Dancing dirty: Remembering Patrick Swayze’s time in Western North Carolina

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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On the occasion of the death of actor Patrick Swayze, lots of folks in Western North Carolina are recalling his time spent at Lake Lure making the movie Dirty Dancing. I’ve got a Dirty Dancing story, too, but first let’s see what people are saying:

WLOS reports that the town of Lake Lure will hold a memorial service for Swayze:

The town of Lake Lure will hold a memorial service for actor Patrick Swayze. Much of Swayze’s 1987 movie Dirty Dancing was filmed in Lake Lure, including the famous scene where Swayze lifts actress Jennifer Gray out of the water. Details about the service have not been announced yet. Swayze lost his long battle with pancreatic cancer last night. He was 57.

At WSPA, anchor Tom Crabtree talks about the movie’s lasting impact on Lake Lure:

Town Commissioner Russ Pitts had deep appreciation for how Swayze and “Dirty Dancing” gave Lake Lure a popularity and identity that has lasted more than 20 years.

“Patrick and the ‘Dirty Dancing’ movie had a big impact on our town,“  Pitts told me.  “It put us on the map.  It put Lake Lure out front.  We have a number of people who come to town just to see where the movie was filmed.  We have the tour of the lake, and one of the first stops is the cove where ‘Dirty Dancing’ was filmed.  It’s had a positive impact.  A lot of people who were involved in the film come back.  The impact of ‘Dirty Dancing’ has never waned.  When you talk to people and say you’re from Lake Lure, they recognize it for ‘Dirty Dancing.‘“

Pitts tells me the restaurant “Larkins on the Lake” was a favorite of the actors when they were filming the movie.  He says dollar bills signed by Swayze and other stars are on the walls at Larkins.

Blogger Bill the Ashevillein shot a picture of the Lake Lure inn that was the setting for much of the movie.

At the Asheville Travel Blog, Sherida talks about Patrick Swayze and the filming of Dirty Dancing:

Filmed in 1987, “Dirty Dancing” was a low-budget film that used Lake Lure, NC as the backdrop for numerous scenes in the movie. When the film became a blockbuster, fans flocked to the area in an effort to capture a bit of magic from the film.

The infamous lake where Johnny and Baby practice lifts is Lake Lure. Johnny’s cabin and other cabins used in the movie were also located nearby. Although the buildings no longer exist, the movie put a little-known southern town on the map with a simple little phrase: “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

Now to my story.

When the Hollywood hot shots came to Western North Carolina to film the movie, I was a theater major at UNC Asheville. A casting person came to UNCA in search of some sexy young dancers to take bit parts as extras – as “the dirty dancers.” I was in the middle of transitioning from UNCA to UNC Chapel Hill, so I passed on the auditions. But five or six of my Theater UNCA classmates tried out and got parts. You can clearly see them humping their way through the movie. Fun stuff. All I remember hearing them talk about was how miserably it rained during the filming of the movie. That, and them singing the movie’s catchy songs over and over and over.