Dexter Filming Locations: Scarnes Hall at Miami U.
The
location: Scarnes Hall (at MSU)
Q.
What is it supposed to be on the show?
A. Scarnes Hall, a college office building.
Q.
Where is it supposed to be on the show?
A. On the campus of Miami South University.
Q.
When did we see it on the show?
A. In Episode 9, of Season 6, "Get Gellar".
Knowing that the Doomsday Killer is about to attack an atheist professor (Trent Casey), Dexter went to warn him at his lecture hall, but Casey refused to believe him.
So, Dexter decides to stake out the professor's office, so he can head off Gellar, when he comes to kill him.
The
professor's office is on the 4th floor of Scarnes Hall. Since
there is both an elevator and stairs in that building, Dexter brings
Travis along.
We see Dexter & Travis parked on campus, outside Scarnes Hall, waiting for Gellar to show up.
While
parked, Travis tells Dexter how he first met Gellar and was convinced by
him that they would be the two witnesses from Revelation who
bring about the end of the world.
Then Travis spots Gellar. He and Dexter get out of the car and go into Scarnes Hall.
Dexter tells Travis to watch the stairs, while he takes the elevator up to the 4th floor. Bad idea.
The elevator breaks down (or is sabotaged), and Dexter is stuck between floors.
By the time
Travis finally helps him escape, and they reach Casey's office, the
professor is gone, with just a little blood left at the scene.
Dexter speculates that Casey might still be alive, but the next day, his grotesquely mutilated body is found back at Brunner Hall, as part of Gellar's "Bowls of Wrath" tableau.
Q.
What is it actually in real life?
A. Two different locations: an actual college campus, and the interior of an office building.
Q.
Where can I find it in real life?
A. This scene is actually stitched
together from two completely different locations: one for the exterior
scenes and one for the interiors.
The exterior scene, of Dexter & Travis parked and waiting for Gellar, was shot on the campus of Cal-State University Long Beach (CSULB), at 1250 Bellflower Blvd in Long Beach, CA.
To be more specific, they were parked on the south turnaround, a loop found just north of South Campus Drive
(near 7th Street).
From their car, they are looking north, towards the
campus. The tall building on the right, behind the fountains, is the McIntosh Humanities Building (which does indeed contain faculty offices, in real life).
When Travis sees Gellar, Gellar
appears to be walking north, on the west side of the fountain pool, past
a modern sculpture titled "U as a Set".
This makes the fourth "Dexter" filming location at CSULB this season.
It's about 600 yards south of the student union where they filmed the lecture hall scenes for this same episode, and it's just a short walk southwest of the art buildings where they filmed both the Museum of Art scene and the University of Tallahassee scene, from Episode 5.
This is a view from the same spot where Dexter and Travis were parked,
courtesy of Bing maps' StreetSide
But wait, there's that second location we mentioned. The interiors:
Once they enter "Scarnes Hall", we jump six miles to northwest, to the Water Replenishment Department of Southern California, a modern office building at 4040 Paramount Blvd, in Lakewood, CA.
They used the interior of the WRD building for the early scene of Dexter
entering the Scarnes Hall lobby, and checking out the building's
exits. And then they used it again later for the scenes of Travis
& Dexter following Gellar into Scarnes Hall, walking through its
lobby and hallways, getting stuck in the elevator, and investigating Casey's office.
I shot the photo of the WRD building below, during filming in September 2011.
(The camera is looking southeast.)
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 6th 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, my own personal reconnaissance around town, and a
few new resources I discovered, 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, Ellen, Susan, Jason,
Elaine, Joel, Julie, Geoff, Jeff, Jen, and others. My thanks to all of
them.
As for the exteriors, I had a number of fans let me know that they were filming at CSULB, including Jason Z, Rick, and Barbara. (Thanks, guys!)
So,
it was just a matter of pinpointing the spot where Dexter & Travis
were parked. And that wasn't hard, considering the fountains and
the tall tower that is MHB. They were easy to find via Bing aerial
photos and Google StreetView.
About the interiors:
Rick let
me know that they were filming at the WRD back in September. So I
drove past, and sure enough, found the usual guards standing by
outside, and their base camp not far away. So I shot the photo you
see above.
Later, when the scene aired, I had
to figure out which scenes were shot where. Fortunately, the
building has an unusual double front door, with a tall glass panel on
top, and a smaller glass panel below - which can be seen clearly in the
scene where they enter Scarnes Hall. The screencaps matched the door
seen in my own photos, as well as the view seen via Google StreetView. In fact, look closely enough, and you can also glimpse the stairway seen in the screncap above.