Wandering around Boston a couple of weeks ago, I remarked once again how much mileage the local economy has gotten from its most famous nonexistent watering hole. The Bull and Finch Pub was the inspiration for the fictional bar Cheers, and exterior shots of it were used in the television series (1982-1993), but Cheers itself is still (don't tell the tourists) an imaginary place.
So what other imaginary television places have that kind of draw? Do people flock to Cincinnati hoping to tune in WKRP on their radio dial? Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
For reasons I can not longer remember, I have a book on my shelves called TVacations, which covers all the sites that couch potatoes in Winnebagos might wish to see related even peripherally to television shows both beloved and obscure. It was written in 1996, so don't go looking for Sopranos locations, but here are a few suggestions that may have their appeal:
- Riverside, Iowa, the self proclaimed "future hometown" of Star Trek's Captain Kirk
- The Maxwell Street Street Station, 14th and Morgan Streets, Chicago, which was used for exterior shots of the police precinct in Hill Street Blues
- The set of "Fort Courage", scene of many an F Troop debacle, now part of a tourist trap that sells native American crafts in Houck, Arizona.
A gold mine, I'm sure you will agree.
Folks in Cincinnati do tune into WKRC (not WKRP); however, we used to get the WKRP reruns all the time so I guess you could say that we did occasionally tune into WKRP.
Posted by: Lori | January 25, 2008 at 10:37 PM
You would be surprised how gullible people are! I'm asked to drive by or conduct walking tours of all sorts of non-existant places - especially of New York City!
Quick! Who lived at 623 East 68th Street, New York, NY?
(If it did exist, it would be in the East River between NY Cornell Medical Center and Rockefeller University.)
Posted by: Tour Marm | January 25, 2008 at 09:23 PM