Dexter Filming Locations: Coral Island Retirement Village
The
location: Coral Island Retirement Village
Q.
What is it supposed to be on the show?
A. A retirement community.
Q.
Where is it supposed to be on the show?
A. Somewhere
in or near Miami.
Q.
When did we see it on the show?
A. In Episode 3, of Season 6, "Smokey and the Bandit".
A murder
reminds Dexter of the work of a legendary Oregon serial killer
nicknamed "The Tooth Fairy" - whose M.O. included pulling teeth
from his victims.
Dexter
knows that the killer would be an old man by now, but he wonders if
perhaps he came out of retirement to try one last kill.
So,
Dexter goes to the retirement village closest to the crime scene, Coral
Island, and inquires about residents who came from the Tooth Fairy's
old stalking grounds - Oregon.
The obvious suspect is Walter Kenny, a mean, crotchety old man with a misanthropic streak a mile long.
Dexter
first joins him on the golf course, and later at the pool, where he
notices that Walter is missing a tooth - the same lateral incisor he
pulled from his victims.
Later,
Dexter returns to Coral Island, visiting Walter in his room, after
getting talked into driving the old coot around (to a pharmacy and storage facility).
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. A gated condo community.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. In real life, this is known as Village on the Green, at 6000 Bixby Village Drive, in Long Beach, CA.
It's a condo complex that sits right up against the Bixby Village Golf Course - which is where, of course, the golf scenes in this episode were shot.
As far as I know, it is not a retirement community (although I'm told that the golf course draws a lot of seniors).
This location is just a stone's throw from Loynes Drive, where (this season) they filmed the scene of Deb's shootout, as well as the murder of the fruit vendor. (And in the 5th season, they shot another fruit vendor scene on the same street.)
It's also close to the Cal-State University Long Beach campus, where they shot several scenes for later this season.
As you can see from my photo of the entrance below, this is a gated community.
I shot the photo below in October 2011.
(looking southwest from Bixby Village Drive and Greenway St)
A. In previous seasons, I've
usually had to hunt down the locations after viewing the episodes,
using clues from the various scenes. By the 6th season, though,
I'd 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 aired, I
already knew most (but not all) of the filming locations, and only
needed to watch the episodes and match up the scenes with the correct
locations.
This group of helpful fans includes Kerry, Rick, Ellen, Susan, Jason, Elaine, Joel, Julie, Geoff, Jeff, and others. My thanks to all of them.
Rick & Ellen first
tipped me to this one, while filming was underway there. Then I drove
by and checked it out, and returned later to shoot the photo above.
