The Redwood Coast Museum of Cinema aims to highlight Humboldt and Del Norte County’s rich film history.
Located on F Street in Eureka, the museum is an extension of the film commission’s former location.
“Interestingly enough, we were actually on the third floor of this building,” film commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine said. “And we started to outgrow the current offices that we had and we were ready to expand and we were kind of tripping over a lot of these items that we had in the office.”
Now those items are on display for people to discover from a broken boat from ‘Swiss Army Man’ and photos from the set of ‘Outbreak.’
There are remnants of the old factory from ‘Halloween III: Season of the Witch’ and film set signs from ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and ‘Bird Box.’
“We’ve had movies here since 1916, and not just movies, but car commercials, tv, print ads, music videos,” Hesseltine said. “We have vlogs and blogs and all those things, it’s really important to show the impact of those dollars when it comes to the Redwood Region.”
Productions, big and small, not only put our area on the map, but they boost the local economy.
“It’s outside dollars that come into the area. And for every dollar that they spend on production, for instance, hotels, gas, permits, locations, it’s really more like three dollars by the time the money leaves our economy here,” Hesseltine said. “So if a project spends a million dollars in January, it really feels more like three million to us.”
The biggest production in Humboldt and Del Norte was ‘Return of the Jedi.’
The commission recently celebrated the film’s 40th anniversary in may with the Forest Moon Festival.
Hesseltine has been the commissioner since 2010 originally in a temporary role.
“I was told that was going to be for a couple of weeks and it’s thirteen years later, here I am,” Hesseltine said laughing. “I actually really love that I get to represent the area that I live in. I lived more years here than not. To be able to work at this level in an industry that I absolutely love, and to do it here it’s been pretty amazing.”
And those who come here have taken notice, with a big hush-hush project, four years in the making, coming to the Redwood Coast this winter.
The museum is free, yet an appointment is needed to visit or you can stop by during Arts Alive events. Regular museum hours will begin in 2024.
