The Double R Diner

The place run by Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton), this is actually the Mar-T Cafe [by 1999, it was called Twede's Cafe], at one end of the block that comprises the main business district of North Bend (population, 1701). That's Mount Si in the background -- and nearby is its little twin peak, Little Si.

Two views of the Mar-T in April, 1990, shortly before North Bend was overrun by Twin Peaks tourists.

The Mar-T is used for all exteriors (though the sign is sometimes partially obscured), and for interiors in the 2-hour, Lynch-directed pilot only.

Bobby, Norma, & Shelley (pilot).

Interior of the Mar-T: April, 1990.

Mar-T waitress & me: April, 1990.

Shelley behind the register (pilot).

In later episodes, as when Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) does her dreamy dance, a studio-built double of the diner is used, with the same general layout (and the same big plastic ice cream cone) only bigger, with plusher booths but no neon on the ceiling like the real Mar-T. In an eerie confluence of art and life, one of the pie-serving waitresses encountered  [in April, 1990] at the real-life Mar-T could be a double for the "late'' Laura Palmer...

Lynch and Frost re-named this establishment the Double R, placing two orange neon Rs above the Mar-T's yellow and white Cafe sign. "RR,'' of course, is a common abbreviation for railroad (tracks run through this logging town, of course, and the disrepaired railroad cars used for the scene of the crime are just down the road near Snoqualmie), but like the series title itself, it also suggests the duality that is everywhere in Twin Peaks.

Check out the pies (April, 1990)...

"A policeman's dream!"

Twin Peaks' obsession with doughnuts, coffee, and cherry pies tells you quite a bit about the kind of place it is.  A doughnut is circular, with a hole in the middle -- not unlike the series' own structural mystery-logic.  Coffee is dark and stimulating, but without calories -- like a mystery, it keeps you going on almost nothing; actual nourishment is not required.  (You'll notice that almost nobody in Twin Peaks uses cream or sugar!)  And as for the pies -- well, like the name of the town itself (a place filled with sexual secrets), they're slang for a portion of the female anatomy. After all, nobody loves a naughty, salacious pun (verbal or visual) more than David Lynch.

Arsonists burned down Twede's Cafe on July 1, 2000, supposedly in order to "cover" a $450 burglary (see story and photo in the Seattle Times  -- clicking here will open a new window).  

Next: Great Northern Hotel

Welcome

Double R Diner

Great Northern Hotel

 Sheriff's Department

Packard Saw Mill

Road House

Big Ed's Gas Farm

Twin Peaks Peaks

Doubles

Dreams

The Dark

The Woods

The Log(s)

The Music