Love Letter to Pat Cokewell, former owner of the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, Wash.

The Double R Diner in Mark Frost and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks is one of the most iconic diners in television history. Known as the place “where pies go when they die,” the fictional restaurant is based on a real place you can visit in North Bend, Washington. When Frost and Lynch filmed the pilot episode in February 1989, Pat Turpin Cokewell owned and operated the small town business known then as the Mar-T Cafe (it’s Twede’s Cafe today). Once Frost and Lynch’s groundbreaking series debuted in April 1990, fans from around the world flocked to her cafe in search of cherry pie and “damn fine” coffee, a tradition that continues under current owners Rachel and Max. Pat recently passed peacefully at the age of 95 on April 22, 2026. This is my love letter to a kind soul who cared deeply for others and created joy for hundreds of thousands of people visiting the Real Twin Peaks in Snoqualmie Valley.

WHO IS PAT COKEWELL?

Patsy “Pat” Victoria Turpin Cokewell was born on January 21, 1931 in Granville County, North Carolina Nathaniel Clay Brummitt and Annie Belle Harris Brummitt. She had six sisters and brothers – Evelyn B. Tefft, Isabel C. Brummitt, Dennis Brummitt, Mary Frances Brummitt, Nat T. Brummitt, and Ann B. Averitt – and was married three times to husbands Frank Lane, Gene Hodges, and Bob Cokewell.

Bob and Pat were married on March 22, 1980 and the couple remained united until his passing on August 18, 2002.

She had several children including Frank Lane (Kathy), David Lane (Cathey), Ben Lane (Jennifer), Nancy Lane, Jeannie Bowers (Jim), Carolyn Rodenhuis (Will) and the children of her late husband Bob; Steve Cokewell (Laura), Mark Cokewell (Mary), and Kim Brands (Sonny). She also had numerous much-loved grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Pat graduated high school and would later attend business school before relocating to Washington state in 1968. Her education would became incredibly important after she assumed ownership of the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, Washington on April 29, 1976. She operated the cafe, notable for serving as the film location of the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks, until she sold it to Kyle Twede in July 1997.

In 1984, Pat served as President of the North Bend Chamber of Commerce. In 1986, she was honored as Woman of Achievement by Mt. Si Business and Professional Women, and from 1988 to 1989 she served as President of Business and Professional Women. She was also a member of Snoqualmie United Methodist church and “attended regularly as long as she was able.”

From 1992 to 2009, Pat catered three meals a day at the Washington State Fire Training Academy located near Olallie State Park outside of North Bend.

“I thoroughly enjoyed that,” she told Carol Ladwig for a 2017 Snoqualmie Valley Record article. “The firemen were so nice, and we saw so many animals there.”

Cokewell recalled the time a black bear came onto the porch of the camp kitchen, a few hundred feet away from firefighters who were assembled for a drill.

“We had ribs cooking that night, and I’m sure it smelled good to him,” Cokewell said. “I ran out the back door.”

In 1997, she was presented with the Key to the City of North Bend, a “fitting recognition of the many ways she had enriched the town she called home.” She retired in 2009, just one month before turning 80, still admired for “her endurance and her work ethic.”

Twenty years later in 2017, she was honored as Grand Marshal for the Festival of Mount Si, a community celebration in Snoqualmie Valley formerly known as Alpine Days. Jill Massengill, chairperson for the 2017 festival explained why Pat was selected for this prestigious honor.

“One of the reasons that we picked her is that she represents an involved, caring, talented citizen.” explained Massengill in an August 8, 2017 article in the Snoqualmie Valley Record. “She ran a business and she was active in the Chamber [of Commerce], and was active in planning Alpine Days … She, to me, represents that kind of involved citizen spirit, that I appreciate. When I see somebody who has paved the way for the rest of us, I appreciate that about her.”

Pat carried “strength, determination, and a strong work ethic” her entire life which would both define her character and bless many people she met.

Pat passed peacefully on April 22, 2026 in Kirkland, Washington. A celebration of life service and reception will be held at Snoqualmie United Methodist Church at a later date with details to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites memorial gifts for Pat B. Cokewell to Snoqualmie United Methodist Church, 38701 SE River St, Snoqualmie, WA 98065.

WHAT IS THE MAR-T CAFE IN NORTH BEND, WASHINGTON?

Roy Thompson once operated a small restaurant in downtown North Bend called Thompson’s Cafe. In 1940, he constructed the building that now houses Twede’s Cafe (formerly Mar-T Cafe) and moved his operation to the location at the corner of Bendigo Boulevard and North Bend Way.

Frank Marsolais and Don Tift purchased the restaurant from the Thompson family in 1952 and renamed in Mar-T Cafe. The cafe’s name was taken from the new owners’ last names – the “MAR” from Marsolais and “T” from Tift.

At one point, the iconic Mid-Century Modern sign was turned so travelers headed toward Snoqualmie Pass via North Bend Way could spot the restaurant. Eventually, Frank and Don parted ways and they flipped a coin to see who would maintain control of the Mar-T. Frank won so Don opened Tift House (known today as the Pour House) just down the street from the diner.

The cafe was sold again to Margit Haverson and Josephine Tinglestad Anderson who operated it from 1971 to 1976.

They purchased the restaurant in April 1971 from Mrs. Darlyne McCrea who had operated the business since the passing of her father, Frank Marsolais. Graduates of Mount Si High School, Haverson and Anderson worked for the original Mar-T Cafe owners for 12 years. They would continue using some of Frank’s recipes for sauces and soups and will kept the popular “Minute Lunch” on the menu.

Pat Turpin Cokewell stared working at the cafe on April 11, 1971, just three days after ownership changed hands.

PAT TURPIN-COKEWELL AND THE MAR-T CAFE

On April 25, 1976, Haverson and Anderson suddenly closed the cafe and announced it was sold to Isabel Davis and Pat Turpin-Cokewell. The sudden closure was a “practical approach to saving the cafe’s business.” Union picketers had been marching in front of the restaurant for eight months, and with no resolution in sight, the owners felt this was the best solution to move forward. The picketers had been using parking spaces outside the restaurant which was negatively impacting paying customers.

Haverson would continue working in the restaurant business overseeing the Mount Si Golf Course, while Anderson would devote her time to being a stay-at-home mother upon the birth of her child.

A grand re-opening event for the Mar-T Cafe under Pat’s direction was held on Thursday, April 29, 1976 with free coffee and cake. The cafe established new hours of operation, 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily. For the next two decades, she would transform the restaurant into “a gathering place where neighbors met, friendships were formed, and visitors were welcomed with the kind of hospitality that reflected her own heart.”

On March 19, 1977, she hosted a steak dinner for the Mount Si High School basketball team, including the coaches and their wives, after the team won the state championship. This unexpected gesture remained a cherished memory for many Snoqualmie Valley residents in the decades that followed.

Pat even ran a newspaper advertisement in the Snoqualmie-North Bend Valley Record on Thursday, March 17 where she invited everyone in town to stop by and congratulate the team. That night, combo meals featuring hot dogs or hamburgers paired with fries and a Coke were only $1.50!

“It was a restaurant full,” she recalled in a Snoqualmie Valley Record article. The team’s bus pulled up right in front of the restaurant, she said, with the driver honking the horn, the cheerleaders whooping and everyone applauding.

“They were just making noise, because we could do that in North Bend then,” she laughed.

Pat was at the cafe the day a location scout name Julie Duvic visited in February 1989. Duvic was searching for a small town diner for David Lynch and Mark Frost’s television pilot known then as “Northwest Passage”. Cokewell explained how the cafe came to be the most recognizable diner in the world during a rare 1993 interview.

“A [location scout] came to see me and she said we looked at your place and another cafe to use in ‘Twin Peaks’ and asked if [my restaurant] could be used in [the show],” Cokewell remembered. “I said, ‘Oh sure.’ She said David Lynch would be up on the weekend and they would decide what which [cafe] they were going to use. It was about two weeks later that they came and started to filming for the series.”

The first day of filming for the Twin Peaks pilot was held on February 21, 1989. The first scenes filmed were at the Mar-T Cafe, as seen in the photo below of David Lynch directing Dana Ashbrook and Mädchen Amick in the restaurant’s parking lot.

Pat said the diner was “closed for three days while they were filming and they were in and out [of the restaurant].”

“I gave them the key, and said to just lock up when they left,” Cokewell told Snoqualmie Valley Record’s Carol Ludwig’s in 2017. “Then they asked if they could eat something, some pie, while they were there. I said ‘yes, just make a mark (on a receipt) for each piece and I’ll charge you later.’”

In 2013, long-time Twin Peaks fan Dugpa would found himself in an editing bay at an Iron Mountain facility when he found something special.

“I was searching through hundreds of reels of footage for deleted scenes to present to David Lynch for Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery on Blu-ray. You can imagine my shock and pure delight when we uncovered a deleted nighttime Double R diner shot from the pilot.”

“Instead of Peggy Lipton, Pat Cokewell was seen behind the Mar-T Cafe counter in a Double R Diner uniform,” continued Brian. “It was just one quick shot hidden among stacks of 35mm reels, but unmistakably Pat! We ensured it made it to the box set and can be found in the ‘Atmospherics’ Menu for Disc 3.”

MAR-T CAFE: THE PLACE WHERE PIES GO WHEN THEY DIE

The crew purchased several pies during location filming in 1989.

“[David Lynch’s] favorite [was] peanut butter chocolate,” said Cokewell in an October 2, 1990 article published in The Spokesman-Review. This note was something I recall hearing when I first met Pat at the Mar-T during the 1996 Twin Peaks Fan Festival.

Pat was pleasantly surprised when cherry pie took center stage in April 1990.

“The thing about Pat Cokewell is that there is no way for any of us to know what Twin Peaks would have been like without her pies being served across the street from David Lynch’s and Mark Frost’s office in North Bend,” said Twin Peaks author, Blue Rose Magazine mastermind and one-time Twede’s Cafe employee, Scott Ryan. “Think about it. There really isn’t any pie mentions about the Double R in the pilot episode, but the series is full of them.”

Doughnuts (known as a “Policeman’s Dream“) are at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department in the pilot, but the only pie mentioned in that premiere episode is Special Agent Dale Cooper’s detailing a receipt from The Lamplighter Inn in a recorded memo to Diane as he enters the small Washington state town.

“Frost and Lynch wrote the series after spending those few weeks in North Bend and those first scripts are filled with pie (and secrets),” Scott continued, “She made that happen and the series became synonymous with pie and coffee She was an influence on what the show became, and I am so glad I got to meet her and thank her at the Neon Dream event in August 2023.”

After the show aired, Cokewell and master pie maker Garnet Cross, couldn’t keep pies in stock. Every day, Cross made freshly baked pies ready for the 11:00 a.m. lunch rush. By 2:00 p.m., all the pies were gone!

“Garnet could only make so many,” Pat said in 2017. “But it was just wonderful to watch her work.”

The pie recipe was a closely guarded secret. She refused to say exactly what the recipe contained, but she did require all pies to have a “tender crust” (as detailed in this Twin Peaks Blog article).

Pat and Garnet provided their world-famous cherry pie when Seattle-based radio station KSLY held a season one finale viewing party on May 23, 1990. More than 100 fans gathered in the ballroom at Salish Lodge and Spa to enjoy pie and coffee as they watched the cliffhanger-filled episode directed by Mark Frost.

From August 1992 through 1997, Twin Peaks fans who attended the previously organized fan festivals had many opportunities to meet Cokewell. She acquired lots of memorabilia in the seven years before selling the restaurant to Kyle Twede.

Posters, clippings and other ephemera were placed throughout the cafe during and after the show’s initial run. I remember seeing a framed poster of Special Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman along the diner’s back wall when I visited for the first time in August 1996.

“I first met Pat Cokewell at the 2001 Twin Peaks Festival and I’ll never forget her kindness,” recalled Dugpa. “It was my first time attending, and after being a fan for so long, the idea of being able to meet her was thrilling. What struck me most was that even after selling the diner in 1997, she was still so deeply engaged with the Twin Peaks community, bringing her incredible pies and charm to the picnic! More than anything, I remember her kindness, her patience, and her willingness to share her stories. She spoke about what it was like to have David Lynch filming at her diner for both the Pilot and Fire Walk With Me, captivating the 300 fans gathered at the Festival picnic that weekend.”

Ten years later, in 2023, Dugpa had the chance to see Pat again.

“We were planning our Neon Dream campaign and the sign lighting ceremony, and it meant a great deal to me to have Pat there,” explained Dugpa. “She graciously accepted. We met at Twede’s Cafe the day before the lighting, and she sat down with me for an interview for my documentary. Then at 92 years old, she was sharp as a whistle! She shared the full history of Thompson’s, the Mar-T, Twede’s, her pies and a number of stories I had never heard before. We talked for over an hour, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have captured those stories. I hope to share my documentary sometime next year.”

Years later, my fellow author and prop hunter, Vinnie Guidera, acquired a Mar-T Cafe business card from Pat, complete with her hyphenated last name. It’s a unique collectible from the early days of Twin Peaks mania.

I reconnected with Pat in August 2023 during the Neon Dream event when the Kickstarter-funded neon “RR” sign returned to the cafe’s sign. I had not seen her since our initial encounter 27 years earlier. What a joy to be reunited with someone who’s dedication Snoqualmie Valley is still felt today.

During that warm Summer night outside Twede’s Cafe in August 2023, Pat had a front-row seat as the Pacific Northwest’s “magickal” duo, Wisteria Lodge, played when the red neon sign was illuminated for the first time.

I can only imaging what she was thinking during the show. Thirty-three years earlier, Frost and Lynch put the Mar-T Cafe on the map. In that time, thousands of fans have enjoyed a delicious meal, endless slices of cherry pie and plenty of damn fine cups of coffee in the diner she operated for decades. Her spirit is still felt with every slice of pie served.

Thank you Pat for playing a part in the wonderful and strange community of Twin Peaks. My thoughts are with all who loved and knew her. Next time you are at Twede’s Cafe, order an extra slice of cherry pie in honor of her memory and spirit of service to others.