Tag: Places

The Tower

LORELAI: Are you sure you can’t come? [to a family dinner with Trix]
RORY: Yeah, I’m sure. If I’m not prepared tomorrow, Paris is gonna have me sent to the Tower.

Rory means the Tower of London, more correctly Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London. It’s a historic castle on the River Thames in the City of London, and was built by William the Conqueror in 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. Today it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Lodnon.

Although the Tower of London’s original primary purpose was to be a palace and royal residence, it has been used as a prison from 1100 to 1952. Its peak period as a prison was the 16th and 17th centuries, when “being sent to the Tower” meant you were going to prison. Queen Elizabeth I spent time there before she was queen.

Cambodia

EMILY: Won’t you have dessert?
TRIX: I once travelled to a small village in Cambodia. I did not eat dessert there either.

Cambodia is a country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It was under the control of France during the 19th century, and became independent in 1953. Cambodian desserts are actually quite famous, but perhaps the small village Trix went to was too poor to have any dessert, or not up to Trix’s standards – as a slam to Emily, most likely the second.

Trix doesn’t like travel, but somehow made it all the way to Cambodia. Possibly her dislike for travel only came on late in life.

Hearst Castle

LANE: Is this what your grandparents house looks like?
RORY: No. I mean it’s big, but it’s not this Hearst Castle-ly.

Hearst Castle was built for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst on a family estate between 1919 and 1947. It is located near San Simeon, California, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is situated atop a hill, with dramatic views of the Pacific Ocean below.

Hearst Castle was designed by American architect Julia Morgan; it was originally meant to be a modest yet comfortable bungalow, but ended up a grand 56 bedroom, 61 bathroom, 19 sitting room mansion in an eclectic collection of styles that was based on the historical architecture of Europe. On 127 acres of garden, it had both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theatre, an airfield, and the world’s largest private zoo.

During the 1920s and ’30s, it was often visited by the political and Hollywood elite, including Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, James Stewart, and Bob Hope. Hearst Castle was the inspiration for Xanadu, the mansion in the film Citizen Kane, although not filmed there.

Hearst died in 1951, and in 1954 Hearst Castle became a State park in 1954, being opened to the public in 1958. Since then it has operated as a public momument, and attracts millions of visitors every year. The Hearst family continue to use the original Victorian-era house on the estate as a private retreat.

The interior scenes of the party at Madeline’s house were filmed at the Greystone Mansion in Beverley Hills – the same building which is used for exterior shots of Chilton Academy. It’s nowhere near as big as Hearst Castle.

Small World Ride

LUKE: Oh God, he’s [Dean’s] got a nerve. I mean, what does he think, he’s gonna do better than Rory? Is he crazy? Jeez. Alright, well forget it, okay. Good riddance, adios, bienvenidos, hasta la vista.
LORELAI: Could we get off the Small World ride and start cooking please?

It’s a Small World is a ride at the Fantasyland section of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and other Walt Disney theme parks and resorts. The ride consists of travelling in small boats through a tunnel, watching animatronic dolls in national costumes of countries around the world, all singing the song, It’s a Small World After All, each in their native languages.

It’s a Small World After All was written by Robert and Richard Sherman, previously mentioned. It is said to be the most-performed and most-translated piece of music in the world, having been played more than 50 million times.

Luke says, “Goodbye, welcome, see you later”, in Spanish, for no very obvious reason. Apparently when he’s upset he babbles in Spanish.

Beirut

RORY: You brought me to Beirut?
DEAN: It’s a salvage yard.
RORY: Ah. And yet it looks so much like Beirut.

Beirut is is the capital of Lebanon, a seaport of more than a million people located on a peninsula. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, having been inhabited for more than five thousand years, and was voted as one of the New7Wonders Cities of the world.

Rory thinks the salvage yard looks like Beirut because of the Lebanese Civil War, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, and was partly caused by changing demographics due to the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories leading to further instability in the Middle East region. Since the war, Beirut has undergone reconstruction and, despite further conflicts, is now a major centre for commerce and tourism.

Bridgeport

Dora, the wife of the mayor Harry Porter, is said to be attending bingo in Bridgeport on the night of the Founder’s Firelight Festival.

Bridgeport is a city in Connecticut with its own seaport, and historically a manufacturing city. Its claims to fame are having showman P.T. Barnum as their mayor in the late 19th century, being the place where the first Subway restaurant opened, and being the birthplace of the Frisbee.

The city is about 40 minutes drive from Wallingford, where Stars Hollow appears to be located, and there are two bingo halls in Bridgeport where Dora could have been playing.

Palestinian and Israeli Families

LORELAI: Why were you in the Mideast?
RACHEL: I was doing a photo story on how Palestinian and Israeli families have been affected by the violence.

From this statement, we know that Rachel’s trip to the Middle East was specifically to Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In 1948 the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the state of Israel, immediately followed by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which saw Israel established while the West Bank and Gaza were held by Arab states. Since the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel has occupied territories such as the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights.

It is the world’s longest military occupation in modern times, with no peace agreement in sight. The violence of the conflict is well known around the world, and casualties extend to civilians as well as the military. Most of the casualties have been Palestinian.

O’Hare

RACHEL: Yeah, yeah, well things were pretty crazy over there, not a lot of writing time. But I finished up my assignment, and I flew back to Chicago and I was walking through O’Hare, and I look up and there’s a plane leaving for Hartford in like 20 minutes, and all of a sudden, I’m on it.

O’Hare International Airport is the primary airport serving the Chicago region. Last minute flights such as the one Rachel got on are typically expensive, but because of its size, O’Hare Airport can be relatively flexible, and sometimes you can score a great deal. Today Rachel’s spontaneous flight could have cost her as little as $300, and the flight to Hartford would take around two hours.