Vice City in GTA III Era: Difference between revisions

|motto = Unknown

}}

'''Vice City''' is the setting for ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]'' set in [[1986]] and ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories]]'' set two years earlier in [[1984]]. Vice City is based on 1980's [[wp:Miami|Miami]], which was a major cocaine trans-shipment point for South America at the time. This is further reinforced with its theme of the drug business and crime, as well as the presence of new upper-class businesses and residents in the city, with some of them likely to be funded by the drug business. Vice City is specifically indicated to be located within the [[State of Florida]].

===Ocean Beach===

[[File:OceanDrive-GTAVC-northwards.jpg|thumb|200px|Ocean Beach, Vice City]]

[[Ocean Beach]] is an upper-class tourist district consisting of a few skyscrapers and many low rises, directly based on [[wp:South Beach|South Beach]] and located in the southeastern most area of Vice City. The area is primarily occupied by seaside and beach side apartments, hotels and upper-class businesses. An Art Deco Historic District-like row of Art Deco and Modernist low rises are also present; the road stretched along the row mimics that of [[wp:Ocean Drive (South Beach)|Ocean Drive]], bearing much resemblance to their real life counterparts in architecture and layout, and includes a flora partition between the low rises and beach, similar to [[wp:Lummus Park Historic District|Lummus Park]]. The lighthouse located at the southeastern most point mimics the [[wp:Cape Florida Light|Cape Florida lighthouse]], the oldest structure in Miami, located in [[wp:Key Biscayne, Florida|Key Biscayne]], and a popular beach side tourist destination.

===Washington Beach===

[[File:WashingtonBeach-GTAVC-northwestwards.jpg|thumb|200px|Washington Beach]]

[[Washington Beach]] is a district between Ocean Beach from the south and Vice Point from the north, encompassing the northern end of the Art Deco Historic District-like beachfront district, its inland area, and the southern half of a smaller island to the west containing two construction sites and several additional apartments and housing. The area is based on the section of Miami beach unofficially known as "Mid-Beach".

===Vice Point===

[[File:VicePoint-GTAVC-northwards.jpg|thumb|200px|Vice Point]]

[[Vice Point]] is a more middle class and residential area of Vice City Beach, covering the remaining areas of the island at the north, and consisting of larger apartment buildings and hotels aligned along the shore as well as medium sized homes and smaller apartment complexes inland. This set-up resembles the rows of developments along Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, as well as the residential set-up of that city. Vice point is geographically based on [[wp:North Beach (Miami Beach)|North Beach]] in Miami.

The [[North Point Mall]], located in the north end of Vice Point, is a parody of Miami's Aventura Mall. Its location in the northeastern most point of the east island is similar to Aventura Mall's location in the extreme northeastern most point of the Miami Metro Area. The mall's layout, though much smaller, also resembles that of [[wp:Aventura Mall|Aventura Mall]].

===Leaf Links===

[[File:LeafLinks-GTAVC-northwestwards.jpg|thumb|200px|Leaf Links Golf Course]]

[[Leaf Links]] is a collection of three islands located just west of Vice Point encompassing the Leaf Links Country Club, each island connected to another island with bridges. A road cuts through the middle of the island cluster, where the clubhouse-cum-entrance is located, requiring a pedestrian bridge to connect both half of the clusters. Much of the eastern island's narrow waterways are formed from the partitions between Leaf Links and Vice Point.

===Downtown===

[[File:Downtown-GTAVC-southeastwards.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Downtown Vice City buildings]]

[[Downtown Vice City|Downtown]] mirrors [[wp:Downtown Miami|Downtown Miami]], where the areas sees the highest concentration of skyscrapers, both residential and commercial. Like its real-life counterpart, Downtown is believed to be a more formal, financial district of Vice City, with a number of large office buildings, including the city's tallest building, possibly based on the [[wp:Southeast Financial Center|Wachovia Financial Center]] and the [[wp:Miami Tower|Bank of America Tower]].

===Little Havana===

[[File:LittleHavana-GTAVC-southeastwards.jpg|thumb|200px|Little Havana from the sky.]]

Drawing from the real-life [[wp:Little Havana|Little Havana]] in Miami, Vice City's [[Little Havana]] consists of a predominantly Spanish-speaking Cuban population. The area is controlled by the [[Cubans|Cuban gang]], led by [[Umberto Robina]] from his [[Alberto Robina|father's]] [[Café Robina|cafe]], located in the southwest end of Little Havana. Due to Little Havana's proximity with Little Haiti, occasional fights and gun battles between Cuban and Haitian gangs erupt in areas bordering the two districts.

===Little Haiti===

[[File:LittleHaiti-GTAVC-aerialview.jpg|thumb|200px|Little Haiti houses]]

Also inspired by a [[wp:Little Haiti|real-life district]] in Miami, [[Little Haiti]] is predominantly inhabited by Haitians and is home to the [[Haitians|Haitian gang]], led by [[Auntie Poulet]], from her small wooden shack among other shacks at center of Little Haiti. The gang's [[Haitian Drugs Factory|solvent factory]], located at the west side of Little Haiti, was [[Trojan Voodoo|destroyed]] in a Cuban ambush, aided by Tommy Vercetti. Little Haiti is noted to be more run-down than Little Havana, with the presence of poorly maintained buildings, and low wealth businesses and smaller homes.

[[File:StarfishIsland-GTAVC.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Starfish Island as seen from the sky]]

[[File:VercettiEstate-GTAVC-exterior.jpg|thumb|[[Vercetti Estate]].]]

Starfish Island is the third largest island in Vice City and is based on Miami's exclusive [[wp:Star Island, Miami Beach, Florida|Star Island]]; or perhaps other island communities such as [[wp:Belle Isle (Miami Beach)|Belle Isle]] or other [[wp:Venetian Islands|Venetian Islands]] along the [[wp:Venetian Causeway|Venetian Causeway]], and adjoining the [[wp:MacAuthur Causeway|MacAuthur Causeway]].

===[[Prawn Island]]===

[[File:PrawnIsland-GTAVC-aerialview.jpg|thumb|200px|Prawn Island as seen from the sky.]]

Prawn Island is a small northern ghetto island linking Downtown Vice City in the west and Vice Point in the east. Like Starfish Island, Prawn Island consists of several mansions, in addition to several adjoining businesses and a film studio. Most of these premises and homes, however, have long been abandoned, and the mansions are now occupied by the Streetwannabes street gang.

[[InterGlobal Studios]] or '''InterGlobal Films''', the sole film studio in the island and in Vice City, presently serves as a pornography film studio for pornography film director [[Steve Scott]] and was bought off by Tommy Vercetti later in the storyline. The name "Prawn" may be a play on "pron" or "pr0n", informal terms for pornography that are used frequently on the Internet. Whether or not the studio was previously used for filming of more mainstream movies remains unknown, although several movie sets that seem relatively unrelated to pornography were seen in the studio, including a movie set for a moon landing. Prawn Island may be based off [[wp:Fisher Island, Florida|Fisher Island, Florida]].

Vice City is located in a tropical climate, most likely in the [[wp:Florida keys|Florida Keys]]. The city has sunshine year round with occasional thunderstorms and rain. The city is also exposed to hurricanes like Miami or any other city in South Florida. An example of hurricanes was Hurricane Hermione, who in 1986 approached the shores of Vice City slowly, separating to Vice City Mainland from the rest of the city by closing the bridges.

{| align="center"

|<gallery width="auto" perrow="4" style="font-size:95%; padding:0;" widths="180">

==Differences between GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories==

The Vice City featured in [[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories]] is based on the [[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]] version of the [[Vice City in GTA III Era|city]], but set two years earlier in [[1984]]. The majority of the city remained the same but contains several noticeable differences in its landscape from its "future" depiction.

===Landmark Differences===

[[File:ChunderWheel-GTAVCS.jpg|thumb|200px|Chunder Wheel, a ferris wheel in GTA Vice City Stories that was demolished before the events of GTA Vice City]]  

[[File:OceanFrontHotel-GTAVCS-nightlights.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Ocean Front Hotel]] one of the many structures that are adorned with more neon light in the GTA Vice City Stories rendition.]]

*Vice City is the smallest [[Cities|city]] in the GTA III era.

*"Vice" in the English language has 2 definitions, the first is a bad habit, the second is prostitution. As the city's name implies, the city is "bad habit city" or "prostitution city".

== See also ==

{{Vice City neighborhoods}}

[[Category:Vice City]]

[[Category:Locations]]

[[Category:Cities]]

[[Category:Locations in GTA Vice City]]