A. A lofts-style apartment building.

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

A. Somewhere in Miami.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. It was the home (and studio) of Lila Tournay, an eccentric, obsessive, manipulative British artist who wormed her way into Dexter's life and turned it upside down.

Since Lila was Season Two's main villain (or "villainess"), we saw a lot of her apartment during the course of the season.

Most of the time we just saw the interior of her apartment, which had a striking resemblance to Rudy's loft-apartment from season one, and may well have been the same set inside Sunset-Gower studio,

But we were also given several good glimpses of the exterior as well, including in Episode 12, "The British Invasion", the dramatic finale where Lila attempted to burn the building down with Dexter (and his kids) trapped inside, and the apartment was seen, at night, surrounded by firemen trying to put out the fire.

We also saw the building earlier, in Episode 6, "Dex, Lies and Videotape" (where Dexter dashes in out of the rain, and the two wind up having sex), and again in Episode 11, "Left Turn Ahead" (where Dexter tells Lila he's leaving town).

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A lofts-style apartment house, but nowhere near Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. You'll find these loft apartments at 6201 Yucca Street, in Hollywood, CA.

That's about a block west of Gower Street, and just two blocks east of Vine Street.  (You can see the famous Capitol Records tower in the background.) That's right next to (south of) the Gower offramp of the Hollywood (101) Freeway.

The "front" of the apartment house, which we see on "Dexter", doesn't face the main street (Yucca).  Instead, the long side of the building faces that street, while the "front" is semi-hidden behind a gate, facing a small, private parking lot at the east end of the building, near Vista Del Mar street.

In other words, to see the angle we see on the show, you'll need to be looking west, while standing at the east end of the building.


Here is an aerial photo of the apartment house (looking west).  And here is a map link.




[ The photos below were shot by Chas Demster in Feb. 2009 ]






A related scene, in Episode 11, that supposedly shows Lila running from her apartment out to her car, was actually shot a mile to the south, near the Sunset-Gower studio.


The apartment house is less than a mile from the studio and several other Dexter locations, including: "The Swamp" bar (exterior), and from the third season: the tailor shop, the accident scene, the hooker motel, Wendell's house, the kids' school, and Ramon Prado's house.

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

A. This one had me stumped for over a year, and I'd probably still be hunting for it if I hadn't finally received a tip from a fan, Chas Demster. (Thanks, Chas!)

Early on, I didn't realize that they were filming in Hollywood, so I concentrated my search in the Long Beach, San Pedro and Marina Del Rey areas (the places where they filmed most often in the past), which, of course, got me nowhere.

But even after I found out later that they were shooting in Hollywood, I was still unable to spot it.

Why? Because although the apartment house is actually just two long buildings, the screencaps from the show make it appear to be a cluster of four buildings (an illusion created by unusual corners on the inner half the buildings). So that is what I looked for when I searched via aerial photos.

Also, as mentioned above, the "front" seen on the show doesn't face the road, as one might expect.  Instead, the side of the long building faces the street, while the "front" is hidden away on the east side, partially concealed by a gated parking lot. So it's easy to miss on Google StreetView as well.