A. A party.

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 7 (of Season 4), "Slack Tide".

It is a bash being thrown by avant-garde fashion photographer Jonathan Farrow, whom Dexter
suspects of murdering the models he photographs.

So Dexter goes to his party, planning to kill Farrow.

We see him pull up in his car, in front of the red building, and bluff his way past the bouncer.

Inside, he finds himself in a crowded disco-style club (complete with glitter ball), and he pushes his way through the sea of dancers, before spotting the photographer across the room (entertaining two sexy models - or are they just hookers?)

Dexter doesn't realize that a suspicious Quinn has
followed him to the party, and is spying on him from a distance.

When Farrow starts getting more intimate with one of the models, Dexter decides to speed things up, and has a message relayed that a homeless man was seen throwing up in the back of Farrow's car.

That works, and Farrow leaves the models to go check on his car.

But just as Dexter is about to go after him, he spots Quinn at the bar.

He realizes it is getting too risky, and decides against finishing the job that night.

So he distracts Quinn by telling a model at the bar that Quinn is famous. When she goes to talk to Quinn, Dexter uses the opportunity to make his exit.

Quinn realizes quickly that he has been given the slip.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A photography equipment business and a nightclub.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This scene was shot in two different places, which are right next door to each other.

The exterior shot, at the start, where we see where Dexter pull up outside a brick red building, can be found at 6650 Lexington Ave, near West Hollywood. (A Google search for that address ID's it as L P Associate Inc, listed as dealers of motion picture, electronic & lighting equipment.)




Rick shot this matching photo of the building in September of 2010.

That view we see is looking south/southwest from Lexington Ave, just east of Cherokee Ave.


But the interiors appear to have been shot next door (to the south), inside the "Circus Disco", an outrageous gay nightclub at 6655 Santa Monica Blvd, two blocks east of Highland.


( It's right across the street from Hollywood Center Studios, where they film "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" and "True Blood". And it's less than a mile west of Sunset-Gower studios, where they film "Dexter".)




Below is a Google Panorama of the exterior location:




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

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

A.  I was positive that this would turn out to be in downtown L.A., somewhere in the warehouse district. Why?  Because they had shot three other scenes in the warehouse district: the photographer's studio (in this same episode), Tito's Bar, & the old boxing gym.
Since they were already downtown, shooting Farrow's studio, why bother to go somewhere else to shoot the photographer's party?  Plus, that brick red building just looked like one of the buildings found in that part of downtown.

So, I spent ages searching through downtown, looking for that red building.  I found numerous red buildings, but none of them matched perfectly. I also tried San Pedro and Long Beach.  Nothing.

Much later, a fan, Rick, found out that it had been shot near West Hollywood. And sure enough, Google StreetView and Bing's aerial photos left no doubt.  (Thanks, Rick!)

Later, wondering if they might have shot the interiors at the nightclub next door, I Googled for photos of the interior of the nearby Circus Disco. And sure enough, they matched up well, especially that Disco-era glitter ball. Take a look:





Apparently, they actually chose the location because they wanted to use the disco for the party interiors. Then, for some reason, they opted to shoot the exterior next door for that nighttime arrival shot.