A. A street that Dexter is cruising.

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

A. In Miami, Florida.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. First, in Episode 1 (of Season 1), "Dexter".

The very first opening scene of the series shows Dexter driving alone in his car, at night, telling us about himself, as he cruises through a brightly-lit neon streetscape.

In the background, you can read signs that say "Crescent" and "McAlpin".


( In the same episode, they used Ocean Drive for the night time scene of Dexter strolling through a neon club scene.
)


Later, in Episode 2, "Crocodile", the producers return to the very same street for a scene where Dexter & Debra find the serial killer's ice truck parked on the street.
In the background of that scene, you can see signs that read "Beacon Hotel", "Colony" and a red Johnny Rockets logo.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. An actual street in Miami, named Ocean Drive. It runs along the coast, with businesses & hotels on the east side, and the beach on the west side.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. The Crecent Hotel and the McAlpin, are located right next to each other, at 1420 & 1424 & Ocean Drive, in Miami Beach, on the east side of that boulevard, across from Lummis Park & beach.

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




In episode 2, "Crocodile", for the scene where Debra finds the ice truck, they moved a half mile to the south on the same street.

The Beacon Hotel, which can be seen in the background of that scene, is at 720 Ocean Drive, and the Colony Hotel (which is also seen) is two doors north at 736 Ocean Drive.

There's a Johnny Rockets hamburger joint in between, at 728 Ocean Drive.

That's on the east side of Ocean, across from Lummis Park & beach.

And the same stretch of Ocean Drive, between 7th & 8th Streets, (from above this time) is also briefly seen earlier in the same episode, in an establishing shot, where both the Colony Hotel and the Beacon Hotel are visible. And a similiar (night time) establishing shot is seen once again in Episode 11.

The red table umbrellas seen in the photo to the right belong to Johnny Rockets; that restaurant's round sign can be seen behind the players in the scene where they find the ice truck (seen in the photo directly above).

This stretch of Ocean Drive is about 8 miles south of Dexter's apartment, and just a few blocks east of the real Flamingo Park (at 999 11th Street).


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

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

A. Given the visible signs, it just took a little time searching the Google, Yahoo & Live Local listings for the names and addresses of the hotels, then I used Live Local's aerial photos and Google's Street View to confirm the locations.