The Southern California locations where Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is filmed.
Episode 3, of Season 2 ("Making Friends and Influencing People")
Donnie Gill (otherwise known as "Blizzard") goes to the Port of Casablanca, to find a cargo ship
where he was supposed to be delivered as an "asset" by two Hydra agents.
The ship is named the Maribel Del Mar.
Standing on the dock below the ship, he touches a rope leading to the ship, and freezes
not only the rope but all of the water surrounding the ship, trapping it in ice.
Both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents show up to get at Gill.
The Hydra agents have brought along Jemma Simmons (whom, they believe, is now working for
them), because she once saved Donnie's life, and they hope she can persuade him to join Hydra.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents hope to stop Hydra from recruiting him. They realize that he had
previously been brainwashed by Hydra, and that all they have to do to recruit him
again is to say a certain key phrase, which will reactivate his Hydra programming.
Simmons talks to Gill, but he realizes she's fronting for Hydra, so he turns on her.
He chases her through the ship, until he runs into Hydra agent Bakshi, who
repeats the catch phrase to convert Gill back into an obedient slave.
When Bakshi orders Gill to kill everyone on the ship, Skye, watching from an upper deck,
takes him out with a sniper rifle, and he falls over the side, into the frozen water below.
Simmons pretends to push Bakshi out of harm's way, successfully earning his trust.
This is supposed to be at the Port of Casablanca, but of course it's really the Port of Los Angeles.
The Maribel Del Mar cargo ship is actually the SS Lane Victory, a World War II
U.S. Merchant Marine vessel, which is now a floating museum.
When I last visited it, a few years back, it was docked at Berth 96,
beneath the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, CA.
However, it appears that the Lane Victory has been moved to the more remote
Berth 46, which is at the far south end of Miner Street, in San Pedro.
They not only shot exteriors of the ship, they also filmed scenes out on its deck,
and down in the bowels of the ship's engine rooms.
During World War II, American shipyards churned out 532 Victory-class ships,
to replace those being destroyed by German submarines. They were fast
ships, outfitted with guns for their protection.
Of those 532 ships, only 9 remain, including the SS Lane Victory.
Many of these Victory ships were built at the shipyards in Wilmington / San Pedro, so it's
fitting that the Lane Victory wound up close to where 131 of the ships had been built.
Visitors can tour the historic ship, and they even offer Summer cruises.
Be aware that the scene was very heavily doctored via CGI,
to artificially insert a Casablanca skyline in the background.
In that initial pan of the docked ship (which includes the actual grassy turnaround
next to the ship), almost everything on the other (far) side of that loop/road is fake,
except for the San Pedro/Palos Verdes hill in the background. All of the buildings
in the background, the mosque and its minarett, the stacks of cargo containers...
all faked. In real life, there's just a large, empty parking lot (and water) there.
You can read more about the ship (and how to visit) here.
Here's a photo of the ship I shot a few years ago, under the Vincent Thomas Bridge:
 
The photos on this
page are stills from "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
(which you can buy here) and are copyright ABC/Disney/Marvel.
The rest of the page
is Copyright © 2019-Gary Wayne / Seeing-Stars.com
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