Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. A residential home. Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show? A. In Orlando, Florida. Q. When did we see it on the show? A. In Episode 9, of Season 5, "Teenage Wasteland". Astor shows up unexpectedly in Miami (when she's supposed to be in Orlando with her grandparents), and brings along her new friend, Olivia - who turns out to be a runaway. After Astor and Olivia are busted for shoplifting, Dexter learns that the man living with Olivia's mother (Barry), has been beating her. So Dexter beats up Barry and forces him to break-up with Olivia's mother. In this scene, Dexter drives Olivia back home to Orlando, and drops her off at her home. She is happy, knowing that Barry is gone. And we witness a warm reunion between Olivia and her mother. Q. What is it actually in real life? A. A residential home. Q. Where can I find it in real life? A. This house is at 251 Termino Ave, in Long Beach, CA. It's at the southwest corner of Termino & Vista, about half a mile northwest of Dexter's house in Bluff Park. And about the same distance from the spot where Astor yells at Dexter in Episode 5.

Although the house faces Termino Ave, the side we see in the scene is actually the north-facing side, which is on the south side of Vista Street.

When Dexter drives to the house, he is heading east down Vista Street, then turns south into their driveway.

That driveway is literally right around the corner from Astor's grandparents' house.


It's perhaps 3/4 of a mile northeast of the beach restroom where Dexter abducts Lance Robinson in Episode 6. And about a mile east of the accident scene where the barrel girls are spilled onto the street in Episode 7.

Here is an aerial photo of the house. 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.

Rick let me know that they were filming on Termino and although I didn't manage to get down to the location to watch the filming, when the 9th episode aired, it was a simple matter to do a Google StreetView of Termino and match up the houses with what we see on the show.

The only slightly tricky part was that they don't show the front of Olivia's house, facing Termino, they only show the side of the house, which faces Vista. Fortunately, in the scene, as Dexter turns into their driveway, we can see a home on the corner with some distinctive ornamental bushes. And those were easy to identify on Termino...