PRESENTING TWIN PEAKS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

I would go out on a limb and state that most horror fans, especially those born in the late 70's and early 80's who were fortunate enough to encounter this masterpiece at some point during their childhood or adolescence, have a thing for the 90's success Twin Peaks. The story plot doesn't reveal more than that "an idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks". True that. But for those of us who fell in love with it and gave it its cult status did not do so due to it being the stereotypical FBI drama, but because its resistance of stereotypes. Subversive and controversial in all its subjects from the incestuous relationship between the murder victim and her father, the intertextual mixture of dialogs and monologs and the importance of semiotics that sometimes even question the general theory of relativity. And also for being a different show every time you watch it, presenting a different meaning whether you take on the pragmatic and semantic study role, as well as the feminist, the surrealist and the theoretical physic.

Since I was staying in northern Oregon for 3 months last year, I had to do a road trip north. So I took some extra time off from the office, and since I was heading to Canada I took the opportunity to stop by Mt. Si, North Bend, Fall City and Snoqualmie in Washington State to visit some of the filming locations for both the tv show and the following movie Fire Walk With Me (which in fact is a prequel to the show).

Using the very eminent guidance from the website In Twin Peaks I managed to locate several well known filming locations. I did stumble across a few other (like the Packard sawmill, the giant log, the location where the picnic video was shot, and the sheriff's department) but due to really bad weather, loads of snow and driving a rental with summer tires (oops!) I was too afraid to get stuck on dirt roads or in ditches to try and reach them. Below are the ones I did manage to find.

Map of Twin Peaks, designed for the show.

THE BLUE DIAMOND MOTEL

Stills from FWWM showing the motel sign, the parking lot, Leland and Teresa, and Leland watching Ronette and Laura.

Featured in Fire Walk With Me, the Mount Si Motel located at 43200 SE North Bend Way in Snoqualmie Valley was used for the filming of the Blue Diamond Motel. The exterior of Mt. Si Motel is actually the same as in the movie, and nothing has been changed except for the motel sign. Even the paint job is intact!

Mount Si Motel sign, and exterior shots taken from the parking lot.

THE DOUBLE R DINER

The Double R Diner sign (where a part of the sign has been changed to 'Mar' and the double R's have been added), and two interior shots from the show; the counter and the front door, facing the street.

The Double R Diner (today known as Twede's Cafe) was not surprisingly my favorite place to visit. Not only was I let in through the backdoor (the cafe was closed over the weekend) by the incredibly polite and welcoming owner - I was also invited to stay and have Thanksgiving dinner with him and his (very large) family! Imagine that! Having dinner at the Double R Diner (followed by some coffee and pie, perhaps?). Unfortunately I couldn't stay since I had to be in Seattle before nightfall. I did however stay and take some picture of the new interior, which has been renovated since a large fire in 2000.

The current Twede's Café sign (where the 'Mar' has been changed to 'Twede's' and the double R's have been removed), a Twin Peaks mural in the back, the front door where Bobby and Shelly can be seen on the original picture above and the renovated interior with the new white and red counter.

Twede´s Cafe sign from parking lot and intersection, along with a second mural on the back wall.

The wall of the hallway in the back is dedicated to the show - holding pictures, autographs, news paper articles and clothing from the actors and crew.

TWIN PEAKS HIGH SCHOOL

Twin Peaks High School sign by the main entrance to the school.

 The high school featured in the pilot and as the exterior in the show is Mount Si High School, located in Snoqualmie. After shooting the pilot (with interior scenes) the school underwent a large renovation which I've heard has made the interior completely unrecognizable. Since the school was closed for the weekend I only took some pictures of the exterior.

Extra entrance in the back of the Mt. Si High School.

RONETTE'S BRIDGE

This trestle bridge, named Reinig Bridge, was constructed in 1916 by the Great Northern Railway Company to transport lumber in and out of the Snoqualmie Falls Lumber Company (known from the show as the Packars Sawmill). After the shooting of Twin Peaks the bridge was taken out of operation, and today it serves runners and cyclists, being a part of the King County trail system.

Pictures taken from SE Reinig Rd, as well as up on the bridge.

SPARKWOOD & 21

This is one of the most interesting geographical places in the show. The intersection of Sparkwood and 21 where Laura jumps off of James' bike, is in reality the intersection of Meadowbrook Way SE, SE Reinig Rd (from where my above pictures of Ronette's bridge are taken) and 396th Drive SE. If you look really closely on the picture where Laura jumps off of the bike, you can see Ronette's bridge in the background to the right, between the motorcycle and the house. The road behind James and Laura is actually the Sheriff's Road (396th Drive SE), which in reality leads to the filming location of both the Sheriff's station and the Packard Sawmill. Due to heavy snow I couldn't go that way with my car. However, if you go straight in the intersection in which James and Laura are standing you come down to Ronette's bridge, and if you turn left from where they're standing you actually come down on the Twin Peaks sign road.

Above: The intersection seen from the east of SE Reinig Rd.
Below: The intersection seen from the west of SE Reinig Rd.

If you come off the bridge and turn right you reach the intersection of Sparkwood & 21. If you continue holding right you eventually reach the spot where the Twin Peaks sign was posted.

TWIN PEAKS SIGN

 This was the hardest spot to find. Not only was it getting dark when I drove east and down on SE Reinig Road (having just passed Ronette's bridge and Sparkwood & 21), the vegetation was also different. Naturally after 20 years places becomes a bit overgrown, as had this. The trees were much taller, and combined with a heavy fog, snow and dusk, it was almost impossible to find the spot. But after passing this curve back and forth I decided that this must be the place.

Twin Peaks sign spot.

THE GREAT NORTHERN

The falls and the exterior of the Great Northern Hotel.

Driving north from the location of the Twin Peaks sign, Ronette's bridge and Sparkwood & 21, you soon reach the Sheriff's Station and the Packard Sawmill. However, the dirt road/graveled road was covered in snow and mud and I didn't wanna risk getting stuck with my car, so I chose a paved road instead towards Salish Lodge & Spa and Snoqualmie Falls, that were used to shoot the exterior for The Great Northern Hotel.

Snoqualmie Falls and Salish Lodge & Spa.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible. I couldn't have chosen a worse weekend to go there, with the first snow of the season and the heavy fog mixed with splashes from the fall made it really hard to see. Underneath is a poor attempt to film the falls. 

THE ROADHOUSE & THE BOOKHOUSE

Above: Exterior of the Bookhouse.
Below: Exterior of the Roadhouse, the first picture shows the left side of the house and the second shows the backyard of the house.

The exterior of the Roadhouse was shot from the side of, with the side entrance to the Colonial Inn. The front of the inn was actually to the right of the side seen above, and facing a rather busy street. Today the building is again used as a roadhouse (yey!) for the town of Fall City.

Situated just behind the roadhouse is the little cabin that was used as the Bookhouse. Today the cabin is fenced and somewhat unreachable so I only managed to get a couple of pictures of the front of the Fall City Roadhouse (the exterior angle used in the show would then be to the left of the one above), taken from the Last Frontier Saloon's parking lot on the opposite side of the road.

HAP'S DINER

Last, but not least, I passed by Fall City Grill that was used as both exterior and interior for Hap's Diner in Fire Walk With Me. Being closed for Thanksgiving I didn't get a chance to go inside, so the pictures below are taken from the parking lot.

Sign, entrance and exterior of Fall City Grill.

HORNE'S DEPARTMENT STORE

The exterior as featured in the show.

This is the location that I'm not a 100 percent sure of. I know that the building's undertaken some huge renovation and is hardly recognizable today. I didn't have the exact address either, so I drove around the same two or three blocks in Seattle for about 20 minutes and took some pictures from within my car. After having looked at the pictures I've decided that the original location of Horne's Department Store should be in either these two buildings below.