One-story house with a white fence

Twin Peaks Location – Blue Rose Task Force Meeting

In Twin Peaks Part 12, Agents Gordon Cole, Albert Rosenfield, and Tammy Preston raise a glass of wine while at a hotel in Buckhorn, South Dakota. It’s during this scene that Agent Preston is invited to join the Blue Rose Task Force. In reality, this scene was shot inside a historic building in downtown Los Angeles, California.

WHERE WAS THE BLUE ROSE TASK FORCE SCENE LOCATED?

Google Maps
Google Maps

Founded in September 1880, the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) is a private club with state-of-the-art athletic facilities. The current home of the club was opened in 1912 at 431 West Seventh Street in downtown Los Angeles, California. A boutique hotel – The Los Angeles Athletic Club Hotel – occupies the top three floors of the 12-story historic landmark building.

Google Maps
Google Maps

Architects John Parkinson and George Bergstrom designed the 12-story Beaux-Arts style clubhouse for the LAAC. John also designed the Grand Central Market and City Hall in Los Angeles, while George is noted for designing the Pentagon. The building was the first in Southern California to have an interior swimming pool built on an upper floor.

The location interior will be used for several scenes in Season 3 of Twin Peaks. Pour a glass of wine and let’s explore the first.

HOTEL IN BUCKHORN, SOUTH DAKOTA

Hotel Exterior at night
Part 12

The episode opens with a nighttime establishing of a hotel in Buckhorn, South Dakota. I included this as you’ll note the exterior doesn’t match the LAAC. It’s actually the Mayfair Hotel, an apartment complex located at 117 E. 3rd Street in Pomona, California. See this Setting the Stage article that examines the episodes that shows the hotel’s exterior in Season 3. I originally found the location in on July 16, 2017 which you can read about in this article.

Sabrina Sutherland, David Lynch and Cori Glazer
Behind the Curtain – Part 12

According to the Behind the Curtain footage from the Twin Peaks – From Z to A Collection, this scene was shot on September 23, 2015. In the image above, David Lynch is rehearsing with Script Supervisor Cori Glazer while Producer Sabrina Sutherland stands nearby.

BLUE ROSE TASK FORCE MEETING ROOM

While searching for film locations in summer 2017, I stumbled across a YouTube video by Discover Los Angeles published in 2015.

LAAC YouTube
YouTube video from LAAC

During the video I spotted what looked like the room where they shot this scene. Using this clue, I dug into the location some more.

Agent Rosenfield, Agent Preston and Gordon Cole in a meeting room
Part 12

The scene cuts from the hotel establishing shot to Gordon Cole checking the room for audio bugs.

David Lynch rehearsing a scene
Behind the Curtain – Part 12

In the Behind the Curtain footage, we can see additional lighting above the actors as David Lynch rehearses the scene.

Agent Rosenfield, Agent Preston and Gordon Cole in a meeting room
Part 12

The three agents then raise a glass of Château le Bergey Bordeaux from Château L’Escart winery (see more details about the wine in this story).

LA Times image of the Library Room
Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha for The Los Angeles Times

I found this photo by Ricardo DeAratanha for the Los Angeles Times which showed a better image of what was called “The Library Room.” Bingo! I knew this was the spot. The carpet, bookshelves, couches and lighting all appeared to match the scene. I announced the findings on Twitter on October 14, 2017.

Leather couch in between bookshelves filled with books
Location Image

Additional internet research uncovered this location image from The Library Room.

Albert Rosenfield sitting on a couch
Part 12
David Lynch as Gordon Cole raising a wine glass
Part 12

You can see bookshelves next to and behind Agents Rosenfield and Cole in this scene. They appear to match the bookshelves in the room. I wonder if any of the books were replaced.

LA Times
Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha for Los Angeles Times

Here’s another look at that photo from the LA Times. It seems the painting behind Albert was replaced but the painting behind Gordon may be from the actual location (see the image above and compare to the image from the LA Times – Gordon was seated to the right side of that image).

DIANE EVANS ENTERS THE ROOM

Agent Tammy Preston listens to Agent Albert Rosenfield
Part 12
Diane Evans enters a room between red drapes
Part 12

One thing I noticed is red drapes. They appear both behind Agent Preston and when Diane Evans enters the room.

Actors walking onto a set
Behind the Curtain – Part 12

In the Behind the Curtain footage, you can literally see behind the red curtains at this location as Laura Dern, Chrysta Bell and Miguel Ferrer enter the set.

Library Room with books and chairs
Location Image

They would enter from the far side of the room as pictured above.

Library room looking into another room
Location Image

Additional location images reveal those red drapes which cover the entrance to the Olympic Room. Notice the carpet behind where Diane Evans enters the room appears to match the carpet from the image above.

Diane Evans seated in a chair
Part 12
Library room with chairs, books and a chandelier
Location Image

When Agent Albert Rosenfield offers Diane a bottle of Gvori Vodka, you can faintly see an exit door behind her. That same door appears in the location image above.

GVORI VODKA FOR DIANE EVANS

Four people sitting in a room around a table
Part 12

Speaking of Vodka, notice how the bottle of Polish Gvori Vodka changes positions during the scene.

Four people sitting around a table
Part 12

This means there were probably multiple takes for the scene.

Bottle of Gvori Vodka

According to the distiller’s notes about this Vodka,”An ancient recipe was revived to produce this award-winning vodka. Rye is the predominant grain; the product is distilled four times and undergoes additional rectification treatment to practically eliminate the traces of congeners present in most vodkas. It’s this, along with clean Polish spring water, that ensures the authenticity of this award-winning world-class vodka.”

Knowing David Lynch spent lots of time in Poland, I wonder if this is his favorite Vodka.

LET’S ROCK

Diane Evans sitting in a chair
Part 12

Diane ends the scene by saying “Let’s Rock.”

Little Man from Another Place saying "Let's Rock" in the Red Room
Episode 1.002
"Let's Rock" written backward on a dirty windshield
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Those words are also uttered by the Little Man from Another Place in episode 1.002 and appeared on Special Agent Chet Desmond’s car in Twin PeaksFire Walk With Me.

Library Room with chairs and bookshelves
Location Image

Here’s one final look at the Library Room. See more stories about the scenes filmed at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

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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