Location Statistics
Well, I unfortunately do not have a new blog to post for today and it is all the Grim Cheaper’s fault! You see, on Christmas Eve morning he gifted me with an early Christmas present – the Blu-ray DVD of Dirty Dancing: The Limited Keepsake Edition, which contains hours upon hours of extras including a feature devoted to all of the locations used in the film. As you can probably imagine, I just about died upon opening it and spent that entire day watching the special features and therefore did not have time to write a new post for today. I did find out a huge amount of Dirty Dancing location information from it, though, and now know where pretty much every single scene in the movie was filmed. And you know what that means! Oh yes, the Grim Cheaper and I will be taking a trip to Pembroke, Virginia and Lake Lure, North Carolina to stalk all of the DD locales in the very near future! For those who are wondering, the majority of the Kellerman hotel scenes – including Baby’s cabin, the dining hall where the family eats, the gazebo where she takes her first dance lesson and gets partnered up with Mrs. Shumaker, and the kitchen where Penny was found crying – can all be found at the Mountain Lodge Hotel in Pembroke, West Virginia. The hotel even offers a Dirty Dancing tour in which guests stalk each and every location featured in the movie and also get to reenact scenes while there! So incredibly cool! All of the staff-type scenes – including the dance hall segments, the rehearsal scenes, and the staff cabin scenes – were filmed at the now-defunct Chimney Rock Boys Camp in Lake Lure, North Carolina. Sadly, most of the Lake Lure locations were either demolished shortly after the movie was filmed or destroyed in a fire a few years later, but Baby’s steps remain and it is those steps that I am longing to see more than anything else! But, until I actually get out there, I offer this AMAZING link of photographs taken by a woman and her husband who somehow managed to pinpoint the exact spots where filming at Lake Lure took place. I seriously think that woman might just be my new best friend!
If you are at all a fan of Dirty Dancing, I honestly cannot recommend enough picking up your own copy of the Limited Keepsake Edition DVD! Other special features include two commentaries, some original screen tests, numerous cast interviews, deleted scenes, extended scenes, alternate scenes, a trivia reel, a making-of featurette, and an outtakes reel (which is actually the only disappointing extra on the entire DVD as the segment only lasts about 30 seconds). The edition also includes a keepsake book about the movie AND, best of all, a $50 coupon to stay at the Mountain Lake Hotel. LOVE IT!
Anyway, I promise to be back tomorrow with a whole new post, so, until that time, Happy Stalking!