Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. An "Open House" at a residential home. 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 2, of Season 5, "Hello Bandit". Following the death of his wife, Rita, Dexter has moved back into his old apartment (which Rita had rented in his absence). But when Astor & Cody return from Disney World, the bachelor apartment is far too small for five people. In this scene, we see Debra & Quinn drive up and park outside a residential house. As they get out of the car, they are still discussing the beheading at the park, and Quinn says he understands how an angry guy might want to cut a woman's head off. Quinn asks Debra what they are doing here, and Deb says that Dexter asked her to check the place out for him. As they enter the empty house, they are greeted by an exuberant female real estate broker, who begins her sales pitch. She mistakes Debra & Quinn for a young couple. This embarrasses Debra, but amuses Quinn, who plays along. When the broker steps outside, they look around the house. Quinn finds the bedroom and lies down on the bed, just to tease Debra - who is not amused. (They have recently had sex for the first time, and she's trying to pretend it never happened.) She tells him they've got to go - that she has to drop him off at the station, and then pick up her brother's kids (which leads to the later scene with the phone call). Q. What is it actually in real life? A. A residential home, just not near Miami. Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This house is at 3720 Linden Avenue, in Long Beach, CA, in the Bixby section of northwest Long Beach,

That's on the east side of Linden, just north of 37th Street, about four blocks north of the 405 Freeway.

It's just a block north of the Petroleum Club, where they filmed the scenes of Dexter at the swimming pool, of Dex and baby Harrison in the moving van, of Debra phoning Dexter about the kids. and of Astor & Cody saying goodbye to Dexter.

And it's nearby a number of other past locations, including Trinity's house, Miguel Prado's house, Maria LaGuerta's house, etc.




I shot the photo below in June 2010:



[ Warning: This is a private home. Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything else that might disturb the residents. ]




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.

This shoot, in particular, was a group effort.

I had learned from Rick that they were filming at the Petroleum Club, and I know by now that they tend to "cluster shoot", that is, to shoot at more than one location in the same general area. So, I drove down to Linden and scouted it a bit. When I drove north on Linden, I came across a house with a security guard standing out front, and a "For Lease" sign in the yard. That made me curious - since I knew there was a good chance the sign was fake and that it might be a future filming location.

So, I shot some photos, including the one you see above, then let a few of my tipsters in the area know about the location.

And they, in turn, filed reports about what they saw going on there... Ellen reported early from the scene, and so did Joel, giving me blow-by-blow descriptions of the filming action as it progressed.

Both Ellen & Joel sent me photos they shot on the scene, which you can see below...




[ click on the thumbnails to see larger versions of the photos ]