Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. The street outside of Dexter's apartment. Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show? A. Somewhere in Miami. Q. When did we see it on the show? A. In Episode 1, of Season 5, "My Bad". Rita has been murdered. Rita's children, Astor & Cody, return from a visit to Disney World and learn the truth from Dexter. In this scene, Astor runs from Dexter's apartment, after hearing the terrible news. Dexter follows her, and Astor unleashes her anger and grief against him, telling him that it's all his fault, that it was his job to protect her and he didn't. And that she wishes he had died instead of her mother. She then locks herself in the car. Q. What is it actually in real life? A. A street outside an apartment house - just nowhere near Miami. (And nowhere near the actual apartment house they originally used as Dexter's home in Season 1.) Q. Where can I find it in real life? A. This scene was shot on E. 2nd Street, at the south end of Obispo Avenue, in the Bluff Park section of Long Beach, CA.

The white apartment house seen behind Dexter (walking) in the top photo is at 202 Obispo Ave, at the northeast corner of that intersection. He's walking south on the east side Obispo, towards 2nd St.

The tan apartment house glimpsed behind Dexter (crouching by Astor) in the third photo from the top is at 3101 E. 2nd St., at the northwest corner.

The pink house glimpsed across the street (in the fourth photo, of Astor running) is at 3134 2nd St.

That's just a block northwest of Dexter & Rita's house (on 1st St).

The irony here is that Dexter's apartment was one of the few locations on the show that was actually in Miami, on the water. (At least, at first. They later built a replica of its interior at the studio.)

And the home he bought with Rita was supposedly far away in some ideal suburb of white picket fences.

Yet in this scene, Dexter steps outside of his old apartment and where is he?  A block northwest of his new house...




I shot the photos below in October 2010











Here is an aerial photo of the café. And here is a map link.

And here is a Google StreetView panorama of the block.

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A.  In previous seasons, I've usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes, using various clues from the scenes.  By the 5th 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, and my own personal reconnaissance around town, 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, Joel, Geoff, Ellen, Julie, Susan, Jeff, and others. My thanks to all of them.

This particular tip came from Rick, and was later also reported to me by Julie (whose Aunt used to live right in that neighborhood).  (Thanks, you two!)