A. An apartment building.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. In a modest neighborhood, in Miami, Florida.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 4 (of Season 1), "Let's Give The Boy A Hand".

Rita's rude neighbor (played by Erin Daniels) has a
noisy beagle puppy ('Walter') in the back yard that won't stop whining, because the neighbor leaves the poor thing tied up night and day without attention.

So, after the neighbor refuses to deal with the problem, Rita takes things into her own hands.

We see Rita driving her convertible, with "Walter" in the back - still barking.

She pulls up in front of an apartment building, and two kids come running down the stairs and rush to play with the puppy.

When their mother joins them, we see that it is Elena, a housekeeper and co-worker at Rita's
Z Hotel (who later figures in the case of the murderous alien smuggler.
)

She has solved the problem by giving the puppy away to a loving home.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. An actual apartment house, but far from Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This 4,236 square foot Apartment complex is actually close to Rita's house - so she didn't have far to drive.

You'll find it at 2242 San Anseline Ave, in Long Beach, CA. That's on the east side of the street, the fifth building south of Los Arcos Street.

The camera (in the screencaps above) is looking southeast.

That's next to (south of) "Dexter's Neighborhood" from the show's first season (AKA Los Altos).

And it's right behind (east of) the Los Altos shopping center seen in the background in the police station/catering truck scene (in Season 2).




I shot the photos below in 2010



[ Warning: These are private apartments.  Do not knock on their doors, trespass on their property,
or do anything else that might disturb the residents. ]




The majority of location filming for "Dexter" is done in Long Beach.

The adjacent Los Altos neighborhood contains at least six different homes used on the TV show, including Rita's house, Dexter's childhood home, the rude neighbor's house, Angel's house, the Dade City house that Dexter inherits from his biological father, and the house of the old lady across the street.

The neighborhood is located just south of the San Diego (405) Freeway, and just east of Bellflower Blvd.




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

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

A. I should have found this one on my own - but to tell the truth, I didn't try very hard.  I had already found the house of the neighbor who owned the dog (right next to Rita's, of course), and this was a very short scene, so I made a few efforts to find it and then more or less forgot about it.

Fortunately, in 2010, a fan, Geoff, was busy tracking down a number of missing locations, and this was one of them. (Thanks, Geoff!)