NOBODY puts Baby in the corner. And who'd want to? Bright-eyed and Peace Corps-bound, she could move to the beat AND carry a watermelon with ease. If she was out of Patrick Swayze's league, she was definitely out of mine.
It's the summer of 1963, even though the hair, wardrobe and music departments missed the production meeting, and Baby Houseman and her family head to Kellerman's Mountain Resort for a summer of horseshoes, croquet and Thursday night bingo. Baby's summer really heats up when she catches the staff kids doing tasteless and vulgar dance moves that Miss McGee warned her Rydell students about in Grease (1978). Enter Johnny Castle, the coolest cat this side of the Ho Chi Minh trail. He shows Baby the time of her life ;-) dry humping her six ways to Sunday in this timeless cumming-of-age flick.
Dirty Dancing was a hit upon release and became a pop culture phenomenon. It's soundtrack spent 18 weeks atop the Billboard charts producing several hit singles, a touring live show, dirty dancing courses in every studio and was even a b-story on The Golden Girls (1985-1992)!
Dirty Dancing was filmed in Pembroke, VA and Lake Lure, NC
Location: Kellerman's Mountain House
Address: 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke, VA
Mountain Lake Lodge
The Clubhouse
This area was seen earlier when Baby first sets her eyes on Johnny...
When Baby discovers the dancers' hang out she passes this dumpster?, which is located behind the clubhouse. The staff quarters sign was still there up until a few years ago...
This area is seen again later when Baby and Johnny duck after seeing Mr. Houseman...
Also in this area is where Johnny and Baby drive off after a tense dance lesson...
The Gazebo
The lake has completely dried up...
A nice tribute to Patrick Swayze...
The Houseman Cabin (The Virginia Cabin)
The stairs have been removed and a ramp was built on the other side...
"He listens when I talk now." Riaaer! Hiss Hiss!
The Beach
Lift Practice
Patrick Swayze's Room
During filming, Patrick Swayze stayed in room 232 in the main lodge...
Jennifer Grey's Room
Jennifer Grey stayed in Room 513 in Chestnut Loge...
When the cast and crew checked in, the computers were down, so they hand wrote where people were staying...
The Dirty Dancing Remembered Cabin
Mountain Lake Lodge is very proud to be remembered as the main filming location for Dirty Dancing. They built a tribute cabin filled with promotional and behind-the scenes-photos, a Dirty Dancing timeline and a self-guided map. And the staff is very welcoming and informative to fans and location junkies. No "get off my lawn!" crap to worry about.
I hope you had the time of your life looking at these photos. You'll notice some key locations are not included, such as the dancers' cabins, Baby's bridge and stairs, the dance studio and the finale auditorium. Those locations were filmed in Lake Lure, NC and were either demolished or burned down.
Locations Visited: February 2017
The Clubhouse
This area was seen earlier when Baby first sets her eyes on Johnny...
When Baby discovers the dancers' hang out she passes this dumpster?, which is located behind the clubhouse. The staff quarters sign was still there up until a few years ago...
This area is seen again later when Baby and Johnny duck after seeing Mr. Houseman...
Also in this area is where Johnny and Baby drive off after a tense dance lesson...
The Gazebo
The lake has completely dried up...
A nice tribute to Patrick Swayze...
The Houseman Cabin (The Virginia Cabin)
The stairs have been removed and a ramp was built on the other side...
"He listens when I talk now." Riaaer! Hiss Hiss!
Other Points of Interest...
The chains, located across from the main lodge, were installed by production and still remain today...
The Kitchen Door
The Beach
Lift Practice
Patrick Swayze's Room
During filming, Patrick Swayze stayed in room 232 in the main lodge...
Jennifer Grey's Room
Jennifer Grey stayed in Room 513 in Chestnut Loge...
When the cast and crew checked in, the computers were down, so they hand wrote where people were staying...
The Dirty Dancing Remembered Cabin
Mountain Lake Lodge is very proud to be remembered as the main filming location for Dirty Dancing. They built a tribute cabin filled with promotional and behind-the scenes-photos, a Dirty Dancing timeline and a self-guided map. And the staff is very welcoming and informative to fans and location junkies. No "get off my lawn!" crap to worry about.
I hope you had the time of your life looking at these photos. You'll notice some key locations are not included, such as the dancers' cabins, Baby's bridge and stairs, the dance studio and the finale auditorium. Those locations were filmed in Lake Lure, NC and were either demolished or burned down.
Locations Visited: February 2017
Nice pictures. I especially like the tribute stone. SW
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, the tribute stone was a nice touch.
DeleteWonderful pictures ! Wonderful movie !!! I am Romanian Dirty Dancing fan, and I love this movie. My name is Mihai Enciu. I think that movie is the most beautiful love movie ever. I was 19 years when I saw for the first time this movie. Now I have 49. But I feel so young when I see again and again the movie ! And today I watch this movie like 30 years ago, with love and emotions. Thank you for all memories who I lived again after many years. My great wish in to came in USA and visit all places from Dirty Dancing scenes. Until these not will destroyed . But is very difficult to arrive in USA. I love America for this movie and for many other reasons! God bless all those who contributed to the realization of this artistic masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Dirty Dancing is a great film! I hope you get to visit one day.
DeleteExcept the water lift WAS done at Firefly cove. Not the Mountain lake.
ReplyDelete"dancers' cabins, Baby's bridge and stairs, the dance studio and the finale auditorium. Those locations were filmed in Lake Lure, NC and were either demolished or burned down."
ReplyDeleteIt was filmed at a boy scout camp in Lake Lure NC, I'm from NC, and I was lucky enough to visit that set in 1988, a year after the movie came out. It was open to the public for a small fee for a while. I don't know when it closed. The dancers' cabins were gone. The bridge/stairs, the finale auditorium, and the dance studio were still there. So was Johnny's cabin. My mother took pictures that I put on Facebook on a DD page. The insides of the buildings were bare, none of the movie decorations. There were shows in the auditorium, but I didn't go to that. You're right. It's about all gone. I've seen pictures on facebook where the stairs used to be. It's a development called Firefly Cove now.
Thank you for these photos and the explanations! I've watched the movie at the cinema in 1987 and 1988 at least 20 times. It was the go-to-activity my friends and I did when we were 12 and 13 years old. Later I watched it every time it was on TV. Then I bought the DVD and later the blu-ray.
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked every time when people don't get the story: Penny is pregnant, needs an abortion, which is illegal. But she can't have the baby, either, because she isn't married and doesn't have money to support herself and a baby. And she can't keep working as a dancer with a growing baby belly. So she needs medical help. It really makes me sad and angry when she says that she is scared and later that she can still have children. Abortions should be a safe, legal option. Plus if there had been financial support for women in her situation she maybe would have kept the baby.
That story is set in 1963 but in the USA nothing has changed. There are still women bleeding to death because they don't get the medical help they need. Not only after illegal abortions but after a miscarriage, too!