PACIFIC NORTHWEST #1: A Trip to Castle Rock (Oregon)

This past week I took my family on a quick road trip through the Pacific Northwest.  Because I’m me, we hit up several places associated with my favorite movies and TV shows.  Also because I’m me, I am posting my photos (with a few notes) for future like-minded travelers.

Our first stop was in Brownsville, Oregon, which stood in for Stephen King’s Castle Rock in the 1986 film STAND BY ME (which I have already written about here).  Like most King fans, I’m a bit obsessed with the town of Castle Rock.  Last year, I was hired to help promote Hulu's new series about the fictional town, and I tried creating my own map of Castle Rock, using geographical clues from the relevant King stories.  I quickly realized that it was a fool’s errand.   Over the years the layout of King’s fictional town has changed… just as the location of the town within King’s fictional Maine has changed.  (I have also written about this previously.)

Appropriately enough, Hollywood’s Castle Rock is all over the map too—in Brownsville, Oregon (STAND BY ME); Mendocino, California (CUJO); Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (THE DEAD ZONE); Gibsons Landing, British Columbia (NEEDFUL THINGS); and Orange, Massachusetts (Hulu’s CASTLE ROCK).  But as far as I know, Brownsville is the only town to fully embrace its alter ego.  Just check out their Chamber of Commerce webpage, which provides a detailed map to the filming locations that were used in STAND BY ME.  The town also holds an annual “STAND BY ME day.”  This year, it's on July 23.

My family visited Brownsville on a rainy and glum Wednesday afternoon, but I was still thrilled to be making this cinephilic pilgrimage down memory lane.  The town didn't just remind me of one of my favorite films, but of a town I grew up in, where the 4th of July parade and carnival were major events.  During our visit, I noticed more than one sign advertising the upcoming Independence Day celebration in Brownsville.

I can understand why the filmmakers picked this town.  Not all of STAND BY ME’s iconic scenes were shot here—some locals pointed me toward a bridge and a hiking trail near Cottage Grove (about an hour south of Brownsville), and the most memorable bridge in the film (where the boys outrun a train) is suspended over Lake Britton, California—but the beating heart of the story is here.  Then and now.

Next stop: The Overlook Hotel

This is the first view of Castle Rock in the film, seen as Gordy walks out of the drug store onto Main Street.

He turns left and crosses the street onto Spaulding Avenue, seen here.

A moment later, he's climbing into a treehouse on School Avenue.  The tree still exists, on private property.

A few minutes after that, Gordy returns to town and meets Chris here, at the corner of Main and Park Avenue

They run into a parallel alley, where Chris flashes his father's gun and Gordy shoots a trash can

The boys round the corner at the north end of Main St, and bump into Ace and Eyeball coming out of Brownsville Saloon

At the end of the film, the boys return to "Castle Rock" via this bridge at the southern end of town

They part ways at the corner of Park and Main, current site of a treehouse replica... directly in front of Teddy's house

Chris and Gordy then head north on Main Street, past an old Coke mural, bringing the story back to where it started