An ancient pirate ship, a hunt for hidden treasure, underground tunnels and a secret cave – it’s the stuff ’80s movie dreams are made of! And indeed, the 1985 classic “The Goonies” became a runaway hit upon its release nearly four decades ago. Following a group of loyal friends as they embark upon a daring search for a treasure stolen by the infamous 17th-century buccaneer One-Eyed Willy in the hopes of saving their neighborhood from greedy developers, the family adventure story broke records as one of the top-10-grossing films of the year. And in the three-plus decades since, its fame has only grown, cementing the flick’s status as a veritable cult favorite with anniversary celebrations regularly held in Astoria, the small coastal town in Oregon that served as its central setting. As The Columbian noted in a 2010 article detailing one such soiree, “This is devotion in its purest form, built on a 114-minute movie filmed here and released in June 1985. Since then, there’s been almost nothing to fan the flames of fandom – no resuscitated spinoffs, à la ‘Star Wars’ or ‘Star Trek.’ Years ago, there was a board game and a Nintendo game. There are always talks of a sequel that will likely never materialize. Still, the fans come to celebrate their love of ‘The Goonies.'”
At the top of participants’ to-do list is invariably a pilgrimage to the movie’s prominent locations, most notably the rambling Victorian that portrayed the onscreen home of the Walsh family, where siblings Mikey (Sean Astin) and Brand (Josh Brolin) live with their parents, Mrs. Walsh (Mary Ellen Trainor) and Mr. Walsh (Keith Walker). Known amongst fans as “‘The Goonies’ House,” in real life the three-story structure stands nestled atop a picturesque bluff overlooking the Columbia River at 368 38th St. (Please remember this is a private home. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way.)
Easily one of the most famous houses in moviedom, the place sent shockwaves across the internet last month when it was put up for sale for the first time in over two decades. Listed with Jordan Miller of John L. Scott Real Estate at a swashbuckling $1.65 million, prospective buyers didn’t have long to liquidate their marble bags to finance a purchase as it was scooped up by one lucky individual a mere six days after hitting the market! Miller told The Oregonian, “After the word spread that the property was for sale, we received multiple offers, at asking price and higher, and we have a full backup offer.” Not surprisingly, the purchaser is a “Goonies” fan who, according to the paper, is most excited to “live in the Goon Docks” and even plans on rebuilding the unique mechanism that opened the Walsh family’s front gate in the film!
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures -
Image Credit: Kent Factora/RETO Media The seller, Sandi Preston, who bought the place in 2001, is also a longtime “Goonies” fan. In fact, she initially visited the property while touring the movie’s many Astoria locations during a family vacation to the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s. It was love at first sight. She told The Columbian, “I asked God if he would give me the ‘Goonies’ house and He did.” It didn’t turn out to be as heavenly as she had imagined, though.
Although Preston initially welcomed fans, her enthusiasm over the residence’s cinematic history waned over the years as it became more and more of a tourist draw, especially following Astoria’s 20th-anniversary “Goonies” celebration in 2005. Though the house had always attracted its fair share of visitors, the much-ballyhooed event turned the dwelling into a virtual tourist sensation overnight. The subsequent dawn of social media only exacerbated its notoriety and the pad was soon attracting up to 1,000 people a day throughout the town’s touristy summer season. As Sandi recounted to the Lincoln Journal Star in 2015, “Though I enjoy meeting new people, it’s become very difficult to live here. People walk up the driveway and stand in the middle of the access road or driveway and refuse to move when a resident needs to drive up or down.”
As a result, Preston and her neighbors have become far less friendly toward visitors. Recent fans hoping to be met with a “Hey . . . you . . . guys!” or even a nice Truffle Shuffle are instead greeted with signage warning, “Do not drive or walk up to view or take photos of Goonie House. Private Drive. Police will be called.” Preston has even taken to draping the residence with tarps in an attempt to recover some privacy. The home’s Tripadvisor page (yes, it has one) is rife with reviews lamenting the harsh welcome, though it does appear that Sandi has been open to accepting Venmo payments or cash donations as of late in exchange for a quick peek at the place, so if the new buyer wants to carry on with the practice, there is definite potential for passive income.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures -
Image Credit: Kent Factora/RETO Media Of choosing to shoot in Astoria, “Goonies” publicist Rob Harris told the Longview Daily News back in 1984, “The weather that everyone complains about is what brought us here. This area has most of the elements called for in the plot, such as coastline, docks and historical landmarks. It also has some especially dramatic visual beauty. The way the skies are lit in weather like this does magic in a camera lens.”
Originally constructed in 1896, the Victorian was designed to take full advantage of those highly cinematic surroundings, with striking views of the foggy coastal landscape visible from nearly every vantage point. As such, its use in the film was a no-brainer.
Prior to the shoot, production designer J. Michael Riva and his team thoroughly revamped the home’s exterior, outfitting it with a fresh coat of paint and a new porch. The latter has since been restructured once again, with the front stairs now facing the opposite direction from what was seen onscreen.
Situated atop a sloped road at the end of a rocky driveway, filming at the property was not without its challenges. Local filmmaker Mick Alderman, who cut his show business teeth as a sort of “fly on the wall” volunteer throughout the production, writes in his book “Three Weeks with ‘The Goonies’: On Location in Astoria, Oregon,” “The longer I watched, the more it became clear that the crew wasn’t exactly thrilled with the choice of location. It took all the strength of four men to haul each of the laden equipment carts up the steep driveway, trying to maintain their traction on the loose gravel.” The additional efforts proved worthwhile. Though only featured in the first 25 minutes of “The Goonies,” the residence obviously left an indelible mark on audiences!
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures -
Image Credit: Kent Factora/RETO Media As Alderman further chronicles in his book, as well as in the 2010 documentary “The Making of a Cult Classic: The Unauthorized Story of ‘The Goonies,'” the actual inside of the property was also utilized by the production. In the latter, he details, “One of the very unusual things about this shoot was that all the interiors, with the exception of the attic scene, were shot at the house itself. Normally, you would build a set on a soundstage to make room for the camera, but I think they liked the view out the windows and decided to just go for it there.”
Sadly, the residence was extensively remodeled by Preston during her tenure and, aside from the general layout of the front door, family room and kitchen (pictured above), it no longer resembles its onscreen self in the slightest.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Though by no means small, the pad’s three bedrooms, two baths and 2,366 square feet were a bit cramped for the production team to navigate, with the narrow staircase proving especially problematic. As Alderman recently told Dirt, “The crew was unable even to get the small camera dolly up there. They had to fly in a Panaglide operator from L.A. just to shoot the upstairs scenes!” The steps were tricky for the set decorators, as well, who, as the Longview Daily News recounted in 1984, purchased some furnishings from a local antique store to use as dressing and wound up having “to return a large wooden cupboard when it wouldn’t fit up the stairs in a house where they were filming.”
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Image Credit: Kent Factora/RETO Media As such, the staircase was thoroughly reconfigured during Preston’s renovation, with an entirely new wider version (pictured above) installed in a different area of the residence, according to Alderman who was given a private tour of the interior a few years ago.
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures -
Image Credit: Kent Factora/RETO Media Fans will be delighted to learn that the home’s scuttle hatch remains intact, though the adjacent room and attic itself (which didn’t actually appear onscreen) have been altered. No dusty artifacts (or “sexual torture devices,” for that matter) are to be found at the top of the ladder these days – the enclave is instead a finished space that can be used as an additional bedroom.
Those who missed out on the extraordinary opportunity to purchase “The Goonies” house can always embark upon a tour of the film’s many Astoria locations, including the former Clatsop County Jail (now the Oregon Film Museum), where Jake (Robert Davi) escapes from prison in the opening scene, or, the Flavel House Museum, Mr. Walsh’s workplace, or Cannon Beach in nearby Ecola State Park, where the abandoned restaurant façade was constructed. But don’t go looking for the Inferno anywhere in the surrounding waters. The pirate ship was just a set that only ever existed inside the legendary Stage 16 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. While director Richard Donner attempted to sell the massive piece post-filming, telling Los Angeles magazine, “I called every amusement park in the United States,” incredibly, he had no takers and it was subsequently dismantled. “The Goonies” house, thankfully, will not suffer that same fate, thanks to its new buyer, who, as The Oregonian notes, “promises to preserve and protect the landmark” for generations of fans to enjoy for decades to come.