Hillside with trees and fog

Twin Peaks Location – Duncan Todd’s Office in Las Vegas

Duncan Todd (played by Patrick Fischler) in Twin Peaks Season 3 on Showtime was an associate of Mr. C. He appeared in Parts 2, 6, 10, 13, and 15, and was often seen siting behind a desk in a spacious, modern office overlooking “Las Vegas.” As it turns out, his office scenes were filmed in the heart of downtown Los Angeles in an iconic art deco-inspired building.

WHERE IS DUNCAN TODD’S OFFICE LOCATED?

Los Angeles Times Building
Google Maps

Duncan Todd’s office was shot in the historic Los Angeles Times Building located at 1st and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles, California.

Los Angeles Times Building
Google Maps

Los Angeles Times Building

Designed by Gordon B. Kaufmann, this building opened in 1935, and “at the time was the largest building in the western U.S. designed and occupied entirely as a daily newspaper publishing operation.”

FINDING DUNCAN TODD’S OFFICE IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

How did I identify the film location? I was searching for “office film locations in downtown Los Angeles” and found a link to the Los Angeles Times Square Film Office.

Los Angeles Times Square Film Office

Duncan Todd in His Office

The website listed a variety of film locations available inside the downtown building. I clicked on “Offices” and immediately recognized the space where Duncan Todd’s office was staged.

Los Angeles Times Square Film Office

Duncan Todd in His Office

The buildings seen outside Duncan Todd’s windows were the biggest clue to identifying the location. Additionally there is a light fixture on the ceiling that is seen in some shots from the show.

Buildings in Downtown Los Angeles

This aerial view indicates location of Duncan Todd’s office and which buildings are seen in the background.

I’ve been unable to locate a reference photo for a reverse shot of Duncan Todd’s office seen in Part 13.

Duncan Todd's Office
Part 13

One final note about his office comes from the outstanding Welcome to Twin Peaks website. Pieter Dom tweeted on June 13, 2017 that the lamp seen in Duncan Todd’s office was actually designed by David Lynch.

David Lynch's Lamp

The lamp was designed in 2002 and was shown at Art Los Angeles Contemporary from January 26-29, 2017 at the Kayne Griffin Corcoran gallery booth. The gallery displayed of 46 works on paper and two mixed media sculptures by David Lynch.

According to Christopher Michno from Riot Material , the lamp titled Douglas Fir Top Lamp #1 is “loosely figurative, with slits machined from the front facing panel that give the lamp a human-like visage.”

Author

  • Steven Miller at Twede's Cafe enjoying cherry pie and coffee

    A "Twin Peaks" fan since October 1993, Steven Miller launched Twin Peaks Blog in February 2018 to document his decades-long fascination with David Lynch and Mark Frost's wonderful and strange show. With his Canon camera in hand, he's visited numerous film locations, attended Twin Peaks events and conducted extensive historical research about this groundbreaking series. Along with fellow Bookhouse Boys, he dreams of creating a complete Twin Peaks Archive of the series and feature film. Steven currently resides in Central Florida.

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