Twin Peaks Set Decoration – Hank Jennings’ Newspaper at the Double R Diner in Episode 1.005

There are times in Twin Peaks where the real world crosses into the fictional world created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. This is best seen in the various props and set decorations that fill the the wonderful and strange town. One of my favorite things to identify are newspapers and magazines as they help determine when filming may have taken place. I can add Hank Jennings’ newspaper at the Double R Diner during episode 1.005 to that ever growing list. A quick search of a headline revealed both papers he’s reading while waiting for Norma and Shelly to return from their “day of beauty.”

HANK JENNINGS’ NEWSPAPER AT THE DOUBLE R DINER IN EPISODE 1.005

In episode 1.005 of Twin Peaks, Hank Jennings is seen sitting at a booth holding his 3/3 domino. A white coffee cup is placed on one of two newspapers he is reading. Slowly scanning this image, I picked up the phrase “24-16 win over Washington.” I turned to my favorite site on the internet – Newspapers.com – to search for that phrase. It was easy to locate the particular headline.

The Associated Press published the article on October 8, 1989. I found it in The Register-Guard a newspaper based on Eugene, Oregon. The full title read, “Trojans rally for 24-16 win over Washington.” Just below that article on screen, you can see another word – “Rocket.” So I knew newspaper contained the correct page layout.

Most likely the crew used a paper from Southern California that also had a similar layout (it’s doubtful they drove to Oregon to get the paper). In 1989, Gannett owned Oregon’s The Register-Guard but I’ve been unable to locate the sister paper.

Scenes from episode 1.005 were filmed between November 15-22, 1989. The crew may have had this paper laying around the production offices before making its way to the Double R Diner.

As the camera spins around, we see Hank drinking his coffee. There is a second fold newspaper with a full color photo from a football game placed above the first paper. It’s from the same Sports section in the October 8 newspaper.

The photo taken by staff photographer Chris Pietsch is from a game between Washington State University and the University of Oregon. The newspaper I found only contained a black and white image.

We see part of the newspaper one more time when Norma and Hank speak as he finishes his coffee. It’s another treasure to add to the list of identified things in my favorite show.