Port Angeles Downtown Association

twilight

twilight IN PORT ANGELES!

To enter the national contest above, click on TWILIGHT in the text.

The movie will continue showing at the Lincoln Theater through Christmas, 2008.

Here's what MSN had to say about twilight in Port Angeles on November 20, 2008.

So where would the books' teen couple Edward and Bella catch a flick on a Friday night?

Lincoln Theater, Port Angeles Photo by Bob Harbick

The Lincoln Theater in Port Angeles, which figures in the books, will host the local movie premiere.

The historic Lincoln Theater, of course, in Port Angeles -- about 45 miles from Forks. In the books, it's where Bella and Jacob mocked the movie "Crosshairs" and two doors down from the restaurant Bella Italia, where the star-crossed sweethearts had their first dinner rendezvous. Next door is Port Book and News, where Bella strolled past just before her inborn danger magnet drew local thugs and Edward sped to her rescue.

Other than Bella Italia, not all Port Angeles' "Twilight" sites are specifically named in the books. Yet, as these locales fit Meyer's literary landscape best, they've become the living landmarks that imitate her art -- and make Port Angeles a Twilighter hub, second only to Forks.

First blood: Port Angeles premieres
On Friday, Nov. 21, the Lincoln and the Port Angeles Downtown Association will do their best to set the "Twilight" mood for the premiere. That includes showing the film on two of the tiny theater's three screens. One seats about 163 people, the other 179. Queue up for your ticket on the 21st, no advance purchase permitted. It's the fairest way, according to the theater owner. Especially in light of the flood of fans expected to overtake a venue that its Assistant Manager Kaitlin says hasn't sold out "since 'Jackass Number Two.'"

Bella Italia Photo by Bob Harbick

Bella Italia in Port Angeles, Wash.

After you see the show (if you're so lucky) follow the red carpet leading from the Lincoln to Bella Italia for a meal of Bella Swan's favorite mushroom ravioli. Be careful not to spill sauce on your prom dress or drop your fangs in your drink. The festivities include a character look-alike contest, plus a gothic fashion show and a test-your-"Twilight"-trivia-IQ scavenger hunt with prizes from the film's production company.

The town fountain -- at the far end of the block from the theater -- will serve as the hub of the Swan-Cullen fun. But businesses throughout the area will offer "Twilight" specials and display their true-blood colors with red and black décor. As the town only recently received permission to host the film, many local merchants' premiere-day plans are still in the works. (So look forward to "Twilight" surprises around every corner.)

Other special spots and photo ops to add to your itinerary include Gottschalks Department store, where Bella shopped for her prom dress, and Port Book and News -- which, in addition to books, sells replicas of the heart-shaped crystal charm Edward gave Bella.

So who is the first in line for tickets to twilight? She's been there since 5:00 a.m. this morning (Thursday, Nov. 20) It's our very own Victoria McDonald from the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce!

twilight premiere in Port Angeles

Lot's of acitivity was focused around the premiere of the movie twilight in Downtown Port Angeles.   Beginning about 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20, when anxious fans began to line up for tickets for the 12:01 a.m. premiere on Friday morning and continuing until Saturday evening. The Port Angeles Downtown Association's Promotion committee and volunteers planned a wide range of events to compliment the event and everyone that participted had a great time. Here's the list of events:

Join us for the premier of “twilight” at the Lincoln Theater in the heart of Downtown Port Angeles. See where they walked and talked. Lot’s of fun things planned with more to come!

Friday November 21 – starting about 4:00 p.m.
            At fountain Square
                        Take your photo with life-sized cutouts of Bella and Edward
                        Have your picture taken for the look alike contest*
                        Games and Trivia contests
                        Scavenger hunt
                        Specials throughout downtown
                        Posters available for purchase

Saturday November 22nd -- All day
                        Have your picture taken with Bella or Edward life-sized cutouts
                        Games and Trivia Contests
                        Scavenger hunt continues
                        Specials throughout downtown
                        4:00 p.m. Gothic Fashion Show *Look Alike contest winners announced

Friday & Saturday

Scrapbooking twilight memories at My Favorite Memory, 110 N. Laurel

Spray in hair color at Cottage Queen, 119 W. First

A special flavor of fudge at Northwest Fudge & Confections, 110 W. First

Matay Lunch 'N' Latte', 113-A W. First, is cooking up a twilight Latte'

Olympic Stained Glass, 112 N. Laurel, will feature charm bracelets with hearts and wolves

twilight Massage at the fountain until 9:00 p.m. by Skin Care Suites Spa, 106 N. Lincoln

Mushroom Ravioli at Rick's Place, 104 W. Front

Mushroom Ravioli in the original vampire underground at Michael's Seafood & Steakhouse, 117 E. First, Suite B

Movie Release Weekend! at Bella Italia, 118 E. First

Seductive Wines and Vampire Waiters at Wine on the Waterfront, 115 E. Raiolroad

Saturday only

twilight Tea and Fashion Show at the Elks Ballroom 131 E. First, at 1:00 p.m.

'Twilight' has fans beaming on the saga's home turf

Sarah Doty, 15, of Sequim stands next to a cardboard cutout of actress Kristen Stewart in her role as Bella from the movie "Twilight." Doty was the winner of Saturday's "Twilight" look-alike contest in Port Angeles. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News (Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008)

The dancing in the gazebo. The lightning climb to a treetop. And -- sharp gasp here -- the 17-year-old vampire's skin sparkling like a rainbow in sunshine.

Such were the moments that left females of various ages beaming across downtown Port Angeles Friday evening.

They came out by the hundreds to wait in merciless wind, cold and rain for "Twilight," the movie version of Stephenie Meyer's best-seller.

And they were rewarded with the big-screen unfolding of love between teenage mortal Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, the vampire with topaz eyes.

Kristen Stewart as Bella and Robert Pattinson as Edward have got it going on, agreed Madi Wilhelm, 13, and her grandmother, Judy Wilhelm, of Port Angeles.

"The book was a little bit better, but I loved the movie," breathed Madi, who got into Friday's sold-out screening at 4:50 p.m. at the Lincoln Theater, 132 E. First St., Port Angeles.

"Twilight" is playing there on two screens, one upstairs and one down, today at 12:45 p.m., 1:10, 3:05, 4:50, 5:20, 7:15 and 7:40 p.m.

Also walking on air -- and very little sleep -- was Chris Franklin, who declared the movie "magnificent."

She was the last in line to land a ticket to Friday's just-after-midnight premiere.

Screaming fans

The theater filled with Beatlemania-like screams, Franklin said, as Edward walked into the "Forks High School" cafeteria.

Though most of the movie's exteriors were filmed in Oregon instead of Forks, she believes the film captured the feeling of romance in the foggy forest.

"My favorite moment was when Edward says, 'Hold still. I want to try something,'" said Franklin, 47.

What he tries, naturally, is a kiss on Bella's trembling lips. It was a surpassing success, by Franklin's assessment.

She can scarcely wait to see "Twilight" again -- with her husband.

"He woke up when I got home last night and wanted to hear all about it," Franklin said.

Her spouse is Max Fernandes, a mail carrier who works in Forks and LaPush.

He's listened to all four books in the Twilight saga -- including sequels New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn -- on CDs while driving into the woods.

Then there were the two young women from Texas who on Friday traced a path similar to Bella's.

The Twilight heroine moved from dry, brown Phoenix to green, wet Forks. She dined at an Italian restaurant in downtown Port Angeles named Bella Italia, a few doors down from the Lincoln Theater -- and ended up with the love of her life.

Brandi Dutt, 26, of Dallas, and Elena Olivares, 24, of Austin, will next year marry their fiances back in Texas.

Girlfriends' trip

So a couple of weeks ago, they decided to take one last girlfriends' trip, a sequel to the one they made to Italy and France a few years ago.

The two fans of the Twilight books could have seen the movie back home, but then they started to imagine a trip to Port Angeles and Forks, to experience scenes as far from Texas as they could get.

"Let's do it," Dutt said to Olivares. On Friday they shared an early supper at Bella Italia, then lined up in the rain for the 7:40 p.m. movie.

As they waited outside the Lincoln's door, a wave of Twilighters poured out of the 4:50 p.m. screening, to linger under the marquee.

Among them was Jennifer Ross, 25, of Port Angeles. She'd stood in the rain and chill for about two hours Friday afternoon, and yes, it was worth it.

The movie is "phenomenal," Ross said. "I was impressed that it followed the book really well ... I'm seeing it again on Tuesday ... I have a friend who doesn't have a day off until then."

Ross, however, had just seen "Twilight" with a couple of guys who weren't as wild about it.

This is "definitely for girls," agreed Donna Burnside of Sequim, who was part of the throng awaiting the sold-out 7:15 p.m. show. She saw Twilight as the counterpoint to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

The Twilight saga, Burnside said, whisks readers and moviegoers away from workaday worries. And it "lets you relive all the things you never got to do as a kid."

There was one young man surrounded by women on Friday night: Bryan Schlinkman, 14, a Port Angeles High School student.

"I think it's kind of cool to stand out," he said, adding that he's interested in seeing what "a lot of girls have been talking about."

________

'Twilight' shines bright where it all began: Port Angeles a cool spot for Twihards

Holly Locke models a goth-inspired dress during a vampire-inspired fashion show on Saturday at the Elks Naval Lodge in Port Angeles. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

By Diane Urbani de la Paz
Peninsula Daily News (Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008)

PORT ANGELES -- For three days now, First Street has been the planet's cool, moist place to be for Twilight fans.

The fictional vampire Edward Cullen did it, by taking his sweetheart Bella Swan to dinner at a restaurant named Bella Italia, and then by appearing, in the person of actor Robert Pattinson, in what looks to be the cinema sensation of the season.

"Twilight" dazzlement started at 5 a.m. Thursday when fans began lining up for the midnight premiere of the movie at the Lincoln Theater at the corner of First and Lincoln streets.

And on it blazed, through the ensuing damp, cold days and nights.

Neil Conklin, owner of Bella Italia at 118 E. First St., cooked up mushroom ravioli -- a la Bella's first meal with Edward -- and served tastes to everyone in Thursday's midnight-movie line.

Then on Friday afternoon, he gathered his full 12-member crew to serve the parties of 10, 12, 20 and more who came from Ohio, Texas, California and Nova Scotia.

These are the Twihards, as Conklin knows them.

Twist of fate

A twist of fate -- and Google -- led Twilight author Stephenie Meyer to his restaurant earlier this decade.

On Friday, Conklin got a phone call from a friend in an Italian movie theater. She was watching "Twilight," and just wanted to marvel with him a little bit.

The mortal Bella's first date with her vampire paramour, portrayed in Meyer's 2005 novel, continues to feed an international hunger for a particular brand of forbidden love.

The series of four books has sold more than 17 million copies worldwide, and translation rights have been sold in 37 countries.

Fans carry on discussions at 350 Web sites such as www.TwilightersAnonymous.com and www.TwilightMoms.com.

Droves of Twilighters have come to Clallam County this year; Meyer herself visited Bella Italia in June.

The craze hit a fresh pinnacle Friday as travelers stationed themselves in the Lincoln line or got directions to Forks, the books' primary setting.

Conklin learned his restaurant played a role in Bella and Edward's romance only about a year and a half ago.

His sister's in-laws are fans of the saga, so when they followed the Twilight trail, they of course blew in to Bella Italia.

Looking up at Seattle's KIRO-TV's transmission antenna over First Street on Friday, Conklin said he hopes this global phenomenon gives his community a much-needed transfusion of travelers -- and locals -- hungry for the movie, meals and memories.

"It's not often we see the KIRO van here for a good reason," he added.

All along the Bella block, girls and moms scurried.

They lined up for the Twilight matinees at the Lincoln, 132 E. First St. and Pounced on I Love Edward Cullen Fan Club T-shirts at Twisted, 108 E. First St.

And they nearly swooned beside the Conrad Dyar Memorial Fountain, where life-size cutouts of Edward and Bella posed beneath the Christmas tree at Laurel and First.

They mooned too over the "Twilight Movie Companion" and the boxed set of all four "Twilight" novels -- 2,446 pages of Bella and Edward for $83 -- at Port Book and News, 104 E. First St.

They seized ceramic apples and "Twilight" commemorative coasters given away by Rosalynn Rees, owner of the do-it-yourself pottery- and glass-painting studio Aglazing Art at 713 E. First St.

A Bella and Edward look-alike contest netted prizes for Sarah Doty of Sequim and David Rivers of Port Angeles on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, two gothic fashion shows -- at Elks Naval Lodge and at the Laurel and First street fountain -- showed off designs from area businesses.

Next weekend: Santa

While this weekend is given over to "Twilight," the next will be about Christmas tree light, said Port Angeles Downtown Association executive director Barbara Frederick.

Santa Claus will replace Edward, arriving by motorcycle to help switch on the fountain tree's 6,000 bulbs at around 4 p.m. next Saturday.

Might the Twihards feel a post-film letdown after all of this?

That seems unlikely, since several who attended Friday's premiere on Friday vowed to see the movie again with friends, spouses and grandparents.

And a Nov. 14 article in The Hollywood Reporter noted that Summit Entertainment, producer of "Twilight," has hired its screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg to compose scripts based on the series' second and third books, New Moon and Eclipse.

Jan Fuller, who with her daughter Noelle runs Twisted, a store replete with Twilight paraphernalia, reveled in Port Angeles' moment.

"People here feel like they live on the edge of the Earth," she said. "It's nice when somebody notices us."