By now if you have been following Twin Peaks Blog, you’ll know I love discussing, researching and visiting film locations from Twin Peaks. While there are many actual locations to explore in Washington, California and a handful of other states, there are several spots that I’ll never be able to visit unless I invent a time machine. Why? These locations were shot on soundstages in southern California. For Seasons 1 and 2 (and possibly some of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me), the crew used Occidental Studios in Van Nuys, California. For Season 3, they traveled to the other side of Van Nuys and set up camp at Calvert Studios.
LOCATION OF CALVERT STUDIOS IN VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA
The Calvert Studios is located at 15001 Calvert Street in Van Nuys, California.
As you can see on the map, Occidental Studios is about a 16-minute drive from Calvert. But why didn’t the crew return to the original studio for Season 3? The answer – Showtime, which is a subsidiary of CBS Corporation.
HISTORY OF CALVERT STUDIOS
For more than 30 years, Calvert Studios was the in-house studio and soundstage for Spelling Productions and CBS Studios. Other shows such as the original Beverly Hills 90210, Jericho, and the most recent Melrose Place were all shot at Calvert.
According to an archived webpage I found on the Wayback Machine, the history of this building dates back to the early 1970s:
“In 1972, Bill Roberts and his company Continental Van Nuys purchased an old brick years in Van Nuys. By early 1973, the Company had compacted the brick yard and began building a small warehouse district on a quiet cull [sic] de sac off of Kester Avenue. The building was primarily used as a light manufacturing warehouse facilitating various tenants for 17 years.
Fast forward to 1990, Spelling Productions had chose our location as a prime location to convert 45,000 sq.ft. of warehouse space into a productions facility to house their new production, Beverly Hills 90210. With 90210 becoming an instant success, Spelling was here to stay, After that shows [sic] success, Spelling proceeded to film various pilots at Calvert until his death (note – he died on June 23, 2006). Paramount and later CBS Studios filmed shows such as Empires, Heist, Harper’s Island, Jericho, and Melrose Place.”
This would be the second Beverly Hills 90210 connection to Twin Peaks I discovered. The first was the film location for the Marsh Mansion in Season 2 which was also used in an episode of 90210.
Of course, Twin Peaks is no stranger to Spelling Entertainment Inc. In Seasons 1 and 2, you may recall that the company logo appeared just after the episode credits rolled and prior to the Lynch/Frost Production logo.
These images are burned into my brain from watching Seasons 1 and 2 for so many years.
DISCOVERING THE LOCATION FOR TWIN PEAKS SEASON 3
How did I discover that Twin Peaks Season 3 was shot at Calvert? The About Us page on their website listed “Rancho Rosa” as a production … and it’s still on their website as “Rancho Rosa” more than 2 years later!!
The description even says that it would be “shot as feature and will be broken up into episodes.” So it really did deserve an Academy Award?
The Calvert Studios Facebook page was slightly more up-to-date with the Laura Palmer poster for Season 3.
Rancho Rosa, of course, was the name of the Production Company for Season 3. You probably recall each episode on Showtime began with the lonesome train whistle and a colorful Rancho Rosa logo.
I never did figure out what they meant other than the colors seemed to complement the various episodes (black and white for Part 8, etc.).
Rancho Rosa Estates is also seen several times in the newest Season, such as this establishing shot from Part 3.
The front of the building is pretty nondescript. I pulled these images from Google Street View circa June 2016.
The back of the building is best seen on Bing Maps circa January 2015.
THE SOUNDSTAGES AT CALVERT STUDIOS
Fortunately, Calvert’s website (including the archived page on the Wayback Machine) had images from inside the building.
They have 4 Stages totaling 40,000 SQFT and 35 offices stretching over 11.000 SQFT of space.
The Facebook post from October 25, 2018 says that addition stages and office space would be added soon (“Stage 4 & 5 and Office Suites C & D will be COMING SOON!!”).
TWIN PEAKS BEHIND THE SCENES AT CALVERT STUDIOS
Thankfully we get an extensive look at these soundstages from Season 3 because of “Impressions: A Journey Behind the Scenes of Twin Peaks,” a series of short films by Jason S. How I would have loved to have something similar for Seasons 1 and 2.
For example, David Lynch is seen walking toward the KPJK Radio Station set being constructed in “The Man With the Grey Elevated Hair.”
Below are several additional behind-the-scenes images from various sets including Ben Horne’s office at The Great Northern Hotel; Sheriff Frank Truman’s office and jail cells at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department; the Buckhorn Hotel room with the French girl; the Red Room; and giant green screens for Special Agent Dale Cooper’s flight through space.
It’s crazy to think these sets are gone now, paraphrasing Roy Batty from Blade Runner, “like tears in rain.”
I will eventually cover each one of these sets as my never-ending quest to document all of the film locations from Twin Peaks continues.
