On April 8, 1990, “Twin Peaks” premiered on the ABC television network. In honor of the show’s 28th Anniversary today, I’m taking a closer look at the many views of the iconic “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign.
THE LOCATION
Footage of the “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign was first captured in February 1989 for the Pilot Episode. The location for the sign spot is 41433 SE Reing Road in Snoqualmie, Washington.
The opening credits of the Pilot Episode is first time viewers seen the sign in the series. The sign was painted by Steven LaRose who was profiled in this article from WelcomeToTwinPeaks.com. The image from the credits is a still shot (notice how the water to the right of the sign isn’t moving).
The story goes executives from ABC felt a population of 5,120 would not be relatable to television audiences of the early 1990s. So a “1” was added to the number making the population 51,201.
According to the 1990 Census, this would have placed the town of Twin Peaks as the ninth largest city by population in Washington state. It would have been placed between Bellingham (52,179) and Vancouver (46,380). Not exactly a small town “a long way from the world” as Sheriff Harry S Truman described it to Special Agent Dale Cooper in Episode 1003.
Special Agent Dale Cooper is seen driving past the “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign about 30 minutes into the Pilot Episode (You can trace the route he took in this article). Unlike the sign image used in the credits, this scene shows the water moving to the right of the road sign.
Episode 1001
The only time the Welcome Sign is seen during the series is the opening credits for each episode in Seasons 1 and 2. Like the image from the Pilot Episode, this is a still shot with opening credits superimposed over the image.
Interestingly, there was a time the sign appeared in a slightly different location during the first season.
In an ABC promo spot on April 8, 1990, the “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign was shown in a different location as a logging truck drove by.
Reinig Road is shown two more times in Twin Peaks but the Welcome Sign is not seen. First, Bobby and Shelly are seen driving by a police car in the Pilot Episode. In Episode 2007, similar footage is used to imply Deputy Hawk is on his way to visit Harold Smith.
I believe the ABC Promo from April 8, 1990 (seen above) may have been shot on this road, especially when comparing the image from Episode 2007. There appears to be a wooden fence and some kind of fallen tree that looks similar scenery from the ABC Promo.
The next time we see the “Welcome to Twin Peaks Sign” is a brief establishing shot in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The sign appears to be placed in the same location on Reinig Road SE in Snoqualmie, Washington. This time the sign looks slightly higher than it’s counterpart from the first and second seasons.
On December 18, 2015, Showtime released a first look at Twin Peaks “Now in Production” on YouTube. During this 50-second promo, a newly painted “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign was revealed. The sign however wasn’t placed on Reinig Road. It looks like it could have been shot somewhere in the Pacific Northwest (maybe at Steven LaRose’s studio?).
Two additional promo videos on YouTube gave another look at the Welcome to Twin Peaks sign. One video released on December 18, 2016 showed David Lynch eating a doughnut while dressed as Gordon Cole. There was a quick glimpse of the sign at the end of the promo video. The second video released on January 13, 2017 featured Kyle MacLachlan returning to the role of Special Agent Dale Cooper. The sign was again shown briefly at the end of the promo. There are color variations between the two signs but I suspect that’s how the videos were produced.
Viewers had to wait until Part 17 on Showtime in order to see the “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign (Don’t blink or you’ll miss it). The sign whizzes by as Special Agent Dale Cooper rides back into town with the Mitchum Brothers.
The sign has made it’s way onto a variety of other Twin Peaks items including the official soundtrack album cover, merchandise, apparel, and much more. Here are a few additional items I found with the sign.
Released in 1991, the first card of the Star Pics “Twin Peaks” card set shows the Welcome Sign (the image was probably taken from the Pilot Episode).
On page 2 of the “Welcome to Twin Peaks – Access Guide to the Town” from 1991, the sign is shown with a clarification about the population total. It appears that television audiences were more accepting of a small town than the previous year.
This population clarification also made it’s way to the Twin Peaks Visual Soundtrack which was released by Warner Music Vision in maybe 1992 for the Japanese market.
The introduction to this video features a computer generated tour of Twin Peaks which ends at the Welcome Sign. Notice how the population total has been updated to 5,120.1.
The video is a fascinating time capsule of the Snoqualmie and North Bend areas from the early 1990s. They visit Reinig Road in Snoqualmie to show the film location for the sign.
Twin Peaks-themed commercials produced in 1993 for the Georgia Coffee Company in Japan also included the Welcome Sign. Mostly recycled footage from the series.
The Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, Washington once had a “Welcome to Twin Peaks” mural painted on the back of the building. I took this image in August 1996 during the Twin Peaks Fan Fest. Sadly the building was damaged by a fire in 2000 so this mural is long gone. It has since been repainted on Twede’s Cafe.
Finally, here are four Reinig Road images originally found on the now defunct InTwinPeaks.com site. I loved Charles’ views of this spot throughout the seasons.
