Twin Peaks Location – Jacques Renault’s Cabin in Episode 1.005

Let’s take a virtual visit to the film location for Jacques Renault’s cabin in episode 1.005 of Twin Peaks. There are actually two cabins used in the Twin Peaks universe – one from the series is found in Angeles National Forest while the location of the one from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was a combination of an unidentified exterior in Washington state and an interior set in Southern California. Thanks to the former InTwinPeaks.com website and a few California hikers, I have a detailed examination of the cabin from the first season.

WHERE IS JACQUES RENAULT’S CABIN LOCATED IN EPISODE 1.005?

For starters, the ruins of Jacques’ cabin are found at 34°19’44.2″N 118°00’02.5″W, which is located just off California 2 Mile Marker LA 50.93, La Canada Flintridge, California.

This spot may seem familiar as you will find Newcomb’s Ranch here which was film location of the second Big Ed’s Gas Farm in Twin Peaks.

From a production perspective, it takes about 50 minutes to get to this spot via the long-and-winding Angeles Crest Highway. The crew most likely filmed both scenes – Big Ed’s and Jacques’ cabin – on the same day.

This article has been a long-time coming. Brad Dukes, fellow Bookhouse Boy, Twin Peaks location hunter, and author of “Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks,” first asked me to “discover the origins of Jacques’ cabin” on August 19, 2018. Good news is I now have answers.

HISTORY OF JACQUES RENAULT’S CABIN IN LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, CALIFORNIA

The cabin and surrounding land has a wonderful connection to California history from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Lewis “Louie” Newcomb (1860- 1954) once owned the land and built the cabin many years ago. He moved from Pennsylvania to the Chilao area in the late 1800s.

Thanks to the Bureau of Land Management website, I located the 160-acres of land that Mr. Newcomb homesteaded on May 20, 1862 (some reports state he claimed it 1878).

According to September 1937 issue of California Highways and Public Works, Mr. Newcomb’s land was the only “parcel of privately-owned land in the area.” Daniel Medina from KCET wrote a fascinating article in 2014 about Louie Newcomb which shared how he became the first California ranger:

“On December 20, 1892, the President [Benjamin Harrison] signed a proclamation creating the the 555,520-acre San Gabriel Timberland Reserve (renamed the Angeles National Forest in 1908), creating the first forest reserve in California. After the passing of the Forest Reserve Act, Newcomb found himself living on federal land, his backwoods no longer governed by settlers like himself. By 1898, enticed by the $50 per month salary promised to the nation’s pioneering forest rangers, Newcomb went to work for the Department of the Interior.”

He cconstructed a historic ranger station cabin that “sat on West Fork of the San Gabriel River in 1900 which was the first in California, the second in the nation.”

Newcomb left the Forest Service in 1911 and moved back to Chilao in an attempt, as Daniel Medina description “to escape the throngs of Angelenos tearing into the San Gabriels during the Great Hiking Era.”

The Los Angeles County Office of the Accessor, which provides property assessments, provided a closer look at the area. The cabin is found in the bottom left shaded area.

Louie sold the property to his cousin Lynn Newcomb, who built Newcomb’s Ranch Inn. The Angeles Crest Highway was completed in 1939. At the time, now 57-mile stretch highway ended at the Ranch. Louie never liked the highway as he felt “it ruined the place.” Medina writes that Newcomb “left his Chilao home permanently in the early 1940s, spending the remainder of his days in Sierra Madre until his death in 1954.”

Newcomb is buried at Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery, which is located at 601 East Sierra Madre Boulevard in Sierra Madre, California (34°09’44.3″N 118°02’29.6″W).

In a wonderful and strange connection to Twin Peaks, the cemetery where Mr. Newcomb is buried also served as the film location for Laura Palmer’s grave in episode 1.003.

CABIN SEEN AT JACQUES’ APARTMENT

Earlier in episode 1.005, Special Agent Dale Cooper finds a collection of photos inside a cabinet door at Jacque Renault’s apartment. This scene was shot on a set at City Studios (now Occidental Studios) located at 7700 Balboa Boulevard in Van Nuys, California.

He notices a photo of a cabin. Most likely, this was an actual production photo from the day they shot at the cabin. This could mean they shot the interior of Jacques’ apartment after they shot the cabin scenes.

Cooper makes the connect between the red drapes in Laura Palmer’s “Fleshworld” ad the the red drapes seen in the cabin windows.

He finds a bill for 50 gallons of heating oil and asks Sheriff Truman and Deputy Hawk why Jacques would need such a thing. Truman correctly answers, “To heat a log cabin.” So the deputies pack a lunch and head out for a walk in the woods.

APPROACHING JACQUES’ CABIN

The script, written by Mark Frost between late September and mid-November 1989, contains a description of this scene:

CUT TO:

EXT. WOODS SECOND CABIN – DAY

Hawk, Truman, Cooper and Hayward emerge from a thick stand into a clearing; on a rocky point above them stands the log cabin seen in the photo at Jacques; apartment. Rundown, not well maintained. Red drapes are visible in a window. Cooper looks at the photo. It was shot from the angle they’re viewing  it from now.

The music issues from inside the cabin. The song ends. Pause. The same song begins again.

I’m skipping ahead in Episode 1005 to the moment with Cooper and the Deputies spot Jacques’ cabin. The trail to the cabin and their interaction with the Log Lady are going to be separate stories.

The scene shows Cooper’s profile and a close up of a gloved hand holding the same photo from Jacques’ apartment.

I can’t help but think that the Mount Rushmore-like image and the photo close-up were shot outside the location of the Log Lady’s house in Agoura Hills, California versus in Angeles National Forest. The scene was shot on November 22, 1989 after a day of shooting the interior scenes with the Log Lady.

The scene cuts to the exterior of Jacques’ cabin. Thankfully, Charles from InTwinPeaks.com visited the cabin in the late 2000s and took several location photos.

Susanna Schick visited the location in 2014 during a trip along Angeles Crest Highway. She took this image of the cabin which had virtually collapsed.

According to several sites including AngelesAdventures.com, this was a Newcomb family home that allegedly burned down in the 1970s. It could explain why the crew covered the interior with red drapes to hide the burned interior.

A more recent image and video is found in a YouTube video from CA Hiker in July 2017.

The scene cuts to a slow pan out of a black raven. It appears to be the same raven that appeared earlier in the episode when the team was on their way to Jacques’ cabin.

Most likely, the raven’s scenes were specifically shot for this episode. The end credits state that animals were provided by Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife (not that “Steve Martin,” the other one).

Law enforcement slowly approaches Jacques’ cabin as described in the script:

Truman draws his weapon and takes the lead. Hawk and Cooper draw their weapons and follow. Hayward sits on a rock and wipes his brow with a handkerchief.

Doctor Hayward sits as the Cooper, Truman and Hawk continue their approach.

Here are a few additional photos of Jacques’ cabin site that I located on InTwinPeaks.com and the internets.

INTERIOR OF JACQUES’ CABIN

The script describes the action:

INT. SECOND CABIN – DAY
The door creaks open, throwing the only light into the dark  room. Truman, Hawk and Cooper cautiously enter. The music is louder. Cooper draws aside a set of the heavy, dusty red drapes, letting more light into the room.

A “Into the Night” by Julee Cruise (on a 45 LP – why isn’t that a real thing?) plays on a continuous loop as the law enforcement team opens the front door.

The script continues:

On a simple record player, the tone arm pulled back over a 45 record, the song ends again, the stylus lifts, returns to the outside, then back onto the outside edge of the record. Scratches, pops, then the song starts again.

COOPER
(under his breath)
…and there’s always music in the air…”

Cooper lifts the stylus off the record. All three men proceed  with extreme care, trying not to move or disturb anything.

Have I told you how thankful I am that Charles took these photo when the cabin walls were still standing?

We’ll never get to see the cabin the same way as it was in 1990. Maybe when I win the lottery, I will reconstruct the whole damn thing.

In the script, the action is slightly different than the broadcast version. Hawk finds the film first, Truman finds Waldo and then Cooper finds the ball of twine.

The single room is dusty, trashy, a low-rent version of a  harem room: an overstuffed davenport, cheap oriental throw rugs, tasseled satin pillows, empty bottles and full ashtrays.

The script continues.

On a tripod, a 35 millimeter camera, facing a small photo bay created by the drapes and pillows. Hawk checks it out.

HAWK
There’s film in here.

Hawk takes out an evidence bag, removes the film.

Here’s another look at the spot from 2017. Cooper and the turntable would have been seen where the collapsed wall and ceiling is located in the photo.

Cooper finds a spool of twine lying on the floor

Then Harry Truman finds Waldo according to the script.

Another tripod shaped object, covered with a cloth. Truman slowly draws the cloth off… a mynah bird in the cage reacts drowsily, weak from hunger and thirst. A nameplate on the cage reads… “O”

Hawk draws their attention to dark stains on the wood and
one of the throw rugs. He examines it.

HAWK
Blood.

Cooper moves to look at it.

I love this shot as we get a better look at where things were placed in the cabin. The crew added all of those props and red drapes.

I’m still crushed that the cabin doesn’t look like the cabin in the series anymore. At lease some parts are still standing.

The script contains a different reveal of the One Eyed Jack’s poker chip. In the broadcast episode, Truman opens a cuckoo clock door and poker chips fall out. I still don’t understand why he decides to open those doors.

In the script, however, the reveal involves a lamp getting knocked over.

Truman, backing up from the cage, hits a rocking chair which rocks forward and hits a table, knocking over a lamp…

Hawk, looking past Cooper, sees the lamp…

HAWK
Watch out.

Cooper avoids the lamp as it crashes to the floor. Something skitters off the lamp and rolls under the davenport Hawk and Cooper look at each other. 

Cooper reaches in under the davenport, feels around, finds something. He pulls it out.

INTERCUT:

POKER CHIP

A thousand dollar chip, with a small chunk missing. It reads:
“ONE-EYED (J)ACK’S”

Cooper and Hawk look at each other.

The scene ends on the poker chip while the glance between Cooper and Hawk is missing.

MORE IMAGES FROM JACQUES’ CABIN FROM INTWINPEAKS.COM