Astoria Oregon Goonies History | Filming Sites on your Road Trip

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You walk into a dusty attic on a gloomy, rain-swept afternoon

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in the Pacific Northwest.

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You stumble upon an old Spanish doubloon, a cracked copper

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medallion, and a faded pirate map marked with skull and crossbones.

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The legend says a 17th century galleon captained by a buccaneer named One-Eyed

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Willie was chased into a sea cavern by a Spanish armada, sealed inside by a

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cannon blast with all his rich stuff.

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For generations of movie lovers who grew up on the 1985 classic, "The Goonies,"

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the story was pure Hollywood magic.

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But what if the tale of a centuries-old shipwreck carrying precious cargo along

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the rugged Oregon coast wasn't just made up by Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus?

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What if it was rooted in a genuine 300-year-old maritime mystery?

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Welcome to Talk With History.

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One filmmaker, one historian, leading history-inspired world

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travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.

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I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jenn

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Today we are heading out to the Pacific Northwest to dive into

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one of our absolute favorite cult classic adventure films, The Goonies.

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Jenn recently traveled to Astoria, Oregon to walk through the iconic

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real-world filming locations that brought the Goon Docks to life.

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We're taking you up to the Walsh house, where Mikey, Chunk, Mouth, and

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Data plan their quest, the old county jail from the Fratelli jailbreak, and

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the stunning shores of Cannon Beach

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to look out at Haystack Rock.

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We're also digging into the fascinating true history behind the movie.

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We visit the local Columbia River Maritime Museum to see real artifacts

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from the legendary 1693 beeswax wreck, a lost Spanish ship named the Santa

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Cristo that actually vanished off the Oregon coast, inspiring the legend

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of One-Eyed Willie's hidden ship.

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I'm Scott Bennie, so grab your copper bones and watch out for booby traps.

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We're hunting for treasure in Astoria, Oregon

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All right, Jenn.

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So this is one that I was super bummed that I didn't get to go with you on.

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This is, you were doing one of your cruises, and we've

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wrapped up our Route 66 journey.

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You actually did this before our Route 66 road trip.

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And for those watching, you guys prob- will probably notice

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that Jenn is somewhere else.

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She's visiting a friend right now, so we're doing this podcast remotely.

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But this was, you were doing the Columbia River, right?

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So you were with American Cruise Lines on the Columbia River, and you went

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all the way down the Columbia River out to the coast and got to Astoria,

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Oregon, which is, most people know, a lot of people in our generation will

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know, that that is where they filmed one of our favorites, The Goonies

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Yeah, I was so lucky to be there.

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So we were doing Columbia Snake with American Cruise Line, the

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Lewis and Clark expedition.

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Very, very popular cruise.

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But we ended at the coast, right at the mouth of the Columbia

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River, which is where Astoria is.

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And what's neat about Astoria is its history is it's the, one of the oldest

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settlements in Oregon because of its access there on the river, right?

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So you can imagine when people first came to that area,

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Yeah

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that access, they're wondering, this take you across America, right?

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So that's why it's first explored.

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It's good for trade, for trading and stuff like that.

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So that's why it's the first settlement.

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Now, it's named for John Jacob Astor.

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That's why it's Astoria 'cause John Jacob Astor started the American Fur Company.

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Well, it's gonna turn into the Pacific Fur

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Okay

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But it's established in 1811.

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Lewis and Clark are out there about 1806, but you can imagine it's

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been around for a very long time.

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This is a, a very old area, and a lot of trading because of its

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waterway, and that's where this shipwreck story comes from.

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But that's what Goonies is based in.

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Great… And they film it right

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Yeah.

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location.

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had to go to that, go to the house.

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course, what did I wanna

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and for, for those listening, I

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Goonies

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put a link to the video in Jenn went there, and man, that house, it's just

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a… It sucks you right back to when you first watched The Goonies, and it was,

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it was so much fun to see your pictures, to see the video of you you just get to

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walk right up, and they embrace it there.

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Now, they, they have some signs out front, right?

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"Hey, this is still private property. Be respectful." All that kind of stuff.

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But it looks just like it did in the movie.

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I mean, it's painted the same color a- and all that stuff, and you can just

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walk up the hill, and it doesn't look like too much has changed around there

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Yeah, it's at Thir- 368 38th Street, Astoria, Oregon.

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And it was built in 1896, so it's an old Queen Anne style Victorian home.

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But it was purchased by fans, right?

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Fans of the movies bought it, and they consider themselves Goonies for life.

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So they really do want people to come up there and visit it, but they still

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want you to be respectful of their neighbors and the people around, and

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you don't go on their property and go…

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Don't go on the stairs, but you can stand at the fence and do the Truffle

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Shuffle if you wanna do that, right?

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And they want you to walk up.

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There's a… I know.

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There's a long driveway to walk up to get to it and stuff.

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So they invite you to do that.

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Now, they don't want you driving up there.

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There is signs down at the bottom of the hill.

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If you remember the movie, they go down the hill with their bikes.

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There's signs down there to park and things like that.

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But they are very welcoming of us Goonies generation 'cause we know how much it

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means for us to go to that location.

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It's in the opening 20 minutes of the movie.

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This is Mikey and Brand's house.

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This is where they're gonna find all the stuff in the attic.

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This is where they're gonna leave from on their bikes.

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And they never come back to this location, but everyone

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knows it as the Goonies house.

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And I think Data is the neighbor there.

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So it's really great, and if you visit it, you are overlooking the Astoria Harbor.

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It is up on the hill of Astoria, so it's a beautiful view from there as well.

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But and as I was walking… I walked up there.

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I took some video.

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I left a sticker from Walk With History, and as I was walking down the hill there's

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a whole house with this lady who had a lot of Goonies memorabilia, and she

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stopped me and asked if I was a Goonie.

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And I said yes, and we had a great conversation.

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So the whole embraces the story, and they really love that, and

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what was really cool is not even

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Yeah

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it was Kindergarten Cop

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the

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and,

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from Kindergarten

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and I believe they used s-

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So all

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of the school real briefly in Goonies the movie.

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So like the, the scene, and I cut it in, where what's her face, Annie, is

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doing like a cheerleading practice.

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I think that's at the school right there as, as well.

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So that it was very, very brief because they don't really do many school scenes.

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But they do use it, and I th- You had read a sign somewhere else in the area

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saying that homes in the area had been used for, homes and, and the school.

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But the school was most prominent in Kindergarten Cop

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Mm-hmm.

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And so that was, this, that's our childhood.

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So Astoria, Oregon is really been an iconic film location for a lot

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of these '80s movies, and and The Goonies house is the first location.

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And to be able to stand there and to be in front of it, I think

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every Gen X-er understands that kind of pilgrimage in going there.

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So I, it was, it broke my heart to be there without you, Scott.

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Yeah, and then you were saying I think you could walk from where the house is

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over to where the elementary school is?

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Yeah, so you can walk from the house to the elementary school, and then

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I wouldn't recommend… You could probably walk to where the Oregon

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Film Museum is in the, in the Clatsop County Jail, where they used in the

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Okay

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but you have to walk across the entire town to get over there.

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That's on the other side of Astoria.

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So I'd recommend Ubering over there, or if you had a bike,

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or if you had a car because

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Yeah

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these two locations basically sandwich the city, right?

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The Goonies house is on one side of Astoria.

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The Clatsop County Jail which is now the Oregon Film Museum, it is right beside the

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house they used for, It's the Flavel House Museum that they used for Mikey's dad.

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Mikey, that, where he, the museum where he works at with the flag.

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That's right beside the jail.

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So,

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Yeah

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but they're on the completely opposite side of Astoria.

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you

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Yeah.

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Now, one thing I read about Kindergarten Cop and when they were filming in,

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in Astoria for Kindergarten Cop.

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So there was a couple people that were actually looked at first before Arnold

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Schwarzenegger accepted the role.

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So some of the lead actors they had looked at for the movie was Bill

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Murray, which would've been a definitely a totally different movie, Patrick

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Swayze, Danny DeVito, and Bill Cosby.

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But it- Arnold Schwarzenegger eventually a- accepted it.

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And one of the other things that I read that was really interesting

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was the impact of them filming there at the school basically actually

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paid for a new roof for the school.

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So they had some repairs they needed, the school needed to do, and so because

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they were filming there, and they, they did a fair amount of, amount of

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filming not all of it was filmed inside.

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A lot of it they used for the exterior, but they used that and they put it towards

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repairs they needed to do for the school.

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So I thought that was, that, I thought that was neat

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Yeah, I, it looks to me like Astoria looks almost like it did in the ' 80s.

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I don't think Astoria looks more built up or It looks exactly the same.

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So that's probably what's iconic about it too, is y- you, you almost

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feel like you're transported back to the '80s, and you're in these movies

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because it looks it did back then.

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if you go over to the Oregon Film Museum, that's where I went to next, where

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the, the Clatsop County Jail is, and that's where the f- Fratelli jailbreak

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takes place in the very beginning.

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It's now a museum, so you can pay to go in, like I did.

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They have the whole jail cells there, where the Fratelli brothers were,

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and how they broke out of jail.

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So you can walk in the jail cell and do all the things.

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And you saw all the cutouts they have in the video.

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They really embrace the story.

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They want you to be a part of it, and and and out front, they do have a a, a 4x4

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truck, So recreating that jailbreak scene in the front with the fire and everything.

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But what you don't know from the movie is that the museum, the,

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which is the, the Flavel House Museum, is where their dad works.

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It's right beside jail.

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and so it makes it seem like in the movie, they leave their house, and

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they ride their bike down the hill by their dad's job, which, like I said, is

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completely on the other side of town, and then they would be going over to where

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Haystack Rock is, which is an hour away.

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it doesn't quite But that's magic, movie magic.

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But I would suggest if you're wanna trek to these Goonies locations, you

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need to go to the Oregon Film Museum.

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That's where I got a lot of our great souvenirs.

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That's where I got your T-shirt, right?

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So that's where I got a lot of the cool little Goonies

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things that I bought for you.

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Yeah, I it was really cool.

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So that you filming inside,

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the, film museum, which was the jail, right?

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So the fr- I'll call it the Fratelli jail.

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I mean, it's the same color.

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It looks exactly the same as it does in the movie, right?

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When you show the cell where the, the, the one, the older brother

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is fake- fakes his death, it's quite literally exactly the same.

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So it was, it was super fun,

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uh to, to see that.

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And so if you go watch the video, I cut… I compare scenes from the

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movie with your, you actually filming going in there and stuff like that.

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So that was really, really neat and, and the fact that you were able to

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see the museum r- the, the one museum right there, the film museum, and

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then the Flavel House, which is…

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Is that the Maritime Museum?

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No, so the Flavel House is, is where, I, I think it's just a historic mansion.

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It stands in for the museum right?

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And so when… The Oregon Film Museum is at 732 Duane Street.

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Flavel House is 714 Exchange Street, but they're right beside each other.

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museum where we, we'll talk about the real shipwreck that's gonna inspire the

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story is right along the waterfront, and that's the Columbia River Museum, and

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that's right where our ship pulled in,

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Yeah, so is that the one… I think I had, I think I looked it up.

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now 'cause I just, I just made the video, but that's the building that kind of has

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like the, like the scooped, like the half, half-moon style roof or whatever like that

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Yeah.

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It's, it's, it embraces the whole maritime story, and because it's embracing that

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story, it talks a little bit about this big shipwreck that happened, and this

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shipwreck is gonna inspire Goonies.

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And what we talked, we talked about this in the video, I'll talk about it now too.

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Pirates and the type of pirates that they depict in the movie are not

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really the type of pirates you're gonna find in the Pacific Northwest, right?

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But when you think of pirates, you think Caribbean pirates, right?

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You're thinking Blackbeard, and you're thinking of rum runners

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and, that kind of pirating.

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That's not what you get in the Pacific Northwest.

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But because that's the story of Goonies that's what they depict in it.

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But it all is based in an actual shipwreck, and a, a very valuable

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commodity that is part of that shipwreck that is not indigenous to America, which

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is why they were able to really validate the shipwreck took place, was it had

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a lot of beeswax in this shipwreck.

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And Clatsop American Indians were the, the American Indians in the Pacific

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Northwest along the coast there, and that's why it's called the Clatsop

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Jail, and this is Clatsop County.

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And when Lewis and Clark make their fort, it's Fort Clatsop, right?

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So the Clatsop Indians who find this beeswax and trade with them.

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So there is documentation, March 9, 1806, Sergeant Ordway who's one of

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those people on the expedition of the Corps of Discovery, who keeps a journal

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every day, and he writes about the Clatsop Indians bringing bear's wax, he

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calls it, and trading with them for it.

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And they, they use it for, they can seal their ships with it.

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They can seal leaks and stuff like that.

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It's very useful, but it's not indigenous to America.

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And so this, this big shipwreck that took place, and we're gonna talk about

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this right in that Haystack Rock area because the Oregon coast and even

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the mouth of the Columbia, you get these really bad currents and tides, and

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they, they actually call it the Pacific, the Graveyard of the Pacific, right?

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We've been to the Great Sar- Graveyard of the Atlantic Same concept.

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You get these changing tides, but you get these changing sandbars, and you get

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these hidden rocks that get hidden by the tide, and trying to navigate into the

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mouth of the Columbia, which the currents can push you into the sides of the rocks,

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that's what happens in this instance.

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So that shipwreck happens right along the mouth of the river there,

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and I mean, it's… The ship is so incapacitated it loses all of its

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cargo, and a lot of it is this beeswax.

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And so it's a Spanish galleon, so not quite a Caribbean pirate ship,

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Yeah, it, it was,

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the, the Maritime Museum kind of gave you like that good dose of real history.

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This is where it came from.

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This is what inspired Goon- the, the plot line of Goonies, the, of the, of the could

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there have been a shipwreck there where, that, that the kids could discover and

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One-Eyed Willy was out there looking for.

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And well, One-Eyed Willy was the p- was the pirate captain, in the movie.

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But that,

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So that, that was, that was the genesis of it.

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And so that was the neat part, and even, I'll mention it a little bit

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later too, is there's a, there's that kind of cross-section of legend and,

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which kind of was the movie, right?

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It… And the real history, which was 1693.

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It was a shipwreck, and shipwrecks were relatively common along that part of the,

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the West Coast and everything like that.

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And it was valuable.

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It wasn't gold, but it was valuable.

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So they're, they took s- something that was real, put it in this amazing setting

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that is the Pacific Northwest, right?

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In, in their Astoria, in the, the Oregon c- coastline, you know, threw a dash of

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a kind of childhood adventure into it, and then you have this classic 1985 movie

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that, that we, we still watch to this day.

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I mean, we're dressing up as them for Halloween.

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That's how much we love this movie, right?

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So yeah, so, so 1693, this is the heyday of pirating, right?

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This is-- When you really think about it, right, it's all

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before becomes America right?

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Blackbeard all this stuff is happening in the early 1700s, right?

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And so this is the, the, this is the time.

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But it's the the Santo Cristo di Borges.

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Am I saying that right, Scott?

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You're gonna have to correct me.

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It was a 1,000-ton Spanish M- Manila galleon.

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And what understand about this area is from the Philippines to Mexico

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to the Pacific Northwest was a trade route, just like there's a trade route

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in the Atlantic that's taking you across the Atlantic over to the West

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Indies for rum and then back over.

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This is the trade route of the Pacific.

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Same kind of concept.

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So the Philippines is making these Spanish ships, and they're coming

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over, and again, massive blocks of wax.

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The Asians are trading with wax.

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Lots of china, and that's where they're finding… That's how they validate the

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shipwreck today is they find little shards of the, the, the china in the water still.

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And so, it's in July of 1693.

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It's just heavily laden, right?

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And we know what that means.

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It's like a really heavy ship.

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So if it's so heavy and it's hitting these tides and these currents it's

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heading to Mexico, so it's coming across.

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It's supposed to take that current.

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It's supposed to push them down to Mexico.

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It does off course, and it wrecks there in Northern Oregon.

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And they believe it wrecked in the winter of 1693, 1694.

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And all 231 people aboard are lost or stranded, and but they

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have all of these tons of beeswax.

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And what's neat is not only does it

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by Lewis and Clark, but they had some of it in the museum, you could actually

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see some of that beeswax, and it was stamped with these Spanish stamps, and

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that's how they were really able to verify the ship and where it came from.

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And even today, there are still people finding pieces of wood from the ship that

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that particular ship, to validate it.

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So yeah, in great storytelling fashion, they said, "Well, what if it was, had

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jewels? What if it had treasure? What if these kids needed this money because

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they're gonna lose their homes, and they follow a treasure map to find…"

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Right?

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It's just a great story.

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And, and I think it also lends itself to youth and believing in something that

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seems very far-fetched, where adults would be like, "Ah, that's not true."

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But kids are like, "We're gonna go.

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We're gonna find it." And what's neat about it as historians today

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is it is based in a real true story, and you can go and see some

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of that beeswax in the museum.

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So as a Goonie, to go and see some of that real treasure.

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So a- a- again, if you're wanting to do this whole trek, make sure

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you stop at the Columbia River Maritime Museum and see some of those

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And so that

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some of that

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was Cannon Beach?

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of course, you

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Was that,

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Haystack

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the correct name of the beach?

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Yeah, so Cannon Beach, and again, it's about an hour

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away, so it's not a bike ride.

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And what's neat about Mikey is kinda

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Haystack Rock with Haystack Rock behind him.

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if you, you stand at Haystack Rock and look, and I, I, I show you in the

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video, you stand at Haystack Rock and look north, there's no rocks there.

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It's just a kinda cliff area where the restaurant is more than likely at.

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But if you turn the other way, that's where Haystack Rock is

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with a bunch of other rocks where he's lining up the medallion.

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So he's lining up the medallion of Haystack Rock

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with Haystack Rock behind him.

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So movie magic right there.

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Haystack Rock is a 235-foot sea stack, and they said it was formed 17 million

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years ago by lava flow and erosion.

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it's on Cannon Beach.

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Beach is very touristy, so it looks nothing like a, a desolate,

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isolated beach of 1985 Goonies.

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But it's, it's really neat to go out there as a, as, as a Goonie

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and stand out there and see it.

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and,

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and, the other part too is that it's actually in the beginning.

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So when the Fratellis are driving away, they're, they're getting away

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in their, it's like a Jeep Grand Cherokee or something like that.

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When they drive out onto the beach, that's the beach.

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So that they actually shoot, and you can actually see it.

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So they drive out with all the other cars, and they're driving

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down the beach, and Haystack Rock.

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So as, as you're watching our video, and you're, with you and Haystack Rock

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in the background, that's actually the spot where they drove the cars and

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the Fratellis were getting away, and they mix in with all the other cars.

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And the cops can't seem to figure it out, right?

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Just go to the other end.

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Oh, th- there would be no way to get away.

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That would be a perfect place to catch you, right?

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just because it's touristy, it's still gorgeous, right?

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Like I, I, I, for, for those listening, I, I always wanted to try to do a Navy

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tour up in the Pacific Northwest, but Jenn was having none of it because it's super

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far away from family, and it's basically super far away from e- from everything

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because we've got so much, family that are in now c- central United States and

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eastern United States and stuff like that.

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But I'm, being a West Coast kid, I've always got a soft spot for the Pacific

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Northwest and Oregon and Washington and all that stuff, and it's just beautiful.

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And this was just… And I told Jenn too e- before we were jumping on that this

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was a fun one for me to make because I was trying to find that '80s-style music.

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And so I was trying to find music that was similar to the, to the theme music of

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the movie, and I think I did a decent job.

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So it's, it's a really fun video that we made this time around if you

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guys wanna watch that and go see the real-world locations of The Goonies, The

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Goonies filming locations in Astoria, Oregon, and then learn a little bit

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about, the, the actual real-world history that inspired the movie

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Yeah Haystack Rock is one of those… They call it a intertidal monolithic rock

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because during low tide you can access it.

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You can walk over to it.

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Now, they have some puffins on there, so it's a sanctuary for sea birds, so

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they don't really let you climb the rock, but you can walk over to it.

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And like Scott said, it's a beautiful area, and even though it's touristy, you

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still can have your moment with the rock.

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You saw me on the beach.

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I had my

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Sure

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And their gift shops embrace The Goonies.

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So if you're looking for cool Goonies stuff, the gift shops there

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have all the cool stuff as well.

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So, I had a great time and I can't wait to bring you out there, Scott,

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'cause you're gonna love it too

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Standing in front of the Walsh House or looking out across the

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sands of Cannon Beach at Haystack Rock, you realize why The Goonies

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has endured for over four decades.

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It captures that fleeting, unforgettable chapter of childhood

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where every attic hides a secret, every map promises adventure, and

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friendship conquers any obstacle.

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But seeing the authentic 17th century artifacts from the Santa Cristo beeswax

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wreck at the Maritime Museum proves that reality and folklore walk hand in hand.

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Sometimes the wild stories Hollywood brings to the screen are sparked by

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real voyages, forgotten shipwrecks, and the rugged history of the Oregon coast.

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Whether you're reliving your childhood on the streets of Astoria

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or hunting down forgotten stories on the highway, there's always another

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adventure waiting around the bend.

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We'll talk to you next time

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This has been a Walk With History production.

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Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

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Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

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Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

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Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,

Speaker: 00:25:41

and we'll talk to you next time