I’ve previously mentioned how much I adore Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me – it’s easily my favorite David Lynch film. You can probably imagine my delight when I finally saw The Missing Pieces in 2014, which contained extended and deleted scenes from this incredibly emotional film. One of those “pieces” was a scene where Laura Palmer and Donna Hayward take a joyride with Buck (Victor Rivers) and Tommy (Chris Pedersen) to a bar in Canada called The Power and The Glory. The location, like many others from the film, is actually found in Washington state.
WHERE IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY BAR LOCATED?
Most of this scene takes place at 27218 SE Kent-Kangley Road in Ravensdale, Washington. The coordinates for this spot are 47°21’28.9″N 121°58’43.7″W. It was pretty easy to find thanks to a logging company sign on a nearby building. More on that in a moment.
Here is a look at the Google Map with approximate locations where three of the scenes were shot.
I also took a short video from my visit on September 15, 2019. But there’s much more to explore in this deleted scene.
DRIVING TO THE POWER AND THE GLORY
After leaving the Roadhouse, the four of them pile into a car and head off into the night toward Canada. The describes this scene:
129. EXT. HIGHWAY 21 – NIGHT
The car barrels down the highway. It’s a beat up Chevy Biscayne, with a hot monster engine under the hood.
130. INT. CAR (BISCAYNE) – NIGHT
Tommy drives sitting next to a case of ice cold beer. Donna and Laura sandwich Buck in the back seat. Donna takes a long swig of beer. Laura hides a hit of cocaine from Donna.
DONNA
(to Laura, a little afraid)
What are you doing?
LAURA
Nothing.
The scene cuts to a road at night as the car barrels on in the darkness. There is a utility pole to the far right of the image. I attempted to locate this particular spot but without more detail, it was nearly impossible.
One thing I discovered, however, is the road footage is also used when James Hurley and Donna Hayward are riding in the dark. We’ll see more of that recycled footage in a moment.
The script continues:
Laura laughs at Donna then holds a beer up to show Donna, then turns and French kisses Buck. Donna reaches forward to the front dash and turns the radio up full blast. Buck and Tommy start to whoop and yodel like cowboys.
Buck does an Indian whoop in Laura’s face. Laura freezes in horror.
Of course, we don’t see any yodeling in the car.
The script continues with a flashback of the Little Man from Another Place (The Arm) yodeling. Something we saw earlier in the film from Laura’s dark boogie dream.
The script offers more not seen in the film or The Missing Pieces
132. INT. CAR (BISCAYNE)/HIGHWAY 21
Slowly Laura reaches over and touches Buck’s face and arm. Buck uncorks another yodel. The fear leaves Laura.
DONNA
(to Laura)
I’m goin’ for it.
Donna starts making out with Buck.
In the filmed scene, Donna appears more hesitant and shocked at Laura’s behavior.
ONE DOG BARK
The script mentioned that Donna turns up the radio. I LOVE the track “One Dog Bark” that is used for this scene. It was recently made available on the long-awaited album from The Thought Gang. I remember being completely surprised at hearing it when I first watched The Missing Pieces. Why?
Before hearing it with the driving scene, I had associated “One Dog Bark” with Lynch’s 2001 masterpiece Mulholland Drive The track is heard during the dinner party toward the end of the film. It quickly became one of my holy grail tracks from Lynch’s works.
In fact, I nearly jumped out of my skin when Dean Hurley played “One Dog Bark” at Copro Gallery during the 20th anniversary of “Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me” exhibit in April 2012. Outside of Mulholland Drive or Dean’s set, I never thought I’d ever own it.
Considering the track was created around the same time as “A Real Indication,” it makes sense that Lynch would have used it in Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me. I bet when this scene was cut, the track was also cut from the official soundtrack. It was definitely worth the wait to finally get it in 2018!
DRIVING CONTINUES TO THE BAR
The scene cuts back to the road at night. I really thought I could identify the spot where the top two images where shot.
Using the “Mile 16” marker sign and the speed limit sign, I search multiple spots around the Seattle area. No luck. I haven’t given, up but it looks like this scene will remain a “missing location piece” for now.
I love the shot of Laura laughing in the back seat. Sheryl Lee really gave 200% for every scene in this film. The first part of this scene ends with Tommy concentrating while driving in the dark.
PULLING INTO THE LOT
The scene cuts to Tommy’ car passing a logging truck while approaching a gravel parking lot. The script pretty much describes the action:
133. EXT. BORDER TRUCK STOP – NIGHT
Establish. Tommy takes the car like a rocket into the parking lot and does a complete three sixty before rocking to a stop. Several big rigs shadow the lot. They all pop out of Buck’s car sporting “long necks”.
This image Kent-Kangley Road shows the approximate location of where Tommy’s car approached the parking lot. I drove down to the spot from North Bend and Snoqualmie on September 15, 2019
Sadly, the gravel parking lot is no more – it’s now paved.
Tommy’s car spins around the gravel parking lot in front of a building that was once owned by Bremmeyer Logging. Built in 1966, this building was most recently home to Weise Choice Restoration (which may have closed as of early 2019).
The scene cuts to a higher view of Tommy’s car spinning 360-degrees in the parking lot. The Cooper Tire sign is long gone today but I found a reference about it from a 1988 Seattle Times article via the Black Diamond History website.
“Hang a sharp right at the Cooper Tire sign outside the Bremmeyer Logging Co. shop, breeze through a shady patch of Douglas firs, and there it squats on a distant back corner of King County’s park at Ravensdale: the Gracie Hansen Building.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if the crew used this balcony overlooking the gravel parking lot to capture the shot.
This is the shot that helped me identify the location. Look carefully and you’ll notice a sign for Bremmeyer Logging on the building.
A quick internet search on Google Maps revealed the spot located at 27024 Kent-Kangley Road. Since 2004, the building has been occupied by Weise Choice Restoration.
When Tommy’s car finally comes to a stop, we can get a better look at the make and model. While the script called for a Chevy Biscayne, the on-screen car is a 1977 Chevy Impala.
PARKING LOT PRE-PARTY
Another great shot of Laura Palmer who just exited Tommy’s car for a little pre-party before entering the bar.
The background is out of focus but most likely they shot the scene in this direction.
From the script:
Laura takes a hit of cocaine and looks up to see Donna watching.
Buck circles Donna with his big arm and puts a toot under her nose.
DONNA
No.
(turns to Laura)
I don’t need to take this to be you friend.
Buck ends up snorting the cocaine he offered to Donna.
Laura delivers one of my favorite lines from this scene which is also found in the script (along with a few more words). Seems like an out-of-focus logging truck is behind Laura.
LAURA
YES YOU DO, DONNA. What a downer you are!!!
Buck yells to Tommy that Jacques Renault beat them to the bar. Look carefully and you’ll see they have been drinking Rainier beer.
LOGGING TRUCK
Tommy tells Buck and the girls to hold on as he is “chokin’ the farm fed.”
As Tommy zips up his pants and walks toward the bar, he throws his empty beer bottle. In the back ground we see a semi which we have seen before.
The truck looks similar to one seen in Episode 2001 and in an ABC television network promo for the Pilot Episode..
The logging truck, a 1972 Kenworth W-900 A, was owned by Littlejohn Logging, Inc. It appears the company today may be known as NorthFork Enterprises, Inc., established by Clayton Littlejohn, who has been in the logging business for more than 30 years.
RAVENSDALE TAVERN
The group walks toward the bar as several logging trucks pass along the road outside. The script describes the location as a Boarder Truck Stop, but today it is home to McDonough & Sons Inc. Sweepers.
According to my research, the building was constructed in 1918. Ravensdale was once a mining town until a terrible coal mining accident in the early 1900s drove the population and businesses away. If I had a nickel for every website I visited trying to find history about this spot before McDonough & Sons moved in, I’d be dead.
Thanks to King County Property Records, I located the bar’s name – Ravensdale Tavern. Bonnie Beidler filed a permit for some work around 1990, and the building was sold around 1993. Granted the address listed above is for the house adjacent to the property. It’s unclear if Ms. Beidler lived in that house at the time and worked / owned the tavern.
On May 8, 1995, Theresa Garrett sold the property to Dolores Stevens. She in turn sold it to Bill Bremmeyer on September that year. Mr. Bremmeyer owned the garage building with gas pumps to the left of the tavern.
He then sold the property to the current owners, the McDonoughs, on July 13, 1999. At some point they incorporated Leprechaun Properties LLC and the property was transferred to that company on July 1, 2012
Ravensdale Tavern is mentioned in this “Voice of the Valley” article from June 7, 1978 about boat race:
“Ravensdale Tavern and Caruso’s were scratched due to broken oarlocks, and Ernie’s tipped over.”
The bar was also mentioned on page 457 of Robert D. Keppel’s “The Riverman,” which documents the search for the Green River Killer. Supposedly, he was known to frequent the establishment.
A 1986 Seattle Times article on the Black Diamond History website briefly mentioned the town of Ravensdale:
“The rowdy mining town of Ravensdale earned a historical footnote by becoming the only town in King County ever to disincorporate.”
An article in the Maple Valley Reporter from 2012 stated “Ravensdale was owned by Northwest Improvement Company (NWI), a subsidiary of Northern Pacific, who later purchased the coal mines. The town was officially incorporated Aug. 15, 1913, and had about 1,000 residents. In all, 230 miners were employed.”
If the buildings and property were owned entirely by the company, then perhaps this location was a former bar created by NWI for their workers. Who knows? I remain hopeful that one day I’ll find photos from the early 1990s when the bar was operational.
ENTERING THE POWER AND THE GLORY
As Buck enters the bar, he shouts “Woo-hoo!” which could have been a reference to the whooping that was in the original script. There is a small sign by the entrance that reads, “I could be a prince but it is more fun being a horny toad.”
I visited the location on a Sunday so McDonough & Sons Inc. Sweepers was closed.
As the door opens, we can see two signs on the door. The smaller of the two reads, “Shoes & Shirts Requires. Bras and panties optional.”
The larger sign includes words by cowboy poet S. Omar Barker that was included with artwork created by Bill Hampton in the early 1970s for Leanin’ Tree Publishing Company:
“Bill Hampton’s Old Gold Tooth became Leanin’ Tree’s first birthday card after Ed Trumble commissioned Western poet S. Omar Barker to compose the following verse to accompany the image: ‘May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard/Disturb the joy-juice in your gizzard!/And may you camp where wind won’t hit you/Where snakes won’t bite and bears won’t git you/Happy Birthday'”
I wish I could have gone inside. More than likely the frame of the house is the same but they rebuilt so much of the entrance, etc.
INSIDE THE BAR
The script describes this scene:
The front room is a bar and restaurant with about THREE PATRONS. Above the bar is a sign that reads:
CAN – A – DO and U.S. OF FUCKIN’ “A”
The BARTENDER presses a release underneath the counter that allows Laura to take her three friends thru a door over which a sign hangs announcing in red neon letters:
“PARTYLAND”
In the filmed scene, Laura acknowledges the bartender Dennis by name, and the sign above the bar is there.
I believe it was created by the crew and placed over the existed bumper sticker-filled area above the bar (you can see little glimpses of the bottom of those stickers with humorous phrases).
The camera pans left to right to capture the entire handmade image. I combined each individual frame into this massive image (Click to enlarge).
As Laura and company head towards the Private door toward the back of the bar, we catch a glimpse of horns to the left of the screen. Perhaps it’s because I just watched the beautiful Criterion transfer of Blue Velvet but the horns reminded me of ones found at the Slow Club.
As the door closes, we see it’s a private entrance to The Power and the Glory. We also hear the familiar percussion and guitar from “The Pink Room” playing in the distance.
THE POWER AND THE GLORY
In the script, the original name for this bar was “PARTYLAND.” Could it be a reference to the Lord’s Prayer which includes the sentence, “For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever, amen?” The name was was also used as book title by British author Graham Greene (1940).
Lou Reed has a song with a similar title (“Power and Glory“) on his January 1992 release “Magic and Loss.” I thought the name could have been a nod to Reed since we later hear him perform a song in Lynch’s Lost Highway. Yet, principle photography for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me wrapped on October 31, 1991 in the Washington state area. It’s highly unlikely they returned to Ravensdale in 1992 to shoot this particular scene.
As for the infamous Pink Room scenes were shot on a set in Van Nuys, California. The building doesn’t appear to have a space large enough to accommodate what we see on screen (band, dancers, booths, etc.). Charlotte Fraisse’s shooting diary from the film confirms this detail.
