A. In Episode 12, the Season 6 finale: "This is the Way the World Ends"
Dexter attends a Noah's Ark pageant at the preschool, with both father & son dressed as lions.
After the
pageant, however, Dexter takes a phone call from Debra, and while he
isn't looking, Travis kidnaps his young son, Harrison.
Dexter
notices he is missing, and asks a nun. She says he just left with a
man wearing a lion's mask, and she had assumed it was Dexter.
Dexter dashes outside and looks frantically for his son, but sees nothing.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A church & church preschool.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This is not the same location where they first shot Harrison's original preschool scenes, back in episode 1 of this 6th Season.
For this preschool pageant, they didn't go back to Long Beach.
They didn't even use
another Methodist church, as they did the first time (as a stand-in for
the supposedly Catholic preschool).
Instead, they stayed near the studio in Hollywood, and used Hollywood Presbyterian Church, which you'll find at 6054 Yucca Street.
Actually, the church's official address is 1760 N. Gower Street.
But it's a large church campus, with nine buildings, and the scene
where Dexter runs outside, looking for his kidnapped son, was shot on Yucca Street (just east of Gower), on the north side of the campus.
( It's what their campus map refers to as the Upper Terrace, next to the Community Ministry Center. )
In that scene (the last screencap above), the camera is looking west, towards Gower.
If the name sounds familiar, it's because this is the same church campus where they filmed the 4th Season scenes of Trinity's church (although they used a different building this time).
It's located
right next Hollywood Freeway, a block north of Hollywood Blvd, and
just a few blocks north of the Sunset-Gower Studio, where they film "Dexter".
And it is literally
right across the street (north of) the "Four
Walls, One Heart" build site, where Dexter first joined Trinity to help erect homes for the poor.
Below is a blow-up of a Bing StreetSide view of the wrought-iron gate that
Dexter walked through as he dashed outside to try to find Harrison.
(The camera is on Yucca Street, looking south.).
Rick shot the photo below, which shows the front of the Ministry Center
(which is just to the left/east of the gate seen above).
A. In previous seasons, I've
usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes,
using clues from the various scenes. By the 6th season, though,
I'd developed a small group of fans, spies & tipsters who kept an
eye out for Dexter filming in their neighborhoods, and would let me know
in advance when something was about to film there.
Between those reports, my own personal reconnaissance around town, and a
few new resources I discovered, by the time the first episode aired, I
already knew most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
needed to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.
This group of helpful fans includes Kerry, Rick, Ellen, Susan, Jason,
Elaine, Joel, Julie, Geoff, Jeff, Jen, and others. My thanks to all of
them.
This time, it was Rick who tipped
me that they were filming at the church, and even sent me the photo you
see above.
I then used Bing StreetSide
to pinpoint the wrought iron gate
where Dexter walked out of the school. I matched the large hedge
seen when Dexter comes out, plus the wrought iron doors, as well as the
fire hydrant on the corner, and the freeway "Do not enter" sign on the
other side of Gower. (Thanks, Rick!)
