Cool Runnin' / Junk Love

[Tom]

LAST UNKNOWN LOCATION: Rockhouse Club (and Dive bar).

As we have the daily call sheet (without location addresses though for whatever reason) we know that both scenes were filmed the same day. They started filming at 5pm on Fri 27 July 84 with the day scenes at the dive bar and then (sunset in Miami in July around 8pm) they continued with the night scenes at the Raeggae club. There is no "company move" on the sheet, which could mean (maybe not and it was only forgotten) that both locations are the same or next to each other. When Crockett&Tubbs leave the rockhouse club, we can briefly see the interior of a building that resembles a bit the dive bar interior. Also the scene with Noogie dancing shows the style of building behind him with a similar vibe than the dive bar (brown wooden door, ..).

When I started to reopen this unsolved case last week, it flashed on me that the area behind Crockett and Tubbs sitting with the wooden white half open fence around is rather a big rectangular shaped one than several small "booths". AND: the whole big rectangular roofed area seems to have ONE pointed roof with 6 or 8 triangle shaped segments. THAT should be quite unique and stand out on historic aerials from any building around.

Further thinking that the car drive C&T (sc.80F....when they listen to the tape) was filmed the same night AFTER the rockhouse club as seen on the location call sheet, I thought I could find it near the drive location (Biscayne Blvd southbound around 33-29 Street), but nothing. I extended my search for other parts of Miami but no luck either. 

I made a handmade sketch of the buildings and roofs visible, It looks like a whole ensemble of buildings with extended roofs, repeatingly used white fences and a huge tree next to it. Vibe-wise this says it is NOT on the beach and not in downtown, rather in a less inhabited area or near a park.

I used the 1986 aerial. Maybe the location was razed between 1984 and 1986? The 1984 aerial is blurry like hell. Maybe we will find it faster with more eyes trying .... @Paul Veres?

 

Edited April 28 by Tom

[Paul Veres]

On 4/28/2024 at 5:44 AM, Tom said:

LAST UNKNOWN LOCATION: Rockhouse Club (and Dive bar).

As we have the daily call sheet (without location addresses though for whatever reason) we know that both scenes were filmed the same day. They started filming at 5pm on Fri 27 July 84 with the day scenes at the dive bar and then (sunset in Miami in July around 8pm) they continued with the night scenes at the Raeggae club. There is no "company move" on the sheet, which could mean (maybe not and it was only forgotten) that both locations are the same or next to each other. When Crockett&Tubbs leave the rockhouse club, we can briefly see the interior of a building that resembles a bit the dive bar interior. Also the scene with Noogie dancing shows the style of building behind him with a similar vibe than the dive bar (brown wooden door, ..).

When I started to reopen this unsolved case last week, it flashed on me that the area behind Crockett and Tubbs sitting with the wooden white half open fence around is rather a big rectangular shaped one than several small "booths". AND: the whole big rectangular roofed area seems to have ONE pointed roof with 6 or 8 triangle shaped segments. THAT should be quite unique and stand out on historic aerials from any building around.

Further thinking that the car drive C&T (sc.80F....when they listen to the tape) was filmed the same night AFTER the rockhouse club as seen on the location call sheet, I thought I could find it near the drive location (Biscayne Blvd southbound around 33-29 Street), but nothing. I extended my search for other parts of Miami but no luck either. 

I made a handmade sketch of the buildings and roofs visible, It looks like a whole ensemble of buildings with extended roofs, repeatingly used white fences and a huge tree next to it. Vibe-wise this says it is NOT on the beach and not in downtown, rather in a less inhabited area or near a park.

I used the 1986 aerial. Maybe the location was razed between 1984 and 1986? The 1984 aerial is blurry like hell. Maybe we will find it faster with more eyes trying .... @Paul Veres?

 

Without seeing your sketch of the venue configuration it's hard to scan the aerials, but a thing I will say is I get strong vibes of one place in Miami today, if it was mapped into that time - Palapa at Upper Buena Vista.

1. It's a small concert venue with plenty of dancing and drinking space

2. Lots of vegetation throughout including large mature trees

3. It is close to the predominantly black areas of Miami, which fits with the band/music in the scene

4. It's not far from the following in the sheet driving scene

I can't tell from the aerials if this area would be feasible for that build in the 1980s, and I certainly don't claim this is the location, but vibe-wise it's very close to me, just food for thought. Assuming of course that the venue in the episode was used per its real-life purpose and the band actually played there, not made up by the crew.

Also, anybody knows what this flag on the wall is, on the left?

The rainbow flag on the right could be irrelevant to the location finding, but if the flag on the left is something unique, say ethnic/geographic, maybe googling relevant cultural-historical congregation places in Miami in the 80s could yeild a lead.

Edited May 3 by Paul Veres

[Tom]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb Paul Veres:

Without seeing your sketch of the venue configuration it's hard to scan the aerials, but a thing I will say is I get strong vibes of one place in Miami today, if it was mapped into that time - Palapa at Upper Buena Vista.

1. It's a small concert venue with plenty of dancing and drinking space

2. Lots of vegetation throughout including large mature trees

3. It is close to the predominantly black areas of Miami, which fits with the band/music in the scene

4. It's not far from the following in the sheet driving scene

I can't tell from the aerials if this area would be feasible for that build in the 1980s, and I certainly don't claim this is the location, but vibe-wise it's very close to me, just food for thought. Assuming of course that the venue in the episode was used per its real-life purpose and the band actually played there, not made up by the crew.

Also, anybody knows what this flag on the wall is, on the left?

The rainbow flag on the right could be irrelevant to the location finding, but if the flag on the left is something unique, say ethnic/geographic, maybe googling relevant cultural-historical congregation places in Miami in the 80s could yeild a lead.

That´s a good possibility and very close vibe wise. The 1986 aerial is inconclusive whether Palapa was there at that time already. But there is a potential squared pointed roof (in red) on the 86 aerial that is not there today. The layout of buildings and trees from the episode do not match up though.

Needs further investigation, but definitely worth a closer look.

[Paul Veres]

All under the assumption that the venue was as-is real-life location in the scene, I am trying to pursue this through the Reggae and flag leads - no result, but posting as food for thought again.

Incidentally I just recently learned from some Jamaicans that their countymen like to settle in Broward (as opposed to Miami-Dade). Indeed, South Florida is the second highest concentration of Jamaicans in the US after New York, but there are no significan communities in central Miami-Dade, though plenty further north (source):

Yes, Broward is far from the other locations, but I just like to explore and who knows where it could lead. Upon googling relevant places though, I didn't find much, neither in the 80s nor now, except this Caribbean tiki bar with a music stage in Hollywood, which also had trellis fencing similar to the one in the scene, but this place was just recently built:

All that is not to say that a Reggae band has to play where Jamaicans live... but a higher chance maybe. Speaking of the band, finding out its name appears to be impossible (knowing the name could lead to their possible regular venues) - all we know is that they were playing Bob Marley's Jamming.

The second research track is the flag, and here it is again, now with enhanced color:

I'm no vexillologist, but I'm fairly sure it's not a country flag. If you assume this is a horizontal flag that is hung sideways, as is often done with flags, it becomes this:

Lots of country flags have some kind of inner rectangle top left (in fact like the star-spangled banner) and having something that looks like a coat of arms in there would be also very appropriate, but no country flags really have thin vertical stripes, that's unusual. 

Could it be a maritime flag?

Wouldn't be inappropriate, Miami is on the water after all. And plenty of vertical stripes there, but again no match. @Tom could you possibly pull out an enhanced image version from your MV copy to try and discern if that's some heraldic symbol?

Let's continue brainstorming!

Edited May 5 by Paul Veres

[Tom]

vor 11 Stunden schrieb Paul Veres:

All under the assumption that the venue was as-is real-life location in the scene, I am trying to pursue this through the Reggae and flag leads - no result, but posting as food for thought again.

Incidentally I just recently learned from some Jamaicans that their countymen like to settle in Broward (as opposed to Miami-Dade). Indeed, South Florida is the second highest concentration of Jamaicans in the US after New York, but there are no significan communities in central Miami-Dade, though plenty further north (source):

Yes, Broward is far from the other locations, but I just like to explore and who knows where it could lead. Upon googling relevant places though, I didn't find much, neither in the 80s nor now, except this Caribbean tiki bar with a music stage in Hollywood, which also had trellis fencing similar to the one in the scene, but this place was just recently built:

All that is not to say that a Reggae band has to play where Jamaicans live... but a higher chance maybe. Speaking of the band, finding out its name appears to be impossible (knowing the name could lead to their possible regular venues) - all we know is that they were playing Bob Marley's Jamming.

The second research track is the flag, and here it is again, now with enhanced color:

I'm no vexillologist, but I'm fairly sure it's not a country flag. If you assume this is a horizontal flag that is hung sideways, as is often done with flags, it becomes this:

Lots of country flags have some kind of inner rectangle top left (in fact like the star-spangled banner) and having something that looks like a coat of arms in there would be also very appropriate, but no country flags really have thin vertical stripes, that's unusual. 

Could it be a maritime flag?

Wouldn't be inappropriate, Miami is on the water after all. And plenty of vertical stripes there, but again no match. @Tom could you possibly pull out an enhanced image version from your MV copy to try and discern if that's some heraldic symbol?

Let's continue brainstorming!

I did a flag scrutiny myself a few days ago and came to the same conclusions. That´s no country flag and certainly no maritime flag either (I have a sailor certificate, but never heard about such a flag). My bet is that is a local flag (ie. like that of a sports club or an ethnical group. The quality is very bad and the grainy picture is not really better after enhancements (see attached), but the yellow spots in the red box look like symbols or letters, which strengthen the impression of a cultural/ethnical flag. Interestingly the colors of the flag resemble the Cuban flag pretty well.

I would not bet too much on the Jamaican angle though. According to script the shooters were Jamaicans and Desmond Maxwell kind of middleman, plus the daily call sheet for that days shows that the dancers/Jamaican audience were extras hired for that scene and no word about the name of the band. Thus, I conclude this was most likely a music venue (or at least a venue dressed up as a music one for the scene) with Jamaican flavor added by the production company. Not vice versa.

Edited May 5 by Tom