Dexter: Original Sin Filming Locations: The Frat Party House
The
location: The Frat Party House
Q.
What is it supposed to be on the show?
A. A Delta Alpha Kappa fraternity house.
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 frat house in Episode 1, of Season 1
Debra Morgan is forced by her father to take her brother Dexter along when she goes to a frat party.
And she's lucky she did.
After
arriving at the frat house after dark and finding the party underway,
Deb almost immediately gets stoned, starting by smoking grass and moving
on to slamming tequila with a guy named Andy.
After Dexter
is warned by Deb’s friend, he runs upstairs to find Debra unconscious on
a bed, and Andy partially undressed. A fight breaks out, which tumbles
down the stairs and Dexter beats the crap out of Andy. During the fight,
he spots a knife and is about to reach for it when he is pulled off
Andy and tossed out of the frat house..
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A residential home.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This house is located at 1809 Westmoreland Blvd.) in the West Adams district of Los Angeles.
Built in 1907, this 9 bedroom home Is located just a block north of the
Santa Monica (10) Freeway, and about three and a half miles SW of
downtown Los Angeles.
Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?
A. The original image is quite dark, with few details visible, so I brightened it in Photoshop and you can see the results below:
The biggest difficulty is that you can only see the porch area, not the entire house, although
we know from the interior shots that it is a two-story house.
The Greek letters on the left side were almost certainly added by the production. but there are other clues visible.
For instance, there are seven stone steps leading up to the porch. The house
has a wide square frame with a wood door. There are hedges near
both sides of the porch. The roof of the porch is supported by square
stone pillars, with a low baluster running between
those pillars. On the show, the house looks like it might be blue, but
it is a night shot, artificially lit, and I had to brighten it, so that appearance of color is deceptive.
It's unusual to find
that high a porch in Southern California. And if it is in L.A. I knew it was
likely to be found in one of its older neighborhoods like the West Adams district or
perhaps Pasadena.
The Historic West Adams district Is one of the oldest neighborhoods in
Los Angeles, filled with delightful old homes built around the turn of
the century, many with distinctive architectural styles such as
Craftsman or Victorian. And Hollywood filmmakers often turn to West
Adams when they are looking for those kind of homes. So I knew this big,
old house would fit right in.
But the drawback is that the home doesn’t really stand out in a
neighborhood filled with similar homes. And the area contains over
10,000 houses…
After not quickly finding it in the West Adams district, I moved on to
Long Beach, after discovering they had filmed several other recent scenes
there. But after wasting far too much time failing to find it In Long
Beach, i eventually returned to the West Adams district and began a
block-by-block search.
It took a while, but I eventually spotted it on Westmoreland Ave.
