Twin Peaks Location – Donna Hayward Follows Mom To The Great Northern Hotel

In Twin Peaks episode 2.018 (episode 25 from the second season), there is a brief scene of Donna Hayward following her mother Eileen Hayward as she visits The Great Northern Hotel. With the exception of an establishing shot, the scene was captured at the former City Studios (later renamed Occidental Studios) in Van Nuys, California.

WHERE IS DONNA HAYWARD FOLLOWS MOM TO THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL LOCATED?

The soundstages for the first two seasons of Twin Peaks were located 7700 Balboa Boulevard in Van Nuys, California. At the time of filming, the location was known as City Studios.

Constructed in 1968, the building was recently home to Occidental Studios, part of Occidental Entertainment Group Holdings which “offers a wide range of Services, Facilities, Equipment, and cutting-edge Technologies that can accommodate the needs of Feature Films, Episodic Television, Commercials, Corporate Advertising, Games, Music Videos, and many other Business and Entertainment-related purposes.”

It appears the company sold their Balboa soundstages at some point between June and July 2025 as they are no longer listed on their website.

DONNA HAYWARD FOLLOWS MOM TO THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL

Harley Peyton and Robert “Bob” Engles wrote the script to Twin Peaks episode 2.018 between Jan. 9-24, 1991. There were multiple revisions presented on different colored pages.

• First Draft/Distribution to Dept. Heads: January 9 ,1991
• Second Draft/General Distribution: January 15, 1991
• Revised: January 16, 1991 – BLUE
• Revised: January 21, 1991 – PINK
• Revised: January 22, 1991 – GREEN
• Revised: January 23, 1991 – YELLOW
• Revised: January 24, 1991 – CHERRY

Both the script and the broadcasted episode place this scene at the beginning of Act Two.

The scene opens with a recycled establishing shot of The Great Northern Hotel sign.  The script contains action we don’t see on screen.

EXT. GREAT NORTHERN – DAY
The parking lot. A van pulls up. A ramp lowers. EILEEN HAYWARD wheels herself away from the van.

The broadcasted episode cuts from the hotel sign to Donna Hayward sitting in the driver’s seat of her pink 1960 Rambler Six.

Some distance away, Donna watches from the driver’s seat of a car. She gets out and follows her mother.

The whole car would have looked something like this image from the Rambler Six and V8 entry on Wikipedia.

There are three reasons I believe this quick shot of Donna exiting her car was filmed at City Studios in Van Nuys, California. The first clue is the reflection seen in the driver’s side mirror.

It appears to possibly be the parking lot behind the former City Studios building. I found this image on Loopnet.net when the building was being sold.

The second clue is seen when Donna exits her pink 1960 Rambler Six. In the distance behind her, we see the top of a building. The scene was shot with a long lens which accounts for the background compression of objects.

During Laura Palmer’s funeral in Twin Peaks episode 1.003, we see a similar colored building with trees in the foreground during a close-up shot of James Hurley. The lighting and trees don’t match the Sierra Madre Pioneer Cemetery location where they filmed the scene. I concluded this must have been an inserted shot captured on set at a later date.

You’ll find a Public Storage facility located next to the former soundstage in Van Nuys, complete with orange-colored doors.

The crew probably moved trees from the interior sets (maybe from outside the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department) to capture both James’ reaction and later Donna exiting the car.

Granted without proper production paperwork, it’s difficult to confirm if this is the location. Considering nearly every other scene in episode 2.018 was shot on set, it makes sense the crew did a fast pick-up shot with Lara Flynn Boyle outside the soundstage building.

The only on-location scenes from this episode are shots of Johnny Horne from a deleted scene in episode 1.001 and the Twin Peaks law enforcement team visiting Owl Cave which is Bronson Cave in Bronson Canyon near the Hollywood sign. Boyle was not present during either scene.

THE HAYWARDS INSIDE THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL

The script picks up the action on the set constructed inside the former Van Nuys soundstage.

CUT TO:
INT. GREAT NORTHERN LOBBY/CORRIDOR – DAY
Eileen wheels through the lobby and down the tile corridor. Donna follows at a distance.

The image outside the hotel’s main doors is an enlarged location shot along with a giant log and fake grass.

Most likely, this photograph was taken in Washington state (based on the trees and mountains in the distance). It’s on my list of things to find one day.

DONNA WATCHES BEN HORNE AND EILEEN HAYWARD

The scripted moment contains action seen on screen.

[Donna] Stops and moves out of sight when she sees BEN HORNE greet her at the far end of the corridor. He helps move her around the corner out of sight.
Donna wonders 

One thing I noticed while researching this scene is that an alternate take was used during Donna’s reaction shot. The image above is the shot of “Donna wondering” when she sees Ben and her mother down the hallway.

The scene cuts back to Ben pushing Eileen’s wheelchair.

When the camera cuts back, her hair is styled differently and she is missing the dangling earring. No explanation is given as to why things changed. But the earring returns when she speaks with Audrey Horne at the front desk. Now you too will always notice the case of the disappearing earring.