Re: Where is Sunnydale

["Howard Russell" <howardrussell2000@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Everybody!

Sunnydale is a fictional town, as are almost all small towns shown on American TV.  Basically, very large cities, like New York City, can be used as a show's location because, if half a million rabid fans showed up one day, who'd notice?  But small towns would be swamped by a show's fans making a pilgrimage, so no real small town names are used.  The Simpsons are an odd pseudo-exeption; Springfield is a real city in almost every state, but the state is never named in the show.  In fact, violently contadictory hints about which state are a running gag of the series.

Facts we know about the fictional Sunnydale:
It's about two hours from the nearest Neiman-Marcus.
(There are six in California: two in the L.A. area, two near San Francisco, two in San Diego.)
It's on/near the shore.  (It has beaches and docks.)
It's in southern California.  (Directly stated many times.)

There's three cities it could be two hours from, and it's on the shore.  Let's use the process of elimination.

San Diego
2hrs S: In Mexico.    No.
2hrs N: In L.A.       No.
Los Angeles
2hrs S: In San Diego. No.
2hrs N: Nowhere.      Possible.
San Francisco
2hrs S: In Marina.    Possible.
2hrs N: Nowhere.      Possible.

That leaves three possible locations.  Let's look at them a little closer.

Okay, if we put it two hours north of San Francisco, then it's far from southern California and it's a seven to eight hour drive to L.A.  Not likely.

Now, if it's two hours north of L.A., that puts it right between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara.  Quite appropriate to have the Hellmouth bracketed by two saints.  A fine possibility.

If we go two hours south of San Francisco, that lands us right in Marina.  Now, it's not uncommon for a show to model their fictional city on a real place, so this is a definite possibility.  Marina has beaches, docks, an airport, parks, colleges, ect.  Everything Sunnydale is supposed to have.  A very likely choice.
Map:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=&csz=Marina%2C+CA&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=
Official site:
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/
This is a five or six hour drive from L.A.  That would explain Angel meeting Buffy halfway in "Flooded."  Two hours from L.A. is too close, in my opinion, for how rarely the characters visited each other.  Two hours is very short to keep people that know each other apart; six hours makes it much more difficult to just casually visit outside of emergencies.  And L.A. trips often seem to be over-nighters; not reasonable for a two hour jaunt.

The two main contenders are both between San Francisco and L.A.  One is an undeveloped area, which allows total freedom in determining what it's like.  The other is a real city with real information you can use.  You decide if you want creative freedom or the guidance of reality.



Your fellow 'shipper,
Howard

--
I had nothing to offer anyone but my own confusion. -- Jack Kerouac

http://www.geocities.com/howardrussell2000/


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