Episode 18 - Made For Each Other

[Tom]

Rick Bravo wrote my daughter (who had asked him because she wanted to help me) that the bar in MFEO was a set in Greenwich studios.

That is very surprising for me, as there are two significant factors that speak against a studio set in this case: the stone brick columns we see throughout the bar and the long entrance aisle that Switek and Zito walk through before they enter. This long aisle does not look like something that was in Greenwich studios. But maybe @Matt5 or @C Glidewho have both been there confirm or deny....

But Rick´s gotta know, this was a significant location and a big set ...

P.S. he also said that Bonzo Barry´s was in fact a "Sound Advice" store where he bought himself some audio equipment back then. This is also in contradiction to other crew members who described the store as a "Captain Video" store - which is backed up by newspaper articles on the net that confirm that Captain Video had a branch there. I could not find any confirmation about a Sound Advice branch at US1 though...

 

[C Glide]

It was a long time ago and he was not tuned into remembering locations at the time but doing his job. Even with best intentions people miss remember things. Not the first time he did that if in fact he is in error this time. I remember him remembering the cool runnin' location from the teaser being in Aventura but it turned out to be the Miami Herald as DanJ sussed out. That is why I am so cautious about posting locations as confirmed on my site w/o really solid verifications.

[Tom]

vor 18 Stunden schrieb C Glide:

It was a long time ago and he was not tuned into remembering locations at the time but doing his job. Even with best intentions people miss remember things. Not the first time he did that if in fact he is in error this time. I remember him remembering the cool runnin' location from the teaser being in Aventura but it turned out to be the Miami Herald as DanJ sussed out. That is why I am so cautious about posting locations as confirmed on my site w/o really solid verifications.

Agree. It is also because he was so sure about the locations that turned out to be wrong. Remember the disco "Heaven" in Hit list" that was in fact Club Nepenthe. After 35 years it is clear that it is hard to remember an address especially if you worked 15 hours a day and one location change after the other. Memory only works if you have a special reason to remember, like Jimmy Green who remembered the area of Zito´s house because there was a murder at the same 7-11 on the corner that night where they filmed. Otherwise I don´t think he would have remembered that location area at all.

As to the MFEO bar I attach a few pics here that show that likelihood that this was a set is close to zero. First the brick columns and associated crossbeams in the middle of the room (not suitable for a studio and too much effort to build a complete brick and mortar structure for one episode) and the long entrance from the street that does not resemble anything from Greenwich studios I have ever seen. There is a third clue which is the small glass brick floor in the area where Annie was dancing. This area looks too dirty and integrated to be new and also too much effort (why lay in glass bricks in the studio floor?). The only aspect that is in favor of a studio set are the black walls with drawings on it.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by Tom

[Matt5]

On 2/5/2021 at 3:47 PM, Tom said:

Rick Bravo wrote my daughter (who had asked him because she wanted to help me) that the bar in MFEO was a set in Greenwich studios.

That is very surprising for me, as there are two significant factors that speak against a studio set in this case: the stone brick columns we see throughout the bar and the long entrance aisle that Switek and Zito walk through before they enter. This long aisle does not look like something that was in Greenwich studios. But maybe @Matt5 or @C Glidewho have both been there confirm or deny....

But Rick´s gotta know, this was a significant location and a big set ...

P.S. he also said that Bonzo Barry´s was in fact a "Sound Advice" store where he bought himself some audio equipment back then. This is also in contradiction to other crew members who described the store as a "Captain Video" store - which is backed up by newspaper articles on the net that confirm that Captain Video had a branch there. I could not find any confirmation about a Sound Advice branch at US1 though...

 

Certainly never saw anything like that when I visited Greenwich Studios when it was open @Tom.

 

[C Glide]

Your screen captures make me think this is the same bar used in Leap of Faith. I will have to take a look when I get a chance. Looks similar to me. Believe that was called The Kitchen Club in real life.

[Tom]

vor 14 Minuten schrieb C Glide:

Your screen captures make me think this is the same bar used in Leap of Faith. I will have to take a look when I get a chance. Looks similar to me. Believe that was called The Kitchen Club in real life.

No, sorry, that ain´t it. The Kitchen club opened in 1988 in the Seagull hotel basement and did not exist in 1985.

The closest suspect I had (due to the dark interior) was an old bar called Fox´s Sherron Inn at 6030 S. Dixie, but at closer look it turned out to be a wrong suspect. The bar closed a few years ago and was one of the oldest bars in Miami.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/foxs-sherron-inn-south-miami-2

Edited February 7, 2021 by Tom

[airtommy]

On 12/25/2020 at 6:56 PM, Tom said:

After some  serious digging, I am 90% sure that I´ve found the location where Zito´s house once stood. @C Glide

This is one of the most difficult and mysterious locations, as it is long gone. The decisive clue came from Jimmy Green, the dolly grip in first two seasons, who told my daughter a few days ago that this location was on the "south side of the river across the street from a 7 to 11 on the corner". He sounded very sure about that and even remembered that someone got shot on the 7-11 parking lot that same night.

Thus, I dumped our fire station no.2/Overtown/Wynwood idea and looked around the area of the Milk Run drug lab just south of Miami River, because the area of Zito´s house looked similar with lot of green grass and soon-to-be razed buildings around. One problem was to find the modern looking building in the background and to deal with the massive reconstruction in this area. And after long comparisons between the 1980s and 1986 historic aerials I found one spot that fits and matches with lots of details that we see:

• the modern building in the background (looks like a garage but was replaced a few years after, I was able to compare with the tilted N-side of the building on the satellite that was there in 1986) is approx. 400 meters away. It also has to accommodate the Miami River in between but we all know how deceiving the zoom lenses they used can be sometimes. In the first picture when Switek drives up to the scene we get a better feeling for the big distance of the background building which seems to be far off compared to the close up with Zito.
• there is a parallel street in front of the building as we can see the car lights above ground level (this could be the descending exit ramp of Florida State Road 970 which could explain the visible car lights standing still) - this match is admittedly a bit shaky as the State Road elevation back then is unsure in order not to block the view to the building. But what we see is elevated traffic..
• there was a fitting grass area and a tree partly hanging over onto the street with a fitting paved intersection and the trunk of a car (matches with the parking lot next door), where a cop stood in the episode
• the small neighbor house on the correct spot to the left (hard to see on the blurry 80 aerial but with imagination we can see the shifted roof), the hedge to the right, with a light behind as there seems to be a parking lot
• the  7-11 with parking lot (or at least it looks like a supermarket) on the corner across the street is there
• The remains of Zito‘s burning house closest to the street look like a sharply squared concrete or brick and mortar structure. This is interestingly exactly what we see on the 80 historic aerial at the spot where we expect it
• there is a diagonal street or at least the foundation for it just behind the neighbor house as the lights indicate. In early 85 when this was filmed the area was not fully razed for the diagonal extension of South Miami Ave where Crockett did his chicken car race in Down for the count Part2 in October 86. On the 1980 aerial this street is not there at all, in early 85 they probably just started to pave the street there and raze all buildings on the block.

Bottom line: I think Zito´s house was located at 37 SW 7 Street (as opposed to 31 SE 7 Street where the drug lab in Milk Run was).

Here is my photo documentation. As with all abandoned locations without street view this one will never become 100% sure but it is a 90%+ circumstantial case with plenty more matches than coincidence permits.

 

The store at that corner was indeed a 7-Eleven.  Screencap from Bad Timing:

[airtommy]

Comparing the background building with the scene later in this episode where Izzy & Noogie steal the cement mixer.  Camera was at a similar height in these two scenes.

Edited March 24, 2021 by airtommy

[Tom]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb airtommy:

Comparing the background building with the scene later in this episode where Izzy & Noogie steal the cement mixer.  Camera was at a similar height in these two scenes.

Thanks in both cases! I did not recognize both buildings in those scenes. I even checked Bad timing for any proof of Zito’s in the scene where Crockett rushes off with the seized car but did not see anything and I did not make out the 7-11! this highly confirms Zito‘s house location and Jimmy Green’s memory I would say!

Edited March 24, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

Thanks to @airtommys idea to search for other shots of that garage background of Zito´s house in the series we can now 100% confirm Zito´s house location as 37 SW 7 Street @C Glide as originally pinpointed by me earlier. When carefully collecting all alternate shots of that building in this and other episodes (that empty lot was used in many episodes, Made for each other, Smuggler´s blues only showed the other - the east - part of the lot, Good Collar) and magnifying it, I was able to exactly map that building to the Zito house background. Behind Zito we see the right half of the garage building. The garage vents and windows seem to be different on its N- and S-side (we see the latter), as shown by the 86 aerial which only has a partial view on the tilted N-side due to satellite angle)

All details match: the slim horizontal vents and its round edges (very unique), the writing ("Commercial center"?), the indentation and the square shaped window exactly right underneath, the other slim vents below. 

Not to mention the 7-11 on the corner vis a vis. Jimmy Green´s hint about the south bank of the river and the 7-11 was gold!

Zito´s house confirmed, I will shift it from "strong suspect" to "found" on our list now. This location is proof that there is NO IMPOSSIBLE CASE for us detectives!

P.S. just kicking myself that I did not come onto the idea to countercheck other scenes. But that´s what the 4-eyes principle is for...

 

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

unbelievable that I overlooked that corner 7-11 in Bad Timing so far (I just checked that scene for Zito house background 1 week ago).

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

Here we have the BTS shot from that scene in Bad Timing with the 7-11 in the background

 

[airtommy]

When Costelada is in the limo talking on the phone, some cuts are unknown.  We see quite a bit of the scenery, so we definitely can find this.  But I've come up empty so far.

Around 37:00 there is a street sign visible through the back window.  Can @Tom or anybody with high-def read this?

 

[Tom]

vor 49 Minuten schrieb airtommy:

When Costelada is in the limo talking on the phone, some cuts are unknown.  We see quite a bit of the scenery, so we definitely can find this.  But I've come up empty so far.

Around 37:00 there is a street sign visible through the back window.  Can @Tom or anybody with high-def read this?

 

No sorry I tried this weeks ago and the sign is too small.

I also made a sketch about all this Overtown like houses and big empty green lots  (all very significant) on that unknown stretch but came up empty on historic aerials all over downtown.

I am stumped.

 

[airtommy]

I scanned everything east of 95 between 195 and the River, as well as Brickell and Overtown west of 95.  So much changed from 1980 to 1986, so I had to use the blurry 1980 aerials and that gives me a headache.

The sign looks like a two-digit number.

[Tom]

vor 55 Minuten schrieb airtommy:

I scanned everything east of 95 between 195 and the River, as well as Brickell and Overtown west of 95.  So much changed from 1980 to 1986, so I had to use the blurry 1980 aerials and that gives me a headache.

The sign looks like a two-digit number.

Productionwise such a driving segment is filmed in one attempt, maybe taking longer for many lines, but you don’t split it up in several areas. Means that all this Costellada driving must be close to the other snippet we know already. But nothing. I used the 86 aerial as it is only 1 year after the episode and should reflect the same status.

two digits I am not sure of.

 

[Tom]

Rough sketch of the last unknown driving segments. 3 segments (each time Costellada speaks on the phone). Segments 1-3 are BEFORE the last known segment filmed in Downtown Miami (NW 3rd Street westbound towards NW 2 Ave).

In between the 3 segments there does not seem to be direct continuity (it is not sure whether there are houses missing in between, I used "?" in my sketch accordingly. The unreadable street sign in the first segment is right next to the stop sign, i.e. we are on a main road. In this area, sometimes Avenues have stop signs to give yield to streets!

The whole neighborhood of segments 1-3 looks different than the known #4. Poor Overtown neighboorhood look with wooden run down houses and big grass yards and trees between the houses.

 @airtommythe master of small snippets is asked to help 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

Segment#1 pics in order of appearance

[Tom]

An interesting detail to clarify the suspected break-in location of Izzy in this episode. The address 221 14 Street did not deliver back any company name, but the address 1402 Collins Ave on the other end of the property does. 

What we see in the 1986 aerial is Macar Enterprises Inc which was a car repair company with a 1402 Collins head address, but the car park was at 14 Street (what we see on aerials is not the typical parking scheme of supermarket customers, but the double parking scheme of a car repair shop), at the corner of 14th Street and Collins Court. Thus, also the "221" at the rear (NE-corner) of the building makes some sense, as 221 14 Street was the side building where the customer cars were dropped but the side building could be accessed from the Collins Ave side as well, alongside the low wall that we see in the scene parallel to the N-side of the side building. It seems the main office building was the one on the Collins Ave side and the one with the car park was the mechanics´ building only.

Anyway, Macar Enterprises was incorporated in 1974 and dissolved in November 1986, just 1.5 years after filming MFEO.

P.S. the interior scene looks like a studio set. It´s too color coordinated, too clean for a "pet shop".

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Tom

[Tom]

And while we are it, I think there is some evidence that the still unverified/unknown storage where Switek&Zito&C&T are loading VCRs into the trunk was indeed not the Greenwich Studio stage (D?) like @C Glidehas suspected earlier, but the storage building that we see a few seconds later in the episode where Noogie and Izzy were cuffed up inside the van. That building has been razed and replaced, it was at 12121 NE 16 Ave.

Reasoning: 

• the floor, the width, the height and the brick pattern without vertical beams in Greenwich stage D  does not match with anything in the storage (see storage and comparison pic with "Evan" below).
• There is a regular vertical beam pattern on that building 12121 NE16 Ave in the background that is the same as in the storage inside (we don´t see the whole building, thus the vertical doors/gates that we see left of the loaded limo in the interior shot could be out of frame). 

See my photo comparison below.

 

 

 

[airtommy]

Sorry Tom, but I'm skeptical that the Izzy scene was filmed at 14th St.   That location was always a gas station:

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=134714

2007 view:  https://goo.gl/maps/cWpTDoz3dcPJY6v48

Did the building change between 1985 and 2007?  It's possible that they rebuilt it just to change gas brands, but I would bet against it.

To me this building looks like a residence, not a business.  I think it was most likely filmed at Collins Ct & 76th or 77th or 78th St, but those buildings have all been demolished long ago.

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by airtommy

[airtommy]

13 hours ago, Tom said:

And while we are it, I think there is some evidence that the still unverified/unknown storage where Switek&Zito&C&T are loading VCRs into the trunk was indeed not the Greenwich Studio stage (D?) like @C Glidehas suspected earlier, but the storage building that we see a few seconds later in the episode where Noogie and Izzy were cuffed up inside the van. That building has been razed and replaced, it was at 12121 NE 16 Ave.

Reasoning: 

• the floor, the width, the height and the brick pattern without vertical beams in Greenwich stage D  does not match with anything in the storage (see storage and comparison pic with "Evan" below).
• There is a regular vertical beam pattern on that building 12121 NE16 Ave in the background that is the same as in the storage inside (we don´t see the whole building, thus the vertical doors/gates that we see left of the loaded limo in the interior shot could be out of frame). 

See my photo comparison below.

 

 

 

Good eye! The vertical beams in the brick wall are a great detail for both ruling out the studio and for matching the building across the street.

[Tom]

vor 7 Stunden schrieb airtommy:

Sorry Tom, but I'm skeptical that the Izzy scene was filmed at 14th St.   That location was always a gas station:

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=134714

2007 view:  https://goo.gl/maps/cWpTDoz3dcPJY6v48

Did the building change between 1985 and 2007?  It's possible that they rebuilt it just to change gas brands, but I would bet against it.

To me this building looks like a residence, not a business.  I think it was most likely filmed at Collins Ct & 76th or 77th or 78th St, but those buildings have all been demolished long ago.

 

Sorry airtommy, but it does not matter if it was a gas station (and the 2007 gas station roof structure does not match the 86 aerial by shape, thus it must have built later or looked different in 86 than on the old google street picture). 

Apart from sunbiz entry proof that it was at least a car repair at the time of filming, the look of the back building with the wall and the location of the “221” fits perfectly with the scene. No way you will find another such unique configuration somewhere else. And that they faked the number to hide another location far off from South beach is too far fetched in my opinion and there is no match on historic aerials near Switek´s apartment either (also doubtful that a "221" would be on Collins Court there given other addresses around).

I agree that the side of the building rather looks residential (the backside with the door and the low windows plus the low wall in front of Izzy running towards the house in a 90 degree angle does not and rather looks like a run down business) but too many configuration details (building, tree, wall) fit to be a coincidence. And, last but not least, apart from your hunches, you have not been able to come up with a single alternate matching site anywhere else on historic aerials that we could deal with and verify or falsify.

PS So far, I have always been right with all my location suspects in this episode and others, even with impossible Zito’s house and the drive-in where you contradicted with another drive-in that closed 10 years too early to be a potential solution, so I guess you are always contradicting by nature and I am always right at the end as my "arrest and conviction record" indicates  

Edited May 3, 2021 by Tom

[airtommy]

I don't think they filmed in South Beach at night in this ep, did they?  It would be unusual that they travel a long distance just for a brief clip where the location is unimportant.  Especially since the location was so poorly chosen.  This exterior doesn't fit the scene at all - it doesn't look like a store.  All of that points to convenience.  It would the most sense if they clustered it with the other night scenes, which were all filmed in North Beach.

Regarding 221 14th St:

• the wall is a match
• the address is a mismatch
• the trees are a mismatch
• the building is neither a match or a mismatch

The gas station and service center were the same business.  There is no record of a business at 221 14th St.   There is a record of apartments at 221 76th, 77th and 78th St.

[Tom]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb airtommy:

I don't think they filmed in South Beach at night in this ep, did they?  It would be unusual that they travel a long distance just for a brief clip where the location is unimportant.  Especially since the location was so poorly chosen.  This exterior doesn't fit the scene at all - it doesn't look like a store.  All of that points to convenience.  It would the most sense if they clustered it with the other night scenes, which were all filmed in North Beach.

Regarding 221 14th St:

• the wall is a match
• the address is a mismatch
• the trees are a mismatch
• the building is neither a match or a mismatch

The gas station and service center were the same business.  There is no record of a business at 221 14th St.   There is a record of apartments at 221 76th, 77th and 78th St.

They filmed at Warsaw ballroom one block away for half a day at least due to FX involved. So what´s the big deal to switch over to 14th street in the evening? In February it gets dark at 5:30PM in Miami (I checked the shadows in the teaser exterior scenes and it was indeed filmed in late afternoon and some at sunset, not in the morning!)

And most features are a clear match, including the address (that is possible at least, given the neighbors address) and that there is no record of business for 221 14 Street is clear because it belonged to the 1402 Collins business as I pointed out in my own post. And there is NO knock out criteria that excludes this potential location. The second tree is missing but it could have been chopped the time between filming (February 85) and the aerial (summer 86). The other tree is possible. 

As I said: please bring one alternate location that is even half as matching to seriously discuss it. Just say no despite many matches and without any knock out criteria AND without any alternative at hand will not lead us anywhere. If you cannot find any other better than that than it is rather proof that 14 Street is the one, as there is logically only one location that matches. 

Records of apartments at 76+th street are nice but useless, as the historic aerials from that area are not even a remote match to anything we see in the episode.

So, I will rather stick to facts than hunches.

P.S. I am also still waiting for your alternate suggestion for the Like a hurricane driving segment of Freemont&Wiggins where you also said no despite unique matches all over .....

Edited May 3, 2021 by Tom