A. A sporting goods store.

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 5 (of season 3), "Turning Biminese".

Dexter is stalking Ethan Turner, a man who killed his first two wives for their money. He finds him in a sporting goods store, where Turner is buying diving equipment.

Dexter, who has been pretending to check out golf clubs in the back, moves closer and strikes up a conversation. He learns that Turner is about to leave on a Caribbean cruise. He asks if Turner knows any good diving schools in the area, and Turner recommends Bimini.

(Later, Dexter sails his boat to Bimini, where he boards Turner's cruise ship and kills him.)

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A golf course - but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This scene was shot in the Pro Shop of the Rio Hondo golf course, at 10627 Old River School Road, in Downey, CA.

(That's the same golf course where they filmed the double-decker driving range scenes.
)     

The city of Downey is located about 9 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, and about 13 miles north/northeast of their usual stomping ground of Long Beach. The city is in a triangle formed by the Long Beach (710) freeway (on the west), the Century (105) freeway (on the south), and the 605 freeway to the east.

The golf course is about a mile east of the Long Beach (710) Freeway, and a few blocks north of Firestone Blvd.


     

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

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

A. This one had me fooled. After discovering that both the golf course and restaurant scenes, in this same episode, were both shot at Pacific Palms golf course, I first assumed that they had simply used Pacific Palms' pro shop for this scene.

And when I checked for photos of that Pacific Palms pro shop, it bore a strong resemblance to the shop we see in the episode, seeming to confirm my original hunch.

But in May of 2010, a fan, Brian Allen, emailed me to say that he recognized it as the pro shop at Rio Hondo.

My first hunch was that he was probably wrong. The Rio Hondo driving range, after all, doesn't show up until two episodes later (in episode 7).

But when I tracked down photos of the Rio Hondo pro shop, I found that it not only bore a strong resemblance to the other shop (down to the wooden, bookcase-like display cases), but it had one detail that wasn't seen in photos of the Pacific Palms shop: those small light bulbs suspended by wires from the ceiling. That was a deal closer. It was Rio Hondo. (Thanks, Brian!)