I found out that many scenes from the movie,
An Officer and a Gentleman, were filmed at Fort Worden - the place where Artfest was held. I seriously doubt Richard Gere stayed in our bunk room, but he definitely walked the halls. According to a movie trivia website, my dorm (202) was the site for the barber shop scene, and dorm 204 was Zach Mayo's dorm, as well as the place where he got his first salute from Sargeant Foley (Lou Gossett). Bldg 204 is no longer a dorm, but it was the place where we had our gallery display on the last night as well as a few classes during the day (you can see some people hauling big roller bags of art supplies up the ramp).
The Blimp Hangar where Mayo and Foley have their fight was where we had our vendor night. We also had our opening ceremony there, which turned out to be really special this year, because Teesha's future son-in-law proposed to her daughter (lots of drama and tears at Artfest). I had one of my classes high up on the hill right next to this battery. When I climbed up on top, I could see the water (Puget Sound) on the other side. In the movie, this is where Foley was trying to get Mayo's DOR, while Sid, Paula, and Lynette drove by in a speed boat mooning them.
We had a lot of clouds during Artfest, but when I turned around from on top of the battery, I could see the sun glinting off the tops of the mountains. It was really breathtaking to see. I could also look down over most of the buildings in the Fort. It was fun walking around taking pictures of the buildings that were in this movie. I found out later that the set for the scene where they suffered a lack of oxygen and tried to play cards was still in the basement of Dorm 225. Had I known this, I think I would have gone exploring when I went to Dorm 225 the first night for a map-making demo.
I got up early one morning and walked down to the water. The wind and waves were really rough. This isn't quite the place where Paule met Mayo after Sid committed suicide (that beach is in Port Townsend, as well as the motel where the couples used to meet). But this is where we had our bonfire and journaling party on Thursday night. I walked down here again on Sunday before I left for the airport. There is a campground to the right just outside of the camera view, and it was full of weekend campers. I guess if you live in the northwest, you just have to suck it up and brave the wind and rain if you want to camp at all.
