The Goonies turns 40 this year. And so does lifelong fan Damien Gabet. To celebrate their birthdays, he visits the film locations in Oregon
The first time I travelled to the States in 2009 I was so excited I thought I might die. I wanted to see where Disney and donuts came from so badly I half expected the universe to smite me mid-air.
As it happens, I flew BA business and the crossing was Krug smooth. But I was mortally excited. Why? Sustained childhood exposure to US cultural hegemony: Back to the Future, Top Gun, Home Alone… Technicolor Americana at its pre-internet finest. I was obsessed.
But the film that sparked my fiercest bout of Yankophilia was Spielberg’s The Goonies: pirates, treasure and derring-do led by a motley troupe of misfit kids. Just like me. This wonderful film is, quite terrifyingly, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Also like me. What better reason to look fate in the face again and fly back to the land of the movie.
Not Hollywood, though, but Oregon. Capital city Portland first, which City AM called the “best of the West in our city guide”, where we stayed the night in a miniature house, before going onwards to sleepy Astoria, where The Goonies was filmed.
Visiting Goonies filming locations, and recreating the iconic ’80s look
To celebrate, Astoria was hosting an anniversary event, and actual Robert Davi – who played arch-baddie Jake Fratelli – would be there to hang with fans. A host of events were planned: Comicon-style expo, 80s prom and an obligatory treasure hunt (geo-cache, not gold). Rather upsettingly, I was strong-armed into a family barbecue and missed the whole thing – by a single day.
When I arrived on Monday, everyone, including Davi, had left. American mega-fans are the finest quote machines on earth, so this was a blow.
It did mean, however, that Mac Burns, exec director of the Oregon Film Museum, had time to give me a proper tour. “The queue was round the block yesterday – you’re lucky!” he said. The museum is in the same jailhouse the Fratellis break out of at the start of the film. “Astoria owns the 80s,” said Mac as he showed me Short Circuit, Kindergarten Cop and Free Willy memorabilia. “They were all shot here and remain part of our DNA.”
Damien’s Goonies pilgrimage took him beyond the film: here with the The Short Circuit megafans
Astoria certainly has a film-set feel: Queen-Anne houses, yesteryear diners (the burger at Custard King is filthy good) and a sweeping cantilever bridge that rivals the Golden Gate. Mac assured me locals love being in the films too: “If a request for 50 extras goes out, 500 will turn up – not bad for a town of 10,000.”
The best exhibit was the rear-projection Fratelli-mobile: a young visitor and I acted out lines while being filmed in a rocking car. As I left, I read some of the fans’ post-it notes near the entrance: “I watched The Goonies in Afghanistan before patrol,” read one.
Next, the Goonies house – the one on the hill where brothers Mikey (Sean Astin) and Brand Walsh (Josh Brolin) live. There’s no getting in as it’s privately owned. Even seeing it from outside is somewhat discouraged – traffic, noise – so finding it felt cloak-and-dagger. “Go and see Judy, who lives nearby,” Mac’s colleague told me, scribbling down the address. “Maybe she’ll point you in the right direction.”
On the way, I hit the town’s vintage stores in search of 80s-looking garms. Set-jetting (as in, visiting film locations) is so much more fun if you dress the part. First stop: Vintage Hardware, where I scored a metallic blue bomber jacket so fetching a slew of hipster envy flooded my DMs after my gloating Instagram story. Then to subterranean Mystic for a pair of stonewash Levi’s that hugged my bum so neatly I felt obliged to wink at passers-by. Billy-from-Stranger-Things energy.
Bent on not being an overtourism lemming, I parked far away and quietly mooched up the hill to Judy’s. She’s been in Astoria for 50 years and worked in the art department for Kindergarten Cop. Now she makes Goonie memorabilia for the “200-300 cars that turn up here on Saturdays” and hosts fans in her themed Airbnb annex.
Bingo. I was slapped right back to 1980-something
Despite my impromptu visit, Judy was happy to chat and offered me a can of Coke as we sat in her garage. We spoke about the “Goonie family” – the diehards – of which she’s the self-appointed Fairy Godmother.
“They often swing by before heading up the hill to Goonies House,” she said. “I watch out for them – I don’t like it when people talk bad about them. They’re nice people who just want to relive their childhood. It means so much to them.”
But why? “You’re dealing with a generation of ‘latch-key’ kids from split families. They didn’t have that dream mom-at-home scenario. She had to work and the kids were alone. Then they’d watch this film – adventure, friendship… and they got to be the hero.”
Before things got teary, I asked her partner, John, if he’d walk me up to the house for a gawp and a snap. “There were 10,000 people here this weekend,” he laughed. Now, though, we were alone and I had a front-row view of a house I’d seen a thousand times on TV. Like a slingshot to my childhood, suddenly I could smell the Findus pancakes on the dinner table, slowly going cold as I refused to pause the VHS.
That evening I’d planned to go bowling at the Lower Columbia Bowl – unchanged since Jeff Cohen’s character, Chunk, was filmed there in the opening sequence. With a free afternoon, I asked Judy what to do and she suggested I meet Richard Bates, owner of the next most important film location in Astoria: the Short Circuit house. “He’s in town,” said Judy, “but some uber fans are staying with him, so I’m not sure if he’ll be free.”
Bingo. I rocked up to a house that, again, slapped me straight back to 1980-something. Through the window I saw a group in matching T-shirts. Richard, a lifelong Short Circuit fan, invited me in as if it were planned and gave me the tour of what is now an Airbnb-cum-movie museum.
His story felt like a movie in itself: “I visited a few years ago and the house was in bad shape, but I forgot about it and moved on,” he said. “Years later, I was down and out, working the railroads in Montana – and a photo came up on my phone. Then it came to me: ‘I’m going to buy the Short Circuit house!’” A friend texted back the next day: “I’ve checked. It’s for sale.” Richard quit on the spot and 45 days later moved in. “Were you Americans like this before movies were invented?” I asked.
Sat next to me in the lounge was Virginia, a bagpipe teacher and possibly the world’s biggest Short Circuit fan – she’s watched it over 500 times. “The first time I saw it, it changed my life,” she said. “Now when I’m here, it’s just like being in the movie.”
I couldn’t have hoped to land on a lovelier bunch and decided to return their hospitality by inviting them all bowling. After embarrassing myself on the lanes, Richard and I went for a nightcap at Merry Time, a short walk away. Getting drunk on Pabst and playing pinball in a dive bar felt like a fitting end to my day of 80s immersion.
The hangover the next day was acute, so I hid inside my five-star bath at the rather lovely Bowline Hotel until it was time to visit Liberty Theatre for a screening of The Goonies – the very cinema that hosted the film’s premiere in 1985. I’m told it hasn’t changed since and the $5 ticket price felt suitably retro.
Of course, there’s more to the Beaver State than Astoria, so I used my remaining days to chase Oregon Film Trail hotspots down the almighty Pacific Coast Highway. Point Break’s beach scenes, the Fratellis’ hideout amid the redwoods of Ecola State Park, quick stops in corn-fed Brownsville (Stand by Me) and Salem’s Oregon State Hospital (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) – finishing with a walk around Bella Swan’s Twilight house.
Short Circuit turns 40 next year. Richard’s planning a party. “Nothing big, just proper fans and a good time.” I’ve blocked the weekend on the family calendar. Barbecues be damned.
Visit The Goonies heartland in Oregon yourself
America As You Like It (americaasyoulikeit.com / 020 8742 8299) has a seven night Oregon fly-drive from £1695 per person, including return non-stop flights on British Airways from Heathrow to Portland, fully inclusive car hire, one night at the McMenamins Kennedy School in Portland, two nights at the Bowline Hotel in Astoria, two nights at the Newport Belle in Newport and two nights at the Tiny Digs Hotel in Portland.
For further information on Oregon, visit traveloregon.com