A. A New Years Eve party, held at Angel's new restaurant. "Papa's Cafe".
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 12, the finale of Season 7, "Surprise, Motherf**ker!"
This locale shows up two times, late in the episode.
The
first time we see it, it's night, and a party is underway. We see
both Angel Batista and Masuka dancing happily under the lights to salsa
music, while Quinn sits morosely to one side.
Debra
pushes her way through the crowd to Jamie, and asks if she's seen
Dexter. Jamie says no. Debra checks her phone for messages, and is so distracted
that she barely remembers it is New Year's Eve.
Jamie joins a depressed Quinn at his table, and flirts with him a bit.
Angel warns Masuka not to come out in a diaper as "Baby New Year".
Debra
asks Angel is he's seen Dexter. He says no, but that LaGuerta hasn't
shown up at the party either, so maybe they are both trying to avoid running into each
other (since LaGuerta had arrested him).
Debra
phones the police station and has them check on the location of
LaGuerta's car. She is told that LaGuerta is headed down to the
docks.
Debra
knows that Dexter had Estrada in the back of his car, and knows that
the last time he planned to kill Estrada, he picked a spot down at the
docks. So, LaGuerta heading there too is a recipe for disaster.
Debra
phones Dexter to warn him, but he doesn't answer. She leaves a message
saying "Whatever you're thinking of doing, please don't do it."
We
see the New Year's Eve party again at the very end of the episode,
after Debra has shot & killed LaGuerta, to protect Dexter.
In an effort to look normal in public, and perhaps establish an alibi, they are
walking through the New Year's party crowd, as the countdown to
midnight starts up. A band is playing on the beach, and salsa dancers
in skimpy costumes are dancing on stage.
Debra is obviously shell-shocked, as Dexter guides her through the crowd.
Dexter thinks to himself that the rules we make for ourselves help define who we are:
So
when we break those rules, we risk losing ourselves and becoming
something unknown. Who is Deb now? Who am I? Is this a new beginning?
Or the beginning of the end?
Fireworks burst overhead, as the crowd joins in singing "Auld Lang Syne".
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A sheltered beach, a beach snack stand, and the nearby street (plus a lot of big props).
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This is back at Bay Shore Park again, Alamitos Bay Beach, in Long Beach, and at the Kayak Cafe where they filmed the earlier scene of Angel at his beach café.
It's located along the east side of 54th Place, between Bay Shore Avenue & Ocean Blvd.
This is one of the show's
favorite locations. They've been using this corner of Long
Beach ever since the very first season.
Only this time
they heavily decorated the small café with Christmas lights, along with the
nearby pier. They put up large concert-style scaffolding
towers (seen in the photo below) on nearby 54th Street, and built a
concert stage on Bay Shore beach. They even had a barge offshore with
search lights (not to mention fireworks). A lot of effort for
what turned out to be a relatively short scene.
The shot at the very end, of Dex & Deb walking through the crowd, was filmed just off to the west of the beach, on 54th Place, as they walked south, under those scaffolding towers.
( I heard one critic say that the end scene reminded him of the final scene
in the original Season One, where Dexter imagines himself being hailed by a crowd
as a hero. That may be because that scene was also shot right
here on 54th Place. )
I shot the photo below on the morning of October 2012, as they were putting the set up,
taken from Bay Shore Avenue & 54th Place (with my camera looking south down 54th Place).
And this is the Kayak café (otherwise known as Angel's "Papa's Cafe"):
A. In the early seasons, I usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes,
using clues from the various scenes. By the now, though,
I've 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 airs, I
already know most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
need to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.
This group of helpful fans includes Rick, Ellen, Elaine, Mia, Joel, Susan, Eric, Jeff, Kerry & others. My thanks to all of
them.
Dexter fan Mia Chikamori sent me some great photos she took of the night time shoot,
along with details about what was going on:
This is the short pier at the beach, decorated in Christmas lights for the shoot:
This is the Kayak café (AKA Angel's "Papa's Cafe"), also heavily decorated with holiday lights:
This is a table full of New Years Eve party revelers, which is seen during the scene:
This is a boat (or barge) anchored out on the bay, just offshore, adding some searchlights to the party scene:
Mia shot this just as Dex & Deb were about to begin their walk through the crowd:
And here are some backstage photos, including MCH talking to Jennifer between shots,
and David Zayas taking a break and checking out his phone:
Mia also created this map, which shows the locations of the stage, the table, the boat, and the pier -
as well as the path Dex & Deb took (dotted line) when they walked through the party crowd.
