Real Twin Peaks 2025 – VIP Bus Tour of Twin Peaks Film Locations

Early on Sunday, Feb. 23, VIP ticket holders for the Real Twin Peaks 2025 event were invited on a bus tour of Twin Peaks film locations. The tours were facilitated by long-time fan Josh Eisenstadt and me with stops at several notable locations throughout Snoqualmie Valley, Washington.

VIP BUS TOUR OF TWIN PEAKS FILM LOCATIONS

Around 9:00 a.m., attendees gathered at the North Bend Park & Ride, 331 W North Bend Way, where Josh and I were waiting to take attendees on a film locations tour. Since we were unsure how many VIP Ticket holders would attend the tour, two Lily Coaches were arranged to transport guests. Co-organizer Mary Hütter had asked me to facilitate one of the tours the night before during the Twin Peaks High School Prom.

For years, I have been tracking film locations for Twin Peaks Blog, offering history of the locations and details around the show’s production. I was honored to join Josh who has offered these tours during previous fan fans over the years.

This was also a full-circle moment as I attended the bus tour held during the 1996 Twin Peaks Fan Festival. Long-time fan Travis Black, who facilitated that tour, captured this shot of me at the Mt. Si Motel in North Bend during the trek through the valley. Nearly 30 years later, I never thought I’d be playing tour guide for a show I love.

Dan Svensson provided the tour route that basically had the two busses circling in opposite directions. There was a microphone provided on each bus so Josh and I could provide stories and details about the tour.

This is the route for my bus, which I will use for a virtual tour in this article.

STOP #1 – BIG ED’S GAS FAMR AND NADINE’S HOUSE

The first stop for 10 minutes took VIP attendees to Big Ed’s Gas Farm and Nadine’s house seen in the Twin Peaks pilot.  The gas station is one of three locations used throughout the series and is located at 8606 Preston-Fall City Rd SE in Preston, WA. This was the farthest location we traveled for the bus tour.

The storefront was built in 1940 by Lawrence “Butch” Freedeen and his wife Agnes who were given $800 and a month to relocate their business when the construction of Hwy 10 forced them to move. They would end up operating Butchy’s Service Station & Grocery Store out of this storefront for nearly 40 years. The former gas station is now home to Balloon Designers.

The Fredeens also built and lived in the home across the street, just like Ed and Nadine Hurley.

STOP #2 – HAP’S DINER

We then continued down Preston-Fall City Road toward the town of Fall City. Passing by The Roadhouse Restaurant and Inn and the Bookhouse, we traveled to the former location of Hap’s Diner seen in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The former restaurant, once located at 4050 Fall City-Carnation Road Southeast in Fall City, was demolished in July 2024. We didn’t stop at the location, only using the gravel parking lot as a turn around.

In 1962, Bob Jones opened Bob’s Drive-In, a small 672-square-foot restaurant along the highway connecting the towns of Carnation and Fall City. Over the years, it had multiple owners and multiple names – The Other Place, Fall City Grill, and Fall City Bistro. During filming in September 1991, Richard Maki and Diane Lind owned the location named Fall City Grill. Flooding from the nearby Snoqualmie River had caused issues for the space throughout the years. By April 2017, the restaurant, then named Fall City Bistro, closed and the building sat vacant waiting to be demolished.

STOP #3 – ROADHOUSE / BOOKHOUSE

The bus circled back to pot-hole filled, dirt parking lot outside The Roadhouse Restaurant and Inn for a 20 minute stop. This film location is found at 4200 Preston-Fall City Rd SE.

Paul Holden built the original single-story Riverside Tavern at this site in 1925, near Riverside Campgrounds and a dance pavilion. Owner Mae Brown added a second story with guest rooms and changed the name to Riverside Tavern and Lodge in 1933.

In 1966, Ed DeGrace acquired the building, did some remodeling, and changed the name to the Colonial Inn, a restaurant enjoyed by the community for over twenty years.  Scott Krahling of Sammamish and Charlie Kellogg of Fall City purchased the building and business in 2005. After extensive refurbishing, they opened in 2008 as the Fall City Roadhouse. Long-time employees Cynthia Heyamoto and John Manning purchased the Roadhouse in 2018.

In the first two seasons and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the Roadhouse is white while in during Twin Peaks: The Return, the building appears grayish-blue.

Behind the Roadhouse is the exterior of The Bookhouse seen in the first two seasons of Twin Peaks. In the script, this location was once called Hemingway’s. According to King County’s property appraiser’s website, the 410-square foot building was constructed in 1930 and was last sold on August 12, 1994 by Helen Sorenson. It’s located on private property so there is no way to see inside the building.

Production documents state scenes at The Bookhouse and The Roadhouse were shot on March 11, 1989.

STOP #4 – SNOQUALMIE FALLS & SALISH LODGE / GREAT NORTHERN

A 40-minute stop at Snoqualmie Falls and Salish Lodge & Spa was the fourth stop on our tour. Both spots are found at 6501 Railroad Ave SE in Snoqualmie.

A sacred site to the Snoqualmie Tribe, Snoqualmie Falls is the second most visited natural landmark in Washington state behind Mount Rainier, with nearly 2 million visitors annually. With a breathtaking 268-foot waterfall cascading over granite rocks, it’s a beautiful site to behold. When we visited, the falls were overflowing with water causing a heavy mist to cloud camera images.

In the show, the falls were named White Tail Falls.

The Snoqualmie Falls Gift Shop and Visitor Center is a great place to learn about the importance of Snoqualmie Falls to the Snoqualmie Tribe. It also contains a merchandise shop and cafe.

Only the exterior of the Salish Lodge was used as The Great Northern Hotel in the series. Any interior scenes were either shot at Kiana Lodge in Poulsbo, Washington or on a set created in Southern California.

Built in 1916, the Salish Lodge & Spa was originally known as Snoqualmie Falls Lodge.  A popular halfway spot between Seattle and Snoqualmie Pass, the Lodge was well known throughout the region for hearty breakfasts and “Honey from Heaven” service where servers poured honey on biscuits from high above dining room tables (a tradition continued today).

By 1988, the Lodge had been remodeled as a 91-luxury room hotel and renamed as The Salish Lodge. In 1996, it was renamed again to Salish Lodge and Spa after a world-class spa was added to the property. Today, the Snoqualmie Tribe owns the hotel which was recognized in 2024 as Travel + Leisure’s #1 Best Resort in the West in their 500 list of Best Hotels in the World.

STOP #5 – SMOKEY JOE’S / CENTENNIAL LOG

After stopping at Snoqualmie Falls, the bus drove through downtown Snoqualmie. Along the way, we passed the giant Centennial Log seen in the opening credits of the Twin Peaks pilot and episode 2.001. The log is located on Railroad Avenue in the Railroad Community Park.

Snoqualmie Mayor Charles Peterson dreamed of displaying this giant log as an icon for the town. It was installed in August 1979 and remained uncovered for more than a decade. As Snoqualmie’s Centennial Celebration approached at the end of the 1980s, protecting the log became a community effort with funds being provided by townsfolk, businesses and even producers of Twin Peaks. Construction on the cover found at the site today started in 1989 and a roof was completed by 1992.

Just past the giant log you will find Smokey Joe’s which served as the film location for Elk Point #9 bar in Part 14 of Twin Peaks: The Return. The bar, located at 38600 SE King St., has a long history in Snoqualmie.

The building was originally a hotel with two floors but the second floor burned down in the 1960s. Smokey Joe’s was purchased by the Leland family in 2007. Prior to the Leland’s owning it, Baldwin “Baldy” Galloway and his wife Joanne ran the tavern from 1973 until 1992. The tavern was briefly named Ye Olde Lumberjacks prior to the Galloway’s purchasing it. The name wasn’t a favorite with locals so Baldy changed it back to Smokey Joe’s.

The scene between Sarah Palmer and the trucker from Part 14 took place inside. It was also on a short list of possible filming location during the Twin Peaks pilot.

STOP #6 – “IT’S YOUR FATHER” INTERSECTION / MO’S MOTOR (FORMERLY BY MT SI HS

The bus traveled through Snoqualmie turning onto Park Ave so we passed by the former Riverside Mobile Home part that served as the Fat Trout Trailer Park, the former Meadowbrook Hotel turned apartments that was used as Gersten Hayward’s apartment and the updated Mount Si High School which was the Twin Peaks High School in the pilot.

We then approached the famous intersection used in both Lynch’s 1992 film where Mike the One Armed Man confronts Leland and Laura Palmer and again in Part 6 where a little boy was killed by Richard Horne.

The former Brook Theatre that served as Mo’s Motors in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was demolished years ago.

We turned left at the intersection on to Meadowbrook Way SE to cross the Meadowbrook Bridge. This bridge was seen in both the pilot and Part 18.

STOP #7 – DIRT FISH / SHERIFF’S STATION + SAWMILL

After crossing Meadowbrook Bridge, we continued along Reinig Road, passing by Ronette’s Bridge and Sparkwood & 21. We turned onto 396th Drive SE to end up at DirtfFish Rally School, located at 7001 396th Drive SE Snoqualmie. This is the spot where the two buses converged to go in opposite directions. As my bus was arriving, Josh’s bus was departing. We stayed at this location for about 20 minutes.

DirtFish Rally School is home to the film location for the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department. This building, constructed around 1948, is the former administrative office for Weyerhaeuser’s Snoqualmie Lumber Mill. Outside, the DirtFish team parked a replica Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department Ford Bronco.

Inside, you can explore scenes from the pilot and Twin Peaks: The Return. They are also selling pieces of Lucy Brennan’s desk from the third season and a pin set with icons from the location.

Outside, a smokestack from the once sprawling lumber mill remains. It was part of a larger complex that was seen in the series.

STOP #8 – REINIG (RONETTE’S) BRIDGE / SPARKWOOD & 21 INTERSECTION

As the bus left Dirtfish, we traveled down 396th Drive toward a former railroad bridge that is affectionately known as Ronette’s Bridge. As we approached the bridge, we saw the intersection of Sparkwood & 21 seen in both Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Twin Peaks: The Return. It’s not an actual intersection but more of a curve in the road. The crew brought in a traffic light for the iconic scene of Laura Palmer jumping off James Hurley’s motorcycle.

In the distance, you can see the bridge. We parked and spent about 10 minutes at the site.

Constructed in 1916, the bridge was part of “the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific’s Everett Branch (CMStP&P), once an important source of timber and related freight on the railroad. Today it’s part of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail.

Mike Hogan, Executive Digital Director for Vanity Fair, tagged along on Josh’s tour. He snapped this photo of Josh speaking about the bridge for a story he wrote on Feb. 24, 2025.

Josh was standing in a spot where the Twin Peaks crew placed a camera to record Phoebe Augstine walk across the tracks for the pilot episode. I took part of my tour down to the same spot.

On the bridge, fans of the show have left dialogue from the show such as this one spoken by Special Agent Dale Cooper in episode 1.006.

STOP #9 – REINIG ROAD / WELCOME TO TWIN PEAKS SIGN SPOT

After stopping at the bridge, we traveled further down Reinig Road to the Welcome to Twin Peaks sign spot. The approximate coordinates for this location are 47.525452, -121.785446. We spent about 10 minutes snapping photos of the iconic road with Mount Si looming in the distance. The road was named after the Reinig family who moved to the region in the late 1800s.

In 2023, King County did a revetment project to ensure that the nearby Snoqualmie River wouldn’t wash away the road. This meant clearing out trees along the right side of the road and relocating utilities to the opposite side of the street.

STOP #10 – EJ ROBERTS PARK / CARL RODD’S BENCH

The final physical stop for my VIP Bus Tour was E.J. Roberts Park in North Bend which is home to Carl Rodd’s bench from Twin Peaks Part 6. The park is located 500 Thrasher Ave NE in North Bend and the exact coordinates where his bench is located are 47° 29′ 49.218″ N 121° 46′ 24.81″ W. The park was “formally dedicated on July 2, 1972” with land donated from Mr. Roberts according to R. Evans’ comment on a LivingSnoqualmie.com article from April 8, 2016.

Upgrades for the park were added in 2015 as “part of [North Bend’s] ongoing capital improvement projects” which included replacing a failing wooden pedestrian bridge that stretched across a floodway channel, a picnic shelter and new playground equipment (though the latter was later deemed unsafe and replaced in February 2019). The improved park was reopened on April 20, 2016. It’s also now home to a Disc Golf Course that opened in late August 2017 thanks to Eagle Scout Griffin Nicolino of local Boy Scout Troop 466.

STOP #11 – NORTH BEND WAY / BIG ED’S GAS FARM 2.0

The final locations were drive-by views only and included Big Ed’s Gas Farm from Twin Peaks: The Return. This is the third location used for Ed’s business which is now home to The Line Bike Experience. The building is located at 1130 E North Bend Way and the approximate coordinates are 47°29’15.6″N 121°46’15.9″W. Transmissions Plus, Inc. was operating in the space at the time of filming in September 2015. You can read all about the history of this spot in this previous location article.

The Line Bike Experience is a new concept in bike shops for Snoqualmie Valley, Washington. The company wants to help people experience the fun of biking by making the “right equipment available, where it’s used, at low cost and to help riders with the skills and knowledge they need to enjoy bikes.”

STOP #12 – MT. SI MOTEL / RED DIAMOND MOTEL

The final location we passed on the way back to North Bend was Mt. Si Motel located at 43200 SE North Bend Way, about one mile east of downtown North Bend. The approximate coordinates for this spot are 47°29’01.9″N 121°45’46.7″W.

This clean place that is reasonably priced was home to the Red Diamond City Motel in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and it reappeared as The Dutchman’s Lodge exterior in Part 15 from Twin Peaks: The Return.

The tour concluded as both busses returned to the Park ‘N Ride in downtown North Bend. Thank you to Jessica Self from the North Bend Downtown Foundation and Sarah Cheatham for additional photos used in this article.