A. In Episode 2, of Season 6, "Once Upon a Time..."
This is where Dexter killed violent gang leader Julio Benes, by slitting his throat.
Dexter
had originally been planning to kill Brother Sam, but he changed his
mind after finding out that Sam actually had reformed.
Julio
made the mistake of barging into Sam's "Good Shepherd" garage while
Dexter was there, and pointing a gun at the head of Brother Sam, while
demanding he turn over one of his flock.
Sam refused, and after Dexter flashed his Miami Metro ID, Julio and his boys backed down.
Julio's
second mistake was on his way out - he bragged that he had killed a
barber named Hector Nunez, and that his body had never been found.
So he wound up on Dexter's table. (Or in this case, his barber chair.)
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A storefront that housed a clothing store.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This scene was shot inside a storefront at 5612 N. Figueroa Street, in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles.
The storefront housed "Moda Plus" clothing.
For this scene,
they tented the entrance, preventing passersby from seeing in the
windows (with good reason, given the bloody scene within.)
The store is located on the southeast side of Figueroa, next to the Highland theatre.
Highland
Park is a predominantly Latino neighborhood, located just north of the
Pasadena Freeway, and south of Eagle Rock, about 2/3rds of the way
between downtown L.A. and the end of the Pasadena Freeway.
As I've mentioned before, Dexter
likes to cluster-shoot. So, not surprisingly, this location is right
next to the narrow parking lot used for the earlier coffee stand scene. And it's also just a half mile away from Professor Gellar's church.
Here is a Google StreetView of the shop (click on the photo to see the actual panorama).
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, and others. My thanks to all of them.
This tip came from Rick, and it's a good thing, because Highland Park is well off Dexter's usual path. I would have wasted a lot of time looking in the usual haunts: Long Beach, San Pedro, Hollywood... (Thanks, Rick!)
