Where was the original ‘Goonies’ movie filmed?

It’s not an exaggeration to say that 1985’s The Goonies is one of the most iconic and impactful movies ever made. The dream team of director Richard Donner and writers Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg made an epic adventure comedy that evokes charming childhood memories and a sense of wonder for millions of film fans worldwide.

The Goonies is so brilliant because, besides the geniuses who made it, it has a fantastic cast of charismatic (primarily young) actors playing various memorable characters, a gripping story, and an iconic setting perfect for the zany exploits that occur in it. That tremendous cast includes Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen, John Matuszak, and Mary Ellen Trainor.

The eponymous group of kids is so named because they live in Astoria, Oregon’s fictional “Goon Docks” neighborhood. The movie follows their attempts to save their homes from foreclosure after they find an old treasure map and follow it to unearth the long-lost fortune of the legendary 17th-century pirate One-Eyed Willy (while being pursued by a notorious crime family, the Fratellis, who want to claim the bounty for themselves).

But where was The Goonies filmed?

Where was The Goonies filmed?

Most of The Goonies’ on-location filming occurred in the real Astoria, a port city on the Oregon coast, while some were filmed relatively close by, and others on studio sets.

Specific locations used included the interior and exterior of the old Clatsop County Jail, which was used as Jake Fratelli’s holding place at the beginning of the movie (it has now been converted into the Oregon Film Museum). A real house on the city’s eastern end, 368 38th Street, was used for the Walsh family home (pictured above). The Captain George Flavel House Museum was used as the museum where Mikey’s father worked. Most of the coastal scenes were filmed in Oregon but far from Astoria. The eponymous group cycles to Ecola State Park in the movie, which, in reality, is in Cannon Beach, over 26 miles (42 km) south of Astoria. The climactic scene on the beach was filmed at Goat Rock State Beach in Sonoma County, California.

Some scenes were filmed on specially built sets at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, including all the underground scenes and the scene in which the Goonies discover One-Eyed Willy’s ship (that one was filmed in the studio’s Stage 16, which is one of America’s most vast and prominent sound stages).

Movie fans regularly flock to Astoria to visit some of the iconic locations used in The Goonies. If that’s something you plan on doing, you can check out a visitor’s guide at Movie-Locations.com, which lists all of the above-mentioned locations. There’s also a handy guide at Roadtrippers.com for anyone planning a whole road trip around visiting The Goonies’ filming locations (which sounds like an absolutely awesome thing to do, by the way). Now, where’s that long-awaited sequel, dagnabbit?