Twin Peaks Film Location – Convenience Store in Season 3

This article marks a special milestone for Twin Peaks Blog – it’s number 300! To celebrate the occasion, I’m exploring the film location of the Convenience Store from Twin Peaks Season 3 on Showtime. Special thank you to Bookhouse Gal Jill Watson for taking me to this spot located just outside of North Bend, Washington. During my visit, I fell in love with a rock.

I THINK YOU SAY “CONVENIENCE STORE”

“Through the darkness of future’s past, the magician longs to see. One chants out between two worlds… ‘Fire… walk with me.’ We lived among the people. I think you say, convenience store. We lived above it. I mean it like it is… like it sounds.” – Mike, the One-Armed Man

We were introduced to the idea of a convenience store early on in Twin Peaks. Mike, the One-Armed Man first mentions in either in the International Ending to the Pilot Episode or in Special Agent Dale Cooper’s dream in Episode 1002. In Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, we were transported inside the store for “one of their meetings” as Special Agent Phillip Jeffries recounts his experience during a freak appearance at FBI Headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the spectacular Part 8 on Showtime, we were given a look at the store’s exterior. I vividly recall jumping out of my seat when it appeared on screen as this spot has been a part of the Twin Peaks mythology since the beginning.

The location of where the store was built is just outside of North Bend, Washington.

After spending nearly 3 1/2 hours exploring Olallie State Park with Jill on September 16, 2019, she asked if I wanted to see the location. The spot had been on my master list of places to find, so I enthusiastically responded, “YES!”

A short drive later, we arrived at the spot where the set was built. I immediately recognized the trees after writing the Vacant Peaks article about the Convenience Store.

Sadly, the store that was built for Season 3 no longer exists, yet the location remains. I’ll explain more in a moment. A black-and-white image of the store’s exterior appears in Part 8. Later in Part 15, we see the store in full color.

Let’s go shot-for-shot, ala InTwinPeaks style as I examine Part 15. I visited the location with Jill on September 16, and returned again on September 17 to capture additional shots I missed.

PART 15

After driving down a dark, tree-lined road, Mr. C is seen approaching the Convenience Store.

Mr. C spots a Woodsman standing along side the road in front of the Convenience Store.

Mr. C parks his black, 1988 Chevrolet V-30 Silverado Crew Cab and follows the Woodsman up a set of stairs to the second floor.

The fir tree to the far right of the image above is easily spotted in Part 15.

Once Mr. C is transported out of the Convenience Store, he is greeted by his son Richard holding a gun.

Again, you can see some of the trees on the far right side of this image in Part 15.

The camera cuts to Richard holding the gun next to Mr. C’s truck. The cluster of trees since in the bottom image above is easily spotted in the episode.

Mr. C eventually disarms his son and knocks him to the ground. We then see Richard slowly get up.

Richard climbs into the truck with his Dad and they set off to find a set of coordinates. Again, the trees in the background help identify this location. Just wait until I share more of the Olallie State Park locations – the trees were critical to identifying filming sites.

Once Mr. C and Richard leave the area, we see a wide angle shot of the Convenience Store.

The store begins to smoke and eventually fades away. To capture the smoke images, the crew literally set the shop on fire.

The store fading away thanks to the magic of editing.

With the store gone, all we can see are the trees. But take a closer look.

Do you see it? It appears to be a rock. As I was photographing this spot, I noticed it while comparing the screen image on my iPhone to the image I took on my Canon 5D Mark II.

The image above is one of the first photos I took upon arriving at the location. You can see the rock sitting on the gravel. It was after taking this shot that I noticed the rock in the episode.

I couldn’t contain my excitement so I ran to the rock and moved it into the correct location. I ended up doing this three times. Unbeknownst to me, Jill was snapping photos of my pure delight.

Here’s a closer look at the rock I found.

I mean, could I be any happier holding a rock?

Another look at the rock placed near the tree line.

Finally, a more appropriate shot with the rock in the correct place. Granted, I wondered if this rock was left by the crew on purpose in the episode. Could it really be the same rock from filming? Without a closer look, it’s difficult to confirm 100%. But then I found this.

In Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me, Leland Palmer enters the Red Room via Glastonberry Grove. Look at what is next to the scorched engine oil-filled portal – TWO ROCKS!

A rock also appears in Part 2 when Hawk stumbles upon the portal in Glastonberry Grove while speaking with the Log Lady on the phone.

The rocks don’t appear by the portal in Episode 2022, so I can only guess they were specifically added for David Lynch’s film and Season 3. Since Season 3 is basically a continuation of the Fire Walk With Me universe, I have to imagine the rocks were also deliberately placed at the Convenience Store spot.

In fact, it wasn’t until I was editing the images that I spotted a second rock at the site (look in the bottom right corner).

The location also had other mysterious things to see.

Is that scorched engine oil?

Jill spotted some petrified wood buried in the gravel. How long has that been sitting there?

And there were mysterious trees watching my every move.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Thanks to Sebastien Nebut, we have a look at the Convenience Store model he created for BUF, the special effects company who did many of the effects for Season 3. Sebastien posted the following on ArtStation:

“For the Season 3 of Twin Peaks, I was in charge of the creation of this full CG gas station that would later have disappear in a nuclear explosion during episode 8. I also did a part of the layout and the 3D extension on the Warehouse scene.”

The fantastic Mauve Zone posted an awesome full-color composite image of the set the crew built at the site.

The short films from Jason S. on the Twin Peaks Blu-ray set in 2017 contained some behind-the-scenes images of this film location.

Above is an image of Production Designers Ruth de Jong’s mood board for the Convenience Store set.

CONVENIENCE STORE LOCATION VIDEO

I leave you with a short video from my location visit. Music is by Dean Hurley from Anthology Resource Volume 1. The track is “Night Electric Music” and the entire album is available on Bandcamp.com.

Thank you for following TwinPeaksBlog.com the past year and a half. I still have many stories left to tell.