A. In Episode
1, of Season 6, "Those Kinds of Things".
A fruit
vendor is minding his own business at his roadside stand, unaware that
he is being watched by Professor Gellar and his disciple, Travis, who
are parked in a car across the street.
Travis gets
out of the car, approaches the vendor, mumbles a verse of scripture, then asks for some oranges.
As the vendor is getting the fruit, we see Travis draw a very large knife or
machete.
In a later
scene, at the same location, Dexter, Debra, Quinn and Masuka arrive to investigate the
murder.
They find the vendor's scales filled with bloody
intestines. Dexter checks out the surrounding brush and finds bloody
spots indicating where the vendor was killed. But the body is gone.
(On the sidelines, behind the yellow police tape, Masuka's small group of students stand watching the investigation.)
We learn later that the fruit vendor's name was Omar Rivera -- when he turns up dead on a beach, his body filled with live snakes.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A public street.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This scene was shot on the Loynes Drive, in Long Beach, CA., just west of Studebaker Road, on the bridge that spans a flood control channel.
The land around that channel is
vacant industrial property and/or wetlands, and has a natural, almost
swampish look to it. The chain link fence you see in the scene
(after the police arrive), belongs to the L.A. Flood Control.
Loynes Drive is the very same street that they used in last (5th) season for another fruit vendor scene: the one where the vendor recognized Jordan Chase, as he was driving with Lumen in his trunk.
Alas, the producers missed the
golden opportunity to make it the same fruit vendor we saw last time -
and chose another actor for the role.
It wasn't exactly the same spot on Loynes Drive, though. The first vendor was at Loynes & Bixby Village Drive, while this vendor was at Loynes & Palo Verdes Drive.
But this exact spot should still look familiar, because last season they shot two different scenes here.
Loynes is right next to the neighborhood and golf course they used as the Tooth Fairy's retirement village, in Episode 3. And it's also the street where you'll find the scene of Deb's shoot-out.
The very same bridge where the fruit vendor's cart was positioned is the bridge where Dexter stole a car last season. And the side street where the two killers parked this time was the exact side street where Jordan Chase got out of his car to silence Lumen.
I shot the photos below in 2011.
This first photo was shot from the bridge on Loynes Drive.
The red X marks the spot where they set up the fruit cart.
This shot shows the brush area to the right of the Loynes bridge, showing the chain link fence (blocking access
to the flood control channel) that is visible in the scenes where Dexter, Debra & Quinn searched for clues.
This photo below was shot from the side street (Palos Verdes), looking up towards Loynes.
The red X marks the spot where Prof. Gellar & Travis were parked. (Note the 15 MPH sign.)
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, Joel, Julie, Geoff, Jeff, and others. My thanks to all of them.
This particular tip came from Rick, who let me know they were filming on Loynes.
(Although I'm pretty sure I would have recognized this spot from last
season once the episode aired.) I drove past during the filming, but found Loynes blocked
off at both ends. I spotted their base camp was at the nearby Gaslamp restaurant. (Thanks, Rick!)
