Many of us spent hours watching various cartoons in our childhood. Some of us still do. Well, what I mean by that is not necessarily Looney Tunes or the Powerpuff Girls, but I do personally enjoy a bit of Family Guy, South Park or The Simpsons now and again.
I doubt that any of us thought about this as kids, but as an adult, have you ever wondered if any of the cities or towns in our favourite cartoons exist in the real word? If so, where are they located?
This is the first part of multiple articles about fictional cartoon locations, so let’s begin by looking at first 3 cartoons today.
Family Guy
The creators of Family Guy have always specified where the Quahog is located - Newport County, Rhode Island. Unlike, Springfield in The Simpsons, Quahog is completely fictional, which might be the reason why Seth MacFarlane has always openly specified the location of it.
Interesting fact is that Seth has graduated from Rhode Island School of Design, which might have inspired him to set his world famous cartoon TV series in this state.
The only place in real world that contains "Quahog" in its name is a bar called "Quahog Republic: Dive Bar" in Massachusetts which specifies in craft beers and sea food snacks. Could the name have been inspired by Family Guy? Well, the fact that it specializes in sea food gives a good hint towards the answer, as Quahog in animated series prides itself for its clam dishes.
South Park
Similarly to Family Guy, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have never concealed the state where their fictional cartoon mountain town is based. State of Colorado is mentioned in very many episodes throughout the series. Moreover, in multiple episodes action takes place in Denver which is a real life capital of the state.
There is actually one town in the US called South Park which is located in Pennsylvania (population: ~13,000) but it is highly unlikely that it has anything to do with the town in the iconic animated series.
However, a town in Colorado called Fairplay might have something to do with it. Fairplay belongs to a Park County, Colorado and is located in the south side of it which is officially called South Park. This little mountain town is the fifth-highest place in Colorado (9,953 feet (3,034 m)) and has a population of around 700 people.
In fact, Fairplay has a nickname "The Real South Park" for fairly obvious reasons:
- it is a mountain town in Colorado
- it is in an area called South Park
- it has a tiny population
- Trey Parker (creator of South Park series) was born in Conifer, Colorado which is 53 miles away from Fairplay
The Simpsons
Springfield is arguably the best-known cartoon town in history. Even though the creators have never identified the exact location or at least a state of it, in episode 17 of season 24, when the camera zooms out, it could be argued that Springfield is located somewhere in Western Illinois or Eastern Iowa.
Although it is meant to be fictional, there are quite a few Springfields in the US alone. These are the top 5 largest ones:
- Springfield, Illinois
- Springfield, Missouri
- Springfield, Massachusetts
- Springfield, Virginia
- Springfield, Ohio
Despite that fact that the creators kept it as a secret over the years, based on the information above, it could be argued that the world famous Simpson's family indeed "live" in Springfield, Illinois which is located on the west part of the state.
Have you ever wondered what are the best cities to live in the US? Have a look at our article called Best places to live in the US – Top 5 cities for young professionals. If you enjoyed reading this, please do not forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and bookmark Urbansome.com.
