After Becky Burnett, daughter of Bobby and Shelly Briggs, steals her mother’s car and shoots the door to Gersten Hayward’s apartment, the family gathers in a booth at the Double R Diner to discuss her actions. There are three locations to this scene in Twin Peaks – Part 11 which were shot at and around the iconic Twede’s Cafe in North Bend, Washington.
WHERE IS THE DOUBLE R DINER LOCATED IN TWIN PEAKS?
Located at 137 W North Bend Way in North Bend, Washington, Kyle Twede purchased the restaurant in 1997 from Pat Cokewel who owned the establishment for 21 years. The building opened in 1941 by Roy Thompson as Thompson’s Cafe but was later renamed to Mar-T Cafe.
Today, the cafe is owned by Rachel and Max who still serve damn fine food, cherry pie and coffee that is black as midnight on a moonless night.
The scene opens with a nighttime establishing shot of the diner’s side as seen from Bendigo Boulevard. All of the action was captured during the evening of Wednesday, September 16, 2015.
BRIGGS FAMILY AT THE DOUBLE R DINER
The scene cuts to an interior shot of a booth on the right side of the diner. Deputy Bobby Briggs is sitting opposite his daughter Becky and his former wife Shelly.
Throughout the scene, the family discusses Becky’s situation with her husband Steven (how awesome to see my name in Twin Peaks – it’s even spelled correctly).
Norma Jennings listens to the Briggs’ discuss how Becky wants out of her marriage while at the same time professing how much she loves Steven. Bobby explains that his role as a Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Deputy kept Becky out of jail for firing a gun at Gersten’s apartment door.
Bobby and Shelly tell their daughter that she has pay for the damage she caused. Becky retorts that said she has no money as Steven spent all of it. Bobby will pay for the damages but Becky will have to pay him back. He then tells Becky that if Steven ever abused her or broke the law, he would bring him down.
SHELLY JOHNSON’S NECKLACE
In the image above, we see a ring hanging around Shelly’s neck. According to an interview by Sam Dean in Issue 3 of Us of America Magazine (February 2018), Mädchen Amick (Shelly Johnson) explains to Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Briggs) that it is their wedding ring.
It also broke my heart not to see them together in Season 3.
RED APPEARS OUTSIDE THE DOUBLE R DINER
While Becky Shelly share a warm embrace, Red (played by Balthazar Getty) appears in the diner’s parking lot.
He appears around the same spot where Mrs. Tremond and her grandson appear to Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me.
As Red approaches the diner window, he sees Shelly hugging her daughter.
There was no one in the diner except for the servers and kitchen staff the night I shot most of these images. I opened my laptop and went scene by scene, running back and forth, inside and out to get shots that matched the scenes. The servers were quite patient with my ridiculousness.
As soon as Shelly sees Red, she is overcome with joy. Her demeanor and attitude completely change.
Red signals Shelly to meet him around the front of the Double R.
Shelly beams and quickly excuses herself from the table.
The camera follows Shelly as she makes her way to the front door. Once there, Red and her share a kiss in full view of Bobby and Becky who are still seated at the table.
After her brief romantic meet-up with Red, Shelly enters the Double R Diner beaming.
SHOTS FIRED AT THE DOUBLE R DINER
After a beat, the camera cuts to the window next to the Briggs’ booth. Notice the small item attached to the upper right corner of the window.
BANG! It was part of the special effect making it appear the window was shot out.
The window and the light sconce are still found inside Twede’s Cafe today.
It’s wild to think those same windows are seen behind Shelly Johnson in the Pilot Episode more than 26 years earlier.
Deputy Briggs reacts by ducking to the floor.
I’m guessing not many people have taken shots of the floor in Twede’s Cafe like this. #Obsessed.
Norma tells Toad to turn off the kitchen lights.
Bobby slinks along the floor toward to the front door.
This part of the scene ends with Bobby, gun drawn, making his way toward the parking lot to investigate the shooting. I’ll detail the next part of this scene in a separate article.
