In Twin Peaks Part 7 on Showtime, there is a an 8-second establishing shot of Diane Evans’ apartment which was supposed to be set in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is the only time in the series the exterior was shown. Part 7 aired on June 18, 2017, and by July 9, 2017, I found the actual location in New York City. How did I do it?
SEARCHING FOR THE LOCATION
There were several clues that made me think the footage was from New York City, not Philadelphia – the brownstone buildings, the architectural style, and the gas lamps. Watching the clip multiple times (at least 15-20 times if not more), I couldn’t locate anything that helped with narrowing the search – a street address, street sign, iconic building in the background, etc.
So I searched “gas lamps in New York City,” and it appeared many lamps were still used in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn.
During my initial research, I thought about how the crew could have captured eight seconds of footage. From personal experience working with production crews, it didn’t make sense to send an entire crew to New York City for such a short sequence. Considering season 3 was mostly shot in either Washington state or southern California, I turned to stock footage websites to look for a match.
My first stop was Getty Images where a quick search for “New York City Brownstone” revealed a little over 609 results. Scrolling down, I found a match! I shared the news on Twitter shortly after the discovery on June 23.
The footage, however, used in Part 7 was reversed.
Captured by Erik Van Ingen, the video description reads:
Brooklyn Brownstone at sunset – establishing shot – 4k
An establishing shot of a tree lined street in Brooklyn, New York. The camera pans across a row of Brownstone homes. Shot in 4k.
While the link confirmed the location was Brooklyn, no additional information was available about where it was shot. So I did the next best thing – I searched every street in the Park Slope area using Street View on Google Maps. Twice.
When I didn’t find the location in the shaded area shown above, I expanded my search to include areas around Park Slope – Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Crown Heights. This meant searching every single street using street view.
Virtually traveling from street to street, I kept looking for the lamp, the railing, or the face detail above the door. I could not find the home.
All of this changed on Sunday morning on July 9 when I viewed 264 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, NY.
The home, located in the Prospect Heights area, was very close to the Park Slope area where my search began a few weeks earlier.
It’s difficult to put into words the feeling of pure joy I had that Sunday morning. A search that began shortly after June 18 had to come an end 21 days later.
Like Albert Rosenfield, I can now say, “I know where she lives.”
On a related note, the interior of Diane’s apartment was shot in Los Angeles, CA.
UPDATE – MAY 18, 2018
On May 18, 2018, I visited the actual location in Brooklyn! The last time I visited New York City was more than 12 1/2 years ago. That trip was a 24-hour visit which gave me no time to explore (plus Season 3 of Twin Peaks was only a distant dream). I visited NYC to attend the Festival of Disruption at Brooklyn Steel.
When I told people I was traveling to New York, they asked if I would attend a Broadway show or visit museum. Nope. After dropping my bag at the hotel, I set out to visit this location. It was only about 3-miles from my hotel so I set out for a nice stroll through the streets of Brooklyn.
While walking the streets, many buildings and businesses looked familiar. I had spent so much time on Google Street View looking for this spot last summer. It was surreal to see actual buildings I had only seen on a computer screen.
My heart raced as I neared Prospect Place. As previously mentioned, the video used in the Part 7 was reversed. So the image above of the actual location is also reversed.
Here is the non-revered image of her apartment. While I was at the spot, there were several construction workers and other folks passing by. I’m sure I got many looks as I compared images and video from Part 7 in order to capture the correct shot.
Speaking of video, here is a short 9-second clip from my visit.
