A. A street-side coffee stand.

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 3), "Our Father".

Debra is having a cup of coffee, when suddenly a stranger, a young Asian woman, sits next to her and starts talking to her as if she knows her.

When Debra asks who she is, she identifies herself as Yuki Amado, an Internal Affairs investigator.

She soon makes it clear that she wants Debra to help her get information about a fellow cop, Joey Quinn. Yuki implies that Quinn might be a dirty cop.

Debra tells her she doesn't rat on other cops.

Yuki tries to tempt her by saying that cooperating could help her career, but Debra will have none of it.

But it does peak her curiosity about what Quinn may have done.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A false front, with real storefronts across the street.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. The coffee stand itself was just a fake front set up next to a vacant lot, allowing the camera to shoot out (through the opening) onto the street.

But the row of storefront buildings seen across the street (behind Debra & Yuki) are real enough.

You'll find them at approximately 339 to 343 W. 7th Street, in San Pedro, CA. The camera is looking south.

The vacant lot is right across the street, at 342 W. 7th Street.

( At the very start of the first episode of the third season, we see Dexter in his dentist's chair, telling the dentist about his summer activities, and we get a very brief shot of a carnival at night, and a new victim dispatched by Dexter. If that seemed rushed, it's because they were originally going to shoot a much longer scene, and the carnival was to be set up in this same vacant lot on 7th Street in San Pedro. )




I shot the photos below in 2009







I shot the panorama above on an early Sunday morning, looking at the south side of 7th Street.


The photo below is a closer look at the buildings seen behind Debra & Yuki.
( Note the red doors, the stepped square windows, and the star-shape on the door to the right. )




The photo below shows the vacant lot on the other (north) side of 7th Street, where they set up the coffee stand.




This spot is just east of the Blue Room Bar, and is close to several other locations from the third season, including Freebo's house and the park where they found Teegan's body.



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

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

A. My initial hunch was that the coffee stand itself was probably just a false front the producers set up somewhere. And if so, I knew that my only clue was a partial glimpse of the buildings in the background, across the street.

So I started checking out buildings in obvious locations like Long Beach's Belmont Shore. But I couldn't make a match.

I gave it up as a lost cause.  But fortunately, someone in the know confirmed that it was a fake front, and told me that they had shot the scene in downtown San Pedro, around 6th Street. So, armed with Google StreetView) it didn't take me long to track it down, identifying the distinctive windows on the buildings across the street.  (Thanks!).