We visited Timerline Lodge, where exteriors of The Shining were filmed

An offshoot of The Shining Thread,

My wife and I are doing a driving tour of the Pacific Northwest right now, and on Sunday we went to Mount Hood and stopped in the Timberline Lodge. I had to admit, it is very much like what you see in the film.

The lodge is very long, so long you can't photograph it all in one shot, unless you somehow get down the hill in front. It's also isolated, not as isolated as conceived in The Shining, but it's up a windy five-mile road from the nearest gas station, store, rest area stop.

Mount Hood has snow all year-round, so there is skiing in June. People were dressed in snow gear, there's a ski lift, snow-removal equipment, and there was even big snow drifts against the side of the lodge, just like in the movie.

Interior-wise, it's obviously completely different. It was built in the 1930s, a WPA project, and is all made of big, wood timbers, and is quite striking. Rooms are $225 a night, so we didn't stay.

Their gift shop has coffee mugs that show the famous shot from The Shining with Jack's face in the door (Here's Johnny!) with a statement saying the exteriors of The Shining were shot at the Timberline.

According to the commentary on the DVD, Kubrick chose the Timberline to serve as the exteriors because he thought it looked kind of "sinister" or words to that effect. I don't know if it's sinister, but it is a neat place.

allen

Appalachian Writer said:

I thought THE SHINING was filmed at the Stanley Hotel. Was that just the interior shots? I'm so confused.

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The TV movie version was filmed at the Stanley. Kubrick's version, the exterior, was filmed at the Timberline Lodge.

King's visit to the Stanley was what inspired the story idea.

The TV show Ghost Hunters visited the Stanley and decided it was haunted, I believe.

I don't know of the Timberline Lodge is haunted, though.

Right now we're in Seattle WA, where the temp is about 75 and clear and sunny.

Southerngirl, I'll have to post pics after the vacation is over.

It's funny that Kubrick thought the Timberline looked sinister, but I didn't think it looked so bad. It is huge, though. But looking at it and comparing it to The Shining, you can see how the interiors don't really match the exteriors. But that might be part of the whole "dislocation" theme he was trying to create. (That was where, supposedly, there were objects and things in scenes that were supposed to confuse the viewer. Like when Halloran and Wendy went into the freezer one way and came out another, but through the same door.)

allen