The Big Thaw

[miamijimf]

Matt, I looked at it on the DVD, google maps, and historicaerials. com (not very clear images).  There is only one question about it.  As shown on your 2d pic it looks like there is a building to the left of the long white building and this spot was undeveloped as far back as 1986.  Seen better in the screen cap below.  Of course it is a very poor moving image on the OCB TV, so it's hard to tell if there was really a building there.  Maybe the camera makes the building to the left of the long white building look closer than it is.  I vote that it is a match.  Good work regardless.  Interested in what C Glide thinks.

Edited May 4, 2018 by miamijimf

[miamijimf]

Matt - What do you think?  Still the beach across from about 3d St. and Ocean Drive?

[Matt5]

5 hours ago, miamijimf said:

Matt - What do you think?  Still the beach across from about 3d St. and Ocean Drive?

Yes I’m pretty sure that’s it - I looked closely and Tom & yourself also seem to think it’s a match - I’ve asked C Glide to look also.  

[airtommy]

I was going to ask this as a trivia question but I never got around to it.

Matt, you've got the general area nailed down.  But Jim is right that the building to the left of the main one rules out the 3rd St location.  That undeveloped land (Marjory Stoneman Douglas Ocean Beach Park) was there in the 1980s just as it is today. 

The buildings we see in the background were between 1st St & 2nd St. and all of them have been bulldozed and replaced.

 

Edited July 4, 2018 by airtommy

[miamijimf]

airtommy so where exactly do you think it was filmed?

[airtommy]

8 minutes ago, miamijimf said:

airtommy so where exactly do you think it was filmed?

Roughly parallel to 1st Street

[Matt5]

13 hours ago, airtommy said:

Roughly parallel to 1st Street

That’s great - I know it was on as the ‘music video’ but thought it would be fun to find this location. The building which you highlighted in your post was kind of similar to the one I saw originally - but pleased it was the right area. Thankyou.

So we are talking about behind the old Corsair Hotel property ever so slightly more north.This would make sense location wise as large parts of this episode were filmed at the old school building on Alton at 3rd.

This is my 9999 post here on Miami Vice Online!! I love this site, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,  it’s the best resource and site/ page for Miami Vice out there period. 

thankyou all @Ferrariman @miamijimf @Dadrian @airtommy @Tom @Charlie Glide@Tony D. @summer84  @jpm1 @ZAQ 178

@C Glide  @Retro80sfan @Pink Flaming0 @James And everyone else!!

Edited July 5, 2018 by Matt5

[ZAQ 178]

9999 post! I have some catching up to do lol.

[Tony D.]

Hey Matt, you are most likely the King of Miami Vice, posters. Congratulations !!  

[Dadrian]

30 minutes ago, Tony D. said:

Hey Matt, you are most likely the King of Miami Vice, posters. Congratulations !!  

@Matt5 may be the prince.

@timm525 will is unlikely to be dethroned. 

[Tony D.]

25 minutes ago, Dadrian said:

@Matt5 may be the prince.

@timm525 will is unlikely to be dethroned. 

You are so right, Dadrian........I just looked up timm525's profile...…..he's got over 1 million posts !  

[timm525]

Yep....get busy posting you slackers!

[Matt5]

On 7/6/2018 at 9:18 PM, timm525 said:

Yep....get busy posting you slackers!

Ha ha 1 million...

[Tom]

LAST UNKNOWN LOCATION: THE REGGAE HOUSE WITH BANYAN TREE

As @C Glide wrote on his location site, the entrance where Gina & Trudy come in is the "Odette house" from Bought and paid for at 3516 Plaza Street but the garden behind the house was filmed somewhere else.

I don´t think it was filmed close to 3516 Plaza, because I tried to find a match and came up with nothing.

Clues:

• a huge Banyan tree in the garden behind the houses (Banyans are easy to spot with 3D due to height and root area)
• two longish wooden houses with normal roof
• a very broad building just vis a vis (we can see it perfectly in between the two houses as the camera slowly pans from right to left).

There is simply no Banyan tree - looked around in this open Coconut Grove area, but no broad house vis a vis two closely parallel longish houses near Plaza Street. Also on Historic aerials. We have to assume that this is further away. There was much change in the neighborhood (was much more green in 1986) and the Banyan could be gone as well, but who knows ...

There are other Banyans in Coconut Grove to the south but in the bushier areas the houses are much more pricy and neat as seen here...

[daytona365]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

LAST UNKNOWN LOCATION: THE REGGAE HOUSE WITH BANYAN TREE

As @C Glide wrote on his location site, the entrance where Gina & Trudy come in is the "Odette house" from Bought and paid for at 3516 Plaza Street but the garden behind the house was filmed somewhere else.

I don´t think it was filmed close to 3516 Plaza, because I tried to find a match and came up with nothing.

Clues:

• a huge Banyan tree in the garden behind the houses (Banyans are easy to spot with 3D due to height and root area)
• two longish wooden houses with normal roof
• a very broad building just vis a vis (we can see it perfectly in between the two houses as the camera slowly pans from right to left).

There is simply no Banyan tree - looked around in this open Coconut Grove area, but no broad house vis a vis two closely parallel longish houses near Plaza Street. Also on Historic aerials. We have to assume that this is further away. There was much change in the neighborhood (was much more green in 1986) and the Banyan could be gone as well, but who knows ...

There are other Banyans in Coconut Grove to the south but in the bushier areas the houses are much more pricy and neat as seen here...

I think this may have very well been filmed just behind 3516 Plaza. Something that is very distinctive in that area are these concrete planters with trees on the sidewalks. The one that Gina sat on when the ambulance pulled away in BAPF is gone though, which however confirms that some of them seem to have been removed. Right around the corner on Charles Ave, there were two parallel houses with what appears to be a massive tree in their backyard. There are also trees right in front of the houses in the scene and in front of the left house, one of these concrete planters is visible. The house on the opposite site has a hipped roof with a separated tip. these clues can be matched with the historic aerial:

There are still two parallel houses in that spot today, although not the same ones, as they are longer and extend over where the tree is visible in the historic aerial.

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 36 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

I think this may have very well been filmed just behind 3516 Plaza. Something that is very distinctive in that area are these concrete planters with trees on the sidewalks. The one that Gina sat on when the ambulance pulled away in BAPF is gone though, which however confirms that some of them seem to have been removed. Right around the corner on Charles Ave, there were two parallel houses with what appears to be a massive tree in their backyard. There are also trees right in front of the houses in the scene and in front of the left house, one of these concrete planters is visible. The house on the opposite site has a hipped roof with a separated tip. these clues can be matched with the historic aerial:

There are still two parallel houses in that spot today, although not the same ones, as they are longer and extend over where the tree is visible in the historic aerial.

 

 

 

You must have sharp eyes. Of course I saw these two parallel buildings but I am not fully convinced still. The vis a vis house appears much broader in the episode than on historic aerials. Today’s vis a vis house seems to have a completely different front too. It must have been replaced as well. Everything else (Banyan gone, parallel houses replaced) is massive change but possible of course.

[daytona365]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

You must have sharp eyes. Of course I saw these two parallel buildings but I am not fully convinced still. The vis a vis house appears much broader in the episode than on historic aerials. Today’s vis a vis house seems to have a completely different front too. It must have been replaced as well. Everything else (Banyan gone, parallel houses replaced) is massive change but possible of course.

No sharp eyes anymore but I have good glasses. And regarding the size of the house across the street, it's almost as wide as the two parallel buildings together. and the roof tip is right in the vantage point of the gap between the houses. The separated roof tip is clearly visible in the episode and somewhat clearly on the historic aerial.

Of course that's not ultimate proof, but I'm fairy convinced. There are a lot of matches here:

• There was obviously a huge tree behind these houses as visible on the historic aerial
• There were obviously trees in front of the parallel houses which are gone now
• A concrete planter distinctive to this area is visible in front of one of the parallel houses
• This whole situation was conveniently located right behind the house they enter
• The current parallel houses are post-Miami Vice

Edited July 16, 2020 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb daytona365:

No sharp eyes anymore but I have good glasses. And regarding the size of the house across the street, it's almost as wide as the two parallel buildings together. and the roof tip is right in the vantage point of the gap between the houses. The separated roof tip is clearly visible in the episode and somewhat clearly on the historic aerial.

Of course that's not ultimate proof, but I'm fairy convinced. There are a lot of matches here:

• There was obviously a huge tree behind these houses as visible on the historic aerial
• There were obviously trees in front of the parallel houses which are gone now
• A concrete planter distinctive to this area is visible in front of one of the parallel houses
• This whole situation was present right behind the house they enter

This dimension comparison with the parallel houses and the vis a vis house is very good hard evidence with regard to the historic aerial and gets probability as high as it can get with long gone houses or landmarks. Then basically everything around has changed since then. I checked the concrete planters with BAPF and they look the same and also indicate that this was the area as these were not common anywhere else in CG as I remember. At second sight the tree behind the left parallel house on the historic aerial must be in a concrete planter, as the middle of the tree crown is nearly on the road.

Congrats anyway to make that case watertight now and @C Glidecan add it to his location site! That makes sense and puts the correct address of our location at (rear of) 3611 Charles Ave.

I still don’t get why the Banyan is gone. At Sals home in Stewart Ave just 1 mile away it is there so Hurricane Andrew has nothing to do with it.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Tom

[daytona365]

3 hours ago, Tom said:

I still don’t get why the Banyan is gone. At Sals home in Stewart Ave just 1 mile away it is there so Hurricane Andrew has nothing to do with it.

the 1995 and 1999 aerials are basically just pixel pudding but it looks like the both the houses and the tree were still there. So they've cut it down to make room for the new houses. Also the trees in front of 3516 Plaza are clearly the same as in 1988.

Here you get to catch a glimpse of the Banyan behind the house, it was really big

Edited July 16, 2020 by daytona365

[Tom]

vor 31 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

the 1995 and 1999 aerials are basically just pixel pudding but it looks like the both the houses and the tree were still there. So they've cut it down to make room for the new houses. Also the trees in front of 3516 Plaza are clearly the same as in 1988.

Here you get to catch a glimpse of the Banyan behind the house, it was really big

Thanks! Another case closed.

P.S. such huge old trees should be protected. That Banyan was more than 100 years old.  In Vienna, we have a tree protection law that forbids cutting down trees with more than 40cm in diameter (measured 1m above ground) without permission (if you get permission, you need to plant another tree or trees instead) and high fines for violations. They also check Google view to prevent hidden removals on private properties.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Tom

[Tom]

@daytona365 LOL I just saw that our fact finding mission with historic aerials above was not necessary as the banyan tree, the houses and the blue chairs are in another scene in that episode visible in plain sight! I don´t dig that episode that much, thus I forgot about specifics of the scenes with Izzy at the house.

 

 

[daytona365]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

@daytona365 LOL I just saw that our fact finding mission with historic aerials above was not necessary as the banyan tree, the houses and the blue chairs are in another scene in that episode visible in plain sight! I don´t dig that episode that much, thus I forgot about specifics of the scenes with Izzy at the house.

 

 

So you found the smoking gun. I don't remember "Big Thaw" that well either, I'm actually rather trying to erase it from my memory.  Anyway, it's the second time I nailed a location that was previously dismissed (remember the "Burnett house"?)...woot, woot

still no luck on the video dating service from LAFS though, that's a really tough nut

[Tom]

vor 6 Minuten schrieb daytona365:

Anyway, it's the second time I nailed a location that was previously dismissed (remember the "Burnett house"?)...woot, woot

still no luck on the video dating service from LAFS though, that's a really tough nut

Not forgotten! Will be added to your personal file 

All the other remaining unknown locations (I added some more lately) are tough nuts too. I have not found any of them either. But I‘ll keep on searching. 

[Tom]

South Beach Elementary, 1939, 335 Lenox Ave, Miami Beach

 

[pahonu]

5 hours ago, Tom said:

South Beach Elementary, 1939, 335 Lenox Ave, Miami Beach

 

Do you know when it was built?   It looks very much like many New Deal construction projects from the Depression era.  There are several elementary schools from that era here in Long Beach that it reminds me of.