And the debate over where Stars Hollow is continues...

Hartford Courant article:

Huh. I thought this thread had died.

I don't know of course, but I wouldn't think people in Connecticut would watch more just because they wanna watch a show about Connecticut. Maybe that'd get them to tune in once or twice, but steadily?
For example, how many Yale students watch GG to see Yale more than once if they dislike the show? A few weeks ago, one of them was telling me how awful they thought it was, and how he and his suitemates always change it. (The conversation was in context to GG.)

I think it's funny how Hartford seems glamorous on TV. It really is a horrible horrible city. Besides the old insurance business (which I guess is why Richard is in it), there's nothing to the city. It's pretty much run down. All Connecticut cities are.
Someone asked me once if Hartford was a nice place to live, based on GG and 'Judging Amy'. My answer was, "No." Same thing with 'Providence'. In fact, I can only think of New York ever getting a bad rep on television.

I wonder if Amy feels like taking what's happening with Rowland as her next pop culture reference...

I'd love to hear Emily's comments about Rowland's lakefront house, and Mrs. Rowland's re-tooling of "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

Digger's apartment/house bothered me a LOT. That was an extremely cool setup, even by Manhattan standards -- no way something like that exists in the Hartford area. At least, not in my experience! Nothing that modern, at least.

LOTS of snow today. Hope everyone gets to stay home. Unfortunately, the news doesn't stop for snow, though it does get kind of repetitive.

Oh, and LITCHFIELD shoutout, with Luke "moving" there. And now we know that Stars Hollow isn't in Litchfield County, thanks to Lorelai's ensuing rant. But how could Luke realistically move somewhere that's far enough away from the diner that it's not even in the same county? I'm going to have to take a look at my map again to figure out which towns are southeast of Litchfield but not in Litchfield County ... funny that they never mention Waterbury, by the way.

[random]Doesn't Litchfield have more chickens than people, or something like that I heard?[/random]

I think the phrase is cows, though that may now be an exaggeration. Bethlehem, on the other hand, may still be a close call.

I remember once having to do a week at the Litchfield bureau during a summer intership at the Rep-Am.

Inlands/Wetlands meetings = one of the circles of Hell.

Dude, don't get me started on the random terminology I've had to learn just to barely keep up at these Litchfield County town land use meetings. After nine months, I can just barely understand basic concepts like "flood plain" and "perk testing," though I'm still quickly lost when you get further into discussions. Thank God EVERYONE is Taylor at these meetings, which means they are more than happy to get interviewed to explain their correct points of view :-)

HAHAHAHA!

Welcome to Southbury!

I am totally PMSing today and am dying for some of those dark chocolate covered caramels from Bridgewater Chocolates.

I’m from Litchfield and there very well could be more cows than people here. As for Emily and Richard’s house I always assumed it was on the line between Hartford and West Hartford, by the Governor’s mansion. That’s and incredibly nice area.

They once again said "neighboring Woodbury" last night. But we know that Stars Hollow is NOT in Litchfield County. That's just ... impossible. (Unless Stars Hollow is where Southbury really is, but Southbury is pretty big and not that quaint, and still kind of far from Hartford and Yale.) Oh well, as the show goes, la lalalalalalalalaa.

Southbury is 25 miles from New Haven, according to a sign on Rt. 67. But no way could Southbury = Stars Hollow other than geographical placement. I'm trying to place Heritage Village in Stars Hollow. It's not working.

I thought ASP confirmed that it was in Litchfield County. I have mad love for my county and all its oddities (I grew up in Woodbury and New Milford, bordering Washington Depot which ASP claims was the inspiration). The Independence Inn always struck me as Mayflower-y. And New Milford totally has a bandstand like the gazebo. Actually, the more I think about the placement, it could fall in that area.

Dude, not only do they need to show some NH style, but can they at least be accurate about the general scariness of the area around Yale? I would go visit friends at school there and be scared for my life, and my sister was stabbed by a mugger near campus in broad daylight once. Yet the fact that it is ghetto is never mentioned.

Hm. If it's Litchfield County, why would MamaKim have to stay overnight in Woodbury?

I think ASP loves messin' with our heads.

Not so. In fact we know for sure that Stars Hollow is not in Litchfield County. From "In the Clamor and the Clangor":

LORELAI: Huh. Uh, wow. So, where is the apartment?
LUKE: Litchfield. [Walks around the counter]
LORELAI: [Taken aback] You moved to Litchfield?
LUKE: Yes.
LORELAI: [Turning to face him] Three weeks ago you moved to Litchfield?
LUKE: Yes.
LORELAI: Litchfield is another county.
LUKE: Yes.

I think because Connecticut is small, they think everything is 30 minutes away.

I mentioned this in the DVD thread but it is apropos here as well. In "The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton," on the drive from Stars Hollow to Hartford, they drive past the Gelston House, which is in East Haddam. That's clear across the state from Litchfield County.

Yeah, I noticed that, but every other sign has them on the other side of the state. I am beginning to think Stars Hollow is located on a hovering island which is always within 30 minutes of Hartford, but never in the same direction.

And yes, everything is always 30 minutes away and that is "far".

Pellee I like your hovering island theory and I say we stick with that. I think it's modeled after Litchfield County, but moves according to plot points.

God, I remember my parents acting like Southbury to Hartford was a long trip. And that was before getting through Waterbury was like negotiating a minefield.

Indeed. My mom always though that going from Woodbury and New Milford to Danbury was a "dangerous drive." I would love to see her navigate the Dan Ryan in rush hour!

Now these same towns are all NYC's/Westchester County's bedrooms.

I love that expression, a bedroom community. Where's the bathroom?

It's probably like this in Connecticut, too. I'm from Massachusetts, and we complain about driving twenty or thirty minutes, but I have friends who live in places where they say driving four hours for a soccer game is not unreasonable. I don't know whether it's the traffic or the stay-in-one-place mentality or what, but I only realized recently that in other parts of the country, people drive a lot more.

Reminds me of that line from Clueless: "Everything in LA takes twenty minutes!"

One of the things about this show that would normally bother me is how twee they are about everything New England. Being a born and bred New Hampshirite with a father from the west of the state who's never lived anywhere else, most of the time I get really irritated by portrayals of New Englanders, who are either rednecks or too cutesy. Like the inn with the cats--I hated that. I think the reason it doesn't bother me about Stars Hollow is because the whole show is rooted in the quirky of the town, but it doesn't necessarily have the kind of New England sensibility that I grew up with. I think. Any ideas?

I'm only going to add that being from New Hampshire and having gone to school in CT with kids mostly from Mass, New York, New Jersey, and CT, I've been in many a semantic argument about whether or not CT is actually part of New England. I've maintained that New England is NH, Maine, Mass, possibly Vermont, and I would even venture Rhode Island, if I were pressed and feeling generous; my CT friends think I'm a crackhead and that Connecticut is the most New Englandy of all New England states. I leave it to you. Anyway: I occasionally wonder watching htese shows if anyone in Hollywood's ever lived in New England--and David Kelley doesn't count, because he thinks we're all shithead yokels anyway.

I think it is the size actually. Everything is so close together in New England!

Depends on WHERE in CT you live. The closer you get to NYC, the more it is just like Westchester, but huge sections of Connecticut remain so New Englandy--especially Litchfield County. I also think in a way that the attitude of most people from Connecticut is very typical of New Englanders in general, and I have found after moving from CT to the Midwest that I am immediately recognizable to people I have even just met as "clearly a New Englander" based on my attitude, my accent, the way I carry myself, how I dress and various other things--no one I have ever known in my life as tried NOT to claim I am a New Englander, not even myself.

But I can see how some people can make the assumption that people from CT are not "from New England", especially if they come from lower Fairfield County. A lot of people act and treat CT as if it was just a suburb of New York, or an extension of the state itself, but I really thing that is doing a disservice to the wonder that is the state of Connecticut!

BTW, what school did you go to?

Trinity, in Hartford. Ah, memories. My friend who was most adamantly defensive of the New Englandyness of CT is from Mystic, which when I visited, I had to say I sided more with her. A lof of the others who said that were often trying to dis my home state of NH--tagline, "where everyone lives on a mountain," according to them--because while CT has all the good New England stuff, it's also closer to more cosmopolitan things. Which, while I can't disagree, NH isn't full of toothless loonies either. But that's neither here nor there.

Summer - I, too, live in Massachusetts and the phenomenon you describe is exactly what I've run into. However, I grew up in MI and I drive to visit my mom's home, alone and with my 2 young daughters, frequently. You can imagine the shocked, appalled faces I see! LOL When you mention you'll be driving 13-15 hrs in one day with two kids, they begin to wonder about your sanity. :)
I worked with a man in his twenties, who would not drive longer than 2 hours outside of Worcester. According to him, nothing is worth seeing outside of that range...it blew me away; just completely made my head spin. New England appears to truly be as individulalistic/isolationist as the rumours indicate! j/k...sorta!

eta: I should mention that having lived here for nearly 20 years myself, I've caught the fever of staying home. I don't want anyone to think I dislike the New Englander's I've met - I just truly find them a breed apart! And to comment on what constitutes New England...if I recall my daughter's homework correctly Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are traditionally the NE states.

Somewhere near Bridgeport, because that's the toilet.

As far as I'm concerned, New England consists of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. To be honest, I never thought the issue was up for debate. I always thought that was how New England was defined. And from what I've seen, the parts of Connecticut other than the southwest (which is basically part of New York) are very New Englandy. Still, I consider Massachusetts to be the quintessential New England state. Presumably because I'm from Massachusetts.

And I honestly can't remember how it became an issue of debate, but man, for four years we battled that one out. We'd argue semantics about whether nor Vermont counted, what qualities CT had or did not have that would make it part of New England, whether or not Maine could be legitimately counted because it was practically a separate country (not my particular point, but it was part of the litany when we got into it)... It usually always began with a discussion of the weather and it was all about semantics really, and I realize it's a really bizarre and stupid discussion, because New England is New England and there's really not a lot that you can discuss about that. It was a good way to piss each other off, too, which was always fun. (No, we're not dysfunctional in anyway.)

Wonder if they'll work some Rowland jokes in next season.

Excuse me, I have to go laugh and laugh.

Joining in on the laughter...

I wonder how they could creatively add that into and ep. since Emily and Richard's house has to be within walking distance to the Governor's Mansion. Doubt it, but it would be fun.

How do you figure the Gilmore house has to be within walking distance of the Governor's Mansion, yoyoelizabeth? Especially considering that geographical accuracy has never been the show's strong suit?

Because that is the only neighborhood within Hartford city limits that is zoned for mansions. Yes, I'm fanwanking, but knowing Hartford as well as I do, I can't think of any place not within a 10 minute walk of the Guv's mansion that the Gilmore house could be.

Hi! Just joining in from Westport!! I would have to agree that Fairfield County is more like Westchester, while the upper parts of the state are more New England-y.

ETA: The one thing to me that is very distracting has to do with Dean & college. In my experience, college wasn't an "are you going?" question, but a "where are you going?". For Dean to not know about going to school rang a little false (as is the whole child bride story... but that's for another day). Once he does decide to go to Southern, they keep calling it Connecticut State. Does ANYONE call it CT State? I went to UConn, so I know that Eastern is called Eastern, and I had a cousin at Western, and then of course I was near Southern. :) Just nit-picking!

Alrighty, I'm working on the "Long Distance Call" challenge for the Ficathon, and I have a question: to call from fictitious Stars Hollow (wherever the hell it's located) to New Haven, will it do a number on one's phone bill? Where I'm at, there is no long distance fee for the next city over, which is off the island of Montreal, but if it's somewhere else in the province, yes, it's long distance of sorts. Just wondering if it's the same in CT; I mean, Lorelai and Rory seem to call each other like it's no big deal.

New Haven is in the 203 area code. If Star's Hollow is closer to Hartford, it's likely in the 860 area code. My guess is it would be a toll call.

Also, they use cell phones a lot, so are probably on some shared plan where calling each other doesn't cost any minutes.

Hi there. I'm from Fairfield County. I spent time living in Yale dorms and both times I had to dial 203 to dial home, even though we have the same area code.

By the way, where did the Boola Boola thread go? Finally info on what residential college Rory's in!

The Yale thread's still around, but it hadn't been posted to for a while, MarissaAvid. I just bumped it up for you.

I was able to dig up a bit of the history for the Stars Hollow setting culled from several interviews with ASP -- which definitively gives the genesis of SH as Washington, Connecticut (despite that one misrepresentation that Litchfield is in a different county).

"But the creator had no idea of what the show should be beyond the two main characters. A vacation with her husband at the Mayflower Inn in Washington, Conn., inspired the rest of "Gilmore Girls," including Lorelai's workplace and the quaint town of Stars Hollow, Conn.

"We went to a diner and everyone knew each other and someone got up and they walked behind [the counter] and they got their own coffee because the waitress was busy and I'm like, 'Is this out of Central Casting? Who staged this thing for me?' " Sherman-Palladino recalled. "The inn was so beautiful. Everything looked like it was coated in sugar. ... If I can make people feel this much of what I felt walking around this fairy town, I thought that would be wonderful."

“Sherman-Palladino populated Stars Hollow with a roster of unique characters, including diner owner Luke, a possible love interest for Lorelai whose ex-girlfriend has returned to town. Originally, the Luke character was going to be a woman, but the network asked for another male character.”


http://www.post-gazette.com/tv/20010315owen2.asp

YIKES! How awful would that have been…a world with no Luke Danes!

Also this: "Stars Hollow" was inspired by Washington Depot, Connecticut. Amy and her husband stayed there and thought it was perfect for The Gilmore Girls home. It's near several private high schools, and Litchfield, which was an important place for the development of American law.”

I also agree that Chilton is Loomis-Chaffee, which while located in Windsor, Ct. it is right outside of Hartford. And, Loomis-Chaffee, like all the top preps, has both a boarding and a day student population. Usually it breaks down 75% boarding and 25% day. These schools love day students b/c they are usually the brightest academically and raise the school’s SAT scores -- and since the day kids don’t use the resources as fully they are pure gravy to the school financially.

And I concur that there is no doubt that Emily and Richard do indeed live on Prospect, a stone’s throw from the Governor’s Mansion.

Also it is sort of an inside joke about WHY ASP named the town based on Washington, Connecticut, “Stars Hollow.” It is because Washington, Connecticut is a celebrity haven -- thus the play on the word “stars.” It is often referred to as Beverly Hills east.

"Although weekend-home buyers have included celebrities like Conan O'Brien, the bandleader Peter Duchin and the movie producer Scott Rudin, the town is pretty short on fashionista glitz, and proud of it. "If a women comes here wearing high heels, I know she won't buy," said a local broker at Sotheby's International Realty.”

But the truth is ASP took pieces of many of the gorgeous and quintessential New England towns in Litchfield County. The gazebo is straight off the beautiful green in New Milford and there is a lot of the town of Litchfield too. ASP definitely had to take some license with the distances between places at times to make the stories work. But there is no doubt that she based the fictional Stars Hollow on the Depot and surrounding towns in Litchfield County, Connecticut. I used to have other links to interviews with ASP I may be able to find them.

But the most shocking information was that ASP almost made the man/god-Luke a woman. It gives me chills just to imagine that. Thank you so much ASP for dreaming up the delicious Luke!

Hey! Washington Depot! I was driving around and got lost there the other day while trying to "explore". I stumbled upon a private school that actually made me think of the show...ah, how i love coincidences.

The Gunnery, right?

I guess Litchfield makes sense because it's closer to Hartford than Fairfield is. However, in one of the episodes that aired on the Family Channel (Love and War and Snow?), Max mentioned that he was driving home from Stamford. To get to Hartford it would make more sense for him to drive through New Haven than Litchfield, but perhaps that was just his excuse. Or perhaps this is just a television show and not everything needs to make sense! God, I have too much time on my hands.

No, thats what I was expecting actually, but it was something called Rumsey Hall? I looked it up later to determine where I was (hence knowing it was Washington Depot) It's a private kindergarten-9th grade school.

And don't worry Scout, we all spend a fair amout of time calculating distances and routes to try and figure out how the location makes sense!

I'm sure it is discussed somewhere but I can't seem to find...
I saw an interview with the GG cast, in which Scott Patterson says that the town that stands in for Stars Hollow is just outside of Toronto Canada.
Anybody knows which town is this?
Thanks a lot

Nope. It's a WB Soundstage on the Burbank lot. They never do "on location" shoots for GG.

Unless you're talking about the one photo of the town at the beginning. Maybe that's what SP was referring to.

Most of the pilot was filmed in the Toronto area. The opening scene is Main Street in Unionville. Lorelai walks opposite the Unionville Trading Post, 141A Main Street, and then crosses the street to enter the pilot version of Luke's, located at 156 Main Street, the current site of Paris Fashions. If you freeze frame you can see a Paris Fashions sign through the window when the sleazeball is hitting on Rory, mere minutes after hitting on Lorelai.

I don't have an exact location for the pilot version of Richard & Emily's mansion, but it looks like it's in Forest Hill.

Once the series was picked up, Gilmore Girls took over the small town set on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California, and new exteriors were used for Luke's et al. See if you can spot the difference between Luke's in the pilot and now -- Luke's isn't a corner building in the pilot.

As for the town pictured in the opening credits, I always assumed that was Washington Depot, CT, on which the fictional Stars Hollow is based.

Edited: After I looked at the pilot again on DVD.

I think they filmed the pilot in Canada, but Stars Hollow is a WB set. It's the same one they used in The Dukes of Hazzard and several movies. If you Google the WB set tour, they have more info on this.

The pilot was filmed in St. Catherines, Ontario, I believe. It's near Niagra-on-the-Lake.

Question: For those from the area--Were the Chilton location scenes filmed at Ridley? I've never really been there (not an athlete, so never got to see other schools outside of the 416)