Stand By Me Filming Locations in Oregon and California (1986)
Synopsis
The 1986 film Stand By Me, based on the short story “The Body” by Stephen King, is a classic coming-of-age story. It follows four friends who follow the train tracks to see the dead body of a young train accident victim. The main cast includes:
- Teddy DuChamp (Corey Feldman)
- Vern Tessia (Jerry O’Connell)
- Chris Chambers (River Phoenix)
- Gordie Chambers (Wil Wheaton)
The film captures the look of 1950s small-town Oregon.
Since Stand By Me took place in a small town, many filming locations are private property, including family homes and businesses. Please respect the owners’ rights to privacy when visiting Stand By Me filming locations like Gordie’s house and Ace’s house.
Oregon, USA, Filming Locations (Cottage Grove and Brownsville, Oregon)
Castle Rock, Oregon, USA (Main St., Park Ave., and Others)
Although Stephen King’s fictional town of Castle Rock is typically Castle Rock, Maine, for Stand By Me, Castle Rock is in Oregon. If you want to visit the places where Rob Reiner filmed Stand By Me, you can visit Cottage Grove, Eugene, and Brownsville, Oregon, and other places in California.
Although Brownsville, Oregon, did a commendable job standing in for downtown Castle Rock and Main St., USA, Oregon was just one of many locations filmed in the movie Stand By Me.
Main St. is literal in this case. Main St. in Brownsville, Oregon, is the site of a run-in between Gordie and antagonist Ace Merril.
Brownsville, Oregon, USA, transformed itself into Castle Rock, including changing signs for the shooting of Stand By Me. One of the signs reads “Castle Rock City Hall.” It has a place of honor in Brownsville City Hall.
Cottage Grove, OR, is a small town in Western Oregon, USA, that provides many film locations for scenes after the kids leave Castle Rock. Cottage Grove has a long history in film, being the filming location for Buster Keaton’s 1926 film, The General.
Gordie Lachance’s House
The home the filmmakers used for Gordie Lachance’s house is at 325 Fisher St., Brownsville, Oregon, USA. Gordie Lachance’s house is still there. Visit the location to see how the house at 325 Fisher St. has changed.
The Castle Rock Salvage Yard
One scene of tension midway through the movie occurs when the kids have to cut across the Castle Rock Salvage Yard and deal with the owner’s fearsome dog, Chopper. The Castle Rock Salvage Yard filming location is 25850 Tidball Ln, Veneta, Oregon, USA.
The Lot Behind the Blue Point Diner Where Gordie Shoots a Gun
In one scene, Gordie fires a handgun in the lot behind the Blue Point Diner, located in Brownsville, Oregon, USA. The diner’s owners kept an advertisement for Coca-Cola from the movie, letting tourists revisit a slice of life in a fictional 1950s USA.
Ace Merrill’s House
One of the central conflicts in Stand By Me is between the four younger characters and older teenage delinquents, including Chris’s brother Eyeball and their leader Ace Merrill. Ace’s house, where he kills time between acts of vandalism, is at 1152 Linn Way in Brownsville, Oregon, USA. Ace’s House has changed since 1986, but the lush rural scenery remains.
You can find places where Ace and his gang were up to no good on Main St. and in different locations across Oregon, USA.
Drag Racing
The strip of road Ace’s gang used for drag racing was on Royal Ave. in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Eugene, OR, is a populous city on the west coast. The Royal Ave. drag race filmed in Eugene for Stand By Me reflected a romanticized view of the rebellious spirit in 1950s USA.
The Mailbox Baseball Scene
Ace Merril drives down a country road at high speed while his friends take out residential mailboxes with a baseball bat. Rob Reiner filmed this scene, which reveals the characters’ impulsive and destructive tendencies, on Houston Rd. in Veneta, Oregon, USA.
Vern’s Pennies
In a running storyline in Stand By Me, Vern has misplaced a jar of pennies in the space underneath his family’s home. His search for the pennies leads him to overhear his older brother telling ace and the rest of the gang about the body and sets the movie in motion. Later, Vern finds a penny on Park Ave in Brownsville.
The Treehouse
Early in Stand By Me, Gordie Lachance and his friends plan their adventure in the privacy of a treehouse. The treehouse is on School Ave., in Brownsville, Oregon, USA.
The Quidaciolu’s General Store
The former site of Quidaciolu’s General Store in Junction City fell into disuse. It stood on Territorial Hwy at its intersection with Franklin Rd. in Junction City, Oregon, USA.
Unfortunately, the building that served as Quidaciolu’s General Store in Stand By Me no longer exists. As of this writing, the location where it once stood is now an empty patch of dirt. It is unclear whether anything new will appear on the corner of Territorial Hwy. and Franklin Rd. in Junction City, Oregon.
Gordie’s Dream Sequence
A powerful motivator for Gordie’s ambition to succeed as a writer is the feeling of inadequacy brought on by the death of his older brother. His parents favored his older brother when he was alive, and he sensed disappointment in them.
The filming location for the dream sequence in which Gordie faces the death of his brother was the Baptist cemetery in Brownsville, Oregon, USA.
The Pie Eating Contest
Pioneer Park in Brownsville, Oregon, USA, was the filming location for the pie-eating contest.
Train Tracks and Bridges (Including the Row River Trail)
The Row River Trail and the Row River Bridge connect Cottage Grove, OR, to nearby Oakridge on the Gooseline Railroad track. The bridge is one of the movie locations where the journey begins.
The kids cross the bridge when they leave Castle Rock, Oregon. They return by crossing the Gooseline Railroad tracks across the Calapooia River Bridge to Brownsville, Oregon, and walk back to Park Ave.
The Row River Trail was the location of the Oregon Pacific & Eastern Railroad train line.
The Water Tower
The kids passed an old, rusty water tower by the train tracks. The actual water tower is in McCloud, California, USA. It provides water to the McCloud River Railroad.
California Filming Locations
Adult Gordie’s Home, Pasadena, CA, USA
Stand By Me begins at 380 South San Rafael Avenue in Pasadena, California. Gordie demonstrates that he is a successful writer in the 1980s because he lives on 380 South San Rafael Avenue in a wealthy part of Pasadena, California.
The Eagle Mountain Ln. Bridge, California, USA
Dusty CG Eagle Mountain Ln., near lake Britton in Burney, California, USA, is the location of a trestle bridge that made the film Stand By Me famous. An intense encounter on that railroad bridge left an indelible impact on the four main characters and a lasting impression on filmgoers. The Eagle Mountain Ln. Bridge bears “Stand By Me” graffiti.
See the Real World Locations that Made the Movie Stand By Me a Classic
Brownsville, Oregon, USA, is proud of its association with the film Stand By Me. You can visit Main St. and other publicly accessible filming locations such as the train tracks, the Baptist Cemetery, the Blue Point Diner, Park Ave., Eagle Mountain Ln., McCloud River Railroad, School Ave., and the Row River Bridge.