Sumith Prasad
When Edwin Paine, Charles Rowland, and Crystal Palace end up in Port Townsend, Washington, to investigate a series of cases in Netflix’s supernatural series ‘Dead Boy Detectives,’ they stay in an apartment above the “Tongue & Tail” butcher shop. Jenny, the shop owner, helps Crystal immensely with a low rent and admirable bond. The shop remains an integral part of the show’s narrative as several major scenes are set in and around the shop. Even though Port Townsend is a real place, Tongue & Tail doesn’t have any connection to the city in reality. The butcher shop was set up by the series’ production department more than a hundred miles away from the place!
The Real Tongue & Tail in Vancouver
Tongue & Tail is a fictional butcher shop created exclusively for ‘Dead Boy Detectives.’ Although the series is set in Port Townsend, the first season was mainly shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. The production department utilized a store space at 324 Cambie Street in Vancouver to set up the butcher shop for shooting purposes. The third episode, titled ‘The Case of the Devlin House,’ ends with Esther the Witch sneaking a peek at Monty and Edwin, who form a friendship in front of the butcher shop. In the scene, a store near Jenny’s shop can be seen partially, with the alphabets “UT SHACK.” This store is Take Out Shack.
The yellow building behind Edwin in the eighth and final episode, especially when the Cat King gives a flower to the detective, is a non-profit called Face of Today Foundation. The store space used to set up Tongue & Tail was previously a restaurant called Haru Korean Kitchen. The place is a renowned filming spot in the city. It is featured in Marvel Studios’ ‘Deadpool 2,’ specifically in a scene where Dopinder drops Deadpool near the latter’s apartment. The Korean restaurant, however, was permanently closed in October 2021 after five years.
Even though a real store is utilized to shoot sequences in Tongue & Tail, it is not sure whether Crystal and Niko’s apartments are right above the shop on Cambie Street. The production team used an industrial manufacturing warehouse and distribution space at 20146 100A Avenue in Langley, a Metro Vancouver Regional District municipality. It is safe to assume that the warehouse was booked to shoot interior scenes, which mostly include scenes set in Crystal and Niko’s apartments. The warehouse, leased by Colliers, is a popular entertainment production hub in the region. It served as a filming location for other famed shows such as ‘Riverdale,’ ‘Supergirl,’ and ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.’
Read More: Does Point No Point Lighthouse in Port Townsend Really Exist?
