Visiting The Goonies House

Chronicles my first trip to the Oregon Coast and the world of the Goonies.

I just wanted to put my two cents worth of an article to the RetroJunkies out there. I just found this site and was hooked right away. I love this stuff. I was born in '82 so I grew up in the late 80's, early 90's. So of course there was the TMNT obsession, NES and Ghostbusters, just to name a few. But their was always something about the 1985 film The Goonies. It lingers with me for all these years. Their was something about the environment, the foggy small town and the kids. Being 30 now, makes me think it was because it paralleled my life growing up. I grew up and now bought a house in a very small, bay town on Vancouver Island. It looks and feels very similar to Astoria, Oregon. Their was something magical about the place.
Flash forward a few years and I started obsessing about heading to the Oregon Coast and finding Astoria. It's funny when your young, as Oregon might as well be half-way across the world. But it's not far away at all. My girlfriend (now wife) and her sister wanted to drive to San Francisco. Taking nothing away from San Fran, but I could have cared less, I wanted to see the Goonies house!

So we headed out and made it to Astoria in mere hours. It was wonderful. We found the house fairly easy. I actually got goosebumps, walking up the driveway.
It was cool being there, looking out over the town. It has a great view. It might sound corny, but I felt as I was a Goonie for a day.

We drove around and after a brief stay we headed South towards San Fran.
Not far down the 101 we stumbled upon a huge rock sitting in the ocean, that I instantly recognized. It was the beach from the credit sequence, Cannon Beach. This beach was great and even my wife loved it. Haystack Rock, I found was the giant rock's name. We hung out for awhile and left.

That was 2008. This trip made such an impression, we've been down every year since! I proposed to my girlfriend right in front of Haystack Rock in 2011. It was wet and miserable but awesome at the same time. If you have never done this trip and you live near by, do it. I know that a lot of people would think it's lame, but I also know that their are numerous big kids like me. Goonies is more than a movie to a lot of us. It reminds us of a simpler time, where the biggest worry was having a flat tire on your bike or having enough players to get a road hockey or baseball game going.

I hope you somewhat enjoyed this and it wasn't too autobiographical. I wonder if their are others on here that has a similar story? I would love to hear it.
Thanks for reading!

Comments

Friggin Awesome man.

Great article! The Goonies has always been a favorite of mine, I watched it over and over again as a kid. Sounds like you had a fun little adventure, hopefully one day I'll be able to head out there as well.

Nice first article. As vkimo put it: short and sweet. Definately sweet! I too have Astoria, OR on top of my "must visit" list as well as the locations in New Jersey where The Adeventures of Pete & Pete was filmed. The latter being only four hours away from me by car. @ agentkev: I've been to Area 51 and it's pretty cool but need I remind you it's also in the middle of the desert. If you get to visit, make sure to bring plenty of water and a full tank of gas. P.S. Short Circuit was also filmed at the Goonies house in Astoria. And to answer ChicagoSheriff, the current owners don't mind the attention because they understand the fandom. In fact they have a sign outside the house that reads " All Goonies welcome". Pretty good read, keep 'em coming.

From day one of seeing that movie ive wanted to live there. Did you see the owners im curious if they hate the attention.

I have heard that they don't mind if you come up the driveway and take a pic. I didn't try and knock or anything. I read up on it before I went, and it seemed that the owners don't mind you doing that. But it does have a sign saying it is a private residence, but goonies welcome. Something like that.

I couldn't click on this article fast enough. Born in 1979, The Goonies has been my favorite movie for as long as I can remember. I've lived in Hawaii now for a year, and a couple months ago my wife and I were thinking of taking a trip just to break up the monotony of this weather and to get back to the mainland for a few days. My first suggestion was Oregon, specifically Astoria. I figured that that would be okay with her since neither of us have been to the Pacific NW. She did agree, but we decided that our Thanksgiving trip would be to Colorado to see my sister. It's also funny that vkimo mentioned Kindergarten Cop because I watched it again two weeks ago in another fit of nostalgia and fantasizing about visiting the area. I know I'll get there one day...

Thanks guys. I am not as familiar with Kindergarten Cop, but did know it was shot there as well. I heard their was a few Free Willy scenes shot there too. Neat town and the whole coast is a very cool road trip. Thanks for reading, maybe I will try writing some more stuff for the site.

I too remember the town of Astoria in The Goonies, although I didn't know that was it's name when I saw it. I sort of missed the boat on Goonies when I was a kid (born mid-'79), but I'm surprised that I did. I was actually born in Oregon not far from Portland, but grew up in Michigan. As I watched Goonies for the first time in the 90's though and in subsequent times, the town always has fascinated me too. I also remember it from Kindergarten Cop too by the way. It has this cool, landscape, the big bridge, neat coastline and sort of a mysterious interesting look about it. Probably why it was chosen. I've lived in Florida now for 15 years, but am always thinking about moving to Oregon some day. Although I was only born there and around for a couple months before moving, in the 2 or 3 times in my adult life that I've been back, there's something that feels like home to me about it. I'd love to visit and see the house myself!

Short and sweet article! I definitely want to visit Astoria one day. I live in SF so it's not too far. Astoria was also where they filmed Kindergarten Cop. Maybe I can find that radio tower and climb it...

there are two major places i want to go to in my life.. Rachel nevada/Area 51 area,... and the Goonies house... this is my graceland...