I recently discussed the film location for the State Prison establishing shot from Twin Peaks episode 1.004. While this extremely brief shot was captured in Monroe, Washington, the interior scenes were shot on a soundstage in southern California. While I’ve been unable to find images from the actual soundstage set, Hank Jennings’ parole hearing scene has a lot of unpack.
WHERE IS THE STATE PRISON INTERIOR FROM TWIN PEAKS EPISODE 1.004 LOCATED?
City Studios (known today as Occidental Studios) is located at 7700 Balboa Boulevard in Van Nuys, California. This building served as the soundstage for many of the interior scenes from the television series. The outside of this building was used as the set for Dr. Jacoby’s office in Season 1. What I would give to travel back in time to see the inside of this building during the original broadcast.
In the broadcast, the scene fades from Donna Hayward and Audrey Horne speaking in the Twin Peaks High School Bathroom. According to a script, a different scene took place before the establishing shot and Hank’s parole hearing.
HANK JENNINGS’ PAROLE HEARING
The broadcasted interior scenes begin with the shot of a closed wooden door labeled “HEARING ROOM.”
The door slowly opens and Wilson Mooney, Hank Jennings’ parole officer played by Jed Mills, exits the room.
Mooney speaks with Norma Jennings who is patiently waiting in the hall. According to the script:
NORMA JENNINGS sits pensively on a bench outside the door. WILSON MOONEY, the parole officer, emerges from another door to the cell block.
Clearly the action was slightly changed for the broadcast version. Notice the guard standing at the opposite end of the hallway. He’ll appear again soon.
I looked at multiple different scenes trying to find another set that matched the hallway scene from Episode 1004. The closest thing I found was paint colors that look similar to colors used for the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department sets.
Hank is escorted by another guard through a wooden door labeled “ASST. WARDEN.”
This scene has always bothered me as the label on the door doesn’t make sense for what we can see behind Hank. Look carefully at you’ll notice another door with a red sign located above it. If this was the Assistant Warden’s office, why would she or he have another door that appears like it could lead outside the building.
The background reminds me of this scene from the behind-the-scenes video from Season 3, See You on the Other Side Dear Friend. Notice the exterior door that’s located just outside of Gordon Cole’s hotel room. It’s not the same door as episode 1.004; it just makes me believe the Parole Hearing hallway is a set.
The uncredited guard that escorts Hank is named Dickson. I’ve been unable to the name of the actor who played this part. He was played by an actor named Aaron. He was the uncle of Serigo Cox who designed the Real Twin Peaks menu for Salish Lodge, first introduced during the Real Twin Peaks 2023 event in Snoqualmie Valley. Sadly, Aaron died about a year after the episode was shot.
Following an intense conversation between Norma and Hank, the scene cuts to inside the Hearing Room.
A stoic Officer Andrews stands by the Hearing Room door. This uncredited and unidentified actor appears to be the same one from the hallway where Wilson Mooney and Norma Jennings spoke.
INSIDE THE HEARING ROOM
The camera pans to the three-person Parole Hearing board seated behind a wooden table.
Hank pleads his case while his parole officer and wife look on. In a revised script from October 23, 1989 script, the scene appears slightly different:
Hank sits at a long table with Mooney, across from two BOARD MEMBERS, a middle-aged neatnik and a younger woman with a granite bouffant hairdo. Three other BOARD MEMBERS are spread around the table. Norma sits to one side and watches Hank.
The thing that struck me about this room was the wood paneling (the dream of the 1970s and 1980s is alive in Washington state).
The paneling reminded me of the same paneling seen inside the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department and at the Johnson House. Look carefully and the “small to large to small” wood panels appear similar to the panels from the Parole Hearing Room.
The Female Parole Board Member #1 was played by Mary Bond Davis who is an actor, singer and dancer from Los Angeles. In the script, she is listed as WOMAN BOARD MEMBER.
Prior to being in Twin Peaks, she stared in Coming to America (1988) as Big Stank Woman (image upper right corner). Davis also had roles in several Broadway shows including Hairspray, Grease, and Jelly’s Last Jam.
The Male Parole Board Officer was played by James Craven. His lines appear similar to the 1989 script where his character is named MALE BOARD MEMBER. Craven has spent many years as a theatre performer (this article from the Star Tribune has a great history of his life and career). After graduating from Guthrie Theatre, Craven returned to the theatre where he “worked as a production assistant to theater founder Tyrone Guthrie and his successor, Michael Langham, who took the young man under his wing.”
Another notable student of the Guthrie Theatre was Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost. My gut tells me that Craven knew Frost which may be why he appeared in Twin Peaks.
The third member of the Parole board – Female Parole Board Member #1 – was played by Mary Chalon. While she appeared in a few television series in early 1990s, she is noted for being Vice Chair of Parson’s Nose Theatre in Pasadena, California. Her husband, Lance Davis, and her founded this theatre company in 2000. You may recognize Davis who played Martin Padley and Chet Weems in Invitation to Love, the short-lived soap opera within Twin Peaks from Season 1.
I love this shot that goes from Norma Jennings in focus to Hank Jennings being in focus. Nice work!
There are also some great close up shots of Peggy Lipton who played Norma Jennings.
HANK JENNINGS’ DOMINO
This is the first appearance of Hank’s iconic 3/3 domino. The 1989 script mentions this prop:
Hank idly rubs a key chain. Its handle is a WHITE DOMINO with SIX BLACK DOTS.
According to a glossary of domino terms, the 3/3 domino is sometimes nicknamed “poison ivy” or “Spanish curse.”
HANK JENNINGS LEAVES THE HEARING
The board mentions they will have a decision by 5:00 that day. Hank is escorted out of the Hearing Room followed by his parole officer Wilson Mooney.
Toward the end of Episode 1004, Hank places a telephone call to Josie Packard via a pay phone (what is that?!). He asks Mrs. Packard is she got his message and he sucks on his 3/3 domino.
At the 1999 Twin Peaks Fan Fest, actor Chris Mulkey was asked at the Celebrity Dinner in Kiana Lodge about the domino (see 6:15 mark in this YouTube video). His response:
[Chris] “Fine. The domino. Don’t you know about the domino?”
[Fan] “I know you like to lick it but I don’t know why.”
[Chris] “Well there you go (laughs). You know I like to lick it but I don’t know why? Well it’s kind of like … well, I like to lick it, but I don’t know why. The theme of the evening is sex. Is that right? Man, really? [Holding up fork] Well, that’s good … the theme of the evening, I don’t know … the domino … seriously, I don’t know. I mean, I know that it is six, you know. And six … is three … double threes is ‘mysticism,’ okay? And three is ‘magic.’ That’s why we have the threes on the domino. And um, I don’t know. I mean, you know. We can bite some magic, lick some magic. Next question [audience laughs].”
Not sure if that exactly explains it but it’s … something.
As for the location where the call could have been made, I looked at other scenes that used a jail. Episodes 1001 and 2001 appear to have cinder block walls that look like they match Hank’s phone call. The only challenge is the far wall seems to use smaller bricks, not large cinder blocks. The crew could have changed the wall or perhaps it was part of a different of a jail set.
