The Goonies, a 1985 film born from an idea by Steven Spielberg and developed through the skillful direction of Richard Donner, is most certainly considered to be a real cult movie, as confirmed by the enormous success that it continues to enjoy even today. The film is set on the marvelous west coast of the United States, between Oregon and northern California, a setting that undoubtedly contributes to making what is already an undoubtedly successful film, that has become a true model of the children’s adventure genre, even more evocative.
So here I am describing the main locations frequented by Mickey, Chunk, Mouth, Data, Brand, Andy and Stef, as well as the mythological Sloth and the antagonists Jake & Francis Fratelli, led by their “tender” Mom. Before proceeding though, anyone who wants to join the world of the Goonies must recite the oath of affiliation:
“I will never betray my goon dock friends; We will stick together until the whole world ends; Through heaven and hell, and nuclear war; Good pals like us, will stick like tar; In the city, or the country, or the forest, or the boonies; I am proudly declared a fellow Goonie”.
Contents
Goonies Film Locations Map
The part of the itinerary that takes place in Oregon, between Astoria and the coast (Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park), can easily be done all together, as the two areas are about half an hour’s drive apart. Things are different for the scenes of the film shot in California, which are more than 600 miles away from the Oregon locations. If you want to cover the whole itinerary you will have to spread it over several days; the easiest way to include all the stages is to tour the coast from San Francisco to Seattle, continuing north along the Pacific North West coast from Northern California.
Goonies Locations in Astoria
The large company of teenagers featured in the adventure grew up in Goon Docks, a neighborhood in Astoria, in the state of Oregon. It is from the name of the fictional neighborhood that the title of the film and the nickname of the gang derives. Astoria, in addition to being one of the most beautiful coastal cities in the state, is a town with a rich historical past, evidenced by its many fine period buildings. Founded in 1811, it was the first settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.
All of the town’s locations that appear in the film are concentrated in the first part of the story. The prison, from which Jake Fratelli (Robert Davi) escapes assisted by his brother Francis (Joe Pantoliano) and Mama (Anne Ramsey), is located at 732 Duane Street, Downtown.
Today, the former county jail has been conveniently transformed into the (1) Oregon Film Museum, dedicated to the films shot there. The main attraction is the cell, where Jake pretends to hang himself on the rails with a pipe hidden behind his back. The item is now carefully placed on the same bars, along with the note that attracts the attention of the guard who finds the apparently dead body of the bandit in the film’s opening scene. The writing on the note is:
You Schmuk! Do you really think I’d be stupid enough to kill myself?
Many other items of memorabilia, again relating to the Goonies adventure, are on display in the rooms carved out of the former prison: the much coveted treasure, with the very skull of Willy the Orbo; Data’s (Jonathan Ke Quan) raincoat, equipped with his prodigious and ever-useful inventions; the wallet of Chester Copperpot, the explorer who disappeared many years earlier during the ill-fated treasure hunt; and the locket found by Mickey Walsh (Sean Astin) in the attic of his home along with the famous map of the legendary pirate. In addition, the black jeep, used by the Fratelli gang to escape from prison, is often parked by the museum curators right outside the entrance.
After Jake’s dramatic escape, the police chase begins in an attempt to hunt down the fleeing Fratelli gang. As the cameras capture the four-wheeled race, a few spots in the city are captured on film and the characters in the play are introduced. Behind cheerleader Andy (Kerri Green), police cars parade by as she is intent on performing choreographed rehearsals at (2) Warren Field, bordered by 18th Street, 20th Street and Exchange Street. There is no American football field here today, however, for the 30th-anniversary reunion since the film’s release, the actors were spotted on the very same practice field.
Rosalita (Lupe Ontiveros), the Walsh household’s maid, is almost run over by the 4×4 driven by Mama Fratelli as she crosses the (3) street intersection of Lief Erikson Drive and 37th Street, where the Astoria Coffee Co. cafeteria stills stands on the corner. In a cut scene, the Goonies enter this establishment and Mickey compares the treasure map to an actual map of the area for sale at the counter.
The line of cars then speeds past the (4) home of Mouth, aka Clark Devereaux (Corey Feldman), distracting him from his job as his father’s plumbing assistant. On the (5) East Mooring Basin Boat Ramp, on whose adjacent platforms beautiful sea lions can be seen basking in the sun, Stef Steinbrenner (Martha Plimpton) dives into a tank to retrieve a magnificent specimen of plastic crab, while cars whiz by on the dock behind her.
The last city spot filmed during the chase is the (6) Lower Columbia Bowl, at 826 Marine Drive. Here, Lawrence “Chunk” Cohen (Jeff Cohen), exhilarated by the rare and spectacular scene along the way, manages to pull off the feat of simultaneously smashing a slice of pizza and a strawberry milkshake, soiling the inside window of the gambling hall. Whoever happens to come to these parts will not be able to resist a game of bowling and the purchase of a T-shirt with an embossed picture of Chunk.
Of course, the Walsh family lives in the upper part of town, in Goon Docks. The (7) house of the Goonies, located at 368 38th Street, is the true center of operations for the friends who are often moved to adventure by the secret treasures hidden in the attic of Mr. Walsh, curator of the city’s museum.
Next to the Walsh brothers’ house, at number 344 on the same street, there is also the (8) house where Data lives with his family. The proximity of the two houses gives the little genius of Chinese origin the opportunity to test his acrobatic inventions… the imprudent and unorthodox mission “Wings of the Wind” is filmed in the opening bars of the film.
Once in possession of Willy the Ogre’s map, the gang sets off on a treasure hunt riding their BMX bikes, the most fashionable bicycles of the 80s, before the advent of mountain bikes. The boys pass by (9) Flavel House Museum, waving fleetingly to Mickey’s dad, intent on lowering the American flag from the pole of the city’s main museum; the beautiful building is located at 714 Exchange Street.
The historic home can be visited and the guided tour takes about an hour. Captain George Flavel’s former quarters are strategically located on one of Astoria’s hills; even today, the structure retains the dome from which the maritime entrepreneur could observe and monitor ship traffic.
The locations of Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park
South of Astoria, the spectacular Oregon Coast stretches for hundreds of miles. In this wild and rugged stretch, tourists love to practice various activities ranging from trekking to whale watching. The most famous and touristic locality is surely Cannon Beach, whose natural symbol is the Haystack Rock, a monolith 220 feet high that stands out near the city beach.
It is on this stretch of beach that, in order to finally escape from the police during the aforementioned chase, the Mother of the Brothers gang shrewdly chooses to mix in with the other 4×4 vehicles in the (10) Off-road Rally that starts near the Haystack Rock.
From the northern end of the beach, we find (11) Ecola State Park Road, a road leading to the park of the same name preserved by the State of Oregon. Two important sequences of the film were shot along this winding road: the first when Mickey stops his bicycle and, getting his bearings using the monolithic rocks scattered along the coast, manages to identify the place from where to start the search for the entrance to the underground tunnels built by the pirate to hide his capital of gold, diamonds and other precious stones. The second sequence shows Brandon who, having launched himself in pursuit of his younger brother on a children’s bicycle, is hooked onto the car of his love rival Troy (Steve Antin), who gives him a dangerous push towards the escarpment.
After the entrance of the park, the ascending road leads to the first parking lot from where some paths branch off along the coast. On that headland, near the clearing for cars, and along the slope in a northerly direction, stood the sinister and apparently disused (12) Restaurant of the Fratelli gang, from where the Goonies access the underground tunnels that lead to the treasure. Mouth, translating the clues written in Spanish on the map, shows the route to his friends: “Diez veces diez, ten times ten; stretching feet to nearest northern point; that’s where you’ll find the treat…”.
The hideout, purpose-built for the play, was demolished soon after filming was completed. Today, in place of the famous hiding place, there is a small hut, a useful reference for rapidly locating the exact location.
The locations of Goat Rock Beach
After having presented the beautiful places immortalized in the initial part of the film on the Oregon coast, we can now move to California for the description of the fascinating beach portrayed in the closing lines of the film. It is precisely the coastal area of Jenner, in Sonoma County (which we have already mentioned in our article on Napa and Sonoma Valley).
From the main headland of (13) Goat Rock State Beach, two policemen on quads are seen heading north, spotting the Goonies in the distance and helping them (one of the two policemen, the one on the right with white hair, is Richard Donner!). In the same scene, the seven protagonists walk on the wide, jagged beach, extremely tired from the dangerous adventure that has just ended.
Behind them, on the opposite side of the headland, you can see a cluster of interesting rock formations a few feet from the shore, which make the view truly unique and scenic. We’re at (14) Cauldron Point, the site where the wily, brave and resourceful Goonies pay their last respects to Willy the Orb. Looking in a southerly direction, the group wistfully observes the pirate ship finally heading for the horizon after being trapped for hundreds of years inside unexplored caves and caverns.
Where to Stay Based on the Itinerary
For the Oregon portion of the route, there’s nothing better than sleeping in the Goonies’ town of Astoria, where you’ll find a number of accommodations. For the Goat Rock Beach area in California you can consider either San Francisco (1 hour and 40 minutes away) or the many small towns in the vicinity of the beach. Here are a number of useful links for finding accommodations in these areas:
