I've been watching reruns every day for a month now. I know they never actually mentioned the state Hooterville was in, but I've been watching the outdoor shots very closely. Based on the scenery I have seen, it has to be California because the state capitol building had a big palm tree next to it. Also it appears to me the surrounding hills are too high for Illinois or Missouri and the grass is very dry-another indication of California. JMO.
shareI don't think it's Cali. Where ever it is we know it's 300 miles from Chicago.
For some reason I've always thought it might be in Iowa. Or maybe Kansas.
Most people see things that are and ask "why?", I dream things that never were and ask, "why not?"
I agree 100 percent--I would have thought it was Illinois or Iowa or Kansas except for the palm tree in the shot of the state capital. That could never happen in the Midwest.
shareIt seems like most EVERY tv show has to have a palm tree in it for some reason!LOL
Most people see things that are and ask "why?", I dream things that never were and ask, "why not?"
More than a few shows are obviously filmed in California, though not set in California in their story-lines. In Bewitched, for example, there are often mountains in the background (looking exactly like the mountains that surround Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley), though the Stephenses resided in Connecticut. Other common clues showing California filming: the tinder-dry, brown countryside, raised lane markers on freeways, bare deciduous trees but green lawns and, of course, the rogue palm tree in snow climates. Hooterville was set somewhere in the rural south.
"Beware of the humorless. They won't laugh at your jokes, and you'll end up paying the check."
Hooterville was not in the south. The accents were all wrong. All the signs pointed to a midwestern setting, possibly Illinois or Iowa. Missouri maybe.
shareThe Stephens on Bewitched lived in Westport, New York. It was specifically mentioned in several episodes.
So far, the most common belief is that Hooterville was in Illinois based on the first episode.
The state capital shown on the show is actually the state capital in Boston, MA.
shareAlso about the palm tree, this IS the Green Acres universe, I mean there wa a barking cat, Arnold the pig meowed, Lisa changed clothes in 2 seconds, they can red the subtitles, so in this surreal universe I'd say a palm tree in the midwest is NOT impossible lol
Question your prejudices.
It was somewhere in the Ozarks because that is where the Beverly Hillbillies were from and Mr Drucker was on that show too as Mr Drucker.
shareI thought of that, b/c in an EARLY episode of the Beverlly Hillbillies back at the cabin Jasper Depew(sp) mentiones there is a dance in Hooterville, implying it's close to the Clampetts hometown BugTussle. BUT in a later episode while in California Granny and Jethro drive to Hooterville so Granny can help with a baby, and they act like it's just right around the corner from Beverlly Hillies. And they have NO IDEA where it is.
Question your prejudices.
I would guess southern Missouri in the Ozarks. Since Granny from Beverly Hillbillies knew Sam Drucker, Hooterville would have been located close to Bug Tussel in order for Granny to visit him. The Clampetts talked about going to Eureka Springs (real town in Arkansas) and Springfield (real town in Missouri) both of which are in the Ozark mountains. Clampetts even did several shows in Silver Dollar City which is near Branson, Mo. Which is close to Eureka Springs and Springfield. Since Granny didn't drive, I believe Hooterville would have had to be within walking distance of Bug Tussel so I believe Hooterville and Bug Tussel would have been between Eureka Springs and Springfield.
share It ghas to be somewhere in the deep south like Florida, Southeast Texas
or Southern California. An episode on Christmas day when they were going to
chop down a Christmas Tree had the Radio saying the temperature was 81 degrees.
That is not the Midwest at all. Can't be 300 miles from Chicago or Missouri,
Iowa or any other state near there.
[deleted]
Very good point..I was going to bring this up. 81 degrees during Christmas in which you see mountains in the distance. It must be California.
shareHooterville is nowhere, that is tipoff #498,620 that shows like The Simpsons get much of their concept and gags from Green Acres.
Where are the film clips from? I'd like to know the exact addresses myself, but a safe guess is that they drove from Hollywood to the nearest busted-down farm, and that would have been in the Bakersfield area about 90 minutes north of L.A..
Many people say Missouri. Even though Paul Henning didn't create 'Green Acres,' he did create 'Petticoat Junction,' a show inspired by his own childhood growing up in Missouri. And 'Petticoat Junction' is of course set in Hooterville.
As someone else has already noted, a lot of shows look like they're taking place in California because they're filmed there -- even if that's not the stated setting.
If you base it on palm trees, then I guess in "The Office" Scranton, PA, is really Scranton, CA.
I have to wonder if the person who slapped Hooterville in the "rural south" is actually Whoopi Goldberg (who failed to recognize how much dog-fighting is done in the "southern" city of Detroit). No one on the show had a southern accent. BTW, rural accent does NOT equal southern accent.
Viewing places that I have lived Hooterville could easily be in Indiana or Pennsylvania. Somehow, I always got the idea that it was not hard to get to New York from Hooterville.
Also, I love the name "Hooterville". Especially since it was created in conjunction with Petticoat Junction.
Fred
Tom "Eb" Lester had a Southern accent.
shareI disagree. He talked to fast with no twang. I knew people in PA or IN that talked like him. That is more of just a rural accent.
Listen to Kyra Sedgwick on "The Closer" and Jaime Pressley on "My Name is Earl". Those are southern accents. Pressley can sometimes be hard to understand because she does her lines too fast.
BTW, I know that he is from Mississippi, too. I was chiefly challenging the notion that a rural accent is the same as Southern accent. There are many different Southern accents as well.
Fred
[deleted]
[deleted]
Hootersville was said to be 300 miles from Chicago, but it could take place in any rural area of any state. However, when you tie in the beverly Hillbillies then you have to give the edge to Tennessee.
shareActually "Petticoat Junction" was based on the memories of his wife, Ruth Henning, growing up in Missouri where a small hotel ran. That's what Paul himself claimed in an interview. The hotel Ruth was familiar with became the inspiration for the Shady Rest.
shareActually "Petticoat Junction" was based on the memories of his wife, Ruth Henning, growing up in Missouri where a small hotel ran. That's what Paul himself claimed in an interview. The hotel Ruth was familiar with became the inspiration for the Shady Rest.
Google maps shows Chicago IL to St. Louis MO as 297 miles. So if it is in Missouri, it would have to be upstate.
shareThe actual location of Hooterville was one of the many running gags of the show. It was never disclosed as to what state Hooterville was supposedly in. Frequently, the writers would put conflicting "hints" into the episodes to further confuse viewers.
1. In the Green Acres special edition three tape set, the host states that Hooterville is in Virginia. However, I believe this is an error.
2. In the Return to Green Acres movie (1990), Mr. Drucker said the zip code of Hooterville was 40516 and 1/2. He did some research and found that Lexington, KY, has a ZIP code of 40516. A possible answer? Or more misinformation?
----
"Everytime a bell rings, an angel gets its wings"
Regardless of where Hooterville seems to be based on its appearance, it was stated on the show when the Douglases first moved there that they flew to Chicago and then traveled 300 miles to get to it (if the earlier post gave that info correctly). And of course, wherever it is is the same locale as Petticoat Junction. Anyway, with all the other conflicting hints given on the show later, it sounds like it must be just a stone's throw from the Simpsons' Springfield! And that, in turn, must be not far from Lassie's Calverton (of the Jeff and Timmy years), as both mention going to "Capital City".
Notice how in Acres' early years, establishing shots of Sam Drucker's store were always accompanied by "Petticoat Junction" music (amongst other Junction attributions). It was interesting that Frank Cady was playing the same character regularly on two different shows, and even ended up playing him two very different WAYS!
[deleted]
The Edge of Night also a CBS show had their state capital being Capital City.
share[deleted]
Wasn't the area code "555" ?
That should narrow it down! (g)
There is a real town called Green Acres, California.
shareFrom the key people of Green Acres production crew who did the work, most of the shots (in the opening)came from a place north of Los Angeles called Thousand Oaks and that area!
shareI believe that's correct. Opening credits containing rural shots from the air sure look like the Tierra Rejada ranch area, which encompasses parts of Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Moorpark, California. This area is still used a lot for TV and films. The most recent shoot that I can recall there was the town set for "The Cat in the Hat" but it's been used on and off since the early days of film (probably the most during the heydays of the Westerns.) Parts of the area have managed to maintain a rural feel even though it is now bisected by a busy freeway and a golf course was built there about 10 years ago. They still operate a pick your own pumpkin patch in the Fall complete with hay rides and a year-round fruit stand on Reading road.
shareThere's a neighborhood in Tyler, Texas, called Green Acres. When I was a young lad the actor who played Eb gave a speech at Green Acres Baptist Church.
shareGreen Acres Baptist Church is the largest church in Tyler, Texas. It's practically a city of its own.
shareAs a kid, I avidly watched this show from the first season it was on until it's end in 1971. I was led to believe that Hooterville was in upstate NY. Of course I grew up in NJ and spent a part of each summer in the Adirondacks, so go figure.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
Enough already!
Hooterville is defintely in the San Joaquin Valley in California.
I live out here and credit/blame the show for my moving here in the first place.
I live 5 miles east of green acres and a half hour south of Pixley.
No idea where the hell Stankwell Falls is though.
While I was able to find a Pixley and a Green Acres in Ca there was no Hooterville in San Joaquin Valley or any other part ot CA. Tried Google and everything. The closest Hooterville was in Nevada
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?
[deleted]
Jed Clampett was not from Tennessee; he was from the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas.
share"The actual location of Hooterville was one of the many running gags of the show. It was never disclosed as to what state Hooterville was supposedly in. Frequently, the writers would put conflicting "hints" into the episodes to further confuse viewers.
(Side note: In the Green Acres special edition three tape set, the host states that Hooterville is in Virginia. However, I believe this is an error.)
(Bonus side note: Superfan Geoff Capp noticed that in the Return to Green Acres movie, Mr. Drucker said the zip code of Hooterville was 40516 and 1/2. He did some research and found that Lexington, KY, has a ZIP code of 40516. A possible answer? Or more misinformation?)....
...The opening credits, including the farm house with the title on it, were shot in Thousand Oaks, California. The title was painted by Max Thornton. The ACTUAL Green Acres house (Where Lisa and Oliver lived), however, was only a sound stage."
From the FAQ at the following website:
http://www.maggiore.net/greenacres/gaFAQ.asp
AFAIK, the exact location of the town was never given on PJ, which supports that FAQ.
When we rented the DVDs of Season 1 from Netflix, Linda Kaye Henning ('daughter' of Kate and real daughter of Paul Henning who created the show) gave a lot of background info in the Special Features. She said her dad based the premise of the show (widow running inn in the country) on his MIL's life. If I'm not mistaken, she said that inn was in Missouri.
God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Try to get a look at a license plate on any of the vehicles...
You Have a Hard Lip, Herbert..
Better Living Thru Chemistry
Considering Green Achres is such a surreal place, maybe Hootervill was not in a state, or maybe it was in a ficticious state. They said the state flower was a ragweed, so maybe in this universe there is a 51st state, lol.
Question your prejudices.
Hooterville, Crabwell Corners, Pixley, Stankwell Falls and all the other fine cities on Green Acres were located in The Kangaroo State.
shareI think I can clear this up for you to some degree. First of all the term "Hooter" is a mid-western colloquialism denoting "Hutter" (with umlaut) as in Jacob Hutter, the 19th century founder of a German religious sect, the "Hutterites" who maintain colonies in the upper mid-west to this day primarily in the Dakotas, into Montana and eastward into Iowa and probably (of course) Missouri. "Hooter" is a derogatory term for any backward rural type within these environs, certainly a far cry from the other slang meaning made famous by a chain of exploitative restaurants that also have nothing to do with owls. As for the exterior location shots, I suspect most of them were taken in Oregon which was the site of the railway and hotel used in the original "Petticoat Junction" exteriors. This explains the distinctive west coast flora that has been alluded to. As for the state capitol, it surely does not matter a bit, any traditional looking one would have done, and the palm tree may have been an intentional bit of wry humor in a great show filled with wry humor just to confuse inquiring folks like us. Long Live Arnold!
share[deleted]
In one episode I distinctly heard Mr Douglas state he was traveling to the capital in Springfield. Springfield is the capital of Illinois.
shareNo Southern accents? Huh?? Ziffel, Eb, Haney & Drucker all had Southern accents. Hooterville was ficticious rural town in ficticious Southern state. Springfield was generic "capital" sounding city.
I seem to recall Tennessee references in Beverly Hillbillies..
Yeah I still say the B.Hillbillies are from Tennessee. I think the 93 movie started that whole Ozark think.
Question your prejudices.
Granny was a Moses from Tennessee, but clearly the Clampett family was always strongly implied to have been in the Ozarks.
shareBut I thought Granny had been in TN her entire life, I didn't think she would have moved from TN to Missouri or Arkansas or where ever.
Question your prejudices.
It has been guessed about where the name"Hooterville" is derived. Someone surmised that it was in the San Joaquin valley of CA and I believe that is the case. I grew up in a town called Porterville - in the san Joaquin valley - with the towns of both Tipton and Pixley nearby. Ergo, "Hooterville" is a riff on Porterville, which is a real place about 100 miles north of Hollywood. I would be willing to bet this is the origin of the name.
shareIt might be, but one thing we know is that it's located 300 miles from Chicago.
And if it were in Ca. it doesn't seem like Lisa would have been so opposed to moving, b/c there would be plenty of nearby big cities.
I've just always thought of Hooterville being in someplace like Iowa or Kansas.
Just because we lose today's battle doesn't mean we've lost tommorow's war.