During my recent search for the Twin Peaks film location of the Glass Box Experiment from Season 3 on Showtime, I stumbled upon the location of The Farm from Part 13. Interestingly, both location are in downtown Los Angeles, California. So let’s return to “starting positions” and explore this location supposedly set in Western Montana.
The Farm location is found at 1327 Palmetto Street in Los Angeles, California in an area known today as the Arts District. The coordinates for this location are 34°02’25.5″N 118°13’52.9″W.
From 1981 to 2018, this location was home to Max Fischer & Sons (no relation to Wes Anderson’s character from Rushmore), which also operated under the name Acme Wiping Materials. According to Buzzfile, this organization “primarily operates in the Towels, Fabric and Nonwoven: Made From Purchased Materials business / industry within the Apparel, Finished Products from Fabrics & Similar Materials sector.”
LAConservancy.org states that the two connected buildings (1327 and 1329) were built in 1920 and 1960 respectively.
From what I can gather, much of the action took place in the older building (indicated by a red arrow). The building with a green arrow was also used as the garage where Mr. C arrives. More on that in a moment.
The two-story building has a long history in the downtown area. In “A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, Volume 3” by James Miller Guinn (1917), the building was once occupied by Pinney & Boyle Manufacturing Co. This company was incorporated in 1899 and manufactured “a general line of sheet metal goods stoves ovens camp stoves canteens garbage cans and a general line of pressure tanks and underground storage equipment.” The company moved from this facility in March 1915 but retained it “for their department of tin lithographing.”
Sam Seelig occupied the building in 1917 according to an advertisement in the California Citrogrpah, Vol. 3. I was unable to locate other specific tenants for the building prior to 1981. From the 1920s through the 1950s, the overall area was home to manufacturing and industrial businesses.
According to LAConservancy.org, things changed in the 1950s as “railroads gave way to the trucking industry.” Large trucks had difficulty accessing the smaller streets in downtown Los Angeles so businesses began to move and the area fell into disrepair until the 1970s and 1980s
As real estate prices dramatically increased around Venice and Hollywood in the 1970s, a group of artists turned to the abandoned (and inexpensive) manufacturing buildings in this area. The Arts District was born and continues today.
The ACME Wiping Building began leasing “creative spaces” at some point in 2018. This was a few years after Part 13 was shot, so, similar to the Glass Box Experiment location, it looks slightly different today.
In mid-July 2018, Brotherhood, a streetware brand founded by Christion Lennon, opened its first brick-and-mortar location on the first floor.
Adjacent to Brotherhood, you’ll find AmodernLife Furniture and MASH Gallery.
Opened August 25, 2018, artist and owner Haleh Mashian relies on outside curators to fill its 2,000-square-foot space.
CartwheelArt.com described this space as a new territory for commercial art as its “mimicking museum and nonprofit art spaces with commercial programming placed into the hands of an ever-changing rotation of independent curators, and allowing them to manifest their vision.”
Now that we have the history, let’s examine the scene. Luckily, I found some film location photos of this building that provide a great look inside.
MR. C’S ARRIVAL – NOVEMBER 11, 2015
Thanks to the new Twin Peaks – From Z to A collection, we learned that the crew shot in this location between November 11-13, 2015.
Following an establishing shots of Western Montana (which were actually from South Dakota), Mr. C is seen pulling his 1988 Chevrolet V-30 Silverado Crew Cab, into a garage at The Farm.
Here’s the same garage from ACME Wiping and Materials.
Look carefully as Mr. C pulls into the garage as you can see the plant-covered wall across Palmetto Street.
Ray Monroe watches Mr. C’s arrival on a massive television screen. The bottom image is from the same location. The “TV” was placed between the two columns.
Thanks again to Behind the Curtain for Part 13, we learn that the giant television is a green screen. I mean, gigantic televisions do exist, such as Samsung’s 292-inch version that was announced in summer 2019. But using a green screen here made more production sense.
Renzo, the leader of the Western Montana gang (played by Derek Mears), joins Ray Monroe (played by George Griffith). Ray explains how he killed Mr. C. Renzo decides to have a little fun with him.
Muddy (played by Frank Collison) tells Mr. C to get in the elevator.
How exciting to see Frank in another Lynch production. You may remember him as Timmy Thompson in the Big Tuna scene from Wild at Heart.
Later in the scene, we see Richard Horne weave through the gang who are watching Mr. C on the giant television.
Richard is transfixed by Mr. C as he leaves the arm wrestling room.
THE ELEVATOR – NOVEMBER 11, 2015
Mr. C follows Muddy’s instructions and enters the yellow industrial elevator. The image on the bottom is the elevator on the first floor.
Gang members join Ray and Renzo as they await Mr. C’s arrival. The bottom image is taken from behind where the gang members are standing. You can see the elevator cage on the right.
Gang members walk down that ramp in the foreground in “Two Blue Balls,” the short film by Jason S.
Mr. C arrives on the second floor. Notice the writing on the elevator wall is actually found at the location.
After asking if this gathering is Kindergarten or Nursery School, Mr. C explains that he is only here for Ray Monroe. Renzo and the gang, however, challenge him to an arm wrestling contest. Many men have tried for 14 years to beat Renzo but none have. If Mr. C wins, he will become the boss; if not, then Renzo is in control.
I love the behind the scenes footage from this scene. David Lynch speaking with George Griffith in “Two Blue Balls” is such a joy to watch (especially knowing that George was already a super fan of Twin Peaks prior to being cast in the series). It’s also super cool to see the marks (those “T” shapes) on the floor in Behind the Curtain – Part 13.
ENTERING THE ARM WRESTLING ROOM – NOVEMBER 12, 2015
The Arm Wrestling room scenes were shot on November 12-13 according to Behind the Curtain.
Mr. C is the first to enter the Arm Wrestling room. As he walks down the ramp, Renzo delivers a punch to his head from “the Nursery School Teacher.”
Here’s the same ramp and room.
Mr. C turns to look at Renzo. You’ll notice they covered up many of the windows during the shoot. Probably helped with overexposure and blown highlights.
Renzo and Mr. C make their way to the arm wrestling table. Again, notice how many of the windows were covered during filming.
Shooting continued on November 12, 2015.
Muddy explains the rules as Renzo and Mr. C take a seat.
Rules!
Starting positions.
Wrestling arm on table.
Other hand cannot touch table.
Hands up!
Grip.
Do not start until I say.
After checking if Renzo and Mr. C are ready, Muddy yells, “Commence arm wrestling!”
The battle between Mr. C and Renzo begins. I’ll save you the back and forth as we all know how it goes.
One thing I noticed, however, in the Behind the Curtain footage was what appeared to be GoPro cameras taped to the table. That’s a creative use of those cameras to get very unique shots.
PUNCHING RENZO – NOVEMBER 13, 2015
With the majority of the arm wrestling scene captured on November 12, the crew returns to ACME Wiping & Materials for a third day of shooting. This time, it will feature Mr. C punching Renzo, Ray Monroe’s death scene and the Accountant.
David Lynch is seen talking with the talented Carey Jones who created the Make-Up Effects for this scene. I love how Lynch simulates Mr. C’s punch. Notice gang members getting make-up done behind the Renzo dummy.
After a few back-and-forth exchanges, Mr. C gets fed up with the contest and snaps Renzo’s arm.
He stands and punches the dummy Renzo. I wonder if the shot of Mr. C standing is from the mounted GoPro camera. You can see Mr. C’s fist push in the dummy head. Blood splatter effects were later added by BUF who created all the CGI effects for Season 3.
Derek Mears is then shown laying on the floor covered with blood.
Mr. C becomes the boss. He asks for cell phones and for everyone to leave the room except for Ray.
SHOOTING RAY MONROE – NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Do you know how happy I am that the production dates were included in the Behind the Curtain footage? I would pay so much more to see all of the footage captured. Amazing stuff.
As the last gang member departs, Mr. C stands alone a the Arm Wrestling table.
Ray Monroe wants to talk but then tries to run, so Mr. C shoots him in the leg.
Kudos to Derek Mears who had to lay absolutely still in some shots with Mr. C and Ray Monroe.
Mr. C speaks with Ray but then notices the Accountant standing in the corner.
THE FARM ACCOUNTANT – NOVEMBER 13, 2015
Oh, the Farm Accountant (played by Christopher Durbin Noll). Talk about someone who steals the scene.
The Farm Accountant stayed behind to ask new boss Mr. C if he “needed any money.” Lynch giving direction to Christopher in Jason S’s film “Two Blue Balls” is priceless. Lynch is blocking the giant hole in the wall that appears next to the Farm accountant in the scene.
The Farm Accountant stands in the far right corner of the room, next to a hole in the wall.
Once Mr. C dismisses him, the Farm Accountant walks down a stairs.
These same stairs are seen earlier in the scene when more gang members arrive to watch the wrestling match.
They are also briefly scene as David Lynch and Peter Deming walk up the stairs in the Behind the Curtain footage from Part 13. Notice the hole on the left side of the screen.
RAY MONROE’S DEATH SCENE – NOVEMBER 13, 2015
After the Farm Accountant leaves, Ray discusses the Ring that he was given by a guard at Yankton Federal Prison. He was supposed to place it on Mr. C’s hand. Instead, Mr. C tells Ray to put it on the ring finger of his left hand. Ray is only one of six people who are seen wearing the ring in Twin Peaks. They also include Teresa Banks; Mike, the One-Armed Man / Phillip Gerard; Laura Palmer; Annie Blackburn; and the Nurse from The Missing Pieces.
Ray also hands Mr. C coordinates (which we later discover are false), and begins to tell him where Phillip Jeffries is located. As Ray explains that Jeffries is in “The Dutchmans” but that it’s “not a real place,” Mr. C shoots him.
Ray’s dead (which makes me sad as he was my favorite character from Season 3).
The Ring on Ray’s hand then disappears. Look carefully as it disappears as his ring finger moves ever so slightly. This is probably because someone had to physically remove it from Ray’s hand and moved the finger over a little when taking it off.
I close this article with a look at George Griffith at The Farm courtesy of his Instagram account, @BigLeeMarvinFan
Give him a follow!
