A PLACE BOTH WONDERFUL AND XXXXXXXX 64 – AMERICAN WAY 064-072_AW_TwinPeaks.indd 64 11/04/2017 08:57 A PLACE BOTH WASHINGTON STATE’S SNOQUALMIE VALLEY ISN’T QUITE AS WEIRD AS THE CULT SENSATION TWIN PEAKS MADE IT OUT TO BE—BUT IT’S DARN CLOSE. NOW, AHEAD OF THE SERIES’ REVIVAL, THE REGION FLIRTS WITH BECOMING TWIN PEAKS AGAIN Words DERRIK J. LANG AND Photography BROOKE FITTS STRANGE XXXXXXXX AMERICAN WAY – 65 064-072_AW_TwinPeaks.indd 65 11/04/2017 08:57 IFyou squint your eyes while standing on the stretch of Reinig Road facing Mount Si, on the side of the street that borders the adjacent river, you can almost see the hand-painted sign welcoming visitors to the town of Twin Peaks (population: 51,201). It’s not actually there, of course, but as with everything auteur David Lynch creates, it has the eerie power to linger in your mind—somewhere between dream and reality. For those who were enamored with Lynch’s soapy supernatural drama when it originally aired in the 1990s, or later binged on it when it became available online, the Snoqualmie Valley provides about a dozen such touch- stones, whether it’s hypnotically gazing at the falls cascading underneath the Great Northern Hotel or having an out-of-body experience eating a slice of cherry pie at the Double R Diner. The 900-square-mile area was cast as the town of Twin Peaks by Lynch, the far-out filmmaker behind Dune and Blue Velvet, and his collaborator Mark Frost after a recommen- dation from a friend. During a scouting trip to the small neighboring towns of North Bend, Twede’s Cafe returns Snoqualmie and Fall City, the pair found as the Double R everything they’d imaginarily mapped for Diner in Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival their series about a twisted Pacific Northwest enclave: a diner alongside railroad tracks, a sawmill at the center of town, a rough-and- in the atmosphere. It’s just as present as the tumble roadhouse and a grand hotel seem- mist that drift s across the landscape. ingly overlooking it all—just to name a few. You don’t have to be a Twin Peaks aficio- The pilot episode was shot entirely on loca- nado to appreciate the majesty of the area. tion across the Snoqualmie Valley, while later Before the region became an iconic fic- episodes fi lmed in Southern California fea- tional town or even a real-world logging hub, tured scenes with duplicated interiors and the Snoqualmie tribe hunted deer and elk, other locales. Aft er a few hours in this precip- fished for salmon and gathered berries and itation-heavy area 30 miles east of Seatt le, it’s wild plants across the valley’s foggy and fer- easy to understand why Lynch and Frost were tile landscape. (You can learn all about it at drawn here. It could simply be the stuck-in- the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum.) time nature of the region (or that guy having an Today, most visitors venture here for the intense conversation with a water pipe behind gorgeous hiking, kayaking and biking, or to the library), but a noticeable peculiarity hangs gawk at the thundering Snoqualmie Falls. 66 – AMERICAN WAY 064-072_AW_TwinPeaks.indd 66 11/04/2017 08:57 But there are still those die-hard fans who obsessives to catalog the filming locations on make the pilgrimage to see how much of sites such as intwinpeaks.com. Twin Peaks is really real. An estimated 35 million viewers tuned in Twin Peaks wasn’t just must-see TV. It was for the debut to see homecoming queen Laura a cultural phenomenon, paving the way for Palmer’s body wash up on the riverbanks of cinematic storytelling on TV. At the dawn of Twin Peaks on April 8, 1990. Unfortunately, the Internet Age, the serialized show gained the mystery and fandom wavered. After rat- another life online, where far-flung fans were ings took a dive in the second season, ABC able to virtually fixate over every Lynchian axed Twin Peaks in 1991, ending it after 30 epi- detail. (What is the Black Lodge? Why does sodes. When the Lynch-crafted movie prequel everyone there sound kooky when they Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me failed to sat- speak? Did Audrey Horne survive the bomb isfy fans or generate box office heat in 1992, at the bank? What do the owls mean? Who is it seemed as if Twin Peaks was destined for Bob?!) The digital congregation also allowed the cult archives—until 2014, when Lynch AMERICAN WAY – 67 064-072_AW_TwinPeaks.indd 67 11/04/2017 08:57 announced that a limited series would con- ynch got lucky. The most remark- tinue the creepy town’s story. able thing about the Snoqualmie Aft er 25 years, Lynch and company returned Valley is how much this area hasn’t to the Snoqualmie Valley for about six weeks changed in the decades since ABC last year to fi lm a third season—Lynch refers L cancelled the show. That’s inten- to it as an 18-part movie—that will air on tional, according to North Bend’s mayor, Ken Showtime beginning May 21. “He didn’t have Hearing, who was born and raised in the to bring the actors here and shoot here,” says Snoqualmie Valley. The city’s own mission North Bend city administrator Londi Lindell. statement pledges to protect the “rural char- “With the green screens and everything they acter of the community,” in spite of the boom- can do now, there’s no reason to come here—or ing development that’s occurred in other bed- they could have just spent a day or two here. He room communities outside Seattle alongside didn’t have to spend weeks here, but he really Interstate 90. believes in having [the actors] feel the place.” “When I was a kid, everyone worked here— 68 – AMERICAN WAY 064-072_AW_TwinPeaks.indd 68 11/04/2017 08:57 A NOTICEABLE PECULIARITY HANGS IN THE ATMOSPHERE, JUST AS PRESENT AS THE MIST. Krissy Shelton, who works at the front desk, says she still sees fans coming by to gawk at the building from her perch. “It’s rare we don’t have people stop by on the weekends,” says Shelton, who allows polite fans who’ve travelled from far away to sit behind her desk and pose for photos in the same spot where Kimmy Robertson’s nasally receptionist Lucy Moran answered the phone. While the mill is long gone, just about every other location featured in Twin Peaks is still present, looking strikingly the same as it did on-screen in the 1990s. In fact, all of North Bend seems as if it’s been frozen in time. The town’s most popular landmark is Twede’s Cafe, which doubled as the Double R Diner, the friendly eatery where Kyle MacLachlan’s quirky FBI Agent Dale Cooper consumed countless cups of coffee, slices of pie and Snoqualmie stacks of doughnuts. Falls and Kyle Twede, the cafe’s owner since 1997, the Salish capitalizes on the Twin Peaks link by selling Lodge. Right: souvenirs, such as coffee cups and T-shirts, Reinig Bridge as well as serving his own version of cherry pie and “damn fine” coffee. “It’s pretty much only three or four percent of the population a loss leader for me,” acknowledges Twede, a commuted to work,” says Hearing, who owns giant but gentle proprietor who struggles with a local burger stand and doesn’t go anywhere simultaneously satisfying the local townsfolk in town without his dog, Butch. “Everyone with hearty breakfasts, while also appeasing worked in the warehousing or timber indus- visiting Twin Peaks fans. “If you put sugar and tries, or they were supporting it. Today, 85 per- cream in that coffee, I haven’t made a cent.” cent of our population commutes to work.” Still, he can’t escape the Twin Peaks con- The old sawmill, which appeared through- nection—even though he once tried. After out the show, closed for good in 2003. The site an arson fire in 2000, Twede’s remodel of the is now home to the DirtFish Rally School, diner left it looking more modern and less like a performance driving school. On-screen, the wood-paneled original. For the Showtime the mill’s office served as the Twin Peaks revival, he allowed the show’s crew to restore Sheriff’s Department, where law enforcement the cafe to its Double R Diner glory. “I said, XXXXXXXX attempted to solve the town’s many mysteries. ‘Do whatever you want. It’s your dollar. AMERICAN WAY – 69 064-072_AW_TwinPeaks.indd 69 11/04/2017 08:57 “WE’RE NOT GOING TO NAME NAMES. WE HAVE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LOCAL CHARACTERS.” Whatever you do, I’ll keep it that way. If it’s just going to be a museum to Twin Peaks, what- ever you do, make it permanent.’” (Twede’s waitresses don’t sport the same throwback teal uniforms donned by characters on the show. They wear T-shirts.) Other than confirming that MacLachlan is reprising his role as Agent Cooper and releas- ing a list of the 217 actors who will appear in the new installment, Lynch has remained tight-lipped about the plot of the new sea- son. The locals have been sworn to secrecy, although they do drop hints here and there about where Lynch and company popped up while in the valley. hen Lynch returned to North Bend, the town’s mayor not- so-jokingly petitioned the fi lm- maker to feature his burger W stand, Scott’s Dairy Freeze, as a new locale in the series, or to cast him as the mayor of Twin Peaks.