Here’s a deep cut that I enjoy as both a Twin Peaks prop aficionado and a Northern Californian – a postcard from Jacques Renault’s apartment in Twin Peaks episode 1.005.
BILL OWENS POSTCARD IN JACQUES’S APARTMENT
As Sheriff Truman and his team comb Jacques Renault’s apartment, Agent Cooper opens a cabinet with several postcards and photos affixed to the door. There is a close shot that hangs on one postcard before the camera tilts down.
This particular card features a photo of shirtless men with faces painted on their bellies taken by Bay Area photographer Bill Owens at the KNBR Good Times Parade in Pleasanton, California in 1972.
Owens was born in San Jose, California in 1938, raised in Sacramento County, and later settled into the East Bay. He came to popularity in the 1970s after releasing a book titled “Suburbia,” depicting middle class life in Livermore.
I can’t help but wonder if this photo worked its way into the show because Sacramento born set-dresser-turned-evil-spirit Frank Silva was a fan of Owens’ work as a fellow Northern Californian.
Despite Bill Owens residing in my own backyard, the only copy of this postcard I could find was from an eBay seller located in Budapest.
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