Another episode with some really interesting location shots that prompted more detective work. Three cities are represented with footage in this episode!
The action begins in Hong Kong, and we get no less than four stock footage shots of the city.
I can't read the Chinese characters, but this shot has a building with the word Mido. There were at least two Mido cafes in Hong Kong, and quite possibly more. Here is a photo of the one on King's Road (after a 1966 flood). This is obviously a much wider street but it does look like the same logo.
After picking up the laser blazer Max flies home. Don't know where this is.
Then Max (a stand-in for Don Adams) is seen driving home. The first shot has him driving past the Jefferson Memorial, a shot re-used from Season 3. There are two more shots which are new but were likely filmed at the same time. The first shot has him driving down a busy street in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood. We can see the Georgetown Lutheran Church as well as several shops.
The buildings are the same today, though almost all have had a facelift of some kind.
Max passes by signs for "Shoes" and "Gaminerie". That led me to this obituary which mentioned Georgetown Store Shoes and Gaminerie. That was my clue to look at Georgetown for this location.
Same view today.
The camera then pans down Wisconsin Street NW, the biggest street in Georgetown.
Looks like it was filmed from the intersection of P Street NW.
We then see Max driving down a residential street. Fortunately the street sign is very clear to read - NW 30th Street.
I thought I would have to do a lot of searching to find this spot, but it turns out there is only one instance of a one-way street intersection NW 30th - Dumbarton Street NW.
Max turns the corner and drives down NW 30th.
Some changes in paint but otherwise little changed today.
On the terrific site I Love Get Smart, Amanda Haverstick wonders if the Smarts were living in Georgetown in 1989 in Get Smart, Again. Based on this episode it seems to be implied that that was the site of Max's original apartment as well.
The bombed out wreckage of the last laundromat to handle the laser blazer. I don't know where this location is.
In the last scene the laser blazer burns a hole through Max's apartment wall, showing the city beyond. I thought it was NYC and I was right. It's even more interesting than I thought, though.
In fact, it turns out is the exact same shot as the one from the opening credits of Green Acres. Dutch artist Piet Schreuders determined that this shot must have been taken from " an apartment on the 14th floor at 47th Street between First and Second Avenues (near the U.N. Building). The view is due north and includes the Shelton Hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria, 777 Third Avenue, and the Seagram, Grolier, and Citibank Buildings." Specifically in the Get Smart shot above, the reddish building most prominent in the circle is the Grolier building (575 Lexington Avenue). Behind it are the Seagram building to the left and the Citibank building on the right. 777 Third Avenue is in the foreground on the left.
You may remember the NYC shot from Spy Spy Birdie. It may well have been taken from the same building, looking north instead of west!
Tough to get an exact match, but this is a fairly similar view today. Lots more tall buildings cluttering the view.
