The Twilight Saga is an American vampire-themed romantic fantasy series of five films. They all are distributed by Summit Entertainment. Twilight Saga is an adaptation of the best-selling book series named “Twilight” written by Stephanie Meyer. The series was successful at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.
The series’ story is from a girl’s perspective. It begins from her way of adjusting to the new life with her father in an unfamiliar town and ends with to what extent she will go to save her family from a bunch of evil vampires.
The unfamiliar, moody, and mysterious town here is the city of Forks in Washington. In the best-selling book series, all the events take place in the Olympic Peninsula.
Not The Real Forks
Except from two significant locations in Washington, no scenes were shot in the actual town of Forks. But, a fun fact, the old red truck that Bella (aka Kristen Stewart) rode is parked in front of the city’s chamber of commerce till now.
Even though the films showed Washington culture in simple things like the references to Red Vines, “Vitamin R,” and various locations around Forks and La Push, most of the filming locations are from Oregon and British Columbia.
Where was ‘Twilight’ Filmed?
Here are the 13 most popular locations from the films you can visit.
Clackamas Community College
This college is the film location of Bella and her classmate’s field trip for the greenhouse in the first installment of the series, Twilight. The greenhouse in the college is the same as the day it was in the film. It is a public community college with an enormous horticulture program and many greenhouses around the campus.
Address: 19600 Molalla Avenue, Oregon City, OR, USA
Forks High School
The first filmmakers used two schools – Kalama High School and Madison High School – to shoot the scenes in Forks High School. The breakthrough scene when Edward (aka Robert Pattinson) saves Bella’s life in the parking lot and the exterior scenes of the home of Spartans were filmed at Kalama High School, Kalama, Washington. The cafeteria scenes were shot at Madison High School, Portland.
After the first one, the makers moved their location to Vancouver, the B.C. area. They used David Thompson Secondary School for the second installment, New Moon, and Como Lake Middle School to shoot the graduation scene in the school gym for Eclipse, the third installment.
Indian Beach
Bella’s friends’ surfing scene on the La Push beach was shot in Cannon Beach in Oregon. This is where Jacob (aka Taylor Lautner) tells Bella about the Quileute legends about the history of wolves and the “cold ones.” The Incinerator Rock in Long beach, B.C., was then used as the Quileute reservation beach for New Moon.
Address: 84318 Ecola State Park Road, Seaside, Cannon Beach, OR, USA
Vernonia, Oregon
Wauna Federal Credit Union in Vernonia, Oregon, served as the Forks Police Station in all the films of the series. We all can say that Vernonia was the official “Forks” in the Twilight Saga, as most of the scenes were filmed around there – when Edward and Bella return to town from Port Angeles, the scene at the road next to the building. Another scene when Bella requests Edward to pull into the police station, and he did – was also shot in the side street.
Plus, the house where Bella and her father live was also located at 184 South 6th street by the Washington border in Saint Helens and about 20 miles east of Vernonia.
View Point Inn
The View Point Inn is where the whole “Casino Monte Carlo” prom scene was filmed. It was a 1924 classic boutique hotel located 22 miles from downtown Portland, Oregon. During a fire accident in 2011, the View Point Inn building was damaged and was not revived due to a lack of funds.
Address: 40301 E Larch Mountain Rd, Corbett, OR, USA
Bloated Toad Restaurant
The crew used a restaurant building to shoot the scene when Bella and Edward would go for not-dinner dinner after Edward rescued her. This building is now empty, but the structure is the same as shown in the film though. You can even imagine the scenes involving the sidewalk and stairs with the couple.
Address: 330 S. 1st Street, St. Helens, Oregon
Paramount and Ridge Theatre
Paramount Theatre was used for the scene in which Bella, Jacob, Mike Newton stand in front of a theatre talking to each other before seeing the movie Face Punch. This place is also used in the scene when Bella hops on for a short ride with a motorcyclist right before she and Jessica walk out of the theatre.
Address: 652 Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC
There are interior theatre scenes in New Moon where Bella, Jacob, and Mike will be watching the movie Face Punch. Ridge Theatre is the location used to shoot the scene. You can recognize the front doors to the main theatre from the scene where Jacob and Bella come out of the foyer. They will sit on the steps, and later, Mike joins them.
Address: 3113 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC
Forks Bridge
You would have seen Bella and her father Charlie (aka Billy Burke) driving across a long bridge with a board at the end saying “The City of Forks Welcomes You” at the very beginning of the first film. But, you cannot find the bridge near Forks. Its real name is The Bridge of Gods which crosses the Columbia River and stretches over the Washington and Oregon Border.
Carver Cafe
The Forks diner was Carver Cafe which plays a part in the movies as “The Lodge,” just as mentioned in the book. The Carver Cafe was opened in the late 50s and is still open and very active.
Address: 16471 OR-224, Damascus, OR, USA
St. Helens, Oregon
St. Helen is the land of various shops in Port Angeles, Washington. One of the shops is an angel hair salon which was transformed into a Petite Jolie dress shop to film the scene involving Bella and her friends choosing prom dresses. If you look at the shop window, you would see the St. Helens city hall.
And that is when Bella opts to Thunderbird and Whale Bookstore, which has several books stacked on the shelves to the ceiling and continues to the front porch too. Bella would buy the book about the Quileute tribe and their legends here.
This place is also called Halloweentown because the Disney Channel Original film was filmed in this place.
Columbia River Gorge
Did you like the Vampire Baseball scene in Twilight? This place is the one used in that scene. The Cullen family playing thunder baseball with a massive rainfall in the background was a good scene to see. Well, the credit goes to this location. Washington is known for its fantastic waterfalls, and Oregon’s Multnomah Falls from this Gorge was the one used to film it.
Address: Hood River, OR, USA
Silver Falls State Park
At the beginning of the Twilight movie, there was a moment in a thick forest where a deer was being chased and hunted. That scene was actually filmed at this Park. The crew also shot scenes with Edward and Bella on the treetops there. The Park is about 20 miles from Salem, Oregon.
Address: 20024 Silver Falls Hwy SE, Sublimity, OR, USA
Cullen House
The breathtaking Cullen house is a private residence. The directors shot most of the scenes involving the Cullen family. This M1 residence is a dungeon, moat, and coffin-free one. The cantilever glass and wood infrastructure were designed by Skylab Architects in Forest Park, Portland. The reel Cullen house goes by the real name Hoke House.
Address: 3333 NW Quimby St., Portland, Oregon
Coquitlam, British Columbia
The scenes involving Jacob’s house in La Push, Washington, were filmed in Coquitlam, a suburb in Vancouver. The house was painted in red to match up with information provided in the book. It is a private residence located on a corner lot in Victoria Drive, Gilley’s Trail, and Quarry Road.
Also, many exterior scenes from Eclipse were shot in Minnekhada Regional Park, further along, the road.
Squamish, British Columbia
This location was used to shoot the rock climbing scenes from Breaking Dawn – Part 2. The granite cliff is located in Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, which is in the outskirts of Squamish.
The crew had to set up the whole Cullen house near Squamish. The wedding ceremony and reception of Edward and Bella, the farewell scene, and many other outdoor scenes from Breaking Dawn movies were shot in this house.
Ballet Studio
This studio was the Mimi’s School of Dance, Scottsdale, Arizona, where James ambushed Bella Swan.
Address: 800 SE 10th Avenue, Portland, OR, USA
There are some other filming locations such as Blue Heron Paper Mill, Olde Towne District, Port Moody in British Columbia, and many more. The whole series focused on different species – vampires, wolves, and humans. Stephanie Meyer was appreciated for a great interpretation of her creativity with what vampires and wolves will be like. The film locations were shown slightly differently according to the species who will be in the scenes. As a Twilight fan, you would be willing to see the places shown in The Twilight Saga, and trust me – the locations won’t disappoint you.