Calling all Detectives: Group effort

[miamijimf]

Good analysis airtommy.  The Financial Center explains the tall building in the background.  Another problem is (in the screencap) the building on the right looks too big to be a private home and I don't see any other structures there at that time.  Maybe it's the camera angle?

[airtommy]

I'm now betting on the NW corner of Key Biscayne.  By enhancing the screencap's contrast and midtone I see the outline of the Rickenbacker Causeway.  The building on the right could be the Seaquarium or the school of Marine Science.  The older aerials seem to show what could be little islands.

 

That is definitely also a possibility.  I don't see any spot at the water's edge that is unforested, but it lines up about right.  

 

Regardless of which of these two spots it is, the buildings on the right are those VA Key/Rickenbacker buildings you mention.

[airtommy]

In "Payback", right after the title credits C&T are boating to Reydolfo's house.  They are next to the spot on Mashta Island that I proposed.   You can very clearly see an island behind them.  I don't know why it doesn't show up in satellite pics, but it is there for certain.  Maybe it gets submerged at high tide.

[miamijimf]

I don't think the bay has tides that high.  Old satellite pics are not that reliable.  I'm not sure the VA Key/Rickenbacker building on the right would appear in the sightline you propose from Mashta Island.  I would like to visit that spot on my next trip but probably would not be allowed on the island and would have to be on a boat to get close.  Would not expect to see a tiny wooded island.  My impression is that they come and go, hurricanes etc affect the landscape.  For example Andrew in 92 wiped out most of the trees around the lighthouse.

Edited August 8, 2015 by miamijimf

[airtommy]

Yeah, I don't think those buildings can be on Virginia Key.  They must be farther back, around the Miami Herald building.

 

I thought maybe it could be on the property of Escondero's house.  We would see the Rickenbacker in the background and the buildings would all be in the Alton Road area of Miami Beach.  However, in that scenario the left side of the view should show boats and coastline fairly close to the camera.  Instead we just see some land far off.

[CharlieGlide]

Just have to say, I love this thread.  All of you contributors that know Miami keep Vice very alive for me by explaining where scenes were shot.  It motivates me to make Vice a part of my every day routine.  Not that it's much of a challenge.  Dammit!  Now I gotta watch Miami Squeeze.

[airtommy]

Thanks!  I love it that we have a group that's interested in the locations.

[miamijimf]

I think CGlide should consider adding The Mean Season (1985) with Kurt Russell and Mariel Hemingway to his list of Miami movies to cover.  Some Vice sites and great Miami locations plus a Coral Gables house and street that should be findable.

[miamijimf]

Found this old photo of Biscayne and 125th St in N. Miami.  It looks familiar and I think It appears in Vice as a drive-by but can't remember where.  Anyone know?  Thanks.

 

[Tom]

Found this old photo of Biscayne and 125th St in N. Miami.  It looks familiar and I think It appears in Vice as a drive-by but can't remember where.  Anyone know?  Thanks.

Home invaders?

[miamijimf]

You are correct Tom.  After scanning Home Invaders I recognized Stan headed north on Biscayne in N. Miami past this Pumpernicks.  We also see it in Heart of Darkness where C&T get into the limo across from Pumpernicks near the end of the episode.  This photo would have made a good location trivia problem if I had recognized it immediately.  Lounge on left was the Rancher, the Tin Lizzie, used for Vice indoor shots in H of D would come later.

Edited October 5, 2015 by miamijimf

[airtommy]

Old-timey traffic jam!  

[Matt5]

You are correct Tom.  After scanning Home Invaders I recognized Stan headed north on Biscayne in N. Miami past this Pumpernicks.  We also see it in Heart of Darkness where C&T get into the limo across from Pumpernicks near the end of the episode.  This photo would have made a good location trivia problem if I had recognized it immediately.  Lounge on left was the Rancher, the Tin Lizzie, used for Vice indoor shots in H of D would come later.

 

 

Good to know the Heart of Darkness bar - restaurant interior shots were filmed here - is there where Boston Market is Today on Biscayne Bvld !?

[miamijimf]

Matt - yes.  The bar scene interior location at the end of HOD has been known (but not 100% proven) for some time.  What is still unknown is the earlier restaurant scene that used La Correta as an establishing shot.  I kept all the location trivia posts from .org and found this post of yours from 06.  "When I was in Miami in June at the Art Deco Welcome Centre, Ocean Dr for the screenings of Season 1 ( to coincide with MV movie release ) there were two guest stars present from HoD . One was the guy who got beaten up in the parking lot by Artie and the other was the cop who met C & T in his car against a water backdrop.

Also present was the actor who played the Cop who told C & T , in pilot , that a judge had released Calderone after they caught him late in the episode.  They said that the La Carreta , as we know , was used as an establishing shot but the real interior was way up Collins was that Pumperniks?" There might be a way to verify that this scene was filmed at Pumpernicks.  Maybe inside photos of Pumpernicks?  

[airtommy]

I can't figure out what episode this person is talking about:

Kinerk recalls a scene he watched being filmed in the basement of the Waldorf Towers on Ocean Drive. The basement would later be the site of Sempers, one of the earliest velvet-rope clubs. But on that day, Vice producers had to create a chic club from scratch.

They filled the basement with tropical fish aquariums and a purple, blue and green color scheme. There was a purple tulip in a vase on every table, each individually spotlit from above. The set designers had ordered purple fish and were flying them in from South Africa. But the fish were hours late, delayed by street closures because of President Reagan’s meeting at Vizcaya with Pope John Paul II.

 

The scene’s director was blowing his top because the delay was costing tens of thousands of dollars. The fish finally arrived, but, stunned from the long trip, sank to the bottom of the tank. The director jammed a tulip, complete with vase, into the bottom of the tank, which roused the fish.

 

When a hotel phone rang in the middle of the scene, the director yanked it out of the wall and smashed it to bits, Kinerk said.

 

When the show aired, Kinerk said, the effect was seamless as the camera panned through the purple fish and the focus shifted to the characters in the background.

The Vice Effect: 30 years after the show that changed Miami

 

by Andres Viglucci

Edited October 22, 2015 by airtommy

[Matt5]

I can't figure out what episode this person is talking about:

The Vice Effect: 30 years after the show that changed Miami

 

by Andres Viglucci

 

 

They filmed a lot of scenes and downstairs bar scenes at that location for Season 3s "Baby Blues " if that helps .!!

[Tom]

Fish aquarium and description of scene only fits to Tugaros office in By hooker by Crook.

[airtommy]

"Baby Blues" had one restaurant scene that C Glide says was filmed at the Waldorf, but it doesn't match this description at all. No fish tanks, no tulips, though there is something purple on their table.

In "By Hooker By Crook" the first scene in Tugaro's office does start looking at a fish in a tank and then panning over to people, but the fish isn't purple, there are no tables, it's not a nightclub, etc.

[Susanna Girl]

I can't figure out what episode this person is talking about:

Idk if this helps at all, but according to this article, the day Reagan met with Pope John Paul II was Sept. 10, 1987.  You great sleuths probably already know that though.  

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/11/us/the-papal-visit-pontiff-embraces-welcome-in-miami-deflects-queries.html?pagewanted=all 

[airtommy]

Idk if this helps at all, but according to this article, the day Reagan met with Pope John Paul II was Sept. 10, 1987.  You great sleuths probably already know that though.  

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/11/us/the-papal-visit-pontiff-embraces-welcome-in-miami-deflects-queries.html?pagewanted=all

 

Brilliant!  "God's Work" was filmed in 1987 from 9/2 to 9/11.  That ep filmed a few other scenes at the Waldorf.  And it has a bar scene that C Glide hasn't yet found the location for.  I watched the scene and it does start with the camera focused on a fish in a tank.  The rest isn't quite as described, but they probably just edited the scene heavily.

 

http://www.sffl.comcastbiz.net/page177.html

[miamijimf]

Good job Susanna and airtommy.  Although not confirmed 100% it looks like another filming location has been found.

Edited October 23, 2015 by miamijimf

[Tom]

Brilliant!  "God's Work" was filmed in 1987 from 9/2 to 9/11.  That ep filmed a few other scenes at the Waldorf.  And it has a bar scene that C Glide hasn't yet found the location for.  I watched the scene and it does start with the camera focused on a fish in a tank.  The rest isn't quite as described, but they probably just edited the scene heavily.

 

http://www.sffl.comcastbiz.net/page177.html

The huge effort described for the fish part was definetely not justified given the final result on TV.

[Susanna Girl]

Good job Susanna and airtommy.  Although not confirmed 100% it looks like another filming location has been found.

I'm so glad that small detail helped!       

[Matt5]

Great work!!

[airtommy]

(no MV connection in this post)

I was looking through the excellent Miami's Often Forgotten High-Rise History thread at Skyscraper City and I found this neat old photo:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5051/5508778782_82fdab2920_b.jpg

This is "Point View", the neighborhood at the bend in Brickell Avenue. It's striking how the rich had very narrow properties even back when Miami was sparsely populated. Here it is today:

http://binged.it/1ijLH6m