'Dirty Dancing' premiered 30 years ago today — I visited the hotel where it was filmed and found a depressing tourist trap
First, I have to confess that I am a huge "Dirty Dancing" fan. Despite being born seven years after the movie's premiere on this day in 1987, I have loved the movie for as long as I can remember.
Thanks to my mom, I know most of the classic lines ("I carried a watermelon"), can sing all of the songs ("She's Like the Wind" and "Hungry Eyes") and have even re-enacted the iconic lift.
On a recent road trip through Virginia with my family, my mom and I decided to stop at the Mountain Lake Lodge, the Pembroke hotel where the movie was filmed.
Mountain Lake Lodge is proud of its 15 minutes of fame as Kellerman's, from the spot where "nobody puts Baby in a corner" to the specific cabin where Baby and her family stay. But one pivotal part of that fame is now missing: the lake. Due to a naturally occurring phenomenon, the lake is now completely dry.
Mountain Lake Lodge still has several "Dirty Dancing"-themed weekends throughout the year. The next one is August 25-27, the weekend of its 30-year anniversary. The weekend includes a walking movie tour (like the one my family and I did), dancing lessons, a scavenger hunt, and a Saturday night party. Thousands of fans make a pilgrimage to the set to see remnants of the '80s movie that became a cult classic.
Despite our excitement on the seven-mile drive up the side of a mountain, the "Dirty Dancing" set was something of a letdown. Here's what it was like to walk back in time to the "Dirty Dancing" set:
At first glance on the drive in, Mountain Lake Lodge makes you feel like you're back in 1987, pulling up to the Kellerman's of "Dirty Dancing."
Lionsgate/YoutubeAside from having fewer people and the addition of a screen around the porch, Mountain Lake Lodge looks almost exactly the same as it did for filming.
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Next to the visitor parking lot, a small cabin is filled with newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and a guided map for "Dirty Dancing" fans to take a walking tour of the grounds.
Amanda McKelveyThe first stop was the front of the hotel, which we saw as we drove in — the same view the Houseman family sees from their car in the movie. By the second stop, it already felt like Mountain Lake Lodge was scrounging for memories.
Amanda McKelveySee the rest of the story at Business Insider