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Toga party: Take a tour of sites from 'Animal House'
There are more than a dozen landmarks from the film in the Eugene area
by Lisa Anderson | Freelance Writer |
They infiltrated Track Town, USA, in 1978 during a 38-day stint marked with toga partying and ruckus-raising. Food fights, debauchery, edgy competitions, and campaigns against the stilted college ambiance and snotty Omegas ensued. Bluto and the Delta boys secured Eugene a claim to fame beyond Hayward Field with the original screwball college comedy, "National Lampoon's Animal House."
"Eugene's a small dot on the map, yet this movie represents the culture of college," said David Sommers, a University student and former inhabitant of the Phi Kappa Psi house where the Omegas dwelled. "It was a not-so-typical movie at the time, like Eugene is a not-so-typical town."
Thirty years since the release of "Animal House," fans visit sites from the movie set that John Belushi and his anarchist brigade made famous. The majority of locations lie within walking distance of the University. Others sit 20 minutes south in Cottage Grove. Between events at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, take a scenic stroll or ride to discover this realm in Eugene's history.
"We definitely let people in who were excited about 'Animal House,'" said Sommers about living in the former Omega house before his fraternity was relocated. "Now they're renovating the interior but the exterior still looks exactly the same and you can take pictures in front of it."
The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, a grand, white colonial building, is among a dozen or so "Animal House" sites situated near campus. Located at 720 E. 11th Ave., the Omega house neighbors the fallen Delta headquarters. Once a dilapidated shack, the now-gynecologist's office and physicians' suite pays homage to the original "Animal House" with a placard. Before the notorious grounds were no more, house dwellers framed the hole Bluto punched through the wall with a guitar.
Continue across the street to 763 E. 11th Ave., the former Sigma Nu fraternity - now Northwest Christian College property - that hosted the motorcycle scene and a wild toga party with tons of sheet-clad twenty-somethings.
"Eugene's a small dot on the map, yet this movie represents the culture of college," said David Sommers, a University student and former inhabitant of the Phi Kappa Psi house where the Omegas dwelled. "It was a not-so-typical movie at the time, like Eugene is a not-so-typical town."
Thirty years since the release of "Animal House," fans visit sites from the movie set that John Belushi and his anarchist brigade made famous. The majority of locations lie within walking distance of the University. Others sit 20 minutes south in Cottage Grove. Between events at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, take a scenic stroll or ride to discover this realm in Eugene's history.
"We definitely let people in who were excited about 'Animal House,'" said Sommers about living in the former Omega house before his fraternity was relocated. "Now they're renovating the interior but the exterior still looks exactly the same and you can take pictures in front of it."
The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house, a grand, white colonial building, is among a dozen or so "Animal House" sites situated near campus. Located at 720 E. 11th Ave., the Omega house neighbors the fallen Delta headquarters. Once a dilapidated shack, the now-gynecologist's office and physicians' suite pays homage to the original "Animal House" with a placard. Before the notorious grounds were no more, house dwellers framed the hole Bluto punched through the wall with a guitar.
Continue across the street to 763 E. 11th Ave., the former Sigma Nu fraternity - now Northwest Christian College property - that hosted the motorcycle scene and a wild toga party with tons of sheet-clad twenty-somethings.
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Zachary Vishanoff
posted 6/28/08 @ 2:27 PM PST
You left out a important historic Animal House location. Goto Max's on 13th and proceed north down the alley and there is a tiny cabin about half way down that is where Donald Sutherland was shacked up with that student in the movie. (Continued…)
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