“‘Twin’ Peeking” In Premiere Magazine, March 1992

If you’ve spent any time on Twin Peaks Blog, you’ll know I enjoy finding articles from the early days of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s wonderful and strange show. I particularly like reading about the cherry pie frenzy that descended upon the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, Washington, known today as Twede’s Cafe. In 1992, the small town restaurant was owned by Pat Cokewell who couldn’t keep their heavenly pies in stock. Author Jim Gullo visited the cafe on a Sunday in February 1992 and wrote a report for the “Short Takes” column in the March 1992 issue of “Premiere” magazine.

PREMIERE MAGAZINE, MARCH 1992 | COVER

The March 1992 issue of “Premiere” magazine featured the late Patrick Swayze on the cover. The U.S. version of “Premiere“ was launched with its July/August 1987 issue by News Corporation based in New York City and Los Angeles. This American film magazine’s mission was to “reflect The Second Golden Age of the Movies.” News Corporation sold the magazine to K-III (now Rent Group) in 1991, and Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. reacquired the magazine, on behalf of the founding French publisher, in 1995.

Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. announced on March 5, 2007 that it was shutting down the U.S. print edition of “Premiere” and that the magazine would survive as an online-only publication. The last published issue was dated April 2007 featured Will Ferrell on its cover. The online magazine until 2010 when the company ceased all operations.

Thanks to the Internet Archive, I located a copy of the March 1992 issue.

PREMIERE MAGAZINE, MARCH 1992 | PAGE 16 – “TWIN PEEKING” BY JIM GULLO

On Page 16, columnist Jim Gullo wrote about a visit to the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, Washington

Who Killed Laura’s Appetite?
‘TWIN’ PEEKING

When Agent Dale Cooper of the Federal Bureau of Investigation raves about cherry pie, people listen. That’s why the good folks at the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, Washington- known as the Double R to Twin Peaks freaks – anxiously await the opening of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the feature-length prequel to the TV series. As they know from experience, its script nuances may be their windfall.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, the modest diner on the corner of North Bend Way and North Bend Boulevard fairly glowed with Twin Peaks fallout. The booths were fill, actor Frank Silva (a.k.a. “Killer Bob”) was in the back room signing autographs for a line of people that extended out the back door, and there were only two pieces of blueberry pie left (cherry, apple, and the others all having been devoured).

“It’s really crazy,” says a Donnaesque waitress. “We made 75 pies this morning.”

Owner Pat Cokewell confirmed this report. She has been selling three times as many pies as usual since Agent Cooper opened wide and shoved in forkfuls of cherry in the fall of 1990. Her entire business has doubled. Earlier that day, a couple returning from Hong Kong to their native Denmark made a special stop in Seattle, rented a car, and drove the half hour to North Bend just for a piece of pie.

While the rest of the world anticipates the return of Laura Palmer and friends, Cokewell wonders what item on her menu will be next. Meat loaf? Chili? Peach cobbler? Writers Bob Engels and David Lynch (who is also directing) aren’t talking, and Silva will only offer that “the food will be a surprise.”

Maybe she has an inside tip? “[The cast and crew] liked turkey when they were here,” says Cokewell. “I cooked them fresh turkey sandwiches and clubhouses.”

A dreamy look comes into her eye as she calculates the profit margin on a $9.50 turkey-and-mashed potatoes dinner. “That’s a possibility.”

An image of the Mar-T Cafe sign with the red neon “RR” logo is included on the page with the caption, “Pie in your face: the diner that ‘Twin Peaks’ made famous.”

The image appears to be the uncropped version of this publicity photo found on The Mauve Zone.

WHEN WAS FRANK SILVA AT THE MAR-T CAFE IN 1992?

Gullo mentions Frank Silva was at the diner on a Sunday. It was most likely for one of the first Japanese tour groups from the Japan Travel Bureau that visited Snoqualmie Valley in mid-February 1992. This photo by Jim Davidson from the Associated Press contains the caption, “Delighted fans watch as Frank Silva, who played ‘Killer Bob’ gives one of his famous screams.”

A similar shot from the Anderson Independent had the caption:

“Frank Silva, left, who played the character Killer Bob on the TV series ‘Twin Peaks,’ gives out a blood-curdling scream to the delight of 50 Japanese tourists at Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie, Wash., Sunday. Keiko Hasegawa, background left, and Satomi Satake, background right, from Niigata, Japan, will spend five days visiting Snoqualmie, where ‘Twin Peaks’ was shot.”

An article from the Longview Daily News on February 17, 1992 said the groups dined at the Mar-T Cafe, “They had meat loaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, coffee and cherry pie at the Mar-T Cafe in North Bend, the show’s Double R Diner where Cooper raved about the pie and coffee.”

Silva was joined by Sheryl Lee that weekend. More details about these tours will be shared at an upcoming panel discussion during the Real Twin Peaks event, Feb. 20-22, 2026 in Snoqualmie Valley, Washington.

WHO IS JIM GULLO?

Jim Gullo has been writing funny, engaging stories for over thirty years, with a career that has included travel writing, novels, journalism and the memoir about teaching baseball to his son, “Trading Manny: How a Father and Son Learned to Love Baseball Again.”

He grew up in Penn Yan, New York on Keuka Lake. His father, Dr. Joseph F. Gullo, was a professor at Keuka College. Gullo studied journalism and creative writing at the University of Arizona and has taken writing workshops at the Field’s End program on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he lived for several years.

As a travel writer and journalist, Gullo searched northern Thailand for noodles for Saveur; chronicled the feats of Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaii’s greatest athlete, for Sports Illustrated; played the golf courses of Scotland as a P.G. Wodehouse character for Islands; asked his butler to bring pizzas and Yoohoos to his St. Regis hotel suite for Virtuoso Travel Life; and written about Microsoft millionaires, Mexican resorts and scuba-diving in Indiana sloughs for Town & Country, Bon Appetit and Aqua, respectively.

He now resides in McMinnville, Oregon, in the heart of Oregon’s wine region with wife Kris and sons Joe and Henry; his son Michael is a professional jazz singer and producer in New York City.

Since he once lived on Bainbridge Island, I’m assuming that’s how he made his way to Snoqualmie Valley to write for Premiere magazine’s “Short Takes” column in 1992.