Brass Binnacle helps set up shop for new CBS series ‘Miami Medical'

SWANSBORO — The Miami feel of an upcoming television series comes partly from a warehouse in Swansboro.

The Brass Binnacle’s inventory of nautical instruments, gifts and decor includes portholes, flags, buoys, lanterns, compasses, clocks, ship wheels, life rings and more — offers a smorgasbord of possibilities for Jeffrey Kushon.

“They had everything; I was like a kid in a candy story,” said Kushon, set director for the upcoming television series Miama Medical, which is due to premiere April 2 on CBS.

Kushon came across BrassBinnacle.com via an Internet search and found much of what he needed to bring Shap’s Crab Shack to life.

The props and dressing for the set give the fictional crab shack the look of a place set in Dade County, Fla., he said. And the more authentic the look, the more real it is for the Miami Medical cast.

“I wanted to make it look as real as possible,” Kushon said. “That was my goal, to bring a sense of realism for the characters and for the set as well.”

The Swansboro-based business was glad to help.

“It’s exciting. We’re proud we had a part in the production of the show,” said Linda Freeman, who serves as comptroller and helps out with public relations for the business owned and operated by her son, Steve Freeman.

Brass Binnacle was originally located on the center floor of the Olde Brick Store in downtown Swansboro. Linda and Junior Freeman purchased the business in 2002, with their son initially managing it.

Not long after they took on the business, transitions began taking place.

“It was a small gift shop and had somewhat of a theme to it, but it was not precisely nautical. We took it on and went all nautical with it,” Mrs. Freeman said.

And as the evolution took place in the store, Steve Freeman started adding opportunities for online shopping.

Steve has since taken the reigns of the business and converted it to an entirely Internet-based business, BrassBinnacle.com.

The online site offers thousands of nautical items and draws customers ranging from those looking for a single gift to corporations purchasing items to give at conventions and corporate events. Restaurants such as Jacksonville’s Tony’s Seafood and Oyster Bar as well as retail chains have been among their customers.

And while Miami Medical is the latest television show to purchase from the site, it’s not the first time they’ve helped dress a set.

Linda Freeman said they’ve provided products for soap operas, movies and theme parks such as Disney World.

It’s an online shop with a little bit of something for anyone looking for all things nautical.

“It you can think of it, you can get it,” she said with a laugh.

Kushon found that to be the case when he went searching for dive helmets to use as table lamps.

“That was probably the biggest excitement because it was like finding a needle in a haystack,” he said.

And because the items are reproductions, the cost was more affordable as they transformed the set into Shap’s Crab Shack, the place where the Miami Medical team goes to decompress at the end of the day.

Kushon said the television show is about a team of expert surgeons who work at one of the premiere trauma facilities in the country. The team excels in what is called the “golden hour,” the 60 minutes after a critical injury, when a patient’s life hangs in the balance.

Contact Jannette Pippin at 910-382-2557 or jpippin@freedomenc.com.