Photo-of-the-Week #118 - The Roslyn Cafe, Roslyn, Washington, June 2012

This mural on the side of this old building became an iconic image in the TV program "Northern Exposure." The setting was the fictitious town of Cicely, Alaska where a unique cast of diverse characters played off one another in the environment both climatically and figuratively. The Roslyn Cafe was one of the focal points of the show and this mural was in the opening title sequence of each show.

Actually, the exterior shots and some of the interior shots were done in the small town of Roslyn in the Cascade Mountains about 90 minutes or so from Seattle and the rest of the production was done in Redmond, Washington, home of the software giant, Microsoft. In the TV show the Roslyn Cafe mural had an 's added to Roslyn in a makeshift manner to make it look like someone's name. The time I spent walking around the small town (just under 900 residents according to the 2010 census) and through many of the old buildings brought back fond memories of the town, characters and plots of the 1990 - 95 TV series.

But, "Northern Exposure" is not Roslyn's only claim to fame. A 1979 movie, "The Runner Stumbles," starring Dick Van Dyke and Kathleen Quinlan filmed in Roslyn. The movie was about a nun and a priest and the geographic focal point in the town was the Immaculate Conception Church. Both interior and exterior shots with Van Dyke and Quinlan were shot at the church. Some of the local folks had parts in the movie while others were extras in the production. The actual storyline was about a small town in Michigan, however, Roslyn got the nod as the shooting location.

Oh, yes! I did enjoy a pleasant lunch at the Roslyn Cafe along with one of their local brewskies. Next time I get out to Washington State, I plan to revisit Roslyn and perhaps stay there a day or two to further explore and get to know the place and people better.