Episode 2 - Heart of Darkness

[Tom]

UNKNOWN LOCATION FOUND: The restaurant and the kicking of Renny on the parking lot

@airtommy @daytona365 @Dadrian @miamijimf

This is the last mystery of this episode, one of the 8 unknown locations left. Thanks to a very generous friend with a lot of location sheets from all 5 seasons I can share now the dailies of this episode with you and the surprising result is that the restaurant where C&T met Artie and Kovacs was NOT Hy Uchitel´s place for steak, as remembered by Rick Bravo.

The daily for 17 July 1984 clearly shows that the restaurant interior and the exterior fight on the parking lot as well as the phone booth scene with Artie calling C&T were filmed at CHELA´s Restaurant at 800 Brickell Ave. This makes sense as we knew for years that he phone booth scene was filmed there, but there was no other location around and this was odd - you don´t move production to Brickell only for a 10 second close up of Artie using a phone booth. I have not found company information on Chela´s.

If we watch the parking lot scene, we see that there is a huge open space behind the L-shaped building with a door (Power voltage danger sign) and a window and cars parked in front of it. This is only possible on the west of the 800 Brickell block looking west, as looking east or south from the restaurant were highrises that would have blocked sight. I add aerials that show the exact place where I think the parking lot was filmed. A small building, one block off Brickell on the west of the restaurant, with fitting parking lot. The restaurant itself was within the highrise at 800 Brickell and could not have been the small building we see in this scene.

P.S. I will post the other dailies of this episode shortly. No surprises there. Tin Lizzie Bar confirmed, as well as Artie´s wife pad at Venetian.

ENJOY!

Edited June 17, 2023 by Tom

[Dadrian]

@Tom this is a big one! Thanks and congrats! 

[Tom]

Here are all daily location call sheets of this episode with explicit courtesy of a good friend. 12-24 July 1984. On 11 July they did some publicity pics. Enjoy!

[miamijimf]

Fantastic

[Tom]

NEW/CORRECTED LOCATION: The parking lot fight with Renny was shot on 79th Street causeway

@airtommy@Paul Veres @miamijimf @Dadrian

Incredible, these dailies are a treasure chest and they re-shot the parking lot scene on 24th July at NICK & ARTHUR Restaurant 1601 79th Street Causeway! That´s a little off east from the earlier suspected Hy Uchitel´s at 1335 79th Street causeway as Rick Bravo remembered. On the 1986 aerial there is indeed a fitting spot on the parking lot. The 1984 aerial is very blurry but does not show any difference at least to the 1986 one.

As to this sheet, only the exterior scene in front of the restaurant was refilmed, not the interior scenes. This means the interior we see on TV must be indeed CHELA´s at 800 Brickell, although old 1969 interior pics of Nick and Arthur´s are very similar to what we see on TV. These location sheets of the very early phase of the series are handwritten and seem not to be fully reliable as the later ones.

I also think I know WHY this was refilmed. If you watch the sheets closely from the first day of shooting, you will realize that Artie´s boss was called Kovacs on TV, but "Al Margolis" on the first dailies and script versions. I assume there was a name change throughout production and as C&T mention "Kovacs" name in the restaurant scenes they could not fix this with ADR (automatic Dialogue replacement) and need to re-shoot.What a scavenger hunt this is!

See my evidence below. ENJOY! 

P.S. next few days you can look forward to more location sheets. Cool running is next. I also found the real location of the hair salon in Home invaders, for example. Stay tuned!

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Tom

[daytona365]

On 6/18/2023 at 10:32 AM, Tom said:

NEW/CORRECTED LOCATION: The parking lot fight with Renny was shot on 79th Street causeway

@airtommy@Paul Veres @miamijimf @Dadrian

Incredible, these dailies are a treasure chest and they re-shot the parking lot scene on 24th July at NICK & ARTHUR Restaurant 1601 79th Street Causeway! That´s a little off east from the earlier suspected Hy Uchitel´s at 1335 79th Street causeway as Rick Bravo remembered. On the 1986 aerial there is indeed a fitting spot on the parking lot. The 1984 aerial is very blurry but does not show any difference at least to the 1986 one.

As to this sheet, only the exterior scene in front of the restaurant was refilmed, not the interior scenes. This means the interior we see on TV must be indeed CHELA´s at 800 Brickell, although old 1969 interior pics of Nick and Arthur´s are very similar to what we see on TV. These location sheets of the very early phase of the series are handwritten and seem not to be fully reliable as the later ones.

I also think I know WHY this was refilmed. If you watch the sheets closely from the first day of shooting, you will realize that Artie´s boss was called Kovacs on TV, but "Al Margolis" on the first dailies and script versions. I assume there was a name change throughout production and as C&T mention "Kovacs" name in the restaurant scenes they could not fix this with ADR (automatic Dialogue replacement) and need to re-shoot.What a scavenger hunt this is!

See my evidence below. ENJOY! 

P.S. next few days you can look forward to more location sheets. Cool running is next. I also found the real location of the hair salon in Home invaders, for example. Stay tuned!

 

Awsome find, Tom. AUSTRIANS RULE!

Edited June 20, 2023 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 9 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

Awsome find, Tom. AUSTRIANS RULE!

Even without kangaroos 

[daytona365]

On 6/18/2023 at 10:32 AM, Tom said:

NEW/CORRECTED LOCATION: The parking lot fight with Renny was shot on 79th Street causeway

@airtommy@Paul Veres @miamijimf @Dadrian

Incredible, these dailies are a treasure chest and they re-shot the parking lot scene on 24th July at NICK & ARTHUR Restaurant 1601 79th Street Causeway! That´s a little off east from the earlier suspected Hy Uchitel´s at 1335 79th Street causeway as Rick Bravo remembered. On the 1986 aerial there is indeed a fitting spot on the parking lot. The 1984 aerial is very blurry but does not show any difference at least to the 1986 one.

As to this sheet, only the exterior scene in front of the restaurant was refilmed, not the interior scenes. This means the interior we see on TV must be indeed CHELA´s at 800 Brickell, although old 1969 interior pics of Nick and Arthur´s are very similar to what we see on TV. These location sheets of the very early phase of the series are handwritten and seem not to be fully reliable as the later ones.

I also think I know WHY this was refilmed. If you watch the sheets closely from the first day of shooting, you will realize that Artie´s boss was called Kovacs on TV, but "Al Margolis" on the first dailies and script versions. I assume there was a name change throughout production and as C&T mention "Kovacs" name in the restaurant scenes they could not fix this with ADR (automatic Dialogue replacement) and need to re-shoot.What a scavenger hunt this is!

See my evidence below. ENJOY! 

P.S. next few days you can look forward to more location sheets. Cool running is next. I also found the real location of the hair salon in Home invaders, for example. Stay tuned!

 

According to some real estate websites, this building was constructed in 1947, which means the current building on this property is the same as 1984, with some remodelling done over the years.

And by doing a simple overlay of the current and the historic aerial, it becomes pretty clear that the base structure of the building is still there: 

So very very likely, this is the meter room door in front of which the scene was filmed:

Edited June 20, 2023 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 16 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

According to some real estate websites, this building was constructed in 1947, which means the current building on this property is the same as 1984, with some remodelling done over the years.

And by doing a simple overlay of the current and the historic aerial, it becomes pretty clear that the base structure of the building is still there: 

So very very likely, this is the meter room door in front of which the scene was filmed:

Where is that door located on today’s structure? The SW corner of the building?

[daytona365]

10 minutes ago, Tom said:

Where is that door located on today’s structure? The SW corner of the building?

Yes. And that makes sense because the entrance appears to have been there in 1984, extending out from the southern wall of the building, however slightly offset to the right of the corner. There's a canopy visible in the episode over the wall that is recessed from the door (right of the screen, which would be quite natural on a restaurant entrance. And there is a plant concealing the corner, same as today, only today it's much higher.

Edited June 20, 2023 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 4 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

Yes. And that makes sense because the entrance appears to have been there in 1984, extending out from the southern wall of the building, however slightly offset to the right of the corner. There's a canopy visible in the episode over the wall that is recessed from the door (right of the screen, which would be quite natural on a restaurant entrance. And there is a plant concealing the corner, same as today, only today it's much higher.

Sorry but I don´t see the fit. Today and on the 86 aerial there is no L-shaped corner on the SW side of the building right next to the door and that´s what we see on TV. Can you advise again how you think that fits?

[daytona365]

11 minutes ago, Tom said:

Sorry but I don´t see the fit. Today and on the 86 aerial there is no L-shaped corner on the SW side of the building right next to the door and that´s what we see on TV. Can you advise again how you think that fits?

[Tom]

vor 1 Minute schrieb daytona365:

That´s not what we see on TV. We see an L-shaped corner with the door left of it and left of the door is a window. See pics attached. There is also another door on the south side of the SW corner. But this does not fit either as there is no space left of it for a window and the corner to the entrance is too far away and no concrete wall.

[Crockettt]

I think @daytona365 is right about the door location.
Aerial picture from 1986 shows a roof on the south-west side of the building, which is now gone.

The window visible next to the door may have been bricked up.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Crockettt

[Tom]

vor 7 Minuten schrieb Crockettt:

I think @daytona365 is right about the door location.
Aerial picture from 1986 shows a roof on the south-west side of the building, which is now gone.

The window visible next to the door may have been bricked up.

Sorry but that does not address what I mean. If that matches with TV there must be a perpendicular wall right next to the door. And if the door facing West it is than the perpendicular wall would have to stick out to the west as well. And this wall ain’t there (on any old aerial)

Edited June 20, 2023 by Tom

[king77]

5 hours ago, Tom said:

That´s not what we see on TV. We see an L-shaped corner with the door left of it and left of the door is a window. See pics attached. There is also another door on the south side of the SW corner. But this does not fit either as there is no space left of it for a window and the corner to the entrance is too far away and no concrete wall.

To me the wall behind C&T is curved or has a kink in it, you can tell by the cables attached to it.

The awning is a roof as I see a wall mounted AC.

The tree may also be a fake, but I will have to re-watch tonite.

Edited June 20, 2023 by king77

[Tom]

In my perception there is roughly a 90 degree angle between the wall with the door and the building part on the right on TV (see pics below - the exact corner between these two walls is somewhere behind the plant): and this perpendicular part is missing in reality when the door is facing west.

[airtommy]

To me, the tree and surrounding planting/landscaping looks real and permanent.  I don't see why they'd add that for this scene.

[daytona365]

 

...and after all, it's still a meter room door with a high voltage warning sign today.

Edited June 21, 2023 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb daytona365:

 

...and after all, it's still a meter room door with a high voltage warning sign today.

Thanks for your review! I see your point and please don´t get me wrong. I´d be super happy if you´re right (you mostly are and were with your detail reviews on locations ) and this long mystery is solved. It´s an optical illusion then, because to me there is an angle (but it is not 90 degrees, but much less as the wall of this extended entrance has a SLIGHT angle on the 86 aerial! And this slight angle led me to see a 90 degree angle where there was not) left and right of the plant, as best seen in the first frame of the scene when the biggest portion of the right wall is visible.

I also tried to find any signs on the wall left of the door that the window was patched over, roughly measuring the height and distance of the window to the meter door, but no luck. That does not mean the window was not there, it is just not clear, but would confirm your assumption with the flat fall left and right of the plant and the removed entrance part sticking out to the right finally and fully.

What is in your favor additionally is

• the distance from the door to the corner - it looks about the same on TV
• on today´s street view the "corner" on TV next to the door (3rd pic below) does NOT show any  immediate (perpendicular) angle either, but rather a parallel wall extension to the right before the plant covers the rest...
• the parking lot in front of the wall with the car parking lots in a 90 degree angle to the door wall

P.S. we can´t see the bottom of the door on streetview. To check whether the door starts higher than floor level like on TV and whether there is any visible sign of a patched over window left of the door in the right spot would be another clear proof. The Bing aerial is too blurry when magnified. Maybe a local like @Paul Verescan stop by on site to verify in person? 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Tom

[Tom]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb daytona365:

 

...and after all, it's still a meter room door with a high voltage warning sign today.

Further scrutiny shows another match in favor of your theory. I tried to reconstruct the camera view on the parking lot according to your theory. The skyline behind the parking lot is the eastern finger stretching out north form the North Bay village and the tiny cubicle seen behind Artie might be there as well on the parking lot at the right spot. See below. Congrats! I think you nailed the exact spot finally! 

[daytona365]

On 6/17/2023 at 11:17 PM, Tom said:

The daily for 17 July 1984 clearly shows that the restaurant interior and the exterior fight on the parking lot as well as the phone booth scene with Artie calling C&T were filmed at CHELA´s Restaurant at 800 Brickell Ave. This makes sense as we knew for years that he phone booth scene was filmed there, but there was no other location around and this was odd - you don´t move production to Brickell only for a 10 second close up of Artie using a phone booth. I have not found company information on Chela´s.

[Tom]

 

vor 4 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

Of course they went bankrupt after Kovacs got popped and Artie did not come back either ....

[Paul Veres]

On 6/21/2023 at 4:23 AM, Tom said:

Thanks for your review! I see your point and please don´t get me wrong. I´d be super happy if you´re right (you mostly are and were with your detail reviews on locations ) and this long mystery is solved. It´s an optical illusion then, because to me there is an angle (but it is not 90 degrees, but much less as the wall of this extended entrance has a SLIGHT angle on the 86 aerial! And this slight angle led me to see a 90 degree angle where there was not) left and right of the plant, as best seen in the first frame of the scene when the biggest portion of the right wall is visible.

I also tried to find any signs on the wall left of the door that the window was patched over, roughly measuring the height and distance of the window to the meter door, but no luck. That does not mean the window was not there, it is just not clear, but would confirm your assumption with the flat fall left and right of the plant and the removed entrance part sticking out to the right finally and fully.

What is in your favor additionally is

• the distance from the door to the corner - it looks about the same on TV
• on today´s street view the "corner" on TV next to the door (3rd pic below) does NOT show any  immediate (perpendicular) angle either, but rather a parallel wall extension to the right before the plant covers the rest...
• the parking lot in front of the wall with the car parking lots in a 90 degree angle to the door wall

P.S. we can´t see the bottom of the door on streetview. To check whether the door starts higher than floor level like on TV and whether there is any visible sign of a patched over window left of the door in the right spot would be another clear proof. The Bing aerial is too blurry when magnified. Maybe a local like @Paul Verescan stop by on site to verify in person? 

Will definitely take a look for the door bottom level and ask about the wall/window situation once I get a chance to get out to that part of town. Unsure what's currently in the building, e.g. if there is any business to talk to.

[Paul Veres]

In the meantime, I was able to obtain some info on Chela's from a guy who studies Brickell history and had some unique prints you probably won't find anywhere online. I was on the fence between posting it here and in Miami Miscellaneous, but ultimately thought it's appropriate to include the whole material here and just reference it in Miami Misc.

First, here is an April 5th 1982 note from Miami Herald about the restaurant's opening by Chela Holman, a Salvadorian fleeing the civil war in her home country where she ran a restaurant Siete Mares (Seven Seas, sounds like sea food). Note that the restaurant originally opened as a simple sandwich shop, though with a high capacity of 100, to later follow up with more space.

The "more formal dining room inside" was probably further updated into what we see in the show over a year later, given this July 23rd 1983 Miami Herald ad print in Spanish (followed by a Google-translated copy):

What do you think of the prices, $18.50 for what sounds to be a multi-course dinner - stacks up well to what we see in the show?

More pricing info from later that year as this November 17th Miami News note shows - you can get a fettucine Alfredo for $8.95. 15 tapas for $6.95? That sounds like a good deal, and it's interesting the author felt the need to explain what tapas are to the 80s Miami.

Another short Miami Herald article, this one from December 22nd 1983 giving us a pretty good description of the place, plus more pricing info - drinks up to $6.50 a shot, pricey back then, but I think fitting the level of this establishment. I have to admit I've never had the pink squirrel cocktail... Will fix that sometime.  

"Cozy lounge in restful shades of earthy maroon".

"Flowing design".

"Large well-lit tables".

And it sounds like that whole courtyard in the circular front part of the building (still there today through the 90s building renovation) was occupied by the restaurant, featuring an "al fresco Mediterranean patio bar".

Finally, and this gets us to the March 18th 1985 event @daytona365 posted, a January 18th 1985 Miami Herald article bashing the place. There also, note the "etched mirrors" and "beige-pink tablecloths" which we see in the MV screenshot above (though glass, not mirrors, but probably a feature throughout the place elsewhere).

In summary, the place lasted only 3 years, yet was lucky enough to get MV filmed there during what was probably its short heyday in 1984.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Paul Veres