007 Travel story: Florida (USA) 2019: “Sanchez is in the Bahamas”

007 Travel story: Florida (USA) 2019: “Sanchez is in the Bahamas”

May 23, 2021 0 By 007 Travelers

In order to read our Florida 007 Travel story from day one, click here

Today’s Bond locations:

United States Coast Guard Sector Key West

Sugarloaf Key

Opa-Locka Boulevard, Miami

KFC 701 Northwest 119th Street, Miami

Thursday 11th of July:

We really had a “licence to chill” here in Key West. Even The Saint Hotel was there in Key West, but no sign of Roger Moore though… 🙂 hopefully we can come back to beautiful Key West one day!

Before we said goodbye to Key West, we visited the front of the United States Coast Guard Sector Key West where a couple sequences for “Licence to Kill” (1989) were filmed.

Some close-up shots of 007 (Timothy Dalton) were filmed here for the pre-credit sequence where Bond “goes fishing”.

A still photo of the document “Licence to Kill: On the Set with John Glen” when filming in the United States Coast Guard Sector Key West
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq, LLC

The scene in which drug lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) is being captured and moved into a car was also filmed here.

Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) is moved into a car in the United States Coast Guard Sector Key West
Photo © EON, United Artists, Danjaq, LLC

We also took a look at the Southernmost point in the Continental US before moving back towards the north and Miami.

Mika, Junior Agent Traveler and Pirita / 007 Travelers

One of the most interesting filming locations of “Licence to Kill” is Sugarloaf Key, which doubles Caribbean island Cray Key in “LTK“. “Sanchez is in the Bahamas”, tells DEA operative Hawkins (Grand L. Bush). Hawkins, Bond and Felix Leiter (David Hedison) rush to stop the drug lord.

The first Bond location you can see in Sugarloaf Key is the house where Sanchez finds his girlfriend Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto) with another man. The owners were at home and we were able to chat with them a bit. A lady of the house said that she was present at the time of filming, but didn’t remember much, since she was just a little girl at the time (30 years ago).

They told us that the house was no longer in the best condition due to a couple of hurricanes that had made some damage in the area. But the house is still very recognizable. They said that our timing was great, because they were going to remove the stairs seen in the movie, because they were in such a bad state.

From the house we followed the road that is seen in the film when Sanchez escapes by jumping off the jeep.

Small pic: Sanchez (Robert Davi) jumps off the jeep

In the movie, the jeep continues driving and finally stops when Bond shoots at it. The bad guys escape when Bond makes sure that Lupe Lamora is ok.

Finally, the road leads to an airfield, which is the one from where Sanchez takes off and Bond and Leiter land with the helicopter.

Small pic: Sanchez is ready for take-off

Then it was time to take a long drive back to Miami. On the way there was a big thunderstorm and we went to have lunch and waited for the rain to stop. We also stopped once more at both ends of Seven Mile Bridge like we had done a couple days earlier when we drove in the other direction.

Back in Miami, and on the next Bond location. This time from “Goldfinger” (1964) and this scene in the film happens in Kentucky, USA, but Miami doubles Kentucky. At Opa-Locka Boulevard Odd Job (Harold Sakata) is driving Mr. Solo (Martin Benson) to the airport. Before they are at the airport, Mr. Solo meets his faith when Odd Job shoots him and takes Mr. Solo’s body to “Atlantic Iron and Metal Company”. Take a look at this filming location here.

Opa-Locka Boulevard, where was Joe’s Drive-In in “Goldfinger” (1964)

Another location from “Goldfinger” that is supposed to be in Kentucky, but is actually in Miami, is outside of KFC – Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is located at 701 Northwest 119th Street. Here Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) and his colleague Johnny (Peter Cranwell) follow Odd Job and Mr. Solo (they think they are following Bond, but 007 put a homing device in Mr. Solo’s pocket).

Director Guy Hamilton chose the spot, because Kentucky was mentioned in the name. As an Englishman, he didn’t know that KFC is the nationwide franchise, that is in many other cities than Kentucky.

We parked our car in front of KFC and took some pictures. It is quite amazing that the place is still on the same spot after 55 years!

It was getting quite late. We had driven many miles during the day and still had some time to drive before our final destination of the day. It was Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Fort Lauderdale. The address of the hotel is 1 Seminole Way, Davie, Florida.

AccomodationSeminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Room Type: DeLuxe Queen

Price: $ 200,74 / 2 adults and one child, does not include breakfast

Booked: Via Booking.com

Mika and Pirita / 007 Travelers

The hotel is everything what you can expect from Hard Rock Cafe. Music, nice food and a lovely casino!

We started our evening at the pool, enjoyed some snacks at the bar and visited the casino, of course.

One sad thing that happened in the hotel was Anna Nicole Smith‘s death in 2007. Also Leslie “The Naked Gun” Nielsen died here in the city of Fort Lauderdale. We were supposed to visit his grave, but we unfortunately had no time. Also, they both starred in the movie “The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult” (1994). Leslie Nielsen’s grave is located at Evergreen Cemetery here in Fort Lauderdale and Anna Nicole Smith is buried in the Bahamas.

Mika and Pirita at the casino
The Guitar Hotel was not ready yet when we visited

The following day will take us further north and to the city of Orlando! On the way we will meet crocodiles and other interesting animals! Stay tuned!!

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