Deconstructing the Rancho Rosa Estates Sign

When writing for this Blog, there are times that I feel like Special Agent Sam Stanley who used his machine to crack the Whitman case. What a rush of endorphins he must have felt when he finally found those splinters. I’ve felt that same thrill several times while researching stories, from locating the stock footage used for Diane Evans apartment exterior in Part 7 to identifying the mural behind Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me. Today, I’m adding another item to my “what a thrill” list as I deconstruct the Rancho Rosa Estates sign from Twin Peaks Season 3.

As mentioned in another article, the location for this welcome sign is at the corner of Woodbank Way and Campbell Street in Palmdale, California. The coordinates for this location are 34°34’18.1″N 118°00’41.8″W.

The sign appears only a handful of times in Season 3 – Parts 3, 5, and 6. After closer examination, I believe the sign was added in post production by BUF, the special effects company who did many of the shots for Season 3.  Let’s break it down.

RANCHO ROSA ESTATES LOGO

In the upper left corner, there is a logo for Rancho Rosa. It just happens to look like the same logo the we see at the beginning of every episode from Season 3. Rancho Rosa Partnership Production, Inc. was the Season 3 production company that was formed on May 4, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.

The logo definitely reminds me of the Double R Diner logo.

A similar logo can be found on the wall menu at the Double R Diner.

There is even a similar-looking, hand drawn logo on a business card that Louie hands Mr. Tojamura in Episode 2004.

So most likely the logo on the sign was pulled directly from the opening credits logo.

PEOPLE OF RANCHO ROSA ESTATES

When I first saw the sign, I wondered if the people pictured were family members of the production team (similar to how Disney or Pixar Animation Studios gives subtle nods to family in some of their films). The images, however, appear to be staged, almost like stock photography. Since I discovered that stock video was previously used in Season 3, I began my search for these people on the Internet.

Using Photoshop, I cut out the older couple in the middle and performed an image search via Google. No luck. Then I tried Getty Images. Still nothing.

I then turned to Shutterstock, a popular stock photography website, which offered an image search.

Using the image search function with the cutout image, I looked for “Older Couple on White” (meaning on a white background). Boom! I found them. I can’t even describe how it felt seeing their faces staring back at me. Wow!

The photo was taken by Kurhan, a prolific photographer with thousands of stock images. The Royalty-free stock photo ID is 150558380, and it is titled, “Senior couple portrait. Isolated on white background. – Image.”

Here is the image that the art department used to create the sign.

The crazy part is that this image has been used numerous times for dental implant advertising, such as this one from FMS Dental.

Knowing that this image was stock photography, I assumed the others were stock too.

FAMILIES OF RANCHO ROSA ESTATES

I turned my attention to the family of three. This time I searched “Happy Family on White,” and after a few clicks, I found them too.

The shot was by the same photographer – Kurhan – as the older couple. There were several variations on this image but I landed on this one - Royalty-free stock photo ID: 255837601 with the description “Happy family near new house. Real estate background. – Image.”

Here is the image which the art department used for the sign. They removed the background when adding the family to the sign.

Like the older couple, this stock image was used for advertisements, such as this promotional banner from an Air Conditioning company from New Jersey.

Finding the last photo was even easier as I assumed it was also from Kurhan’s account. I searched “Happy Family Father Mother Children” and was eventually rewarded with this image. It took a few searches to find the exact match. The family was pictured by a Christmas tree and a shopping cart, but it’s the image below that was used for the sign.

This Royalty-free stock photo ID is 70695808, and the description read “Happy family. Father, mother and children. Over white background – Image.” Just look at the kid’s eyes in blue. Wild!

By now, I’m sure you’re not surprised that I found this stock image used on something else other than the sign. This time it’s on a book cover from James MacDonald  titled, “7 Palabras para Transformar Su Familia” (or Seven Words to Change Your Family).

RANCHO ROSA ESTATES SIGN HOUSE

The last step was identifying the house behind the assembled photo. Again, I created a cut out image and attempted to search Shutterstock.com. Impossible! There were too many options and nothing matched.

I then took a closer look at the image. The architecture appeared similar to the house immediately behind the sign. Perhaps the house was actually in the neighborhood. I turned to Bing Maps to search for a match.

A short while later I found it – 6755 Atmore Street – in the neighborhood! The approximate coordinates are 34°34’15.6″N 118°00’30.6″W.

The house is pretty close to the welcome sign location. Most likely, the crew took an image of the house when scouting locations.

Here’s another look at the house courtesy of Google Maps.

Part of the house is also seen in Part 3 behind the Sycamore Street sign that Dougie Jones spots while riding in the passenger seat of Jade’s Jeep. The crew replaced the street signs for the episode.

Overall, I think these assets were assembled by either the art team or BUF and then digitally added to the episodes. The other option was they crew licensed large sized images to print on a giant wood board, which seems impractical and costly. A digital version using the same assets I found would be much easier and more cost efficient.

UPDATE – DECEMBER 7, 2019

While researching another article I found the above images from the short film by Jason S. titled “Tell It Martin.” It appears the crew is assembling a blank sign at this spot which furthers my belief that the image was created in post production.

Yes, I’m still shocked that I found all of these things.