big parking lot):

Edited July 13, 2018 by airtommy

[Matt5]

From the West Bank of Brickell Key today -

Edited January 18, 2017 by Matt5

[Matt5]

daytona365  found the club (“La Araña") meeting in San Juan. The address was  213 Calle del Sol, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 I just thought I’d add it here as was previously undiscovered. Thankyou @daytona365

Edited May 30, 2018 by Matt5

[daytona365]

I think I may also have identified the location of the drug den where Tucker leads them to Jimmy. I believe it's 260 Ocean Drive. Seems like it's been slightly remodelled with some rows of the screen wall replaced by grilles, but overall I'm quite convinced this is the place.

[airtommy]

On 7/6/2018 at 5:26 AM, daytona365 said:

I think I may also have identified the location of the drug den where Tucker leads them to Jimmy. I believe it's 260 Ocean Drive. Seems like it's been slightly remodelled with some rows of the screen wall replaced by grilles, but overall I'm quite convinced this is the place.

Awesome work!

[Tom]

Am 6.7.2018 um 11:26 schrieb daytona365:

I think I may also have identified the location of the drug den where Tucker leads them to Jimmy. I believe it's 260 Ocean Drive. Seems like it's been slightly remodelled with some rows of the screen wall replaced by grilles, but overall I'm quite convinced this is the place.

 

 

The outdoor filming was certainly done there - most probably in this left "cage" surrounded by the unique railings (with the upper part replaced by grilles). The still shows that when C&T drag Tucker out of the room there is a real modern kitchen with a black/white floor behind them that does not look bad. No way to match it exactly with the episode interiors as the kitchen is not visible in the drug den scenes, BUT: the color in the kitchen wall above (lavender) matches the color in the drug den on the upper left when C&T drag Tucker away to the other room! It looks like a very modern apartment that looks a bit odd in this overall rundown place as lower Ocean Drive certainly was in general in 1984. I don´t see the unique railings elsewhere on the inside of that building, but it certainly could have been removed since then. We all know that such Art deco railings are unique and are never used twice.

The apartment number where they filmed had a "11 V" on the door whatever the "V" means (veranda? but why have it on the door number?). It is at a corner as the two windows seen indicate (if they are real windows). The layout fits too. C&T drag Tucker out to the left in another room (kitchen?). Shape and size of windows would approximately fit with that building we see outside. The second window on the frontal corner apartment, adjacent to the railings, would have been the kitchen then we see. So far, so good with continuity and layout. Behind Crockett&Tubbs we see trash cans, thus this could have been indeed the veranda next to the garbage cans of the whole complex.

The only detail that does not fit: the apartment entrance is vis as vis the front side (street side) window as we see in the episode without editing That does not match here as the apartment entrances are all from inside the inner yard that would mean entering the apartment from the right side (seen from inside). This is only explainable if they used another corner apartment on the other side of the yard for interior filming.

There are several interior apartment pics on the net, but not from apartment 11. Apartment 12 is close, but also shows no clear matches 36 years after and looks very ordinary. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/260-Ocean-Dr-Apt-12_Miami-Beach_FL_33139_M67298-09086#photo10

Slight chance that the interior was filmed elsewhere as indicated above with the location of the entrance door.  But overall clues indicate to 99% that´s it. Congrats again to @daytona365 for spotting it out!

P.S. Trivia: I came across this building when I searched for Knox´ apartment in "Death and the lady" but ruled it out quickly.

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by Tom

[C Glide]

Working on updating this episode on my site with the club info. Rick Bravo confirmed that the interior was also filmed there on location at 213 Del Sol but this was not the drug apartment. I saw this decorative brick there and it too sparked my interest but in reality it is fairly common.

[Tom]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb C Glide:

Working on updating this episode on my site with the club info. Rick Bravo confirmed that the interior was also filmed there on location at 213 Del Sol but this was not the drug apartment. I saw this decorative brick there and it too sparked my interest but in reality it is fairly common.

Thanks, but please update the find of the drug apartment as well. We are not quite sure how they filmed it inside (which apartment or more than one), but the location is confirmed by the match with the unique railing.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Tom

[C Glide]

Sorry but I did not update it as I don't see it as being the location. I hold off on locations until they are confirmed and it does not match up nearly well enough for me.

[Tom]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb C Glide:

Sorry but I did not update it as I don't see it as being the location. I hold off on locations until they are confirmed and it does not match up nearly well enough for me.

An Art Deco railing is always unique and it fully matches here. What else can you ask for? You‘ll never get any better proof after 36 years! And you stated some  locations or addresses with the same amount of evidence or sometimes even less (eg DePalma house)...

Edited August 5, 2020 by Tom

[Dadrian]

“C’mon Marty! I put the time in on this!”  

[miamijimf]

It was inevitable that these two great sleuths would disagree about some location.  I see it as a good thing as it helps to get us closer to the right spot.  It's amazing what they have done. 

Edited August 5, 2020 by miamijimf

[Tom]

vor 17 Minuten schrieb miamijimf:

It was inevitable that these two great sleuths would disagree about some location.  I see it as a good thing as it helps to get us closer to the right spot.  It's amazing what they have done. 

For me, this is just a question of "reasonable" and equally applied criteria to be sure enough after such a long time and substantial demolishment or remodeling of locations. We all know that art deco railings exist only once. If that is not enough evidence for at least the exterior filming, than we can stop looking out for new location finds after 36 years at all, as there will be no better proof available under realistic circumstances as more evidence vanishes rather than pops up new.

On the other hand, there was a "most likely filmed at 2515 Flamingo Drive" at Jimmy de Palma´s house without any evidence at all (remark: that´s why I added newly available interior pics there a few days ago to fix that).

And we added the Ramrod Motel although we never had a conclusive front picture as proof. So, I just say we don´t need to be more Christian than the Pope when it comes to unique railing matches.

P.S. CGlide is currently short with updates on newly found locations with 27 episodes and 40 locations respectively (just finds of the last 4 months). So, he has a lot do anyway and does not need to be selective

Edited August 5, 2020 by Tom

[miamijimf]

3 minutes ago, Tom said:

For me, this is just a question of "reasonable" and equally applied criteria to be sure enough after such a long time and substantial demolishment or remodeling of locations. We all know that art deco railings exist only once. If that is not enough evidence for at least the exterior filming, than we can stop looking out for new location finds after 36 years at all, as there will be no better proof available under realistic circumstances as more evidence vanishes rather than pops up new.

On the other hand, there was a "most likely filmed at 2515 Flamingo Drive" at Jimmy de Palma´s house without any evidence at all (remark: that´s why I added newly available interior pics there a few days ago to fix that).

And we added the Ramrod Motel although we never had a conclusive front picture as proof. So, I just say we don´t need to be more Christian than the Pope when it comes to unique railing matches.

I already know which opinion I favor but If airtommy (another real expert) has the time it would be neat if he could review the evidence and render his opinion. We are all working together here, although my contribution in this case has been negligible so far.  Tom, how do we know for sure that art deco railings exist only once?  Because we have never seen them duplicated?

[Tom]

vor 29 Minuten schrieb miamijimf:

I already know which opinion I favor but If airtommy (another real expert) has the time it would be neat if he could review the evidence and render his opinion. We are all working together here, although my contribution in this case has been negligible so far.  Tom, how do we know for sure that art deco railings exist only once?  Because we have never seen them duplicated?

Good question Jim. That is exactly the topic of all sciences. Empirical evidence. Same as with human fingerprints. Do we assume two people possibly have the same, because we have not tested everyone on earth?

I don´t know how they (Art Deco buffs) did it, but there is no art deco pattern (railing, facade) that has been used twice. That is my experience after 30 years of location hunting. Deviations are mostly so big that there is no doubt. You mostly don´t even go into detail to distinguish. Round, squared, thick, thin, there is always clear difference. And the drug den railing is a 100% match in all dimensions.

But it would be interesting to get to "arbitration court" with this matter i.e. what do MDPL buffs&long term tour guides say? Have they ever seen the exact pattern twice? Ask them, would be interesting....

P.S. this is a real life issue also for the Knox apartment in Death&the Lady. The pattern of the railing is all we have. The building´s 99% gone. Why hunt this down any longer if a railing match is not good enough? We will not get more than that. So assume we get an old pic with the railing and an address where it once was. Is this good enough then or do we insist on 100% proof and wait until people in 5000 years solve this riddle accidentally like today´s Egyptians with the Pyramids? 

Edited August 5, 2020 by Tom