UPS

CHRISTOPHER: Oh man, I told Rory not to rat me out [about having his credit card declined]. I can’t believe she did that.
LORELAI: She didn’t. Andrew from the bookstore called, and Jackson, and the UPS guy, and ooh, it was the lead story on the Stars Hollow web page. And then I asked Rory, and she very reluctantly confirmed it.

UPS is the United Parcel Service, an American package delivery company. There is a UPS Store in Wallingford, which seems to be close to the location of Stars Hollow. Lorelai’s comment suggests there is a UPS Store in Stars Hollow for the delivery man to be up on town gossip and have Lorelai’s phone number (although it’s possible she’s joking). It is also confirmed here that the town has its own web page – unless Lorelai is joking about that.

Underalls

LORELAI: And then when we were older, scanning the neighbors’ houses for naked people [with the telescope].
CHRISTOPHER: [laughing] Found a couple of those.
LORELAI: [laughing] Mrs. Dominski undulating in her big fat Underalls is forever carved into my brain.

Underalls were a brand of underwear made by Hanes; it was a combination of underpants and pantyhose which was meant to eliminate panty lines, and marketed with slightly risque commercials. They were made from 1976 until the 1990s.

It seems to be a feature of scripts by Daniel Palladino that Lorelai makes nasty comments and jokes aimed at overweight people, especially women. It doesn’t really make any sense, since Lorelai’s best friends in Stars Hollow are all plus-sized women.

Are we meant to assume that Lorelai dislikes overweight women, but seeks them out as friends in order to make herself look better, or because they don’t threaten her fragile sense of self-esteem, while still making fun of them behind their backs? Because that isn’t a fun quirk, or a relatable human flaw – it’s revolting, and a sign of some kind of personality disorder.

Bonne Bell Lip Smackers

LORELAI: [sighs] This man knows all my secrets. All of my bad girl moments happened with him – my worst fashion choices, my big hair days, the wearing of the Bonne Bell Lip Smackers around my neck – it was all with Christopher.

Bonne Belle Lip Smackers are flavoured lip balms. They were first introduced in 1973 by the Bonne Bell cosmetics company, and aimed squarely at the tweens and young teens market. During the 1970s and ’80s (when Lorelai was a child and teenager) it was fashionable for girls to wear large-sized Bonne Belle Lip Smackers on strings around their necks.

Pop-Tarts

SOOKIE: You – get in here and tell me the happenings at home.
LORELAI: I’m assuming you mean “did we get our toaster fixed” and no, it’s been cold Pop-Tarts for a week, it’s like a damn Dickens novel.

Pop-Tarts are convenience food pastries, introduced by the Kellogg Company in 1964. Pop-Tarts are thin, retangular pieces of pastry sealed with a sugary, flavoured filling, often with frosting (icing) on the outside.

They are already cooked, so you can eat them cold, as Lorelai and Rory have been doing, without ill-effect, but are designed to be warmed in a toaster or a microwave. Why the Gilmores haven’t been heating theirs in the microwave is a mystery. Presumably they prefer to eat them cold rather than microwaved.

Pop-Tarts are Lorelai and Rory’s go-to breakfast when they eat at home, so of course they are a nutritional nightmare – high in calories (at least 200 per Pop-Tart), low in nutrients, and loaded with sugar. Just two Pop-Tarts (a standard serve) contain all of the recommended daily sugar allowance.

Lorelai and Rory are hardly unusual though: Pop-Tarts are Kellogg’s most popular brand in the United States, and sales have continued to rise every year for more than thirty years.

’86 Suzuki

DEAN: I got an ’86 Suzuki.
CHRISTOPHER: Nice!

Suzuki is a Japanese company which makes a variety of vehicles, including motorcycles. The motorycles they released during the 1980s were smaller and lighter models, designed to appeal to the American market, but with still quite powerful engines for their size.

This is the final confirmation that Dean definitely does have a motorcycle, as Lorelai intuitively knew from the beginning, despite Dean’s protestations. It seems that the Gilmore girls really do love a man on a motorbike.

Porsche

CHRISTOPHER: So you have zero faith?
LORELAI: I’ve known you since I was six, Chris. You’re the guy that crashed his Porsche two hours after his parents gave it to him for his 16th birthday.

Porsche is a German car manufacturer specialising in sports cars, SUVs, and luxury sedans. It’s possible Christopher’s parents bought him a 1984 Porsche 924, a two-door coupe intended to be their entry-level model. It seems like an expensive but not totally reckless gift for a spoiled, rich teenager. In real life, Christopher wouldn’t have had his driver’s licence at sixteen, although I can imagine him just taking the car out anyway.

We learn here that Lorelai and Christopher weren’t just friends before they started dating, they were childhood friends, and have known each other most of their lives.

Motorcycle

LORELAI: Kill me and bury me with that bike.
RORY: What is it? A Harley?
LORELAI: That is a 2000 Indian, 80 horsepower, 5 speed close ratio Andrews transmission, and I want to get one.

Indian is a brand of American motorcycle, first produced from 1901 to 1953 in Springfield, Massachusetts, until the company went bankrupt. Initially made by the Hendee Manufacturing Company, their name was changed to the Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company in 1928.

The rights to the Indian name were acquired by a succession of companies after the bankruptcy. In 1998, the Indian Motorcycle Corporation of America was formed from a merger of nine different companies, and in 1999 they began making Indian motorcycles in Gilroy, California (a hint as to who is riding the bike). The company went bankrupt in 2003, but rights to the name have again been acquired by a succession of companies, and they are still being made.

Rory wonders if the motorcycle is a Harley-Davidson, often just called a Harley. Harley-Davidson have been making motorcycles since 1903, first manufactured in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; they are the main rival company to Indian. Rory clearly has far less knowledge of motorcycles than her mother, and possibly knows of Harleys through motorcycle-loving Dean, who may yearn for one of these Midwest-originating bikes.

Andrews makes parts for motorcycles, including transmissions, and have been supplying Harley-Davidson since 1972. They were also supplying Indian, at least in the early 2000s.

Lorelai’s lust for the motorycle explains why she was so worried that Rory would be attracted to a boy who rode one – she assumed it would be a case of like mother, like daughter. This soon turns out to be correct. In fact, Rory jumps on the back of her father’s bike with suspicious ease, making us wonder if Dean kept his promise to Lorelai to never let Rory on his motorcycle.

Kodak Moment

RORY: The concert was amazing.
LANE: Forget about the concert. I wanted to see Lorelai pull those idiots out of that guy’s apartment.
RORY: It definitely was a Kodak moment.

The Eastman Kodak Company (known as Kodak) is an American company which produces imaging and photography products; it was founded in 1888 by George Eastman and Henry A. Strong. It was the dominant photography brand during the 20^th century, having 90% of the market in the 1970s.

Kodak’s marketing tagline is “A Kodak moment”, which has passed into everyday slang to mean “a special moment worthy of being captured by a photograph”. Kodak Moments is now the name of Kodak’s photo app for smartphones.

Pucci

MADELINE: There’s this great store under my therapist’s office who has the best vintage clothes. I found an original Pucci top for practically nothing.
LOUISE: Oh Pucci is very big right now.

Pucci is an Italian fashion brand originally founded by Emilio Pucci (1914-1992). Pucci clothing is synonymous with stretch-knit clothing in bright, geometric designs, and when Madeline says she found an original Pucci top in a vintage store, she means one that would have been designed by Emilio Pucci himself.

There are quite a number of vintage clothing stores in Hartford where Madeline might have found the top, but it seems unlikely they would sell an original Pucci top for “practically nothing” (the one in the picture costs nearly $200 today). She got very lucky that day.

We also discover from Madeline’s casual statement that she regularly sees a therapist. This might come as a surprise, as Madeline seems to be very cheerful and unconflicted by nature, but perhaps that’s because of all the therapy?

Paris’ Car

[Lorelai looks out the window and sees Paris, Madeline and Louise getting out of a car]
LORELAI: Rory, I think your friends are here. She must be one great babysitter to earn enough money for that car.

The car Paris is driving is a BMW 330Ci coupe convertible, an entry-level luxury car and the most popular model that BMW makes. In 2001, it would have cost around the $40 000 mark.