Olympic Peninsula & Washington Coast - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 276

Forks
Forks, a small lumber town on US 101, was little more than a speck on the Washington
state map when Stephenie Meyer set her now famous vampire novel Twilight here in
2003. Meyer had never been to Forks when she created the ghoulish legacy with the first
of what has become a series of insanely popular 'tweenage' books. Since this time, Forks
has seen an outlandish rise in tourism, the bulk of the visitors being vampire fans who
are more than a little surprised to find Forks for what it really is - chillingly ordinary
(and wet).
For those who haven't got a clue about Twilight (where have you been for the last 10
years?), Forks is actually a terrific spot to base yourself for forays into some of the high-
lights of the Olympic National Park: the Hoh Rainforest and the dramatic coastline
around La Push.
THE TWILIGHT ZONE
It would have been impossible to envisage back in the early 2000s: Forks, a de-
pressed lumber town full of hard-nosed loggers, reborn as a pilgrimage site for girls
following two fictional sweethearts named Bella and Edward. The reason for this
weird metamorphosis is theTwilightsaga, a four-part book series by US author
Stephenie Meyer about love and vampires on the foggy Olympic Peninsula that in
several short years has shifted well over 100 million books and spawned five Holly-
wood movies. With Forks acting as the topic's main setting, the town has been
catapulted to international stardom - now Bud-slugging lumberjacks in dive bars
are juxtaposed with romance-hungry 15-year-olds shopping for kitschy vampire
paraphernalia (of which there is plenty). Economic reasons have so far ensured
that relations between the two camps have remained cordial. Forks' tourist num-
bers have reached the stratosphere since the 2008 release of the firstTwilight
movie, and the financial rewards in this isolated, boom-bust town have been felt by
everyone.
Not much was actually filmed in Forks. Many film locations were in Oregon, in-
cluding some Forks High School scenes, which were shot in Portland. You'll have
better luck in nearby Port Angeles, where key scenes were shot (check out
www.portangelesdowntown.com for specifics).
Dazzled by Twilight ( www.dazzledbytwilight.com ; 11 N Forks Ave; 10am-6pm; ) runs
twoTwilightmerchandise shops in Forks (and another in Port Angeles) as well as
the Forks Twilight Lounge (81 N Forks Ave) . The lounge hosts a downstairs restaurant
along with an upstairs music venue that showcases regular live bands and a blood-
curdling 5pm to 8pm Saturday-night tween karaoke. The company also runs four