A. A modern office plaza (built on the site of the former Northeast Tavern).

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

A. In Miami.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. Episode 4 - "Dex Takes a Holiday".

Agent Lundy, who is tracking the Trinity Killer goes there because it was built on the site of a former tavern, where Lundy believes Trinity bludgeoned a man to death 30 years ago, in the bar's bathroom). Lundy suspects that Trinity, a repetitive killer, will return to the address to reenact the crime once again.

We see Lundy standing in a sunken plaza, below a tall office tower, making observations into a tape recorder.

Arthur Mitchell (the Trinity Killer) spots him, and realizes he's been found out. At first, he tries to hide, but then he changes his tactics.

He boldly walks across the plaza, towards Lundy,
and deliberately bumps into him, dropping his keys in the process, and making eye contact during a brief conversation (as Lundy hands him back his dropped keys).

He then crosses the sunken plaza, walks up the steps to the street, where he catches a bus.

Lundy's intuition tells him that there's something odd about the guy, and he adds a brief description of the stranger into his taped recorded notes: "White male, maybe 6' 4". 200-220 pounds. Age around 60. Eyes blue... Something in them."

We see the same office plaza in the next episode (5), "Dirty Harry", after dark this time.

Just as Lundy had predicted, the Trinity Killer returns to the location, hammer in hand.

By now, Dexter is on to him and Lundy's recorded notes lead Dexter to the same office complex.

But he's too late to save the victim, the guy who works behind the counter at the office building's coffee stand. Dexter finds the security monitors just in time to see Trinity smashing in the guy's head with his hammer.

Dexter races up the stairs to catch him, but Trinity escapes and leaves in his van. Dexter follows him all the way to his home.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. An office plaza - but nowhere near Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This is the 100 Oceangate center, at the southwest corner of Ocean Blvd & Magnolia Ave/Queensway Branch, in Long Beach, CA. The entrance is on the 500 block of Ocean Blvd., just east of the World Trade Center building.

The official address is 100 Oceangate, Long Beach, CA, but that's a bit misleading, because the only street named Oceangate is a semi-private driveway that runs between the plaza and its parking garage.

100 Oceangate is a 225,486 square foot office building, built in 1972. The sunken plaza, where Lundy encounters Trinity, is located on the east side of the building.

When Lithgow bumps into Lundy, he is walking north. You can briefly glimpse, through the windows behind him, activity in a gym. That gym is the real "24-Hour Fitness" gym, located in the plaza. Trinity exits up the steps on the north side of the plaza, and catches the bus on the south side of Ocean Blvd.




I shot the photos below in November 2009.



The top photo is shot looking northeast from street level, on the south side of the upper plaza.

The photo below is looking north/northeast across the sunken plaza where Lundy & Trinity met, with downtown Long Beach in the background.



And the third photo, below, was shot from that sunken plaza, looking up (north/northeast) at the 100 Oceangate office tower.






Here is an aerial photo. And here is a map link.

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

A.  At first glane I assumed this location would be somewhere in west Los Angeles, where these kind of office plazas are common.

But then I saw that familiar blue building (on the right in the middle photo above) and recognized it as the Long Beach Courthouse, on Ocean Blvd. It was then just a matter of looking across the street (via Bing's Bird's Eye View) for that striped office tower.

So I went there in person to make sure, and shot the photos you see above.