This was an interesting site and is the opening shot of the episode. The street signs were fake. To duplicate this shot, I raised my camera on a monopod to approximate the viewing angle we see in the opening establishing shot.

We are standing on the corner of Harvey Street and W. Marion Ave. looking SW along Harvey toward the house where Linc and Tod stayed during this episode. The house is still standing at 211 Harvey. The gazebo, according to my research, was in existence before the filming began and was sitting where the foreground house is now located.

The garden used in the filming was planted by a Mrs. Cecil Bryant Quednau of Punta Gorda.

Tod walked to several houses in the Punta Gorda neighborhood as he tried to find witnesses who could help prove Linc's innocence in the alleged dog maiming. This house is diagonally across the street from the house they were renting (211 Harvey St.) during their stay.

Linc approaches the front door of Mrs. Bowers' house. He goes there to say goodbye as he and Tod are leaving town.

This house was built in 1902 by John and Emma Hancock and has been known over the years as the Hancock House and the Leach House. It has aged nicely and now has a garage on the right side of the structure. It is located at 412 W. Marion Ave. and is around the corner from the gazebo location.

This will take some explanation. The courthouse we see in the episode in 1962 is not the courthouse we see today. The original courthouse was built in 1928 and is seen in these postcard images in its original configuration (be patient; slow server on this site):

Charlotte County Courthouse Post Card (1)
Charlotte County Courthouse Post Card (2)

Somewhere in the late '50s, a new facade was added to the front and sides of the courthouse completely covering the original columned front and adding a Sheriff's office and the jail cells where Linc was held. This is the version of the building we see in the episode.

According to locals, this redesign was well intentioned but ultimately ended up turning the courthouse into a "sick" building with poor air circulation. In a city so close to the water, humidity is a major problem. So, after the new Justice Center was built several blocks away, the old courthouse wasn't needed any longer. So, in 2003, the 1950s facade was torn down and the courthouse was restored to its original design. Here's a shot during the demolition of the facade:

Courthouse Restoration Begins

Fast forward to the summer of 2004 and Punta Gorda suffers a direct hit from Hurricane Charley. This storm wiped out many of the buildings we see in the episode including most of the ones visible in the background of this shot.

If you look carefully at the upper right corner of the stillframe from the show, you can see the round medallion of the original courthouse building. This same medallion is visible in the new photo and gives you a reference as to how much was added to the front of the original building (and later removed).

This view is from W. Olympia Ave. looking north.

Tod continues looking for witnesses in the neighborhood and is approaching the house at the corner of W. Virginia and Goldstein. This is the house where to two little girls were playing in the yard.

Note the loss of all the trees along W. Virginia Ave., the filling in of the drainage ditch and the missing houses. I'm not sure which of these were lost to Hurricane Charley or to urban renewal.

This house (328 Goldstein Street, at the corner of W. Virginia Ave. and Goldstein) is where the two little girls were playing in the yard.

The chainlink fence, which played a pivotal role in this episode, is gone and was replaced by a white picket-style fence. I couldn't match the exact angle seen in the show due to the overgrown shrubbery which obscured the house completely if viewed from the same angle. The ironwork and railings on the porch still survive.

Here's another view of the house in Sept. of 1991 when the chainlink fence was still in place:

House at 328 Goldstein Street

Tod and Linc park across the street from Mrs. Bowers' house as they prepare to leave Punta Gorda. This house is at 415 W. Marion and has had some updates over the years. The original jalousie windows (VERY popular here in Florida years ago) were replaced with awning windows.

Finding this house really tied together all the other shots in this episode. Here, we see actress Kathryn Hays ("Judy") entering the porch of Tod and Linc's rental house at 211 Harvey Street. Apart from some slight changes to the woodwork and screening, the porch remains unchanged.

I wanted to visit the inside of the house, but the owners were away. But, I'll visit again soon and might have some shots of the interiors.

This is the scene where Tod and Linc are driving away from their rental house on Harvey Street. Through the trees, you can see the original City Hall which is still standing and in use. They turn left (West) on Marion. This is also the sidewalk where the protestors march in front of their house.

This is pretty silly, but I was studying the shot of the reporter looking through the back window of the police car as he tried to get the dog's attention, and there was an odd looking structure visible in the background across the street (W. Olympia Ave.). Just to the right of the head of the person walking away from the scene is a metal framework. It was attached to the original phone company offices and is still there today.

I also believe that you are seeing a reflection of the Route 66 production van/trailer in the window of the police car (bottom right).

Editor's note: The trailer is most likely the one used as Milner's and Maharis's dressing rooms which can be seen in a 1961 photo by a Kinsman resident on the "Welcome to Amity" extras page - and below.

One of the fascinating things about this episode was the proximity of all the filming locations. The location scout must have been very happy as all the sites he needed for the story were within a few blocks of each other.

In this example, our intrepid reporter is seen running out of the south side of the courthouse and down the sidewalk east toward the actual Charlotte Herald newspaper office (originally 114 W. Olympia Ave.). The original newspaper changed ownership a few times and this building along with the Masonic Lodge (seen briefly in this scene) were abandoned and finally demolished sometime in the '80s.

Behind the running reporter, you can see a large two-story white frame structure known locally as the Hector House where Punta Gorda's papers of incorporation were signed. It's gone now and was replaced by a parking lot.

Here is a photo taken in 2004 showing the area where the Masonic Lodge and the Herald building were located. It was taken from across Olympia looking NW toward the backside of the courthouse:

Rear View of Old Charlotte County Courthouse Damage After Hurricane Charley

The construction materials you see in this street view (behind the courthouse) were used to build a parking garage structure that covers most of this block today.

Very little is left standing on this street apart from the courthouse. We are standing directly in front of the courthouse looking north on Taylor Street. The tan building you see on the right is visible in the episode screenshot and is sitting behind the first building you see at the right edge of the frame.

All the old structures you see on the left are gone including the offices where Tod, Linc and Judy go to visit Attorney Parker Smith (Ralph Meeker) who represented Linc at the trial. Oddly enough, there is still an attorney's office on that site today.