Weezer

LORELAI: So, Gran, what do you think? I mean, it’s not much. Probably too modest for Korn, but Weezer would be pretty comfortable.

Weezer, alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1992. Their 1994 self-titled debut album, also known as “The Blue Album”, became a multiplatinum success, while their 1996 album Pinkerton was a commercial failure and received mixed reviews, but attained cult status and eventual critical acclaim. In 2001, Weezer returned with another self-titled album, known as “The Green Album”. It was a commercial success with mostly positive reviews.

Weezer’s relaxed thrift store chic image is presumably why Lorelai thinks they would be more at home in her house. The lead singer of Weezer actually lives in a multimillion house in Santa Monica.

Gidget and Moondoggie

FRANCIE: Hey, no one is denying Gidget a chance to snag Moondoggie for the clambake, but the rest of us have things to accomplish.

A reference to the film Gidget, previously discussed. In the film, Moondoggie (played by James Darren) was Gidget’s love interest and eventual boyfriend. They didn’t really attend a clambake, but a luau. Presumably Francie thinks a clambake is the closest thing to a luau in New England.

The Wadsworth Mansion

FRANCIE: The Wadsworth Mansion has just had a cancellation, which means that we can get it for prom, if we move quickly.

The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate is a real historic venue in Middletown, Connecticut, about 16 miles north of Hartford. Built in 1911 for businessman Colonel Clarence Wadsworth, it is now owned by the city of Middletown, and is open to the public. After extensive renovations, it became possible to hire it out in 1999, and today it costs around $5000 for an evening, but catering costs extra (about $100 a head). Rory is concerned about it being too expensive, but it is used as a senior prom venue. Perhaps by schools that didn’t blow their budget on an expensive telescope.

Victor Hugo

RICHARD: Wonderfully. They’re spoiling me rotten. [takes Emily’s hand] Emily got me the most beautiful humidor. It’s from 1917, and was owned by a lieutenant in World War I.

TRIX: You know, your father had a humidor that was owned by Victor Hugo. I still have it if you’d like it.

RICHARD: Well, I’d love it [drops Emily’s hand]

Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-1885), French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career spanning more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers of all time. His most famous works are The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).

Victor Hugo was a keen smoker, even saying that “Tobacco … converts thoughts into dreams”. I presume he smoked cigars, although it seems pertinent to mention that Victor Hugo is a famous brand of cigars. Is it possible that Richard’s father actually owned a humidor that was made by the company, I wonder? It seems much more likely.

Richard always seems to choose his mother over Emily. Even after he tries to show Trix what a thoughtful gift Emily has chosen for him, he drops her hand and says he’d prefer to have his father’s humidor instead. He can be very hurtful to Emily, and shows her no loyalty when it comes to Trix.

The Arboretum

EMILY: So, Mom, if you’re going to be here for awhile, I can plan some things for you to do, some outings you might enjoy.

TRIX: Like what?

EMILY: Like the arboretum.

Emily may possibly refer to the Kim Arboretum in Elizabeth Park in West Hartford. It only received official arboretum status in 2019, but the trees themselves were planted more than a century before, with some trees growing naturally even earlier. Could it have been referred to as the arboretum even before official status was conferred, I wonder?

Korn

TRIX: Well, for the past year, I’ve been renting my home in Hartford to a group of musicians. They’ve recently moved out, so I had to come check on the house and secure a new tenant.

LORELAI: What kind of musicians?

TRIX: A rock and roll group of some sort. I believe they call themselves Korn.

Korn, a nu metal band formed in Bakersfield, California in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1994, receiving positive reviews, and being credited with establishing the new wave of metal. Mainstream success came with Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999), both of which debuted at #1. The band has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and have two Grammy Awards.

In real life they lived in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, not in Hartford.

Toledo

KIRK: Today we have … various marzipan fruits made by a sect of cloistered nuns in Toledo.

Toledo is a city of around 80 000 people in central Spain on the Tagus River, known as the “City of Three Cultures”, for the influences of Christians, Jews and Muslims on its history. There are several convents of cloistered nuns in the city, and many of them do indeed specialise in making sweets such as marzipan.

Paris’ Christmas With Jamie

PARIS: I met his parents … He bought me a ticket, and I took the train to Philadelphia, and he met me at the station, and I spent Christmas with him and his family … It was perfect. They had a Christmas tree twelve feet tall … And they had tiny wreaths hanging from every doorknob, and mistletoe and candles everywhere.

Paris has never celebrated Christmas (she’s Jewish), and her parents always go out of town for the holidays, leaving her alone with her nanny. This miserable time of year for her is transformed into a veritable Hallmark card come to life when Jamie invites her to spend Christmas with his family in Philadelphia. She loves everything about Christmas, and is virtually floating on air after the holidays.

Philadelphia has been mentioned several times in Gilmore Girls. Paris would have quite a long train trip to visit Jamie – it’s four and a half hours by train from Hartford to Philadelphia, with a change at New Haven.

Ranch in Texas

PARIS: Well, if there’s nothing really to talk about, what’s the point, right?

LOUISE: You said that one student council meeting a week was not enough.

MADELINE: Yeah, you said that was no way to govern, that meeting once a week was lazy, ineffectual, and if we were going to do it like that, we might as well just buy ourselves a ranch in Texas.

Paris referred in her comment to Prairie Chapel Ranch near the town of Crawford in Texas. It was acquired by former president George W. Bush in 1999, and was known as the Western White House. It was used both as a vacation house, a meeting place, and as a place to host visiting dignitaries.

George W. Bush was considered a lazy president, with some wits remarking that he worked “24/7 – 24 hours a week, 7 months a year”.

Six Flags

LUKE: So, how did the four dinners work out? You guys must feel more stuffed than you’ve ever been.

LORELAI: I don’t know. Is this more stuffed than the great Six Flags hot dog consumption of ’99?

Six Flags is an amusement park corporation founded in the 1960s in Arlington, Texas, and headquartered in Manhattan. It has 27 theme parks in the US, Canada, and Mexico, more than any other amusement park company, and has more than 30 million guests each year. The name Six Flags refers to the flags of the six nations which have governed Texas over the years – Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the USA, and the Confederate States of America.

The nearest Six Flags to Lorelai and Rory is Six Flags New England, in Agawam, Massachusetts. It is just north of the Connecticut border, about an hour’s drive away. They went to the theme park in 1999, possibly during the summer vacation, when Rory was nearly 15.