Dexter Filming Locations: The Police Wife's House




             

The location: The Policeman's Wife's House.
Q. What is it supposed to be on the show?

    A. A residential home.


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

    A. Somewhere in the Miami area.


Q. When did we see it on the show?

    A. In Episode 2: "Crocodile".

    A crime boss, Guerrero, has ordered the killing of a police officer, Ricky Simmons.

    Doakes and LaGuerta go to the policeman's home to notify his wife of his death.

    We see them pull up outside the house in their car.

    LaGuerta remarks that, in the past, Doakes has always avoided these kind of notifications.  (What she doesn't know is that Doakes was sleeping with Simmons' wife.)

    At the door, Doakes spots something inside, and the two bust into the house, weapons drawn.

    Inside, they find Kara Simmons, the cop's wife, lying on the floor, bleeding badly.

    They realize that Guerrero not only ordered a hit on a cop, but attacked his wife as well.

    Doakes tells LaGuerta to call 911, as he rushes to Kara's side.

    ( Later, we see Doakes tending to her at the hospital, but we eventually learn that she died from her injuries.  A police funeral is held on a beach, in the next episode.)


Q. What is it actually in real life?

    A. A residential home - but far from Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This house is actually in Long Beach, California.  The address is 7115 Stearns Street.

That's just south of El Dorado Park, where the show has filmed a number of scenes (including the "Flamingo Park" scene in episode 7, and the roll-over accident scene in Season 4).


I shot this photo of the house in 2011:


[ Warning: This is a private home, do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything else that might disturb the residents. ]

   Here is a Bing aerial photo of the house.  And here is a map link.
( The house has changed a lot over the last five years. The new owners have done an admirable job of fixing up the place, replacing the roof, windows, siding, garage door, and much more. Even the house next door has been painted a new color.  I might not have even recognized it if it wasn't for Google StreetView, which preserved a view of it as it used to look. And those familiar short palm trees remain as evidence that it's the right place. )


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

    A. I'm not sure why I missed this one back in 2006, when I was finding the locations for the first season.  But in 2011, when I looked over my "By Episode" menu, I noticed that this location hadn't been found.

    In the scene, I could see the street number just to the left of the garage door.  The DVD image is a little blurry, but I was pretty sure that the number was 7115.

    Naturally, I started looking in Long Beach, Dexter's favorite stomping ground.

    I found that all of the 7115's in Long Beach were on the northeast side of town, next to El Dorado Park.  That didn't surprise me.  They had filmed in the park for the 7th episode, and they used another house in this same general area for a 4th season shoot involving Trinity.  And the tract homes in that neighborhood resembled those in the scene.

    I only had a few dozen streets there to check.  But it took me a little longer than I expected to actually find it.  Bing's aerial photos weren't of much help this time.  But when I switched to Google StreetView, the place was clearly recognizable.  (Of course, it was still on the very last street I looked at...)

    So I drove out there and shot the photo you see above.


 
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