Dexter Filming Locations: The Transcorp Building Rooftop

The location: The Transcorp Building Rooftop

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

A. The rooftop of the Transcorp Building, a 250-foot tall office tower, with 23 floors.

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

A. At 301 Biscayne Blvd, in northeast downtown Miami, Florida.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 12, the Season 6 finale: "This is the Way the World Ends".

Travis, expecting the end of the world to arrive with the upcoming eclipse, kidnaps Dexter's infant son, Harrison, and takes him to the top of this skyscraper (because it's the closest thing Miami has to a mountaintop).

There, Travis kills a policeman on guard, then prepares to sacrifice Harrison.

Dexter arrives on the scene and stops him in the nick of time. Travis is shocked to see Dexter alive (he left "The Beast" for dead in a lake of fire), so he takes Harrison hostage.

Dexter negotiates for Travis to release the child, promising to inject himself with a sedative.

Travis falls for it, releases Harrison, and Dexter pretends to inject himself. But once Harrison is safe, Dexter springs to life and easily overpowers Travis.

The same rooftop is also used for a later scene where Debra and the police arrives. Debra discovers the dead officer, and is in despair over the fact that Travis escaped. She is comforted by (of all people) LaGuerta.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. The rooftop of a tall office tower.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. These scenes were filmed atop the Comerica Bank tower, at 301 E. Long Beach Blvd., in downtown Long Beach, CA.

That's at the northeast corner of Ocean Blvd and Long Beach Blvd.

They filmed on the rooftop, of course. But they made a few temporary changes. That elevator, where Travis puts Harrison, was fake, created by the Dexter crew.

And those blue contraptions that look like generators? Most of them are fake as well (to give the characters some hiding places).

The building is right across the street from (southeast of) the street where they filmed the scene of Travis walking with Harrison.

And it's also right across the street from the parking lot that they used for the police command center scenes.

It's two blocks northwest of the promenade where they filmed the outdoor market scene, with Travis & Gellar. And about four blocks up the hills (north) from the street where they filmed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse scene, and the center where they filmed museum angel scenes.

I shot these photos in 2011:

The photo below shows the Comerica Bank tower as seen from Ocean Blvd,
with the camera looking northeast towards Long Beach Blvd.

The next photo (below) shows the same building as seen from Long Beach Blvd,
with the camera looking up southeast, from near 1st Street.

Here is an aerial photo of the location. Here is a Google StreetView.
And here is a map link.

Rick's brother, Jeff, shot the rooftop photos below:

His first photo shows the blue/aqua industrial units Dexter added to the rooftop.
The largest one, to the left, is real - a part of the water supply system for the building.
The smaller blue units, to its right, are the fake additions..

Jeff's second photo shows the fake elevator they built on the rooftop (it's where Travis puts Harrison):

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

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, Jen, and others. My thanks to all of them.

When they show wide views of rooftop, several obvious Long Beach buildings are clearly seen in the background, most notably The Riviera apartments and the International Tower, both on Ocean Blvd. So, if you're as familiar with downtown Long Beach as I am, it's not hard to figure out where the building was.

But on this one, I had an advance tip from Rick, that they would be filming there. I drove past during filming, to shoot photos of the police command center across the street, but obviously couldn't get photos from the roof.

Here's where serendipity steps in.

It turns out that Rick's youngest brother, Jeff, works at the Comerica building, and was there during filming. What are the chances? He even shot a few photos, which you see on this page and the page about the police command center.

He was also able to report on the filming itself. The one thing that impressed him the most was that during multiple takes, both of the young twins (who play Harrison) would cry loudly and realistically on cue, but stopped as soon as they yelled "cut". (Thanks, Jeff!)

After the episode aired, I got an email from Kasper Anema, from the Netherlands, who had managed to track down the location of the tower by spotting a Sprint store in the building, and then doing some long-distance detective work. I've gone long-distance location hunting myself (for the Miami locales), and I know it's not easy. Thanks, Kasper.

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