I know I haven't done this whole blogging thing in almost a year, but I do have a special 3-part series of blog posts that I want to do. Mostly because I don't want to forget the experiences I had while traveling the Pacific Northwest. Because we all know what kind of memory I have for... what was it I was writing about?
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Oh yeah, so I'm going to do a 3-part series of blog posts on three unique movies that were all filmed in... Astoria, Oregon! It was really cool to see some of the locations for the films I'll be describing. The first film to discuss has to be The Goonies, as it just screams Astoria (on top of sweet memories from childhood). The SO and I were both excited to see where Mikey, Brand, Mouth, Data, and especially Chunk had their misadventures in the Goondocks of Astoria.
I'll try to do this in order, so it goes with the flow of the movie. You can follow along with this clip of the opening sequence:
Of course, the beginning of this tour means we begin at the county jail...
Not a bad action shot, if I do say so myself. (I was actually just holding myself in that position, trying to look like I was running.) And let me tell you, those hills the cops chase the Fratellis across are just as steep as they look.
Here's the football field, where Andy is trying to get the cheerleaders to do a pyramid.
The seating section is very "old school", with sections reserved for ticket holders, students, and the band. Astoria High School has the Fighting Fisherman as their mascot, and his name is Stomper.
This location is where the maid tried going across the street, supposedly because she was walking to the house of Mikey and Brand, I think.
The funny thing about this location: the direction she was walking was actually towards the beach. So if she was trying to get to the house, she actually needed to turn around and go the other way... to the Goonies house!
The bowling alley where Chunk sees the high speed car chase looks the same from the outside, but the window where he's looking out has changed a bit.
The view from where he's looking is pretty dead on, too.
The beach where the Fratellis speed away is Cannon Beach, which is where you can find the famous Haystack Rock.
Of course, we're then transported to... the Goonies house!
I know, it's pretty sweet. And yes, I did the Truffle Shuffle in front of the house, which I have video of on my phone. I know, it's so awesome! No cars are allowed up the drive to the home, but we were both willing to walk up the hill to see not only the house, but the view of Astoria, as well.
The view from the Goonies house is just as beautiful as it appears in the movie.
But the bike ride the boys take from the house to the Fratellis' hide-out is not as short and quick as they make it out to be. The bike ride starts at 1:45...
We measured it out, and the Goonies house is approximately 20 to 30 miles from the abandoned restaurant! What kid (especially Chunk, or for that matter, asthmatic Mikey) is going to make it that far?
On that deceiving bike ride, the boys pass Mike and Brand's father as he takes the flag down at his museum, which in real life is the Flavel House.
We traveled to Ecola State Park, which is south of Astoria about 20 miles, to the approximate location where the boys leave their bikes in the road to find the location of the buried treasure.
The final location of the film is again near Haystack Rock (I just wanted to get another picture of it in this post!).
The rest of the locations are either non-existent or were created in a Hollywood studio. No matter what, it was pretty cool to see these locations and how they are a part of the town of Astoria!
Of course, this weekend Astoria is having a Goonies 25th anniversary reunion, which includes cast members and a Truffle Shuffle 5K! The gods really must like to toy with us as we were two weeks early! Oh well, we got a t-shirt, some amazing pictures, and wonderful (and sweaty) memories of the Goonies locations in this tiny town off the coast of Oregon.
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