Bang Bang Bar/The Roadhouse (Twin Peaks Bar Logo)

Bang Bang Bar — Twin Peaks Vintage Bar Tee

If the Bang Bang Bar had sold T-shirts behind the bar in 1990, I’d like to think they would have looked something like this.

Better known to most of us as the Roadhouse, the Bang Bang Bar sits just outside the center of Twin Peaks—a dark little roadside club where people drink, dance, fight, fall in love, and occasionally receive messages from somewhere they probably shouldn’t.

It’s also where music becomes such an important part of the Twin Peaks world. Julee Cruise performs there in the original series and again in Fire Walk with Me, turning the room into something halfway between a dive bar and a dream. Decades later, Twin Peaks: The Return brought us back to the Roadhouse, ending many episodes with performances by a wonderfully strange lineup of bands and musicians.

Like so many places in David Lynch’s work, the Bang Bang Bar feels completely real even when what’s happening inside it doesn’t. Neon, beer signs, red curtains, cigarette smoke, teenagers making bad decisions, and music that seems to know more about the characters than they know about themselves.