In Twin Peaks Part 18 on Showtime, there is a brief establishing shot of the city limit sign for Odessa, Texas. This is shown just after Richard/Cooper leaves the hotel where he and Linda/Diane stayed. This location is actually in Texas and thanks to Google Maps, I have some details from the area.
The sign is located at approximately 5561 Andrews Highway in Odessa.
Here’s the Google Maps street view image of the spot from June 2013. You’ll notice the sign is found on the right.
Zooming in, we can see the sign appears to be similar to what is shown in the series. According to the United States Census Bureau, the population for Odessa in 2010 was approximately 99,940. As of 2017, the population has grown to 116,861.
Exploring the image further, you can see a variety of details that also appear in Google Maps. For example, the red “County” sign.
Other background details include a roadside sign for Red Star Foam.
The sign for a Carrier air conditioning business.
Far off in the distance, there is a billboard for BuyTexasRV.com. It was still on display June 2017 according to Google Maps.
The billboard, however, wasn’t there in March 2016 according to Google Maps. This could mean the footage was captured sometime after this month.
UPDATE – JULY 7, 2019
I believe the sign was shot by Jason S. While researching another scene, I finally found an image of Jason S. filming the “Odessa, Texas” sign. You can see him at the beginning of “Two Blue Balls” episode as part of “Impressions: A Journey Behind the Scenes of Twin Peaks” on the Season 3 Blu-ray set. The footage doesn’t appear to be stock footage, rather, it The shot seems similar to the establishing shot for Buckhorn, South Dakota (which is actually Butte, Montana!). Most likely, Jason S. also shot that establishing scene.
So why Odessa? One reason could be a giant jackrabbit statue found downtown.
Located at 315 West 8th Street in Odessa, the world’s largest Jackrabbit statue, Jack Ben Rabbit, was constructed in 1962. Standing at 8 feet tall, Mr. Rabbit was named after former Odessa Chamber of Commerce President John Ben Sheppard.
According to Roadside America, the rabbit was “displayed for years at the old Prairie Pete Park, then moved into storage in a maintenance yard — until the public raised a fuss and forced it to be returned to a new location, in front of the downtown Ector County Independent School District Administration Building. Someone tried to steal the jackrabbit in 1997, so it’s been bolted to the sidewalk ever since.”
I can’t be the only one who thought of Jack Rabbit’s Palace after reading this.
Hat tip to Jonathan on Twitter who helped identify this spot. Below is snippet of our conversation from September 4, 2017, shortly after Part 18 first aired on Showtime. I love when fellow Twin Peaks fans join in the search for these spots!
