Miami on screen: Miami Vice and South Beach, the back story

Miami Vice ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989, with Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Rico Tubbs. It was filmed in Miami itself, much of it in a then run-down South Beach, and it is credited with helping to build support for saving the Art Deco District.

Pastel, Ferraris and synthesisers

Miami Vice ran on NBC for five seasons, from 16 September 1984 to 28 June 1989. Created by Anthony Yerkovich and executive-produced by Michael Mann, it starred Don Johnson as Detective James “Sonny” Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Detective Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs, two undercover officers of the Metro-Dade police.

Unlike the police dramas before it, the show put music, fashion and fast cars first, and its first season earned an unprecedented 15 Emmy nominations.

Filmed in Miami

The producers first planned to shoot in Los Angeles, but by the time production began they had decided to film in Miami itself. Many episodes were shot in South Beach, then run-down, and the crew repainted some façades before the cameras rolled. Interiors were filmed at Greenwich Studios in North Miami.

Saving South Beach

Miami Vice is credited, to a degree, with building support for the preservation of Miami Beach’s Art Deco architecture from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Many of the beachfront hotels seen on screen have since been restored, and South Beach is now one of South Florida’s most popular places for visitors.

The look

Crockett’s Italian sport coat over a T-shirt, white linen trousers and loafers without socks became one of the decade’s signature looks, and Macy’s even opened a Miami Vice section for young men. Michael Mann decided that red should never appear on screen, so even the speedboats were painted blue.

Crockett first drove a black Ferrari Daytona Spyder replica, then a white Ferrari Testarossa, and lived on a sailboat, the St. Vitus’ Dance.

The sound

The show spent $10,000 or more an episode on original recordings, and its best-remembered scene sees Crockett and Tubbs drive through Miami at night to Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight”.

Jan Hammer’s synthesised theme climbed to the top of the Billboard chart, and his instrumental music gave the series its sound.

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A fan’s route

Walk Ocean Drive from 5th to 15th Street, past the pastel hotels the show helped to save, and join a walking tour from the Art Deco Welcome Center at 1001 Ocean Drive. On the way, stop at The Carlyle, The Birdcage’s club, and the Scarface steps at 728 Ocean Drive.

Our advice: go at dusk, when the neon comes on along Ocean Drive and the pastels glow as they did on screen.