Chilton Preparatory Academy

The exclusive co-ed private school in Hartford to which Rory gains a late acceptance, kicking off the events of the entire Gilmore Girls series. It is loosely based on Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in the town of Wallingford, Connecticut.

The name Chilton may have been inspired (in universe) by Mary Chilton (1607-1679), a Pilgrim who came to America from England on the Mayflower, giving the name a historical connection; Mary Chilton was an ancestor of George Bush and George Bush Jr. According to legend, Mary was the first passenger to step ashore at Plymouth in 1620, excitedly jumping out of the boat and wading out to Plymouth Rock. It seems like a name suitable for daring young girls willing to leap into a new world.

For the 2017-18 academic year, Choate’s tuition fees for a day (non-boarding) student were $44 400. However, they have a generous financial aid package which would mean that someone in Lorelai’s situation would have their tuition fees heavily subsidised. You can also pay by the month with no interest, and unlike Chilton, there is only a small enrolment fee.

It is unclear why Chilton never offered any similar financial aid to Rory – perhaps because she was a late acceptance. For the purpose of the plot it was necessary for Lorelai to be desperate for money, or Gilmore Girls could never have happened. So Chilton had to be a price-gouging school with massive enrolment fees, no financial aid, no payment plans, and no up-front information about their fees for parents (Lorelai is apparently disconcerted to learn Chilton costs anything at all).

Exterior scenes at Chilton were filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California; this 1920s Tudor-style mansion is in a public park owned by the City of Beverly Hills, and is a popular place for film and TV locations.

Michel Gerard (Yanic Truesdale)

RORY: Come on, Michel. I’ll tell all the ladies what a stud you are.
MICHEL: Hm. I believe that memo has already been sent.

Throughout the original series of the show, viewers speculated on the sexuality of the ever-snarky Michel Gerard, the concierge at the Independence Inn. From Michel’s own vague statements, he could either be interpreted as a camp heterosexual man, or a closeted homosexual man (or one who just didn’t want to discuss his private life – Michel did come across as someone who valued his privacy).

Amy Sherman-Palladino originally intended Michel to be heterosexual, as this comment from him showed. He was meant to be an example of a heterosexual man who has camp mannerisms and stereotypically “gay” interests. At some point she changed her mind, and in the Netflix revival, Michel is confirmed as not only gay, but married to a man.

In fact it was Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) who Amy had planned to be a gay character, but the television executives would not countenance the idea.

In real life, when Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino stayed at the Mayflower, the inspiration for the Independence Inn, the concierge was a French woman.

Independence Inn

The inn in Stars Hollow where Lorelai is the executive manager, Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy) is the head chef, and Michel Gerard (Yanic Truesdale) is the concierge. The name suggests the independence that Lorelai found for herself in Stars Hollow through working at the inn.

It is based on The Mayflower Inn (now The Grace Mayflower Inn & Spa) in Washington Depot where Amy Sherman-Palladino stayed during her visit to the town. The real life inn is rather more luxurious than the Independence.

Luke’s Diner

A friendly, relaxed diner in Washington Depot where people helped themselves to food and drink behind the counter was supposedly the inspiration for Luke’s Diner, and gave Amy Sherman-Palladino the idea for a show set in a charming, quirky small town. (This diner is no longer in existence, and I cannot identify it). Oddly enough, in the show Luke is not friendly or laid-back, and greatly dislikes people helping themselves to food behind the counter.

For the filming of the pilot in Unionville, Luke’s Diner was temporarily built inside a hardware store. This explains the backstory whereby Luke opened his diner in his dad’s old hardware store, William’s Hardware – William Danes being Luke’s deceased father.

Stars Hollow

In the first shot of the pilot, we see a sign with STARS HOLLOW FOUNDED 1779 on it. Stars Hollow is loosely based on the small town of Washington Depot in Connecticut, which incorporated in 1779. In the 19^th century its industrial section was known as Factory Hollow.

However, Rory says that Stars Hollow is 30 minutes drive from Hartford, while Washington Depot is about an hour away from there, so it can’t have the same location. That distance might put it somewhere around the vicinity of the town of Wallingford or the city of Meriden.

The pilot of Gilmore Girls was filmed in Unionville, Ontario, and from then on at Warner Brothers in Burbank, California.