A. A grassy area beneath a bridge.

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

A. In the Miami area.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. Twice. In two different seasons.

The first time was in the finale of Season Two: Episode 12 - "The British Invasion".

In that episode, we saw Lila park under the bridge and examine the satchel she had stolen from Dexter.  Inside, she found his killing tools (including the needle he had told her about), and realized what he had planned for her. (She then tried to kill him, by locking him in her apartment and setting fire to the building).

The second time we saw the bridge was in Season Three: Episode 3 - "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

In that episode, Miguel Prado phones Dexter and tells him to meet him "Under the bridge near the beach club". When he does, Prado gives Dexter the shirt he was wearing the night Dexter killed the drug dealer who (Prado thought) had murdered his brother. The shirt contained the dealer's blood, and thus could be used to incriminate Prado in the killing. It was a risky gesture intended to win Dexter's trust, and to demonstrate the confidence Prado had in Dexter..

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A bridge, but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. Both scenes were shot beneath the Queensway Bay Bridge, in Long Beach, CA.

To be more specific, they were shot on a strip of grassy lawn on the side of a small, winding street named Aquarium Way, where it passes underneath the bridge.

That Queensway Bay bridge spans the Los Angeles River (where the river empties into the ocean), and it links the downtown Long Beach area (near the Shoreline Village area) with the pier area where the Queen Mary is docked.

The scenes were shot under the east/northeast end of the bridge, on the mainland side of Long Beach, and right behind the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific (where they shot another scene with Lila).

(You can see the other (west/southwest) end of the same bridge in several other scenes set at the Hotel Maya and the boat launch breakwater.
)

To get there, from southeast bound Shoreline Drive, make a right turn (south/southwest) on Aquarium Way, immediately after passing the Aquarium parking garage.  Follow Aquarium Way as it enters a small traffic circle that circles a dolphin fountain. As soon as you exit this circle, turn left (south) and follow Aquarium Way as it turns south, past the west side of the Aquarium and its saltwater tanks, until you spot the bridge, just a short way past the aquarium.

This gets a little tricky, so study a map before you go. But it's a short drive. The entire drive on Aquarium Way, from Shoreline Drive to the bridge, is only about a third of a mile.

Aquarium Way is renamed "Golden Shore Street" once it passes under the bridge. Do yourself a favor, and don't continue on Golden Shore - it enters a somewhat confusing maze of parking structures near the Catalina cruise terminal.  Just U-turn (safely, at the next parking lot entrance) and go back the way you came.




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





(I shot the photos below in 2008)



(Notice the new hotel under construction (on the right side). Check the earlier shots from the show to watch it grow taller...)





Numerous other scenes from "Dexter" have been shot within a mile of this general area, including multiple scenes at Shoreline Village, Shoreline Park, the Aquarium, the breakwaters, the marinas, and the Hotel Maya.

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

A. When I first saw this shot, I thought it might actually be one of the many bridges in Florida.  But when I went out to the Hotel Maya to research several Dexter scenes shot there, I had the chance to drive under the Queensway Bay bridge and saw what its underside looked like. Realizing this was probably the same bridge, I took another look at the scene and was able to spot the hotel and the boat launch on the other side of the water. It was just a matter of checking the map to see what street passed under the bridge on its mainland side. Later, I drove under the bridge and shot the photos above.