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Bonnie and Pam going into the downtown bank used in Gemini. |
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Pam and Ingrid by the portal at Reed College used in Turnabout. |
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photos by Ingrid Deiwiks | ||||||
Ingrid Deiwiks and I decided to visit Portland, OR this year -- to meet Bonnie Sells in person at last and to tour various Nowhere Man sites while the series was still fresh in our minds.It's amazing to be in Portland as a NwM/Bruce fan -- Bruce/Tom's presence is everywhere! We were instantly transported into the atmosphere of the show and visited so many sites than I needed Ingrid's pictures to remind me of most of them. I also came up with the idea of putting a NwM tour on the Fan Connection -- with Bonnie's pictures and input forming the basis, of course.
The most exciting discovery for me was finding the home that was used for the inside of Emily's house from The Enemy Within. Bonnie had already uncovered the house used for the exteriors -- a home in farmland WAY outside the city proper -- but we knew from the Portland interviews the interiors had been shot elsewhere. Assuming the home would be close by we drove around and found a house we all agreed looked right. That night back at Bonnie's place we ran the interview and there it was! Comparing turrets, windows and landscaping we found the very spot where Bruce gave his interview and even the steps where he kissed Maria Bello on the cheek as they rehearsed! Nearby we found the railway trellis where Tom was wounded and were quite amazed at how HUGE the trellis is. Supposedly Tom climbs down that trellis - clearly impossible when you see it in person - but it made a great scene anyway.
I also loved finding the entire set for Paradise on Your Doorstep. It's a little city circle smack in the middle of a downtown residential area. There it was, quite suddenly -- Tom's house, Dee's house, the circle where the town people met (with the rose bushes still in bloom) and even the big house they used for the town center. Talk about being transported. It was eerie.
We saw most of the Doppelganger sets, all of which are near the Broadway Bridge. Bonnie had uncovered most of these already, but - happily for our sleuthing - we did discover the inside of the ristorante, which was a bar across the street from the exterior they used. Most of the Contact sets and many of the Gemini sets were downtown, so we got a good look at them, and I LOVED the lake and park used for the romantic meeting of Tom and Karen in Something About Her -- an idyllic area near Reed College, which was used as the asylum in Turnabout. The lake used for Tom and Gus's exhange in You Really Got a Hold on Me was next door to Richard Grace's mansion from Contact . We also saw the church and streets used for Dark Side of the Moon (in quite different areas of the city), and the Shriner's Hospital used in Something About Her, which was around the corner from Bonnie's own home! We decided to take a side trip to the Columbian Gorge (where part of Father had been filmed) and stopped on the way to see Edgefield Manor, a hostelry and winery that was used as the old folks' home in Forever Jung.
Of course we ate (twice as it happens) at Bruce's favorite Portland restaurant -- Portofino's -- and also indulged (twice again) in his favorite addiction -- The Coffee People's Black Tiger Milk Shake. We even bought a couple of their hats and a pound of their Black Tiger Coffee Beans. A final highlight was meeting Bonnie's delightful mother, who recounted once again her meeting with Bruce during the shooting of Zero Minus Ten. It's been over two years now, but she still gets all tingly remembering their conversation and his arm around her shoulders..
As we were leaving Portland, we took the ferry Tom used in the early part of Turnabout and even drove up the same road. A fitting way to end a great trip.
It's hard to believe that only a couple of days ago, I was walking in Bruce's footsteps and looking at the "phenomenal vistas" of the Columbia River Gorge! It was a fantastic trip, thanks in no small part to Bonnie who tirelessly lead us to everything our greedy eyes wanted to see. Pam's covered most of it, but a place she didn't mention was Oaks Park, which is the amusement park used at the beginning of You Really Got A Hold On Me and The Kellog Bowl where Tom hid the negatives in Turnabout. Another place we went to was OMSI, the "Museum of Science" where Tom was asked to meet The Voice in Contact; we were even able to walk around and look at the same exhibits that Bruce/Tom viewed.It was exciting indeed to find the house that was used for the indoor filming for The Enemy Within, and we looked very hard for the general store, which we suspected would be in that same general vicinity, but no luck on that one. But, another *possible* new find -- from YRGAHOM -- could be the area where Tom and Gus picked up the two prostitutes. In the show, you can see a plumber shop sign as they drive up, and we found one that looks exactly like it.
For me, the most thrilling aspect of the trip was to stand in, and look at, the very same spots Bruce worked in during that year. It's an experience I highly recommend to any NwM fan, but hurry -- Portland seems to be changing at a rapid pace. For example, the area by the railroad trestle, where Tom pitched his tent and was found by Emily after he was shot, is unrecognizable now because it's completely overgrown.
 Nowhere Man |
 Greenwood Get-togethers |