As seen on TV
Some of us travel to get away from the idiot box, for others television is tourist destination in itself. YEN takes a peak at the cities that inspired our favourite shows
Los Angeles, California
In US television, Aaron Spelling is king. And while Melrose Place was a kicker, the Spelling show most likely to go down in the televisual history books has got to be Beverly Hills 90210. The show made 90210 the most famous postcode in America, and fans still pilgrimage there to this day. If you have a bit (uh, a lot) of cash to spend or you're okay with just window shopping, check out Brenda and Kelly's favourite shopping destination – Rodeo Drive. If celebrity stakeouts are more your style, hop on a Movie Stars Homes tour or make your own way up to Aaron's famous 123-room mansion – it's at 594 South Mapleton Drive. And a tip for the truly obsessed: whip out your binoculars to scope out the beachfront apartments Kelly, Donna and David shared at Hermosa Beach or the Walsh House in Altadena.
THE OC
Newport Beach, California
The OC may be quirky, fun and packed with more drama than the graduating class of NIDA, but take away Julie Cooper's scheming and Seth Cohen's witticisms, and Newport Beach has about as much depth as Mischa Barton's Marissa Cooper. The small Southern Californian city boasts multi-million dollar mansions and perfect weather, but there's not much around to entertain your average traveller - except perhaps the sites of The OC itself. To make the city's number one tourist attraction as accessible as possible, the Newport Beach Conference and Visitor's Bureau has put together a map of locations used on the show. Our top picks include the Balboa Peninsula, where Marissa and Summer hang out, and Crystal Cove, home of the Cohens.
FULL HOUSE
San Francisco, California
Sure, on the surface Full House was all about the corny canned laughter and cheesy emotion, but scratch beneath for a moment and you'll find a show about three single men raising three girls in the heart of America's countercultural capital. Can we say 'camp undertones'? So since most of the series was filmed in LA away, we're going to urge you to skip The Painted Ladies and Postcard Row (Alamo Square, if you must) in favour of searching out the remnants of that counterculture. Check out the Peoples Park in Berkeley– once a site of political activism, now a mix of student sports and homeless camps – the bohemian bourgeois Mission District and Love Parade, San Fran's answer to Sydney's Mardi Gras.
CSI
Las Vegas, Nevada
Despite its sleazy reputation, they say Las Vegas is actually a better holiday destination if you don't gamble – stay away from the pokies and the food, booze and luxurious accommodation becomes fabulously inexpensive. CSI bucks the stereotype one better, taking viewers beyond the famous Strip to explore the surrounding neighbourhoods, deserts and other parts of the surprisingly diverse city. To do the same, spend a few hours in Henderson, a trendy suburb 25km from the Strip, head Downtown to the brightly lit Fremont St, or leave the city for the day to experience for yourself the UFO conspiracy inspiring surrounding deserts.
SOUTH PARK
Fairplay, Colorado
Don't let South Park's subversive irreverence and oddball plotlines fool you – underneath the cussing and kitty dildos, it really is just another sleepy Colorado town. Fairplay to be precise, where South Park co-creator Trey Parker spent his childhood. Take a look down the main street and you'll feel as though you've stepped into a three-dimensional set of the cartoon. So what is there to do there? Not much, really, but that's kind of the point. There's a pottery store that sells South Park merchandise, South Park City Museum, and if you're really lucky you might see four little two-dimensional boys wandering down the street.
THE SIMPSONS
Springfield, Idaho (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, etc etc)
Springfield is everywhere and nowhere all at once – and that's exactly as the creators of The Simpsons intended it. There are 71 Springfields in 36 US states, but add the plethora of "clues" Simpsons writers have given about the show's location over the past 17 seasons to the mix, and all 71 are soon crossed off. But don't scream that we've ruined your holiday just yet - there are a number of Springfield sites dedicated Simpsons fans can visit, they're just a little spread out. Check out Springfield Bird Haven (from 'Itchy & Scratchy Land') in Idaho, Springfield Country Club ('The Class Struggle in Springfield') in Massachusetts and Springfield Elementary School, Springfield Falls ('Lisa the Vegetarian') and Springfield Lake in Pennsylvania.
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Fairview, Connecticut
If you thought 71 Springfields was a lot, try locating Fairview. The fictional town where Desperate Housewives is set just happens to have the most common name in the country – there are 275 Fairviews scattered across the US. No wonder the location of Wisteria Lane is such a mystery. All the same, we're not sure if it's the green lawns or the upper middle class aesthetics, but there's something about the show that just screams 'Connecticut' – which, conveniently enough, has its very own Fairview. But what exactly is there to do in Connecticut if you don't have neighbours buried in your backyard? Well, there's antiques and lunches and museums and spas by the sea. How desperately suburban.
SEX & THE CITY
New York, New York
Sex & The City is to New York what Beverly Hills 90210 is to LA – a glammed up but not entirely unrealistic dramatisation of a city. It also screened recently enough that S&TC-themed tours are still running. Unfortunately, word is that said tours tend to lose the spirit of the show in a fervor of feather boa-based liberation, so we're letting you in on a few places you can go to get a taste of S&TC glam off your own bat. Try O'Neal's Speakeasy, where scenes from Scout, the girls' favourite bar, are taped, New York Sports Club, where Miranda works out, and Magnolia Bakery in the West Village. For the fashion savvy, S&TC stylist Patricia Field's store is located at 10 East 8th Street in Greenwich Village.
THE WEST WING
Washington DC
What modern lass hasn't declared at one point or another, "Why be First Lady when you could be President?" Chances are you weren't born in the right country to make it happen, but you can still check out the White House on holiday mode. Except you can't – the White House has stopped doing public tours for security reasons (although if you were American you'd be able to get in with permission from your Congressman and a security check). Head to the White House Visitor Centre instead – they screen a thirty minute video on the White House that takes you through the 8 rooms that were once on the tour. And don't feel too disappointed - the Pentagon and FBI Headquarters both offer free tours, and then there's the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, US Capitol Building and Supreme Court.
NIP/TUCK
Miami, Florida
It's not by accident that a show about plastic surgery was set in Miami. They say the city's famous South Beach looks like an international models' gathering through the winter and early spring, and the hip Nikki Beach club is strictly 'beautiful people only', but if you can handle the plasticity, Miami is worth the visit. For a start, the city was a centre of the Art Deco movement in the 1930s and 40s, which means beautiful and unique architecture. Then there's the glamorous Ocean Drive, where Gianni Versace lived before he was killed in 1997, and the Clay Hotel, which once housed Al Capone's offices. And if you want to soak up Miami's party atmosphere, Bongos Cuban Café is the place to be. The lines are long and the cover charge high, but it's said to have one of the friendliest crowds in the city.
- Rachel Hills
Published in YEN, February/March 2006.
