In Twin Peaks – Part 5 on Showtime, a car wash detailer (played by Sean Bolger) discovers a Great Northern Hotel room key while cleaning Jade’s bright Baja Yellow 2015 Jeep Wrangler. He tells Jade (played by Nafessa Williams) about the key and she drops it in a nearby mailbox. The entire scene lasts about 54-seconds, yet I was obsessed with finding the film location.
I first wrote this article on March 3, 2018 during the first week TwinPeaksBlog.com was online. I finally visited the location on May 26, 2019 and took several screen-to-location comparison photos.
IN SEARCH OF A CAR WASH
Southern California is a mecca for mid-century modern architecture. From bowling alleys to coffee houses to car washes, I’ve photographed many buildings and signs from this by-gone era of architectural design. I’m guessing that is why I had to find the car wash location.
Part 5 aired on June 4, 2017 and I found the location just a few days later on June 12.
It’s Garfield Car Wash located at 113 N Garfield Ave, Montebello, California. The approximate coordinates are 34°00’54.6″N 118°07’48.5″W. The business has been at this location since 1984 but I haven’t found any more details beyond the date.
To begin my quest, I searched “car washes in Los Angeles” on Google Maps and looked at photos of each returned result. When I didn’t initially find it, I expanded my search to include car washes in southern California. No luck.
Next, I scoured the scene looking for additional clues – a company name, a logo or some other identifying mark. I also searched “3 Star, 4 Star, 5 Star washes” thinking that may yield results. Nope.
I noticed a sign on the building across from the mailbox but I could only see the letters “..metry.” Could it be a “cemetery?” The building’s exterior didn’t match typical cemetery structures.
The adjacent building looked like a possible fast food restaurant (the bright red paint made me think of Dairy Queen).
I paused the scene on the Car Wash sign and looked for a match via a Google Image search. At the time, I didn’t realize the crew replaced the normal Garfield Car Wash sign with something nondescript.
A BREAKTHROUGH
After thinking about how scenes in Twin Peaks were shot, a breakthrough happened. For Season 3, the crew filmed all the scenes in a particular location before moving onto the next location. This practice saved money and time, but it also meant that scenes were shot out of order.
Prior to the Car Wash in Part 5, Jade dropped Dougie off at the Silver Mustang Casino in Part 3. I realized , which served as the exterior of Silver Mustang Casino, was located nearby in Commerce, California. I narrowed my search for car washes in that area.
BINGO! I found it.
Here is the exterior of the Garfield Car Wash courtesy of Google Maps.
As for the buildings across the street … the “…metry” building is home to an Optometrist, while the fast food restaurant is a Jack-in-the-Box.
EXAMINING THE EPISODE
The scene was most likely shot sometime in mid-January 2016. Scenes with Jade and Dougie at the abandoned home and neighborhood in Palmdale, California were shot on January 13-14. Most likely this scene was shot about the same time as the exterior scenes at Commerce Casino (I just haven’t found an actual date … yet).
The scene opens with a slow pan from employees detailing a 2014 Jeep Cherokee. When I visited the Car Wash in May 2019, it was already closed for the day.
The pan stops on Jade’s Jeep being cleaned.
Jade approaches the Jeep. Notice the generic Car Wash sign behind her versus the actual sign.
The Detailer asks Jade if she has a “John” in Washington and then hands her the hotel room key.
According to the Combined Dialog and Continuity List for this episode (the closest we’ll get to an official Season 3 script for now), the Detailer’s name is Chris.
THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL KEY
Turning the key in her hand, Jade examines the front and back. The white label on the back says:
PLEASE MAIL TO:
Great Northern Hotel
Twin Peaks, WA
Here is the approximate location of the ground below where Jade looks at the key. The roundish stain in the center of the image appears to be similar to the stain in the key front image.
MAILING THE KEY
Realizing what she needs to do, Jade makes her way to a nearby mailbox.
I have sad news for those who wanted to mail a letter from this mailbox. It’a a prop.
Prop mailbox or not, it didn’t stop me from taking a selfie at the Car Wash. Believe me, I am just as bummed as you that the mailbox wasn’t real.
The scene ends with Jade dropping the key in the blue mailbox and leaving.
