A. A motel.

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 - "Turning Biminese", in the scene where Angel talks to Detective Barbara Gianna while she's working vice.

Angel is attracted to Det. Gianna, but since they met when he hired her (thinking she was a real hooker), she's not exactly eager to date him.

In this scene, he is in his car as he approaches the motel, where a number of ladies of the evening are gathered, soliciting customers. Angel drives past them, to where Det. Giana is standing, posing as a hooker.

When she recognizes him, at first she assumes that he's out cruising for sex again. But he convinces her he's not, and then proceeds to ask her out on a date. She replies that she "rarely dates cops".

When he asks her if that means "never", she says: "If I had meant never, I would have said never."

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A motel - but not near Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. In real life, it's the Hollywood Town House Motel, at 6055 W. Sunset Blvd, in Hollywood.

But although the front office of the motel faces Sunset, the side of the motel seen in the Dexter scene is on the west side of La Baig Ave, just north of Sunset Blvd. Angel is near the north end of the motel, a few steps south of Harold Way.

When we see Angel's car, it is driving north up La Baig Ave. La Baig is between Beachwood & Gordon, just half a block east from the corner of Sunset-Gower (where you'll find the studio where Dexter is filmed).

(And no, on my daytime visit there to shoot photos, there were no hookers there.  This is make-believe, folks.)

It's right around the corner from another location, the home of Wendell Owens.


It's a few blocks northwest of Ramon Prado's house.


And it's less than half a mile from the tailor shop where Dexter was grabbed by the Skinner.




(I shot the photos below in 2009)



The shot above is looking northwest, at the east side of the motel, on Baig Ave.


The shot above (looking southwest) shows the area where Angel stopped his car.




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

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

A. When I first saw the brief shot of the motel on TV, I thought my chances of finding it were slim.  It looked like a million other low-cost motels around L.A.

But later, I learned that they had filmed a number of Dexter scenes near their studio (Sunset-Gower) recently. And the thought occurred to me: If the nondescript motel looks like a million other motels, why wouldn't they just use one that was close to the studio?

So I did a simple Google map search for motels near the studio, and this was the very first one that popped up - just a block north of Sunset-Gower. Using Google StreetView, it was easy to match it up to the shots shown on the show.