Miami Vice ~ 1st Trip to Miami Feb 1987

[DJAngel]

Bikers behind the Car

[COOPER&BURNETT]

Love these large, and wonderful photos!!! :clap:It's time consuming, I know, ....I've posted thousands of photos now, and it's a pain to do it, but let me tell you, once you do it, it's over, and it will be viewed, and appreciated by thousands of people.It's then, you will know it was all worth it.

[DJAngel]

Does this building look familiar;)Walking to the set:happy:Don Waving

[COOPER&BURNETT]

Is that building the restrooms seen in BUSHIDO?

[EasyED]

Some great great pics DJAngel!! :clap: just woderfull thanks for all uploads!@ CoopYes it is the same restroom as in Bushido...but it was differently painted

[chum981]

Thanks alot for posting these!

[DJAngel]

The sign on the 'Bushido' bathroom is Penrods Miami Beach. There was a little treat stand that sold cold drinks and chips, etc. You could buy the plastic drink cups that had the Penrods label on them. I bought one and used it for years. The label wore off:cry:

[DJAngel]

Don arrives Greets the castTalking to John NicollelaBack from doing a scene inside Waldorf Towers

[DJAngel]

Watched Martin Ferraro do Izzy singing Besame Mucho:funky:What a sweetie - took a picture with us:)John Matusak:dance2:

[DJAngel]

PMT:happy:We were told the guy in the middle was Don's stand-inTalking to John Nicollela

[DJAngel]

We were SO EXCITED:dance2:Focus..Focus:eek:

[DJAngel]

Greeting all the fans:dance2:

[DJAngel]

Feb 20th at the Atlantis Apts on Brickell AvenueWe could watch from behind the barrier - could not go beyond the barrier.Don & Philip motorhomes arrived Philips' chauffeurGeorge, Philip's brother, said they were almost finished at the Rickenbacker location and would arrive here soon.

[DJAngel]

Eddie making his way up the driveway. Margaret "escorted" him up the driveway:)Pictures with Eddie:happy:

[DJAngel]

Philip arriving at Atlantis (baseball cap)Wardrobe TruckDon arriving at Atlantis (lime green shirt)

[DJAngel]

Philip walking to Don's motorhomePhilip walking backDon waving from motorhome:happy:John Nicollela again today

[DJAngel]

Lots of talking and laughing:)Leaving motorhome to do scene behind Atlantis

[DJAngel]

Michael Talbot arrived (this was earlier before Eddie - sorry out of sequence)

[DJAngel]

Philip walking to setReturned from scene in back of Atlantis (getting dark)Eddie leaving

[DJAngel]

Another one coming back to motorhome from behind AtlantisAll Good Things must come to an end - Don getting ready to leave in the carWe left after Don left.I'll post our trip story soon

[Gary1911A1]

Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for posting the pictures of your trip and relating your memories.

[COOPER&BURNETT]

FANTASTIC PHOTOS!!

[Crockett´s Girl]

WOW! Thank you for posting this, it is really first hand information.:clap:It is nice to hear that they were so friendly with you and that they let you take all these pictures. :thumbsup:

[2morgen]

Great pictures!:clap:A part of me wished she was there ;)I would have loved to have seen how they were working on set etc.And they all look and act so nice!

[DJAngel]

Here's our trip story.Definitely Miami Viced – February 1987We still can’t believe we went to Miami in February! We had been talking for months about going, so we made a very sudden decision to go. Our impulsive decision paid off!Unfortunately, there was a mix-up with the reservations we made, and we discovered after landing at Miami airport and calling the Holiday Inn on Biscayne Blvd, that we did not have a room for our first night in Miami. What a way to start a vacation! Because of a couple conventions and the Miami International Boat Show, and the fact that it was a holiday weekend, the only hotel available seemed to be the Alexander in Miami Beach. After explaining how desperate we were for a place to stay that night, the Alexander agreed to give us a room for $180. The Holiday Inn agreed to reimburse us for a portion of the amount charged at the Alexander, and after all was said and done, we ended up paying $50 each that night for what the desk clerk told us was a $400 a night suite (The Alexander is an all-suite hotel). We really lucked out! Every Vice fan’s dream place to stay—or rather anyone’s dream place to stay! Our beautiful suite was in the back on the corner with the front room windows facing the ocean on the 14th floor! As we walked out onto the deck, only one thing came to mind to say – ‘DEFINITELY MIAMI.’ This was the beginning of a magical week in Miami.We took in all the usual vacation spots including spending a lot of time at Miami Beach. The building that is shown at the beginning of the episode “Bushido†is right on the beach facing Ocean Blvd across from the famous art deco hotels. We recognized it immediately.Our luck in finding the MV shooting location came on the day we were scheduled to leave Miami. It was Feb 17, the day before we were scheduled to go home. We had been there since the previous Thursday. It had been an exciting week, but one thing was missing – Miami Vice. Where were they, and why had we not heard or seen anything?! We were walking down Ocean Blvd, and we happened to run into someone we had met a couple of nights before at the bar in the Carlyle Hotel. We had mentioned to him our interest in Miami Vice, so we ran into him, he said, “I’m really glad I saw you two—I just heard from the hotel people that Miami Vice will be filming here at the beach tomorrow!†We were ecstatic! We went back to our hotel in Miami, checked out, drove back to Miami Beach, and checked into the Leslie, one of the art deco hotels next to the Carlyle. We figured we couldn’t miss them. We noticed parking signs on Ocean Blvd and some side streets that said “No Parking after 4 am Wed, Feb 18th.†The next morning at 9:30 am no one had arrived yet except a lunch truck, wardrobe truck and some equipment. We asked someone if Don and Philip were supposed to be there that day, and he said, “Yes, they will be arriving around noon.†We found a travel agent and changed our leave day to Sat., Feb 21st.By 10:30 we were back at the beach, and about 11:15 Philip’s motor home drove up and parked. No Philip yet. About 12:00 the gray motor home drove up and parked behind Philip’s motor home. We saw John Matusak, and he was very nice and took a picture with us. After that we walked across the street where a crowd had gathered on the beach side around a little hut where we noticed they were doing some filming. What a nice surprise to Martin Ferraro “Izzy†getting ready to do a scene. We watched Izzy singing Besame Mucho to a group of people sitting in several rows of seats. We had no idea about the storyline, but we enjoyed watching and listening as he attempted to sing to his audience. Someone behind the camera yelled, “Hey Izzy, when is the record due out?†Everyone laughed. We walked back to the motor homes, but still no Don or Philip. Across the street we noticed Izzy was having his picture taken with people, so we asked someone to take our picture with him. He seemed to be enjoying all of the attention he was getting. The crew was setting up for filming a scene with some actors who were playing bikers. We walked back across the street and asked when Don was due to arrive, and a very nice crew member told us he would be arriving anytime now! Soon after, we spotted Don’s gray Mercedes pulling up beside the motor home, which had been moved to a side street, and out walked Don with his bodyguard. He went immediately inside the motor home. We were told Don and Philip would not be filming for a couple hours, so we decided to go back to the beach side of the street, where they were preparing for shooting again. It was about 1:15, and as we were watching them set up, suddenly we saw Don and his bodyguard walking across the street. Don greeted the cast and crew. He seemed very relaxed and in great spirits, smiling and shaking hands and talking to different people. He was not dressed as Sonny Crockett. He was wearing blue jeans, blue t-shirt, Addidas sport jacket and tennis shoes. Don’t know if he had on socks – ha! It was really a treat to watch him this way, since we only see him acting. In fact, in the two days we did see him interacting with people, he was the same way—relaxed, friendly, even joking with us at one point. This was definitely NOT the Don Johnson we had read about in the tabloids. He was the exact opposite of everything we had read.Don went back to his motor home and soon returned to do a scene with Philip, which we were not able to see because it was done inside the Waldorf Towers. We waited for them to come out. Finally, Philip came out and returned to his motor home, but Don must have exited from another door because he somehow got back inside his motor home without us seeing him. About 5:00 pm Don’s motor home started up and moved around the block and parked across the street from the Clevelander Hotel. The parking lot at the Clevelander was being transformed into a parking lot for limos. A sign was hung up that said ‘Clevelander Limo’. All of the limos were turned around to face a different direction. Something to do with lighting? Philip left his motor home and walked across the street in front of us and the crowd up onto the set. We said “Hi Philip.†He waved and smiled. Next came Don, smiling and waving to people on the set. As he walked up onto the sidewalk across the street in front of us and the rest of the crowd, we said, “Hi, Don.†He smiled and waved, and we sort of let out a little yell, not very loud, but he heard it, turned around to us again, looked a little surprised, smiled and shook his hand in front of him as if to say, “calm down now†and went up to the set. He put on one of those gorgeous Sonny Crockett jackets – it was blue. He talked for awhile with the Director and others. He then walked over to his chair that said ‘Don Johnson, Director’, sat down and read a magazine. Then got up and talked to the Director again, walked back to his chair, but before sitting down, he turned around, smiled and waved at us. Then he got up and walked off the set down to the sidewalk and appeared to be going back to the motor home. He suddenly did an about face and was walking across the street directly over to Margaret and me! We remember this “Gotcha†smile on his face as he was walking over to us, and the next thing we knew he was holding out his hands to each of us. He took my left hand and Margaret’s right hand and squeezed them! He didn’t say anything, and were too much in shock to say much. Our jaws must have dropped to the ground! He walked along shaking hands with the other people and walked back up to the set. They finally started filming, and we saw Don and Philip get into the Testarossa and turn quickly around the intersection. After it was finished, the crew applauded, and Don and Philip walked back to their motor homes. Exciting day on the MV set! This was the first day of shooting on a new episode, and we were hoping to be able to watch another day of shooting. As long as you do what you are told – no talking or picture taking when cameras are rolling, we were treated as part of the “familyâ€, as one crew member called us. After being told on Wednesday that filming on Thursday would be mostly interiors at night, we decided to rest on Thursday. After no sleep the night before and all the excitement of the day, we were ready to collapse. We did hear a crew member talking about filming on Friday on Brickell Ave. On Friday we drove on Brickell Ave. to the Atlantis Apt building, and saw the trucks parked there. We parked couple blocks down the street and walked back up to Atlantis Apt. As we were walking, a car drove up and stopped and a film crew guy we had met on Ocean Drive on Wed. rolled down his window and said, “Going to be at Rickenbacker Causeway for another hour, then coming here.†We walked up the driveway as far as we were allowed to go which was right behind the barrier. The Atlantis has a security guard on duty, so we met him and talked to Philip’s motor home chauffeur. Out film crew “friend†told the security guard, if we behaved ourselves, we could stay where we were. With the two motor homes parked right inside the barrier, we knew it was only a matter of time before Philip and Don would arrive. More crew, trucks, and equipment were arriving. Also, actors and actresses. It was fun watching all the preparations again.George, Philip’s brother/bodyguard arrived and said they were almost finished at the Rickenbacker location, and Philip would be arriving soon. More people arrived, and then Michael Talbot walked up the sidewalk. We asked him to take pictures with us, and he did. In awhile Eddie Olmos came walking up the driveway, slowly, as he was signing autographs as he was walking. We asked him for pictures and autographs, which he did. He was very quiet and polite, and we were thrilled to see him! Soon after, Philip arrived. “Hi Philip!†He said “Hiâ€and smiled and waved back to us. He had on a baseball cap. We were getting pretty thirsty by now, and the security guard was very nice and went after some soft drinks for us. Finally, we saw the gray Mercedes coming down the street (license plate on the front UNIQUE). Car drove right up to the motor home, and he quickly got out and went inside. Someone brought his wardrobe. Don opened the motor home door and waved at us, and another time he stood in the doorway while an assistant stood next to him, and he said to us “take her picture.†Haha He seemed relaxed and happy as he had been on Wednesday. Philip walked over to Don’s motor home for a few minutes with some papers. After Philip returned to his own motor home, Don came outside and talked to a John Nicollela for about 30 minutes. Don said, “Did you see Crocodile Dundee?†That’s all we heard him say during that conversation. Don went back inside the motor home and came back out in a purple jacket and walked behind the Atlantis to film the scene. After about only 30 minutes, all the actors and crew walked back out. Don went inside and changed back into the lime green shirt and white pants, and came out and got into the car. He waved at us as the car drove down the driveway, and then the sun roof opened up, and he was waving through it. “Goodbye Don.†It was all over but the memories. An absolutely perfect ending to a perfect vacation. Dream Come True!