In Live and Let Die, James Bond and Felix Leiter make their Florida headquarters on Treasure Island, at a place called The Everglades. Treasure Island is next to St. Petersburg, and has been a popular beach area for many years.
Bond describes how he and Solitaire arrived there:
they were checked at the intersection of Park Street and Central Avenue, where the Avenue runs on to the long Treasure Island causeway across the shallow waters of Boca Ciega Bay.
You can see on the map the intersection of Park and Central which looks like this today.
Bond paid off the cab at The Everglades, a group of neat white-and-yellow clapboard cottages set on three sides of a square of Bahama grass which ran fifty yards down to a bone-white beach and then to the sea. From there, the whole Gulf of Mexico stretched away, as calm as a mirror, until the heat-haze on the horizon married it into the cloudless sky.
They’re assigned to cabin number one – right on the beach.
While this is not The Everglades, it is another group of cottages on Treasure Island from about the same time period.
When Felix Leiter goes missing one morning, Bond receives a call at The Everglades from a “Dr Roberts” at Mound Park Hospital, saying his friend is there. Bond hurries over.
The call turns out to be a misdirection play to get Bond away from the cottage.
Here are a few other views of Treasure Island.
You will notice (July, 2019) that a hotel, formerly the Sunset Hotel, now the Crystal Bay Hotel, is at the northern corner of Central Avenue & Park Street, St. Petersburg, FL. This intersection is mentioned in the thriller “Live and Let Die.” The Sunset/Crystal Bay Hotel was built during the WW1 time period, and Ian Fleming’s Bond & Solitare would have passed by it on their way to the Everglades Cabanas on Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, FL. The hotel was extensively renovated a few years ago and it probably in better condition now than it was in the 50s. Sunset Beach is approximately a 5-7 minute drive from the Crystal Bay Hotel via the Treasure Island Causeway today.
I might add that, if I recall correctly, Bond and Solitaire took the Silver Meteor from Union Station in Washington, D.C. to Clearwater, FL, in “Live and Let Die.” Those wishing to duplicate Fleming’s love of trains – and the duo’s journey – can still book passage on the (Amtrak) Meteor from D.C. to Clearwater, FL. Since it is an overnight trip, I would recommend booking a deluxe sleeper. The deluxe sleeper has a private shower & last time I checked, included meals in the dining car in the price of the fare.
My apologies. Bond & Solitaire took the Silver Phantom (Meteor) from Penn Station, NYC. Union Station, D.C. would have been a stop along the way.