A. A public street.

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

A. Between Dexter & Rita's home and Dexter's Police Station, in Miami.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 3 (of Season 4), "Blinded by the Light".

This scene is played for laughs, and is designed to demonstrate that the strain of pretending to be a normal, happily-married husband & father is driving Dexter nuts.

Dexter is unable to drive his car for a week, since he was involved in a traffic accident, so Rita (his new wife) is driving him to work - with their new baby in the back seat.

Ever since she found out that Dexter had been involved in the car crash (and didn't tell her), Rita has become increasingly maternal (some would say 'controlling' - and 'irritating'). Dexter is attempting to humor her until he can drive again.

In this scene, she is happily singing along to the old Boy George song "Kharma Chameleon" on the car radio (loudly, and slightly off-key), while driving the car with one hand, and waving a baby toy/rattle with the other.

Dexter thinks to himself: "This is Day 2 of me being the best husband in the world."

Showing signs of strain, Dexter tells Rita that he needs to stop for a coffee someplace. She ignores his request, tells him he's already had a coffee, and goes on singing.

He tells himself that he can last 5 more days (until he can drive again).

But as Rita shakes the rattle in his face again, Dexter thinks to himself: "I'm not going to make it."

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A residential street, but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This driving scene was shot on Country Club Drive, in northwest Long Beach.

(That's the same street where you'll find the Ferris Bueller house.
)

To be more specific, the scene was shot on the 3700 block of Country Club Drive, near Los Cerritos Park.

In the photo below, looking out Rita's window, we can see a blurry blue street sign, as well as a Neighborhood Watch sign (on the back side of a stop sign).

That is at the SW corner of Country Club Drive & Los Cerritos Park Place.  She is heading northwest.





In the second photo, below, taken a split second later, we can see (out the car window) one of the
condos in the apartment complex located at 3703 Country Club Drive.






I shot the matching photo below in December 2010. (Note the same Neighborhood Watch sign and condo building.)

This shot is looking southwest, from the corner of Country Club Drive and in Long Beach.




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


Besides being the neighborhood where they shot "American Pie", they have also filmed a lot of Dexter scenes in this general vicinity, including Miguel Prado's house, LaGuerta's house, Trinity's house, the pool party, and ironically (given the sign), the Neighborhood Watch scene from the same 4th season.

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

A.  This was a tip from a fan, Rick, who spotted the street sign on a Blu-Ray disc (it was too blurry to read on my TiVo'ed copy), and thought it said "Country Club".  (Thanks, Rick.)

Since Google doesn't have StreetView there, I checked Bing's aerial photos, and the comer by the park seemed like the best possible match on that street.

So, I drove to Country Club Drive to double check, and sure enough, I was able to shoot the matching photo above.

( I was unable, however, to match the scenes glimpsed out of Dexter's side of the car. Which leads me to believe they shot the two views in two different locations. It might have been on one of the nearby streets, or it might have been miles away...)