Animal House Golf Weekend

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

What a great theme for a golf weekend.  Gather up all your old college buddies, shove your "College" sweatshirt in your golf bag with a fifth of J.D., and book a flight to Oregon ("This is gonna be soo great!").  Grab a copy of the DVD to watch on your laptop en route (and a copy of Old School).  Also download the soundtrack (www.amazon.com/Animal-House-Original-Soundtrack-Enhanced/dp/B00000C2BY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1228495018&sr=1-1), along with some other great party tunes from that era like Wilson Pickett's Land Of 1000 Dances.  Then head on up to the University of Oregon in Eugene to get back in touch with your "edumacation". 

Director John Landis said that U of O was the only college in the country who agreed to let them film such a raucous collegiate farce, after repeated rejections during an exhaustive 12 state search that almost shut down production. Permission to film at U of O was granted largely because the Dean at the time admitted he had once passed on allowing filming of The Graduate on campus, a film which he originally considered to be "pornography" when he read the script, expecting it would never get made into a major motion picture.  He ended up enjoying the film.  Having now admitted his lack of script reading prowess, he was the only Dean in the country who didn't read the script before agreeing to having the university host the filming of Animal House.

The building used for the Delta House exteriors was located at 751 East 11th Ave. At the time, it was a halfway house for convicts.

The building continued to fall into disrepair and was finally torn down in 1986. A medical center now occupies the location. The Phi Kappa Psi house at 729 E. 11th Ave. next door was used for both the exterior and interiors of the snooty Omega House. The house had fallen into disrepair long before filming in 1977 but Landis helped with further House repairs, and allowed them to keep the furniture used during the film production. The Sigma Nu fraternity at 763 E. 11th Ave. was used for the Tri Pi sorority front exterior, where Greg Marmalard dropped off Mandy Pepperidge. Its interior was used as the home of Flounder, Otter, Bluto and the rest of the rebel Deltas. If they're hanging out on a Saturday afternoon, the friendly Sigma Nus may be happy to show you the stairs that D-Day climbed on his motorcycle and the dingy basement room that held the legendary toga party, a cavelike space that reeks of decades of beer.

Break into Dean Wormer's office at Johnson Hall, the university's administration building, the school bulding where they took the horse. The scenes in Dean Wormer's office were filmed in the actual first floor office of William P. Boyd, the president of the University of Oregon. Room 110 in Fenton Hall was the site of the film's courtroom scene. Gerlinger Hall stood in for fictitious Emily Dickinson College where Otter used Fawn Liebowitz' death in a kiln explosion as a ruse to get dates for himself and his three friends.

The infamous "I'm a zit" and food fight scenes were filmed at U of O's Fishbowl Dining Area, near Subway® in the Erb Memorial Union (EMU). The Fishbowl was also a convenient lunch spot for the cast and crew throughout the filming.

The Homecoming Parade scenes at the end of the movie were filmed on Main Street in Cottage Grove, Oregon (population 8,000), twenty-one miles south of Eugene on Interstate 5. The actors and production workers were big customers of The Bookmine, Cottage Grove's first bookstore. Director John Landis, a fan of children's story character Paddington bear, bought the store's entire supply of rubber Paddington pencil tops, 144 in all.

Stand By Me was also filmed in the Eugene and Cottage Grove areas in 1986.

Where To Stay:  The cast and crew all partied and stayed at the Eugene Rodeway Inn, which is no longer a Rodeway, but may have been converted to an Econolodge per a Yahoo search.  Or book room #6 at the Rainbow Motel in nearby Cottage Grove, where Otter gets his a$$ kicked by 1-2-3-4-5 Omegas.

Worldgolf.com recommends the Valley River Inn (800-543-8266) in the heart of Eugene, located across the street from the Valley River Shopping Center. But on the other side of the hotel are the scenic Willamette River and an outdoor pool and gardens, making for a quiet and scenic escape. It also has 24-hour recreation facilities with a fitness center, swimming pool, whirlpool and sauna. The restaurant, Sweetwaters on the River, features a full menu of Pacific Northwest cuisine and a list of microbrews to choose from.

Where To Play:  While it's not very Animal House, local private haven Eugene Country Club (www.eugenecountryclub.com) is ranked in the Golf Digest Top 100 Courses in the U.S.  No less than Robert Trent Jones said, "The first hole reminds me of a cathedral of golf, the way the towering firs canopy the lush and subtle green."  Bob Tway opined, "The golf course is beautiful, with the tallest trees I've ever seen. It was a great experience."  So if you have any private club connections at home, it might be worth an inquiry and a letter from your local pro to see if you can get on.

As far as public golf, MSNBC.com says Eugene's public offerings are very laid-back (don't feel the need to pack slacks, jeans seem to be pretty common around here) and are a good value for the money. You can play any of the public courses in Lane County for less than $50, even on weekends.

There's Diamond Woods Golf Course, near the airport. It's all-natural, rolling and of championship pedigree. The front side plays through mostly flat lowlands, before the back plays up into the hillside, making for some steeply uphill and downhill holes. It's capped with a 600-plus yard 18th monster.

Emerald Valley Golf Club is the home of the University's golf teams and its yearly invitationals. The club recently reopened after extensive renovations.

But many locals' favorite course is actually about a 40-minute drive along the Mackenzie River: Tokatee Golf Club. The allure of Tokatee is a setting entirely different from the gently rolling, parkland Eugene area. Tokatee is set into the Cascades, at the base of steep mountains and with the Sisters Mountains in the background. Tall pines line holes tightly, requiring finesse and accuracy over brute strength on this classic beauty.

Worldgolf.com recommends Ocean Dunes Golf Links (Florence, OR, Green fees: $42): Head west from Eugene and you'll find Ocean Dunes on the Oregon Coast Highway, playing just off the coast of the Pacific. It's a links-type golf course full of gorse and heather. Nearby, hit the Hickory 9th Saint Bbq Grill Florence, OR 97439, (541) 997-9739.

Golf Digest also likes the nearby Sandpines GC (~$50, www.sandpines.com), another sand dunes course, a mile or so south and closer to the Pacific Ocean. Sandpines had several holes edged by exposed sand dunes, plus a backdrop of gigantic ones.  It's longer, wider, and more playable than Ocean Dunes and ended up being selected as Golf Digest's Best New Public Course of the year.

Also keep in mind that Bandon Oregon is only 2 hours south of here.  Bandon Dunes GR has rapidly become the Holy Grail of U.S. destination golf, so if you're this close, by all means, tack on a couple extra days to the itinerary and make the trip.  See Fat Guy's review of Bandon Dunes.

Best Bar Nearby:  As far as Animal House aficianados are concerned, there is only one bar:  The Dexter Lake Club (up until researching this article, I had somehow permanently misheard and mistaken the name of the bar as The Death Delay Club?!), host to Otis Day & The Knights.

The town of Dexter, home of the roadhouse Dexter Lake Club (39128 Dexter Rd, Dexter, OR 97431), is about seventeen miles southeast of Eugene, off highway 58. From recent pictures, it looks like the modern incarnation may have been converted to a gift and garden store, although the owners have left the Dexter Lake Club sign atop the building.

MSNBC.com says no one's going thirsty in Eugene, and microbrew lovers especially are going to be tickled pink here. The entire state prides itself on its many local brands. Eugene offers its fair share of local pours and large, tailgate-friendly venues.

Set inside a big brown barn, the Cooler is just a half mile walk to Autzen Stadium. It has a 15-foot projection screen the owners claim is the biggest in town, so you'll be able to catch every snap if you don't have tickets to the Ducks game.

If variety is your thing, head to the Bierstein (345 E. 11th Ave., tel. 485-2437), which serves more than 100 beers on tap. That's not all.  "The food is, by far, the best bar food in all of Eugene," says Chris Holman, a faculty member at the University of Oregon, who advises pub-goers to get there early, as Bierstein is one of the smaller bars in town.

Also, no trip to Oregon is complete, whether it's in Bend, Eugene or Portland, without going to a McMenamins. The McMenamin brothers have grown a chain of more than two dozen properties in the state but all entirely different from one another. Eugene has two locations: McMenamin's North Bank, with a beautiful setting on the Wilammette River (it's a little more subdued and relaxed versus the campus bars). Or check out the McMenamin's East 19th Street Grille on campus.

In downtown Eugene, Steelhead Brewery is another large venue with its own collection of local beers, from its Bombay Bomber IPA to its Hairy Weasel Hefeweizen. There is a full menu and plenty of TVs to boot.

Esquire digs Sam Bond's Garage (www.sambonds.com) as one of the best bars in America. "As you stretch out on the split-timber benches under the old barn's bare rafters, you slowly realize you're in the family room of one of the weirdest neighborhoods in America -- a shady, overgrown co-op of artists, ecoanarchists, spirit healers, drug dealers, and permanently circling vagabonds. And the living couldn't be better: Couples play cribbage on the rough-hewn communal tables, kids loll on the modest stage until the sun goes down, and the strong-limbed waitresses circulate the beers in mason jars and smile, but only if they really mean it. It's like a frontier dance hall in a mining town where the vein's gone dry. The dreams are alive, but appealingly bruised."

Further Distractions:  If you're overdue for a haircut, find the small barbershop in town which outperformed Hollywood hair dressers in carving all the male stars' hair into conservative 1962 cuts. The Eugene area is also the home of Nike's world headquarters. Unfortunately, Nike no longer gives public tours of the campus. They recommend you check out their flagship NIKETOWN in Portland instead. Or check out an Oregon Ducks home game (check the home schedule at www.goducks.com).

What To Read Before You Go:  The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie by Chris Miller (www.amazon.com/Real-Animal-House-Awesomely-Fraternity/dp/0316057010/ref=cm_lmf_tit_12).

Anybody else have Homer Simpson's version of the Animal House theme song rattling through their head right now?

[Fat Guy Note:  I have not taken this trip or explored any of these courses/locations.  As always, proper research and reservations are required.  I'm just the idea guy on this one.]

See Also:  Eugene (Univ. of Oregon) OR Golf Weekend