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August 1993

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Subject:
From:
Jesse Kalin <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 18 Aug 1993 10:25:01 -0400
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        There is no way to travel to fictional places, not even in
California (or Colorado).  (Or, one gets there by sitting in one's chair,
etc...)
 
        But where, then, is the next best thing: the real mountain lodge
used in the filming of Kubrick's "The Shinning"?  It's in Oregon, at the
top of Mt. Hood.  I have two immediate sources of information: (1) in the
film's end credits there is mention of only one location (outside of the
Elstree studios) which is the "Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood, Oregon", and (2)
it just happens that my wife has a drawing of the lodge (vacation souvenir
from a grandmother) from the 50s.  I compared the front exteriors in the
film with the drawing, and they are indeed of the same building.  The
jacket cover for my LD says, of the Overlook, "Its great lounge, ballroom,
halls, and kitchens were created on movie soundstages."  I do not have a
Kubrick film book at hand to find more details: where were the aerial
exteriors shot--some,all in Oregon, in Colorado, elsewhere???  You should
also note the mountain behind the lodge (when seen from the front).  This
doesn't look like what I remember the Rockies or the Estes Park terrain to
be like.  And it really does look like pictures of Mt. Hood.
 
        Is all this a mistake somehow (but the credits do "thank" the
Timberline Lodge--why, if the "real" lodge is in Colorado)?  Is there a
similar lodge in Estes park (has any one actually been there, seen it?--I
have a friend who was in Oregon just last month and went to Mt. Hood just
because of the "Shinning" and reported that indeed the two were the "same"
(there was no maze in back, however)[they also went on to nearby "Twin
Peaks" and "Cicely, Alaska"]).  While the lodge is fictionally set in
Colorado, north of Denver (it takes Jack about 3 hours to drive there), is
Estes Park itself ever given as the location in the film?  All this is
fairly interesting, since I know someone who claims that the lobby of the
Overlook is that of the lodge in Yosemite National Park in California, but
the jacket credits suggest that all interiors are on soundstage.  Where
else have people placed The Overlook?  Were the interiors modeled after
other lodge interiors? or has The Overlook spread its aura far and wide and
begun to incorporate the real into its fold?
 
        By the way, get to Mt. Hood before 5pm., otherwise the gift shop
will be closed and you won't be able to get any postcards to prove you were
as close to the overlook as you can get.
 
        Does any one have pictures of the lodge in Estes Park to compare
with the film? or other information about these and other attributions?
 
                Jesse Kalin, Vassar College

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