Vancouver was the filming location for the first five seasons of The X-Files, the second movie, and the latest season. I had a late flight out on Sunday, so I wanted to spend some time getting to know the city as an X-Phile.
I relied on moviemaps.org, and pinned locations that were within walking distance of our hotel. On our last day, Tammie, Thomas, and I walked around the city, and occasionally stopped so Tammie could take dorky photos of me standing in front of various X-Files filming locations.
Not on the list was the Vancouver Aquarium (used in Fearful Symmetry), which we passed during a tour of Stanley park, and Brix & Mortar restaurant, which was one of our group dinners. I couldn’t figure out which episode it had been used in, though.
Cates Park was the only location that was significantly out of our way, so we hailed a taxi from Gastown, and I paid a cab driver named William (!!!) an inordinate amount of money to haul us there, keep the meter running, and take us back to the city. The things I do for fandom.
By this time, it was pouring rain — not cute, drizzly Vancouver rain, but pissed-off, stormy, blustering rain — and we got soaked during the scant five minutes we spent at the beach, all for a shot of the iconic log from Home Again.
Tammie and Thomas have my eternal gratitude for accompanying me on this spiritual journey of sorts. I can tell they were also moved by my unending devotion to this godforsaken show:
“Caroline, we hate you.” – Actual quote from my teammates as we stood in the pouring rain. I don’t think they meant it.
WORTH IT.
💩
Can we talk more about this? I want to do this sometime.
Sure!
So would you go again if you could? Are there any places that want you to visit them *because* they were shooting locations? Or do you just have to stand outside of each place you went? Did you get to go to the location of Heuvelmans Lake, home of “Big Blue”? Did you go to the outside of the food place where the Eves put poison in Mulder and Scully’s sodas? Thanks! And it looks like you have met GA?!?! What was that like? Glad you are such a fan of the show. Good to know there are others out there like me!
> So would you go again if you could?
Heck yeah! 🙂 Vancouver is a beautiful city, probably my favorite of all the major metropolitan areas I’ve been. I’d like to stay a little longer next time.
> Are there any places that want you to visit them *because* they were shooting locations? Or do you just have to stand outside of each place you went?
I don’t think so; a lot of different shows/movies film in Vancouver, so it’s not a huge deal to them. I looked for X-Files film location tours before I flew out, but there’s no one running them.
> Did you get to go to the location of Heuvelmans Lake, home of “Big Blue”? Did you go to the outside of the food place where the Eves put poison in Mulder and Scully’s sodas?
Sadly no. I’d love to see more of the outer areas if I get a chance to rent a car and go sightseeing. A lot of stuff is in North Vancouver, which isn’t far, but wasn’t where my group was centered. I used this site as my bible to find spots and mark out a walking route: https://moviemaps.org/movies/dd
> And it looks like you have met GA?!?! What was that like? Glad you are such a fan of the show. Good to know there are others out there like me!
I have, twice! Once for Streetcar in NYC and once at Boston Comic Con. She was very sweet both times, very warm. I don’t think I said more than ten words to her total, hah. Streetcar was amazing, if only to watch her perform. If you get a chance to see her live on stage, do it! Cons are fun, but a lot of waiting in line and they hurry everyone along; I’m hoping she and DD do an appearance together this year, would love to see the energy between them in person.
I’m so honored that you replied. I had googled “Vancouver X-Files tour” and this blog post was one of the first that came up. I’ve wanted to go to Vancouver to do what you’ve done. Wanted to do it for years, and I’m at the stage where I want to start planning what I want to see if I get there. I should have gone to see GA at this thing she did at Northwestern. It would have been very close! I was a fool, thinking about holding on to that money for the kids’ college accounts…
Thank you for these photos! What a treasure.
Hi!
I’m looking to visit Vancouver in the next few months with work and obviously want to do something similar – this blog is really helpful, thanks!