My friend Laura asked me if I thought it would be fun to go on a Dexter scavenger hunt. I didn't care what it was, the mere mention of my favorite TV show and I was in. She found a website that locates the addresses of all of the places they film the show and most of them are in Long Beach where she lives. Neither of us are particularly star struck but we both are equally entranced by Dexter, and when you live in LA, sometimes you have to take advantage of this kind of thing. Our plan was to take our picture in front of as many locations as we could find. We set out with navigation via her phone and headed out for our epic Dexter adventure.
Our first stop was the house where Dexter and Rita first lived together. This one was very easy to recognize because they spent a lot of time in this house. We really wanted to know if Rita died in their actual bathtub but neither of us were willing to ring the doorbell to find out.
If you've ever been anywhere with me, you probably recognize this scene:
I take my point-and-shoot camera everywhere and always forget the handy little tripod I bought to avoid the above situation. So I'm constantly having to create new ways to balance that camera on uneven (and sometimes quite expensive) objects. This was the silver BMW parked in front of Dexter's house.
If you've ever been anywhere with me, you probably recognize this scene:
I take my point-and-shoot camera everywhere and always forget the handy little tripod I bought to avoid the above situation. So I'm constantly having to create new ways to balance that camera on uneven (and sometimes quite expensive) objects. This was the silver BMW parked in front of Dexter's house.
The next place we found was Batista's house, and I didn't recognize it at all. It was only used in one episode, although later they went back to this house and shot a kill scene inside.
How do I know this? Because the guy that owns the house parked a van in the driveway THE VERY SECOND I had the camera steady and ready to take the picture. How dare he come home in the middle of the day like that. But we waited a bit and he left, so we got a picture without the van. And when we pulled our car up 5 feet to get a picture in front of the next Dexter house which happens to be right next to it, SOMEONE PULLED A CAR INTO THAT DRIVEWAY. But it turned out to be great, because that guy in the van came back moments later and I asked if he would take our picture in front of his neighbor's house. It was Dexter's childhood home, where they shot the flashback scenes when Dexter was a teenager. I thought he'd think we were crazy, but he just smiled and said "You mean, the Dexter house?" Apparently we weren't their first visitors. He told us that they filmed one episode using the outside of the house, and then came back the next season to use the inside. They built walls in their living room in order to film a murder scene, and there was "blood spatter" everywhere. He had been a fan of the show before he was approached by the staff about using his house, so all of this was very awesome to him. I think it would take just the right person to say yes to creating a messy kill scene in your living room.
Here are the two houses together. With both cars in the driveway.
We also didn't recognize the next location which was the house Dexter inherited from his estranged biological father when he died. They built a wall in the front that had been taken down so it wasn't as easy to match it up with our still shots from the show. The gardener had just arrived and parked RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, but when he saw I had a camera and was pointing it in his direction he offered to move it. He also took the picture for us. What a sweet gardener he was.
It was the same situation at Rita's house. This was the house Rita lived in with her kids when she first met Dexter, and they built that salmon wall just for the show. They must have a lot of these stone walls in Miami where it is supposed to be taking place. But that tree in front of the house was very much the same.
This is where Dexter went to get all of his household necessities at great prices. He was also seen shopping the Dollar Spot in season 3. Just kidding. This was a bathroom stop.
We then headed out to El Dorado Park, which is gigantic. We parked on a residential street and walked a very long way to get into the park. Along the way we passed this guy mining for gold or some such thing in the water below us. There is so much strange stuff going on in this picture.
We found our destination, the creepy old ranger station where Dexter found Lumen last season. They had built a chain link fence around it and added lots of greenery and an old No Trespassing sign. If you look very closely at this first picture you can see a tan door laying on the ground to the right of where Dexter is standing...
...and look, there's the door. This must really be an abandoned ranger station because nobody in the park bothered to pick up that old door.
Here's how the magic happens. I used a metal pole in the ground and laid a piece of burned wood across it. Voila. Tripod.
How do I know this? Because the guy that owns the house parked a van in the driveway THE VERY SECOND I had the camera steady and ready to take the picture. How dare he come home in the middle of the day like that. But we waited a bit and he left, so we got a picture without the van. And when we pulled our car up 5 feet to get a picture in front of the next Dexter house which happens to be right next to it, SOMEONE PULLED A CAR INTO THAT DRIVEWAY. But it turned out to be great, because that guy in the van came back moments later and I asked if he would take our picture in front of his neighbor's house. It was Dexter's childhood home, where they shot the flashback scenes when Dexter was a teenager. I thought he'd think we were crazy, but he just smiled and said "You mean, the Dexter house?" Apparently we weren't their first visitors. He told us that they filmed one episode using the outside of the house, and then came back the next season to use the inside. They built walls in their living room in order to film a murder scene, and there was "blood spatter" everywhere. He had been a fan of the show before he was approached by the staff about using his house, so all of this was very awesome to him. I think it would take just the right person to say yes to creating a messy kill scene in your living room.
Here are the two houses together. With both cars in the driveway.
We also didn't recognize the next location which was the house Dexter inherited from his estranged biological father when he died. They built a wall in the front that had been taken down so it wasn't as easy to match it up with our still shots from the show. The gardener had just arrived and parked RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE, but when he saw I had a camera and was pointing it in his direction he offered to move it. He also took the picture for us. What a sweet gardener he was.
It was the same situation at Rita's house. This was the house Rita lived in with her kids when she first met Dexter, and they built that salmon wall just for the show. They must have a lot of these stone walls in Miami where it is supposed to be taking place. But that tree in front of the house was very much the same.
This is where Dexter went to get all of his household necessities at great prices. He was also seen shopping the Dollar Spot in season 3. Just kidding. This was a bathroom stop. We then headed out to El Dorado Park, which is gigantic. We parked on a residential street and walked a very long way to get into the park. Along the way we passed this guy mining for gold or some such thing in the water below us. There is so much strange stuff going on in this picture.
We found our destination, the creepy old ranger station where Dexter found Lumen last season. They had built a chain link fence around it and added lots of greenery and an old No Trespassing sign. If you look very closely at this first picture you can see a tan door laying on the ground to the right of where Dexter is standing... ...and look, there's the door. This must really be an abandoned ranger station because nobody in the park bothered to pick up that old door.
Here's how the magic happens. I used a metal pole in the ground and laid a piece of burned wood across it. Voila. Tripod.
I was SO dirty. I didn't realize that wood had been burned until after I picked it up and messed with it.
Our final destination was the bridge that Lumen ran under while trying to escape Dexter. We knew it was about 300 feet from the ranger station so we just walked around until we found it. There's Laura "pretending to run" in the left corner of the mucky swamp. We were pretty surprised that those actors had to be knee deep in that disgusting water, but for millions of dollars I'd probably run in anything too.
From this angle it doesn't look so creepy. Kind of pretty and serene, except for those random wooden planks that are there to say "Whatever you do, don't run in this dangerous radioactive mess of swamp water."
And then we were exhausted and went to get blended coffee drinks like true LA girls. I love having a friend that is still willing to do silly high-school stunts like this with me. You're never too old to trespass, that's what I always say.
Our final destination was the bridge that Lumen ran under while trying to escape Dexter. We knew it was about 300 feet from the ranger station so we just walked around until we found it. There's Laura "pretending to run" in the left corner of the mucky swamp. We were pretty surprised that those actors had to be knee deep in that disgusting water, but for millions of dollars I'd probably run in anything too.
From this angle it doesn't look so creepy. Kind of pretty and serene, except for those random wooden planks that are there to say "Whatever you do, don't run in this dangerous radioactive mess of swamp water."
And then we were exhausted and went to get blended coffee drinks like true LA girls. I love having a friend that is still willing to do silly high-school stunts like this with me. You're never too old to trespass, that's what I always say. 
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