In Twin Peaks Part 2 on Showtime, there is a short establishing shot of a motel at night. The scene cuts to Mr. C, Jack, Ray and Darya having a lively conversation about needs and wants inside a restaurant. This establishing shot implies the dinner was taking place at this spot (it didn’t – the restaurant interior was shot in Southern California). So where is the motel located?
WHERE IS THE BUCKHORN MOTEL ESTABLISHING SHOT LOCATED?
The scene was shot outside Bell’s Motor Lodge located at 230 N. Main Street in Spearfish, South Dakota. The motel is located only 60 miles from Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming (“This means something! This is important!”).
To find the location, I searched the motel name seen on the neon sign. Since there is only one “Bell’s Motor’s Lodge,” it was easy to match the street view image with the screen cap from Part 2.
This scene does not appear to be stock footage like Diane’s apartment exterior. I believe the footage may have been captured by director Jason S. and his crew while they were gathering footage from Impressions: A Journey Behind the Scenes of Twin Peaks, a set of ten short films for the Twin Peaks Season 3 Blu-ray set. Some of the landscape scenes they included seemed to match things I’ve seen while searching for film locations.
Yet this footage may also be from David Lynch’s Presents: Interview Project, a documentary series by directors Jason S. and Austin Lynch. The originally captured these interviews and additional footage across the United States in 2009-2010.
Bell’s Motor Lodge may have opened in September 1955 (it’s the earliest newspaper reference I found to the name). In June 2020, Dwight Miller assumed ownership of the motel and by 2021 it closed. It may now be a long-term apartment complex housed in the same building.
