Dexter Filming Locations: Outside Lila's Apartment

             

The location: Outside Lila's Apartment.


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

    A. The street outside Lila's apartment building.


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 11 (of Season 2), "Left Turn Ahead".

    After Dexter's sister, Debra, confronts Lila in her apartment, and demands that Lila get out of town,
    we see Lila outside, running from her apartment to her car, which is parked across the street.

    Once in her car, she takes out Dexter's GPS navigator (which she stole from his car) and looks at his recent destinations. She selects the Everglades cabin address, and a map appears on the unit's small screen.

    Later, she will show up at the cabin - and find Doakes being held prisoner.


Q. What is it actually in real life?

    A. A public street, nowhere near Miami.


Q. Where can I find it in real life?

    A. The producers didn't have far to go for this one.

    The scene was shot - literally - right across the street from the studio sound stage where "Dexter" is filmed, at the corner of Fountain Avenue & Beechwood Drive, in Hollywood, CA.

    The camera is looking south/southeast as Lila runs northwest across Fountain Avenue, to her car, which is parked on the north side of Fountain, just west of Beechwood.

    The pink/beige Spanish-style house seen behind her (when she's sitting in her car) is 6050 Fountain.  The tall building (seen on the left side of the top photo on this page) is at 1260 Beachwood.

    If the camera turned around (to look north), you would see the white walls of Sunset-Gower studio behind her car.

    ( You'll note that you don't see Lila's actual apartment building in the background of that scene, as she supposedly runs away from it. That's because Lila's actual apartment house is located about a mile to the north. )

    [ I shot the photos below in early 2009 ]


    As you can see in the photo below, the formerly pink house on the corner is no longer pink:

    [ This is a private home, do not trespass on their property or disturb the residents. ]


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

    (It is just a block from another "Dexter" location: "The Swamp" bar.


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

    A. This one had me stumped.

    Not only hadn't I found Lila's apartment at the time, but I realized that this scene, supposedly outside that apartment, might well have been shot miles away from it (since the apartment isn't seen in the shot).

    And frankly, Hollywood was the last place I would have expected to find it. Most of the scenes in Dexter are shot in the Long Beach/San Pedro area, with a few scenes shot on the west side, in the Marina Del Rey/Santa Monica area.

    Fortunately, a fan emailed me that he had figured it out, based in part on the rather blurry house numbers and street signs glimpsed in the scene. ( Thanks, Todd! )



 
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