Stanley Kubrick used Oregon's Timberline Lodge for the exterior shots of The Shining's Overlook Hotel. He filmed the interior scenes in England. But the original inspiration for the famed fictional lodge came from Estes Park, Colorado's Stanley Hotel, which reportedly spooked a young Stephen King when he passed through in the 1970s.
Now, the Stanley plans to add a film center that will feature, among other things, "the world's first horror-themed museum," according to the Los Angeles Times, The center will be nonprofit focused on education, but the hotel still needs to secure $11.5 million in public funding before the project can begin.
There's nothing new about people trying to capitalize on iconic Hollywood film locations. Some have even become tourist attractions. Case in point: these legendary film locations, which have been meticulously preserved into more than mere roadside attractions.
The Historic Hoosier Gym—Knightstown, Indiana
It shouldn't have been hard for the producers of Hoosiers to find a serviceable high school gym somewhere other than middle-of-nowhere Indiana. But they wanted the real deal, which they found in a quaint, mostly unused gymnasium in Knightstown. Since the 1986 Gene Hackman classic went down as arguably the greatest sports movie of all time, its main setting has become immortalized. Nearly 30 years later, Hoosier Gym is a nonprofit museum, community center and site of the annual Hoosier Classic, which allows the state's best high school ballers the chance to play on the the holiest hardwood in America.
Hobbiton—Matamata, New Zealand
Peter Jackson used the picturesque New Zealand countryside as the setting for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and the landscape and structures used for the film have since been turned into a J.R.R. Tolkien geek's paradise. Tolkien's books are the epitome of escapist literature, and staying in Hobbiton imbues visitors with a sense that they've entered the author's rich imaginary world. For lodging, there is an inn as well as farm stays. During the day Hobbiton also offers a number of different tour options. Visitors can stroll through the Shire, explore glowworm caves or drive across expansive sheep farms.
The Gone with the Wind Mansion and Museum—Lovejoy and Marietta, Georgia
One of the most famous estates in movie history is the gorgeous Southern mansion at the center of Gone with the Wind. But for all of its charm, the house was nothing more than a movie set in Culver City, California, until a Georgia company bought it and decided to remake the home into a tourist attraction. The plan never quite happened and the dismantled façade has sat dormant in Lovejoy, Georgia, since its pieces were first hauled east in 1959. That might be soon to change. A Southern history buff named Peter Bonner has taken it upon himself to reconstruct what's left of the house. He has a Facebook page for it and everything.
Until that happens, though, there will always be the Gone with the Wind museum, which is located 50 miles away in Marietta and features a treasure trove of memerobilia and artifacts from a film the South holds so dear.
The Field of Dreams Movie Site—Dyersville, Iowa
Similar to the Historic Hoosier Gym, the idyllic baseball diamond carved out of an Iowa cornfield for the 1989 film Field of Dreams represents the sport in its purest form. Nothing symbolizes America's pastime more than the movie's lasting image of a father and son playing catch. For nearly 30 years, fathers and sons have been making the trip to Dyersville to experience it for themselves. According to the field's website, more than one million people have visited the diamond since the film's release. If you build it, they apparently will come.
Dorothy's House and the Oz Museum—Liberal and Wamego, Kansas
The Wizard of Oz is Kansas's single biggest claim to fame, so it should come as no surprise that the state has gone to great lengths to preserve its legacy. In Liberal, Kansas, there is Dorothy's House, which isn't the actual house from the movie, but a farmhouse built in 1907 that has been remodeled to resemble the one from the silver screen. There's also a yellow brick road, an interactive tour and an annual Oz Fest with events like a 5k Toto Trot.
On the other side of the state, in Wamego, is the Oz Museum, a far more polished tribute to the film that featues more than 2,000 Oz artifacts. There's even a tribute to Michael Jackson's 1978 reinterpretation, The Wiz. Just click your heels.
