Episode 20 - Nobody Lives Forever

Correction: Brenda's house (Nobody Lives Forever) is at 3067 Jefferson street, not 3072. My bad!

It seems that any MV site that's named after me is cursed:

"Tommy's Garage"
"Tommy's Deck Bar"

Really great Dan . To tear that down and replace with nothing but a parking lot is a crime.

Thanks for the info. In my mind, the neon sign looks like an MV addition.



I've seen this window in a photo before. Was it a trivia question?

[ edit ] Yes, it was a trivia question: link

Very interesting, Jim. Thanks for the info.

Originally posted by airtommy The condo that we see behind Dash Door & Closer during the NLF stakeout is on Belle Island, the easternmost island on the Venetian Causeway. The location is Bay Road, just north of Dade Blvd (a.k.a. Abe Resnick Blvd), Miami Beach.

Let it be known that I, for one, absolutely refuse to ever acknowledge the christening of Dade Boulevard as Abe Resnick Boulevard. That rat bastard would have torn down all of the Art Deco district if he could have had his way. He was responsible for the razing of the New Yorker and the Senator, the former standing next to the St Moritz which we see in "Free Verse," the latter an important Miami Vice location from "Milk Run." As such he deserves no glory whatsoever on Miami Beach.

A further injustice is that the matron saint of the Art Deco district, Barbra Capitman, only gets a one block stretch of 10th street, from Collins Avenue to Ocean Drive, named after her. That's just not right, people!

Okay enough of that rant. On to Tommy's Deck Bar:

Tommy's Deck Bar was one of my Holy Grails for the longest time. The problem finding it is that it no longer exists. Then one day just by chance I was cruisin' 5th Street on South Beach and spotted a familiar looking building. Then it clicked - this is where C&T walk on their way to Tommy's Deck Bar! Here's a picture which approximates the camera angle as C&T walk towards Tommy's:



Click On Picture To Enlarge

Whether the pay phone that Crockett calls Brenda on was real or a prop is uncertain, but there is no pay phone on that corner today. Also a mystery is whether or not Tommy's was an actual place or another clever neon creation ala Sex World, since every effort I have made to locate a Tommy's Deck Bar on Miami Beach has failed. If any of you Googlemeisters out there find something on Tommy's Deck Bar, please post it here.

A CVS drug store stands about where Tommy's Bar was, and I believe the building that was Tommy's was razed to make way for the CVS' parking lot. This is at 5th street and Euclid Avenue. Tommy's Bar was on the northeast corner, C&T approach from the northwest corner.

You would think that the Tommy's building would be protected under the Historic Art Deco District regulations, but here's the problem: The Art Deco District boundaries on the south end of the beach only extend to 6th street, not 5th street - odd because 5th street is the main thoroughfare upon arriving at Miami Beach from the MacArthur Causeway.

Because 5th street is outside the preservation boundary, developers are free to tear down whatever they want, and man is it showing nowadays (No thanks to people such as Abe Resnick - ugh!). We are extremely lucky to still have the Nemo building from "Red Tape" and the neighboring building where C&T pull up in the Testarossa and Lou Diamond Phillips tosses them a football - that building was also used in "The Good Collar" as a slum setting. Since this is down on Washington and 1st street, it is a wonder that wasn't torn down.

It's a shame that Tommy's Deck Bar is gone. I would have loved to go have a drink there.

On watching this episode the other night when Crockett is calling Brenda and Tubbs goes into "Tommy's Deck Bar" when the three thugs drive off with Tubbs in pursuit . None of the surroundings look familiar in this scene - except a possible art -deco type building ( similar to Dynamo in " The Dutch Oven " teaser ) .   
So it could be Washington Ave / or the Grove . It looks like there are palm trees and an open area in front of the bar - which could have signalled Ocean Dr .

The JJ Diner Scene here uses the front and side entrance - the side entrance is seen when C&T go to the crime scene and see Izzy.






    
    

Thanks to airtommy, who pointed me to this location, here are some pictures of the spot where C&T keep an eye on the lunch wagon facility:


Click On Picture To Enlarge

The pic above shows the spot where Tubbs gets roughed up by a couple of henchmen. He was alone because Crockett was busy playing with Brenda...


Click On Picture To Enlarge

The next picture above shows the back side of the lunch wagon building. We do not see this view in the episode. I tried to get pictures of the front, but the area was rife with trucks, taxi's and other traffic which blocked my view of the building as I wanted to photograph it (On another occassion I will try and get some scene replica shots if possible.). Note the glass brick work, which is visible from the inside of the building in one scene.

I had a few ideas for this location, as did Jeremy, a few posts above. My last hunch was very close. airtommy, however, is to be credited for pinpointing the spot. Hey Tommy, how did you suss this out, 'cause it's been driving me nuts for a long time?!

P.S. A correction: The day/date stamp on my pictures says Saturday, March 23, 2008. Is was actually Sunday, March 23, 2008. Sorry 'bout that!

Here are some of my speculations of the C&T stakeout location:

At first I thought it might be along the eastern stretch of 163rd Street, between the Intracoastal Waterway and A1A, because there are highrises to the south of that road that resemble those seen in the episode. I haven't checked this area out yet. If there are indeed sailboat masts in the scene then this is a candidate since it is near a body of water.

Another possibility is 123rd Street west of Biscayne Boulevard, at the bend where the railroad tracks are, which is just a few blocks from Greenwich Studioes. Again there are some highrise buildings in the area that might match up, as well as several old gas/service stations that could have been where C&T were parked. I went out to this area recently but was unable to match anything up with GE3. For all I know I was at the spot but missed something.

Never thought about the Miami River possibility. Right away I can't think of any spots along River Drive that have a gas/service station near an intersection with traffic lights and highrises in the background.

Lastly, remotely possible are spots on Miami Beach where highrises are in the distance and close enough to gas stations and such. A general area to look at is Alton Road near the Venetian Causeway. As you head west from the beach and enter the Venetian Islands, there are clusters of highrises that resemble those seen in this episode and there are canals and service stations nearby. Since the lunch wagons were operated on Ocean Drive, it would stand to reason that they would be stored close to where they were operated.

danj ya need to put on your thinking cap and use your knowledge of the area to help the vice squad out here. Call it a gut feeling or instinct but at the current moment I am being pulled toward the miami river for this garage. On top of just a gut feeling it looks to me like the streets would not match up at a 90 degree angle which is rare in miami except along the river.  This could be just the camera tricks but still...there seems to be a good deal of empty space behind the garage before you get to the next buildings. Now that I look at it, in the scene where tubbs is introduced to the tire iron, right at the start is that the mast of a sailboat I see sticking up over the building?  looks like it may very well be.  There seems to be a line behind the buildings just about right to fit the river and none of the utiliy lines run that way only accross our tv screens . Danj do any of the buildings in the bg strike a bell in your memory of buildings along the river