A Local’s Guide To Bloodline: 50 More Famous Film Locations In The Florida Keys
The first “Bloodline” book was so much fun and so wildly popular that we had to write a companion book that revealed even more filming locations of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series.
While the first “Bloodline” location guide concentrated on location sites from Seasons 1 and 2, this second installment details even more location sites from Season 2 and sites from Season 3. Included in this collection are pivotal locations like Marco’s murder scene, John’s gun range, Ozzy’s suicide spot, Marco’s funeral service, Danny’s graveyard, Marco and Meg’s engagement tiki, and Sally and John’s crash site from the much discussed Part 32, Season 3.
Also included in the book is Upper Matecumbe’s The Banyan Tree, featured in Part 19, Season 2. When Jane Rayburn is picked up from school by Eve, Nolan’s mother, the two go shopping at an island boutique. Jane tries on a designer blouse, but puts it back because she cannot afford it. Eve stashes the blouse in her purse and later gives it to Jane as a present.
In real life, the boutique is owned and operated by the super sweet mother and daughter team of Robin and Pauline. With the conclusion of the series, 9,000 props used on the show were auctioned off including furniture, clothing, and accessories. The ladies at The Banyan Tree secured the winning bid for the blouse that was “stolen” from their shop and now have the official Bloodline prop on display.
One of the coolest things that happened as a result of the first “Bloodline” book was an email co-author David Sloan and I received from Gino Vento, the actor who played drug dealer Rafi Quintana before being killed off in Season 1. “Brad & David, Just wanted to thank you guys, you recently made 2 parents very proud. I got them a copy of your Bloodline book because they actually frequent the Keys and Islamorada pretty often. I hadn’t seen the book myself, just ordered it off Amazon for them but got a text from my mom about the Rock & Role bit (Very clever by the way). Very cool and exciting, so thanks again! Wish ya’ll nothing but the best this year!” As a side not, Gino can be seen in the new HBO series “The Deuce.”
We were happy to be able include a location cameo of Rafi Quintana in a scene from Part 15, Season 2. Detective John Rayburn is sitting in his pick-up truck and parked at the dead end of a road. The road literally runs out of asphalt and opens up to a vista of red mangroves and the Atlantic Ocean for as far as the eye can see. John is holding a photograph showing Rafi Quintana, one he illegally removed from a crime scene. The scene’s over-dub is a speech announcing John’s intention to run for Sheriff. Just as he is tearing up the photograph, the last line of his speech echoes, “Human nature needs to be nurtured and policed so as to save us from ourselves.”
While the end of the series was certainly a wild and wacky ride with a resolution that appealed to some more than others, David and I have done our due diligence and “A Local’s Guide To Bloodline: 50 More Famous Film Locations In The Florida Keys” delivers more behind-the-scenes material, more trivia, a little bit more Keys history and nearly 50 new site locations.
In this edition we were also able to identify scenes showing characters driving up and down the Overseas Highway. For instance, there was a scene showing Kevin driving in his truck when one of the Cubans he had been dealing with pops up and points a gun at him. After reading the book, the next time you are driving down that particular stretch of the highway you will be able to say, “Hey, this is where Kevin was driving when that Cuban drug dealer popped out and pointed the gun at his face.”
In light of the recent natural disaster, Hurricane Irma has damaged some of the Bloodline filming locations and while not all of them are currently accessible, they will be. The Florida Keys will come back stronger than ever before. Slowly but surely the Florida Keys are getting pieced back together.
In the meantime, “A Local’s Guide To Bloodline: 50 More Famous Film Locations In The Florida Keys” is out and available in both book and Kindle form on Amazon. As normalcy continues to return to the Keys, the book will begin to appear alongside the original “Bloodline” book in bookstores, souvenir shops, restaurants, and resorts in the Florida Keys. If you are interested in carrying the “Bloodline” books at your place of business, contact David at (305) 923-7822 or shoot me an email.
Brad Bertelli is a freelance writer and Upper Keys historian who has written or co-written six books about Keys history, snorkeling, and the Netflix series Bloodline. His column, Notes on Keys History, appears monthly in The Reporter. Reach Brad with comments and questions at whypanic@aol.com.
This story was originally published November 6, 2017 at 9:16 AM with the headline "A Local’s Guide To Bloodline: 50 More Famous Film Locations In The Florida Keys."