A. A short pier.

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 10, of Season 2 - "There's Something About Harry".

Dexter has taken Doakes captive at the cabin, and isn't sure what to do with him.

Eventually, he decides to frame Doakes as the "Bay Harbor Butcher".

So he plants Doakes' fingerprints on a set of killing tools (taking the prints while Doakes is unconscious at the cabin), then walks to the end of a short, wooden pier, and drops the tools into the water.

Dexter knows that "every Saturday, beginning dive classes practice underwater skills beside this dock", and that they will discover the evidence he has planted.

Sure enough, it works.

The killing tools are found, the police lift Doakes' fingerprints from them, and they immediately assume that Doakes is the killer they have been looking for.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A short pier on a sheltered bay - but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This scene was shot on the pier next to the
Bayshore Playground, a small beach park
located at 14 54th Place, in Long Beach, CA.

That's near the corner of Ocean Blvd and 54th Place (near Bayshore Ave), facing the bay that separates Naples Island from the northwest end of the Long Beach peninsula.

There's a sports center/park next door, and a place to rent kayaks. (But I don't think they do much diving here...)

It's right next to the beach cafe seen in Season One (where Deb, Dexter & Rudy met for tacos), and it is across the street from the first season's villain's lair.


The pier points towards the northeast. The homes seen across the bay (in the background of the top two photos) are on Naples Island (on a street named E. The Toledo)..

In the second season, this Bayshore Playground was used for two more Dexter scenes (all three in this episode 10), including the scene where Lila buys pills, and the scene where Debra & Lundy have lunch at a tropical cafe.





Here is an aerial photo of the building.  And here is a map link.




(I shot the photo below in 2008)

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

A. This was an easy one for me.

Last season, they used this same area for a restaurant scene (and it was also glimpsed in the background during a scene where Dexter arrived at the villain's lair), so I went there to check it out last year, and shot photos of the area.  I immediately recognized it when I saw it again on the show.