Five locations served as the setting for Twin Peaks High School. The second of these locations is found in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The Pilot Episode used Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie as the backdrop. For the film, the crew traveled to Snohomish High School in Snohomish, Washington. Both high schools have one thing in common - modernization has changed the face of this spot.
SCHOOL LOCATION
The school is found at 1316 Fifth Street in Snohomish. The approximate coordinates are 47°55’04.5″N 122°05’56.0″W. The Google aerial map above shows the approximate location where exterior scenes were filmed.
According to Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me shooting diary on Dugpa.com, school scenes were shot on Saturday, September 21, 1991.
“Shooting in Laura and her friend Donna’s high school, in a clean and pretty little town, about thirty miles from Seattle. First shot: students coming out of school. To help actors and extras find the right rhythm, David puts on some music, which makes their movements more natural, lissome and fluid.”
In the above image from Twin Peaks Archive, the crew is setting up a shot outside the high school along 5th Street. Cinematographer Ron Garcia is speaking with Lynch who is seated in the center of the photo. Notice the crew member in the upper right corner sporting a ZBC t-shirt from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s short-lived sitcom On The Air.
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL
The high school used in the film was not the first school building in Snohomish. The school system was founded by Mary Low Sinclair in the late 1860s. She moved to the region to join Woodbury Sinclair and began schooling out of her home.
Prior to it serving as a high school, an elaborate courthouse constructed in 1890-91 on “land donated by the Ferguson brothers on Avenue D, between 5th and 7th streets.”
Puget Sound Academy moved into the building shortly after it was vacated when the county seat moved. The 12-year old school moved from Coupeville on Whidbey Island to capitalize on Snohomish’s rapid growth. While enrollment was successful in the early 1900s, the Academy’s popularity waned and it later sold the building to the Snohomish School District for $7,500.
HistoryLink.org has a fantastic article about this building, and its demolition after state officials ruled it was unsafe to occupy.
A new building was constructed between 1938-1940. The Class of 1940 was the first to graduate from the new Snohomish High School building.
Finding historical photos of the school was next to impossible. For some reason, no one posts images of it. A few snippets on Classmates.com helped, but I desperately would love any additional reference material.
In the late 2000s, the school was modernized at a cost of $63 million. Lydig  completed the project designed by NAC Architecture while the “school maintained occupancy and included a new auxiliary gym, library, performing arts center, science building and athletic fields and the renovation and modernization of an historic 1938 classroom building.”
The existing media center was turned into a new media center/administration building and older structures, such as the white-colored overhang with large columns were demolished.
EXTERIOR SCENES
I visited this location on October 12, 2019. Since I was unable to go inside the school, I’ll only be focusing on the exteriors scenes for now.
TWIN PEAKS HIGH SCHOOL SIGN
Following a montage of scenes that ends with Laura Palmer snorting cocaine in the girls’ restroom, the scene cuts to the Twin Peaks High School sign.
Here’s a similar look at the sign when it was located outside Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, Washington.
Here’s the spot on October 12, 2019. The building in the background is Building A which was constructed in 1938-39. Classrooms inside were completely remodeled during the most recent construction work in 2011-2012. You’ll notice the overhang with the giant white pillars seen in the film was also removed.
WHO WERE YOU WITH?
The scene with Bobby, Laura and Donna in the courtyard takes place after James and Laura meet in the custodian’s room.
The script doesn’t specific that it takes place outside the school.
EXT. THE HIGH SCHOOL – DAY
A bell rings and, after a moment, STUDENTS and TEACHERS start to move out. Bobby catches up with Laura and Donna.
The building runs in front of looks completely different now.
BOBBY
Where were you for the last hour? I’ve been lookin’ for you?
Cinephilia & Beyond posted a fantastic production shot from this scene.
There remains a gap between the two buildings seen in the background. But landscaping is different now.
This aerial image from Google Earth in June 2002 shows the spot pretty much how it looked in the film ten years earlier.
After construction was completed in 2012, the area had changed. A rounded point of grass is seen in front of Building A.
By the next year, the rounded portion was removed and replaced with more cement and seating. How I wish I could travel through time back to 2002 to get better photos of this area.
RIGHT BEHIND YOU
LAURA
I was right behind you, but you’re too dumb to turn around.
The road behind her is 5th Street. We also see a small unlabeled alleyway that runs to 4th Street.
PUBLICITY SHOTS
 (laughing with Donna)
If he turned around he might get dizzy and fall down.
The Mauve Zone offered some great publicity shots from this scene.
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME – Dana Ashbrook, Sheryl Lee, Moira Kelly
‘TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME’ FILM – 1992
The on-set still photographer was Lorey Sebastian who has been taking photos of movie productions since 1977.
Bobby grabs Laura’s arm and says, “I’M NOT KIDDIN’. WHERE WERE YOU? WHO WERE YOU WITH?” This particular scene became an official New Line Cinema publicity still for the film.
MAYBE I WON’T BE AROUND
  LAURA
Get lost Bobby.
 BOBBY
Oh, yeah? You’ll be callin’ soon and maybe I’m not gonna be there.
[Note – the onscreen dialogue is different]
Laura responds to Bobby’s anger by getting him to smile. The scripted dialogue is different than what Sheryl Lee said on screen (“Come on, Bobby. Come on.”)
 LAURA
(very smooth, cooing)
Oh, come on, sweetie, give me one of your smiles.
Bobby eventually breaks a smile as Laura wins him over.
It’s crazy that the trees and the fence in the background are still there today.
Another behind-the-scenes shot of the crew capturing Laura’s reaction shots to Bobby. Lynch is seated with the megaphone.
LOVE YA BABE
Bobby can’t hold onto his anger. Slowly a huge smile spreads across his face.
 BOBBY
(smiling)
Love ya, Babe.
Laura blows him a kiss as Donna and her walk toward the street.
Sheryl Lee and Moira Kelly are seen walking in the courtyard during this outtake photo from The Mauve Zone.
A REAL INDICATION
There is no mention of Bobby’s awkward saunter into the old media and library building. In the script, the scene cuts to Donna Hayward’s house where they are enjoying peanuts.
As mentioned, that building which once housed the library that Bobby enters is long gone.
Most likely this giant tree saw the action being captured in September 1991.
INTWINPEAKS.COM
Luckily, InTwinPeaks.com visited the site in the late 2000s and took exterior and interior photos.
