Twin Peaks Film Location – Owl Cave

After a tip from Annie Blackburn at the Double R Diner, Special Agent Dale Cooper and the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department descend into a cool, subterranean cave in Episodes 2018 and 2019. This “cave” in southern California has been the setting for numerous films and television shows, including one with a famous caped crusader. So grab your gear and let’s go spelunking in the film location for Owl Cave.

Owl Cave is actually Bronson Cave located in Bronson Canyon at 3200 Canyon Drive in Los Angeles, California. The approximate coordinates for this location are 34°07’16.0″N 118°18’49.4″W. The cave is located in the southwest section of Griffith Park making it easily accessible from Hollywood.

HISTORY OF BRONSON CANYON AND CAVE

The Union Rock Company founded Brush Canyon Quarry in 1903. Extracted rock from this quarry was crushed and then used to construct local city streets. The quarry closed in the 1920s which left behind the man-made caves.

These caved tunnels later became known as Bronson Caves, taking their name from the same nearby street that late actor Charles Bronson used as his stage name.

According to a Los Angeles Times article in 2003 by Bob Pool, there are differences of opinion about the origin of the cave. Some suspect it was constructed for the 1922 movie “Robin Hood,” starring Douglas Fairbanks. But  Griffith Park Ranger Mark Renteria said “the cave was left behind from the rock-mining. And the tunnel’s insides went everywhere.”

“The rocks were used for everything from roads to railroad tracks to the breakwater at San Pedro,” he said.

It’s difficult to list the number of shows and films shot here. The image above captures only a handful including Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Searchers, Robot Monster, and the 1966 Batman television show. SecretTimes.com has an even more extensive list here.

I visited Bronson Cave on May 27, 2013. After taking a wrong turn and accidentally almost waking to the top of the Hollywood sign, I eventually stumbled upon the cave’s front side. The Batmobile rocketed out of this carved entrance each week in the 1960s Batman television series.

The cave is so close to Hollywood that you can clearly see the famous Hollywood sign.

OWL CAVE EXTERIOR

We’re first introduced to Owl Cave in Episode 2018 as described in the script by Robert Engels and Harley Peyton dated January 24, 1991. This action was printed on cherry-colored paper.

The scenes were shot on January 29-30, 1991.

EXT. OWL CAVE – NIGHT

Two police vehicles parked in the dark, their lights shining brightly upon the rock formations that enclose Owl Cave.

The entrance is found on the backside of the cave, not the Batmobile entrance side.

There are two cave entrances but you’ll want the one with a little lip.

Here is beardless me in 2013 comparing an image from Episode 2018 on my phone to take the perfect shot.

Forget the Hollywood sign. The Owl Cave spot is way more interesting.

ENTERING OWL CAVE

The action continues inside the cave pretty much as scripted:

INT. OWL CAVE – NIGHT

CUT TO:
START CLOSE on a pair of gloved hands desperately seeking purchase on a rocky wall. Flashlight beams illuminate the scene. Encouraging voices are HEARD:

TRUMAN, COOPER, HAWK:
That’s it, Andy. Careful. One hand at a time.

CAMERA PULLS back to reveal Andy’s head pressed against the wall, grimacing with effort, and not a little afraid. He grunts, hand over hand, as Truman and others shout instructions from below. Then, finally, with one last moan … Andy sinks out of frame like a stone.

Andy lands with a thud on the floor of Owl Cave. Flashlight beams criss-cross his features as Cooper, Truman, and Hawk huddle about him

COOPER
Are you all right?

ANDY
(determined to be the man of action)
I’m fine.

They part, help Andy to his feet. And turn their lights on the interior of the cave. It is a large, airy space filled with rocky outcroppings, strange shapes in the dark.

COOPER
Incredible.

There are three openings to this cave. I believe this scene was filmed along one of the walls. Andy pretended to be high-up, probably using an apple box to stand on. Google Maps user Matt Conant uploaded a 360-degree photo which I will also reference in this article (until I return sometime next year).

As the beams of light trip across the cave walls, Hawk intones:

HAWK
We used to play here when I was a kid. Pretend it was haunted by fierce ghosts.

Truman kicks something in the dark, picks it up. A beer can.

TRUMAN (deadpan)
Beer drinkers, by the look of it.

COOPER (fascinated by every detail)
Where is the symbol?

HAWK
This way.

Hawk swings his flashlight beam across the cave, illuminates the far wall. And a ROCKY SHAPE upon it. Cooper and Truman aim their beams as well, step closer.

COOPER
Yes …

I think the wall where the lights shine is this one between the two openings. It’s the only smooth wall inside the cave.

FINDING THE SYMBOL IN OWL CAVE

To give the appearance the team moved deeper into the cave, the crew moved the camera. In reality, they just walked from the back entrance and around the corner.

The script continues:

The rocky symbol is a rough-hewn rendering of Cooper’s drawing. An easily discernible shape extruding from the cave wall. It does not appear to be man-made.

The camera slowly pans up the symbol which I have combined into one larger image.

The cave drawing is very similar to Cooper’s napkin sketch that combined Major Briggs and the Log Lady’s tattoos.

Here’s the whole image from the cave wall. The wall is fake, of course, as we’ll see in a little bit.

COOPER (to self)
Two symbols combined into a larger whole. But for what purpose?

TRUMAN (the skeptic)
I don’t know, Coop. It’s similar, there’s no denying that.
[Ed. Note – In the broadcast version he says, “Don’t know. Beats me.”]

COOPER
It’s more than similar, Harry. [Ed. Note - Cooper doesn’t say this line]
The tattoos are a question. And this, somehow, is the answer.

ATTACK OF THE OWLS

There is some deleted dialogue from Cooper in this scene just before an owl goes berserk.

Andy listens gravely, pick-axe over his shoulder, afraid. He flashes his light upon the symbol, forces himself a little closer. As if determined to contribute despite his fears.

COOPER
Why do they call it Owl Cave?

SUDDENLY: an owl’s SHRIEK to wake the dead, the FLAPPING of enormous wings, something passes through the shadows overhead. Several things happen simultaneously:

Cooper, Hawk, and Truman whip their flashlights toward the passing sounds, but find nothing.

If the owl looks vaguely familiar, it’s because it’s the same one from the end of Episode 2009 that flies toward the camera at Owl Pipe.

The owl was provided by Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife (not the comedian) for Episode 2009. On October 26, 1990, director Todd Holland with a camera operator named “Sparks” filmed several takes of the owl flying and sitting in front of a blue screen.

This footage was then superimposed over location footage from Bronson Cave.

AXING THE OWL CAVE SYMBOL

The action continues as the owl flies throughout the cave:

Andy yips, panics, and whirls about. His pick-axe STRIKING the cave symbol with a mighty blow. Rocks chip and tumble, a sort of whooshing rumble is heard … and a small LANDSLIDE tumbles down upon his head.

TRUMAN
Andy!

All rush to his side, claw through the rocks and detritus. Andy lays beneath, bruised, stunned, but essentially unharmed.

Interestingly, they chose not to reveal the entire cave painting once Andy hit the symbol with his axe. Instead, we see a diamond from the cave tattoo painting fall out of the wall.

The next pink pages of the script were revised by Engels and Peyton on January 21, 1991. None of this dialogue appears in the broadcasted episode.

ANDY
What was that?

COOPER
(he stands, preoccupied)
An owl.

ANDY
I’m sorry. I destroyed a national monument.

TRUMAN
Forget it, Andy. It’s just a rock. The important thing –
(notices Cooper’s expression) Coop?

Instead of the entire cave painting, the diamond opening reveals a stone dowel with a stylized owl symbol on the end.

ANDY
What have I done?

COOPER
(Seeing the dowel)
Fellas, coincidence and fate figure largely in our lives.

The Owl Cave symbol will later appear in Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me and Season 3 on Showtimes. It’s a separately article begging to happen. Meanwhile, I found this higher-res image of the symbol on the website for the Twin Peaks 30th Anniversary Celebration in April 2020. If you haven’t registered, please do so as I’d love to see you there!

The scripted version of this scene is much different than the broadcast version. Cooper’s “wonderful and strange” line, however, remains (which is a great thing since I use that line all the time to describe Twin Peaks).

Cooper isn’t listening. He’s shining his light on the cave wall, the section revealed by the slide. His eyes are filled with wonder.

TRUMAN
What is it?

COOPER
I’m not sure.

Cooper steps forward, their beams join his to illuminate the wall. And there, partially obscured by the rock that remains, is a CAVE PAINTING of startling color and design.

TRUMAN
Good God.

(reaching out to touch it)
It appears to be a hieroglyph. We’ll need the proper tools to excavate. Harry, I have no idea where this will lead us. But I have a feeling, a definite feeling, it will be a place both wonderful and strange.

Cooper reaches out to touch the mysterious design. HOLD ON the cave painting for a beat. The rocky formation that once hid it from view.

They call it a “hieroglyph” in the script, not a petroglyph. It’s something that seems to be dubbed in the broadcasted episode.

The script also explains why the team leaves the cave thus allowing WIndom Earle to discover the drawing. They needed excavation tools which is something they didn’t have.

The scene ends with the superimposed owl flying out of the cave.

WINDOM EARLE AT OWL CAVE

Enter Windom Earle. He has followed the team to Owl Cave and makes his way thorough the darkness toward the end of Episode 2018.

From what I can gather, Earle enters the cave from the front. The fake wall with the petroglyph was most likely placed in the foreground of the image above. You can see it shake when Andy the diamond first falls out of the wall.

A completely surreal experience to be standing in Owl Cave. I love the latter half of Season 2 so visiting this film location was a treat!

The script picks up the action though there is much more shot than scripted. When you watch the episode, pay attention to this image above. They recycle it.

INT. OWL CAVE – NIGHT

SUDDENLY – CAMERA follows a flashlight beam as it pierces the darkness inside Owl Cave. The beam splashes light upon the cave’s rocky walls, then, finally, holds on the landslide aftermath, the symbol’s fragment, the cave painting revealed beneath.

A beat. ANOTHER ANGLE reveals the man holding onto the flashlight, now staring intently at the cave painting. It is Windom Earle.

EARLE
(peering at painting)
My, my, my. What have we here?

Earle discovers the dowel inside the diamond cutout.

He makes the connection that it has to be turned after seeing an upside down symbol on the ceiling.

He slowly turns the dowel counter-clockwise and steps back.

Once the dowel is turned upside down, the rest of the petroglyph will be revealed.

Here’s an upside down Owl Cave symbol for those playing along at home.

The axe is pushed out of the wall and the wall comes tumbling down.

EPISODE 2019 – RETURN TO OWL CAVE

Episode 2019 opens with Cooper and team returning to Owl Cave. The script written by Mark Frost and Harley Peyton was drafted between January 16, 1991 and February 7, 1991.

INT. OWL CAVE – DAY
OPEN ON the interior of Owl Cave, dark and silent.
Suddenly: VOICES coming closer.

COOPER, TRUMAN, etc. This way… careful Andy…

Flashlight beams illuminate the scene. AGENT COOPER, SHERIFF TRUMAN,
DEPUTY HAWK and DEPUTY ANDY enter. Cooper and Truman carry flashlights, backpacks filled with excavation equipment. Hawk holds a bright lantern. Andy is armed with sketch pad, pencils. All pause, turn toward the cave symbol. Cooper reacts with a curse.

COOPER
Dammit.

The painting has been tampered with, ten dowels, with obscure symbols attached, now extend from it, seemingly abstract, without obvious intent or meaning.

TRUMAN
But who…?

Hawk kneels at the base of the painting, casts lantern light upon the cave floor. He’s examining fresh tracks left in the dirt. Cooper steps toward him.

HAWK
I saw the same tracks outside the power station. Weight shift to the left foot. A break in the heel.

COOPER
Windom Earle.

TRUMAN
What would Earle be doing here?

COOPER
That’s a frightening question to contemplate.

(turns to face the others)
Andy. I need an accurate, large scale rendering of this painting. Harry, we need to speak to Major Briggs immediately .

TRUMAN (mystified, but supportive)
Whatever you say, Coop. I’ll call from the jeep.

Cooper nods assent. Truman exits. Hawk steps to Andy, casts additional light upon the painting as the deputy draws and copies.

In the broadcast version, Cooper’s dialogue is different

COOPER [to Andy]
Andy, I’m gonna need an accurate large-scale rendering of this petroglyph.

[to Truman]
Harry, let’s get Major Briggs on the horn.

TRUMAN
You want him to meet us at the station?

COOPER
That’s the ticket.

Cooper pivots, gazes at the mysterious image.
As if to wonder where it might lead him.