You Can Actually Visit The CSI: Miami Headquarters Building
Do you think you know everything there is to know about "CSI: Miami?" All right, hotshot, which famous actor was almost cast in the role of Horatio Caine before it went to David Caruso?
If you answered, "Don Johnson," then you're correct. Johnson would've been a natural pick for the lead of the procedural series, especially seeing as how he used to star in another series based out of Florida — "Miami Vice." Anyone who knew that also likely knows that the show doesn't primarily film in The Sunshine State. Certain scenes definitely come out of Miami, but they're primarily overhead shots of famous locales. For the most part, the show's based out of Southern California, so anyone hoping to do a "CSI: Miami" location tour would do best until they plan to head to the South Bay of Los Angeles.
One place certainly worth visiting is the building to show uses to film headquarters. It's actually pretty easy to get to and check out if you know where to look.
The CSI: Miami headquarters building is actually an FAA Credit Union Building in Hawthorne, CA
You can search high and low for the "CSI: Miami" headquarters building in Miami, Florida, and you'll still come up empty-handed. That's because, like many television productions, filming doesn't actually occur on location where the show is set. It takes place predominantly around Southern California, particularly in areas like Long Beach and Manhattan Beach. If you want to find the iconic headquarters the cast spends a good chunk of time in, you'll want to head over to the city of Hawthorne. According to the Credit Union Times, "The headquarters of the $229 million FAA First Federal Credit Union recently played a role in the hit television program 'CSI: Miami' after the credit union allowed the program to film some of its episodes in the 35,000 square-foot space."
It's easy to see why a film production would want to utilize such a building. It has an incredibly unique architecture that stands out in the mind. Plus, sunny California looks awfully similar to Florida for most of the year, so it's not like most people would be able to tell the difference that the scene actually shot on the other side of the country.
"CSI: Miami" isn't the building's only claim to fame. It was also used as the location for The Newport Group building in "The O.C."