Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. A hospital. 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 3, of Season 5, "Practically Perfect". Dexter has lured Boyd out into the woods to kill him. When Boyd turns his back on him, Dexter sticks a needle in his neck. But Boyd, who was carrying an animal tranquilizing gun, does something Dexter didn't expect. Before he passes out, he whirls around and shoots Dexter with a tranquilizer dart. As a result, both serial killers wind up in the back of an ambulance, speeding to the hospital, giving each other dirty looks. Once they get there, they are both rolled into the hospital on stretchers, seach taring menacingly at the other. Boyd is taken to a private area, where a curtain separates him from Dexter, and a doctor asks him questions. But Boyd is busy trying to spot Dexter through the curtain. Once the doctor and nurses leave, Boyd leaps to his feet, and finds a sharp medical instrument - then goes hunting for Dexter. But when he finds Dexter is gone, Boyd sneaks out of the hospital. Q. What is it actually in real life? A. A hospital. Q. Where can I find it in real life? A. This hospital scene was shot at St. Mary's Medical Center, at 529 E. 10th Street (at Linden), in Long Beach, CA. That's just east of downtown Long Beach. The hospital complex lies between 10th & 11th, Elm & Atlantic. It's close to a number of other 5th Season locations, including the park, the house by the park, Angel's bar fight, and the botanica. In fact, all of those scenes were shot at roughly the same date as the hospital scenes.

The ride in the ambulance to the hospital, on the other hand, is a completely different story.

The interiors of the ambulance were no doubt shot at the studio. But the exterior shot of the ambulance racing down a city street is stock footage that was, bizarrely enough, shot back in the 1970's.

The shot shows the ambulance speeding east down the 10800 block of Pico Blvd (near Westwood Blvd), past what is now the Westside Pavilion mall.

Only you won't see the mall in the scene, because it didn't yet exist when they shot this ancient footage. Instead, you'll see the old Picwood theatre and bowling alley, which was torn down in 1985 to make way for the mall.

(Perhaps it was a time-traveling ambulance. ;)




I shot this photo of St. Mary's Medical Center in October 2010.






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

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 5th 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, and my own personal reconnaissance around town, 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, Joel, Geoff, Ellen, Julie, Susan, Jeff, and others. My thanks to all of them.

This particular tip came from Rick, who let me know that they were filming at the hospital that day.

Later, just before filming, Joel drove past their base camp at Drake Park, and noted that the extras there were dressed in hospital scrubs.  (Thanks, Rick & Joel!)