Dexter: Original Sin Filming Locations: Seaside Park Bench
The
location: Seaside Park Bench
Q.
What is it supposed to be on the show?
A. A bench In a park overlooking the ocean.
Q.
Where is it supposed to be on the show?
A. In or near Miami, Florida.
Q.
When did we see it on the show?
A. We see this scene in Episode 3, of Season 1.
Dexter & Harry are sitting alone on a park bench, watching the boats
go by, when Dexter tells Harry about his plans to kill the murderous
loan shark “Handsome Tony” Ferrar.
Harry
hasn’t yet come to grips with the reality that Dexter is always going to
kill. He still thought that Dexter could satisfy his dark impulses in
other ways. But Harry is beginning to realize that Dexter can’t stop.
He warns
Dexter that one wrong move and he’ll spend the rest of his life in
prison, and will ruin the lives of his sister and father.
He tells Dexter that from now on everything he does goes through him.
Dexter
agrees. But when Harry insists on going along with Dexter to kill
Ferrar, Dexter tells him that he can’t handle it. Harry eventually
agrees and cautions him to follow his training.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. This is a actually only a small patch of lawn next to a marina .
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. In an obscure part of the Alamitos Bay Marina, in Long Beach, CA.
(The homes you see across the bay are located on the SW edge of Naples Island.)
First, be warned that this is not a park, and there is no actual bench here.
In real life, they filmed the scene on a small patch of grassy lawn
about as big as the space required to park three cars, next to a
turn-around loop at the end of a cul de sac at the marina.
( Watch closely, and you'll see a police car drive slowly past on that loop. )
And while the palm trees are real, as is the ocean view, they simply put that bench there temporarily while they were filming.
But this location can be very tricky to find, if you don't have a map handy and specific directions.
It's located at the far southeast end of the marina, out on a narrow
finger of land, next to two small buildings housing the Marina
Headquarters and the Harbor Patrol.
As a point of reference, the address of that Marina HQ building is 205 N. Marina Drive, in Long Beach, only about 150 feet north of the spot where they filmed.
( Give that address to Google Maps and its directions should get you here. )
There are two major marinas in Long Beach, so don't confuse this Alamitos Bay Marina with the Shoreline Marina, which is about 6 miles up the coast (and is where they filmed the scene of Deb & Sofia buying sunglasses ).
If you're a fan of the original Dexter series, then you should
know that this remote location has been used before on the show. This
patch of grassy lawn is right next to a small dock, which was where Rudy proposed to Debra in the very first season of Dexter. And a second, nearby dock was used in the 7th season, when Isaac killed Louis on Dexter's boat, which was was docked here.
This location is near several other filming locations from this first season of Original Sin, including La Palmita restaurant (which is right around the corner), Mad Dog's boat marina, and the beach where Deb & Gia abandon Tiffany's car.
Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?
A. I'm very familiar with this part of Long Beach.
I discovered this obscure little location way back in the very first season of Dexter, when I was searching for Rudy’s dock,
which is right next to this grassy spot. I spent some time walking
around the area and shooting photos of the docks. So, given the
background view of the Long Beach Peninsula and Naples Island, it wasn't
hard to recognize it when it showed up again on Original Sin.
