Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. "Good Shepherd Auto Repair", a garage run by an ex-con who now calls himself Brother Sam. Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show? A. Somewhere in Miami. Q. When did we see it on the show? A. This is a continuing location in Season 6, but we first see the garage in Episode 2, of Season 6, "Once Upon a Time..." Dexter is stalking Brother Sam.  Dex deliberately backs his car into a dumpster, and then takes the damaged car to Sam's "Good Shepherd Auto" to be repaired - so he can scope out Sam while he's there. Dexter follows Sam at night, and after witnessing what he believes is Sam committing a murder at Nick's house, he goes back to the garage to make certain. But sneaking into the garage, Dex is surprised to encounter a vicious dog.  Sam calls it off, and Dexter learns that the "murder victim", Nick, is alive.  Nick was simply a straying member of Brother Sam's flock, who Sam stopped from falling back into drug abuse. This scene is interrupted by the arrival of three hostile gang members, who threaten Sam unless he turns over Nick.  Sam refuses, and faces down the gunman, impressing Dexter with his willingness to sacrifice his own life to save another. The garage makes brief appearances in most of the subsequent episodes, up until Episode 6, when Brother Sam is fatally shot at his garage by an unknown assailant. That same episode has a scene of a vigil held at the garage by Sam's workers, plus security camera footage of Sam being shot.

A. An auto repair garage.

A. To be more specific, this is Tempco Transmissions, at 1505 E. Burnett Street, in Signal Hill, CA.

That's between Willow and Pacific Coast Highway, and a few blocks west of Cherry.

It's on the north side of the street, just west of Walnut, and just east of the parking lot where Dexter backed into the dumpster.

It's also less than a mile northwest of both the Tooth Fairy's pharmacy and his self-storage facility.

Signal Hill is a tiny oil town completely surrounded by the larger city of Long Beach.

The Dexter crew painted a graffiti-like "Good Shepherd" mural on the garage's front.  Tempco's owners liked it so much, they asked them to leave it up (as well as a few fake bullet holes).

I shot the photos below on an overcast day in September 2011.










Here is an aerial photo of the garage. Here is a Google StreetView.
  And here is a map link.

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 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.


I had lots of help on this one - which was a team effort.


Both Eric M. (who works nearby) and Rick tipped me beforehand that filming was going to start at Tempco.


Then Ellen took a drive past the location and let me know that Burnett Street was closed on that block, that they were wetting down the street, and that she saw a tow truck towing a black car with major front end damage.  Later, Ellen updated to say that the tow truck had "Good Shepherd Auto Repair" painted on the side.  (That was the first time I'd heard that name.).


Next, Joel emailed me a few photos of the base camp and some of the vehicles parked nearby:








Joel reported back a couple more times during the filming, including once at night, when they were filming in the lot next to Tempco, and during a break, when he let me know that the base camp was gone, but that the set was intact for future filming, including the tow truck.

( Thanks go to Joel, Ellen, Eric and Rick.  Thanks, guys! )





 
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