After driving to and through 430 miles in Twin Peaks Part 18 on Showtime, Special Agent Dale Cooper and Diane Evans arrive at a motel somewhere in the desert. This location, like several others from Season 3, was shot in southern California. Thanks to the motel’s sign, I easily found this location shortly after the original broadcast in September 2017.
On September 6, 2017, just a few days after the original broadcast of Part 18, I shared the location of the Pearblossom Motel via a Tweet. For some reason, I spelled it “Pearlblossom” in that tweet. Clearly I wasn’t wearing my glasses at the time.
The motel is located at 13250 Pearblossom Highway in Pearblossom, California.
The motel was opened in 1955 and closed sometime around 2011 or 2012. According to PearblossomMotel.com, the place is now available as a film location. Luckily, they posted a few photos from this spot which you’ll see in this article.
The town of Pearblossom is located about 15 miles southeast of Palmdale in the Antelope Valley portion of Southern California. According to Wikipedia, “the name Pearblossom came from the multitude of local pear farms along the southern ridge of the Antelope Valley. A few still exist today, but most of those farms are now abandoned and have returned to the desert landscape or have been overridden by small-scale housing development.”
Other Twin Peaks film locations near this spot include Richard’s Motel from the morning after and Carrie and Richard’s drive to Twin Peaks.
After driving along a dark desert highway, the scene cuts to the Pearblossom Motel at night. A neon “Open” sign is illuminated in the motel’s office window.
As mentioned, the sign was the key to finding this location. Since I could read the name of the motel in the episode, an internet search quickly returned results.
Thanks the Jason S.’s short film “”The Man With the Gray Elevated Hair” on the Twin Peaks Season 3 Blu-ray set we get a behind-the-scenes look at how this scene was shot. One part of this short film shows David Lynch sitting in a vehicle outside the motel. It must have been a cold desert day as the crew is wearing heavy jackets. Notice the telephone pole and part of the palm tree behind Lynch.
Cooper and Diane arrive at the motel in a black 1963 Ford 300.
It’s the same vehicle they used to drive to 430 miles earlier in the episode.
Cooper parks the car in front of Room 7 and walks toward the main office.
Cooper enters the office to check in for the night.
While Diane waits for Cooper to return, she suddenly sees someone that looks exactly like her step out from behind a column.
Cooper returns from the office with a key to Room 7.
Diane joins Cooper at the door to their room.
The scene cuts to inside the darkened room as Cooper opens the door. This scene is important as notice the placement of the door. We also seen some details like the bushes outside the room.
When Cooper, er, Richard leaves the motel room the next morning, the door opens in the opposite direction.
Diane turns on the light once she closes the motel room door. Notice the vintage floor lamp near the door. This will be important later. A behind-the-scenes photo shows Laura Dern and Lynch inside the same room.
The camera cuts to Dale Cooper standing beside the bed. A photo of what I believe is Room 7 from PearblossomMotel.com shows that the crew completely redecorated the room with vintage, mid-century inspired items.
Another look at the room from the short film by Jason S. shows the placement of Peter Deming’s camera.
Cooper tells Diane to turn off the light. She does and moves closer to him near the bed. The behind-the-scenes image shows them rehearsing the scene while Lynch and Deming look on.
While the song “My Prayer” by the Platters plays, Cooper and Diane share a rather intimate moment. At some point, Diane covers Coopers face with her hands as she looks up toward the ceiling.
I wonder if Cooper was thinking of this moment with Diane in Episode 2001 when he said, “I would very much like to make love to a beautiful woman who I had a genuine affection for.” I’m guessing he didn’t expect the hands to the face position.
Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan sit on the bed while Lynch has them rehearse this scene.
No pressure … just a few people are there to watch. I don’t know how actors do it.
Here’s a recap of where several of the scenes took place outside the Pearblossom Motel.
The next morning, Diane is gone. When Cooper wakes up, he will be in a different world, and on a completely different set. Read this article for details about how the crew allegedly reconstructed part of this set inside Eat at Judy’s
Special thank you to Travis Blue for sharing some of his location photos from the Pearblossom Motel.
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