Serial serial-killer: The early years
I was driving east on Second Street when I spotted a yellow sign with the word “Slice” that pointed toward the Alamitos Bay Marina and I flashed back to when the “Slice” signs directed the crews from “Dexter” to their base camp.
It’s the code word used to somewhat disguise the fact that filming for the show was taking place in order to not cause a horde of tourists as well as locals to swing by and gawk at the production and perhaps catch sight of a star. I guess this is somewhat of a spoiler and the crews may have to change their secret word now. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Slice of Life is the name of Dexter’s boat, ostensibly moored in Miami but actually in Long Beach. It’s the craft he uses to take his victims, or the parts of his victims, out to sea for disposal.
And the signs in this case point to the return of “Dexter” to Long Beach, the city that played Miami during the show’s run from 2006 through 2013, in which the program used dozens of locations in town — residences in Belmont Shore and East Long Beach, El Dorado Park, Alamitos Bay and others. It brought some big money to town with its permit fees, and the city was sad to see it go. What was worse, when the show spun off a sequel, “Dexter: New Blood” in 2021, it bypassed Long Beach and relocated to the fictional town of Iron Lake, New York (though it was filmed in Massachusetts). Spoiler: He dies in the end.
Now, having apparently hit the end of “Dexter,” Long Beach is back in the game providing filming locations for a prequel, showing the formative years of the future serial-killer serial killer called “Dexter: Original Sin,” featuring young actor Patrick Gordon playing the young Dexter Morgan, and Christian Slater as his dad Harry Morgan (no relation to the late actor), with “Dexter’s” original lead, Michael C. Hall featured to an extent as the show’s narrator.
Perhaps adding to the confusion, Hall is also working on an additional sequel to the franchise, a post-death series called “Dexter: Resurrection.”
“Original Sin” is scheduled to debut on Paramount in December; “Resurrection” is set for release next summer.
Worldwide Breakfast Tour 2024
My daughter Hannah and I traveled to Belmont Shore, a quaint little shopping/restaurant district in Long Beach, California, for an early-morning breakfast at Let’s Yolk About It at 4722 Second St., an easily missable spot at the western end of the strip.
Dumb puns aside, the restaurant is a high-quality and friendly place with an inventive menu featuring items we haven’t stumbled upon much in our travels.
If I was a hero I would have ordered the breakfast charcuterie board with bacon, sausage, hard-boiled egg, sunny side up egg, English muffin, goat cheese, fruit, fresh preserves and whipped butter ($22). But, alas, I threw dignity to the wind and ordered the Five Little Piggies, a flight of maple pork sausages wrapped in puff pastry with hatch chile cream cheese and raspberry preserves ($14). It came on a plain white rectangular dish making it look like an order of sushi, except with sausage and jam.
Hannah went with her standard bacon and eggs with potatoes and toast ($14).
In all, it was a good experience and our favorite breakfast so far on Second Street.
What I’m reading now
I’m a good chunk of the way into thriller writer Chris Whitaker’s “All the Colors of the Dark,” a 608-page brick that reads a lot quicker thanks to its short chapters (you get the first 23 if you download a sample on Amazon) that keep you going for just one more before you turn off the lights.
It’s an elegantly written story about the disappearance of Patch, a one-eyed youngster who wears an eye patch and is fascinated by pirates, and his best friend Saint, who refuses to give him up for dead as most of the town and its police chief have. Young girls also disappear after Patch’s abduction as the suspense builds in this combination serial-filler thriller/love story. It’s rare for a book that’s heavy on suspense to be written so beautifully.
Look, I know I spoiled the death of Dexter for you, but if you know how this book ends, keep it to yourself. Revenge is just childish.