What's your cities Simpson's "must-see attractions"

December 16, 2020 3:31 PM

If you were to make a short-list of must-see attractions of your city like this one in the Simpsons episode when they were in Los Angeles, what would be on it?
posted by wcfields to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Best answer: Going on the same spirit of The Simpsons, and ignoring the fact that I'm assuming they've already done a show based in Boston, I'd go with:

Fenway Park
The North End
Dunkin Donuts (any of them)
The Dunkin Donuts across the street from that Dunkin Donuts
Logan Airport gates B32 and C19
The Good Will Hunting bench in the Public Garden
Site of the The Great Molasses Flood of 1919
The Smoot Bridge
The kinetic sculpture in the lobby of the Science Museum that my kid once wouldn't leave for four hours
The giant, possibly-accidental portrait of Ho Chi Minh on the gas tank
Faneuil Hall
The crate they shipped Faneuil Hall in. (Boston City Hall)
posted by bondcliff at 3:53 PM on December 16, 2020 [5 favorites]

Easy: all of the Portland locations which lent their names to Simpson’s characters.
posted by bixfrankonis at 4:12 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

I live in a small town not a big city, but the Whales Tails are the thing to see here. I am also a big fan of the Floating Bridge in the next town.
posted by jessamyn at 4:58 PM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I also immediately thought of the Whales' Tails. Other northern Vermont must-sees:

the Wrong Way Bridge

Vermont's only Target store, which opened a couple of years ago, creating much excitement (because we were finally going to be able to shop at Target right here in our own state) and then disappointment (because it's a "small-format" store that has a limited selection, not the Target of our dreams

any of the many places that sell creemees

Maplefields
posted by Redstart at 7:31 PM on December 16, 2020

Best answer: Worcester, MA:
- the Higgins Armory Museum, now just a building
- Kelley Square - now new and improved and not as much fun
- Johnson Tunnel under Lincoln Square where they used to hold burnout competitions during Summer Nationals
- our one way dead end street
- Bancroft Tower
- any of our Dunkin Donuts ripoffs
posted by neilbert at 9:09 PM on December 16, 2020

I can't think of any.
posted by neuron at 9:59 PM on December 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

Are people misunderstanding this question? I mean, The Simpsons sent Homer to Long Term Parking at LAX and more than one highway underpass.

In that tradition, were you to visit Cork I would recommend The Lough for late night drinking in the bushes with teenagers and daytime attacks by very angry swans. Fun times!

You can also visit Cork's historic lone synagogue. And by visit, I mean stand outside of it, because it shut four years ago as we could no longer raise a minyan in the city.

We also have a Butter Museum. No, really. When someone on Trip Advisor called it "interesting" the Museum literally put that on the front page of their website.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:30 AM on December 17, 2020 [2 favorites]

I guess I would choose the "El Toro Y" from the original list, since it is like 25 miles from actual Los Angeles in Irvine. Although these days you'd have to explain what the fuck El Toro is, since the base was closed during the Clinton Administration.

But, why not, here is Orange County, in least from what I know since I moved here 3 years ago from LA:

Lido bridge into Newport Beach, where the Trump 2020 people have seemed to semi-permanently protesting the "stolen" election.

Downtown Fullerton, but only after 10pm on Fri/Sat. You also need to be over 30 to get the full, terrible, experience. Any younger and you might think it's actually cool.

Any of the budget motels just outside Disneyland

Cars and Coffee at Crystal Cove, to see the terrible combo of people with too much money and a desperate need to show it too others (OK, in full disclosure, I think it's actually cool)

Any residential block in Irvine, because if you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all.

The Improv comedy club at the Spectrum, since that's pretty much the highlight of nightlife for the local area, especially the comedy karaoke stuff thats' at like 5pm on a Wednesday

Downtown Disney after the Ducks/Angels once again shit the bed in an important hockey/baseball game.

Huntington Beach during the many, many, anti mask protests. You can then join up with all the HB residents who will swear up and down on their mother's grave that 100% of everyone at the protest is actually a hick from the Inland Empire, and not a refined and respectable member of the Huntington Beach community.
posted by sideshow at 9:20 AM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

This is better than any list I could come up with
posted by grateful at 1:52 PM on December 17, 2020

Grateful, I used to live smack in between three of those! Man, now I really miss living there and not fully appreciating Silver Spring for the weird place it was. I miss the wave pool, like, daily. And the commuting penguins. Excellent public art in that neighborhood.
posted by bowtiesarecool at 2:24 PM on December 17, 2020

For San Jose:

The Municipal Rose Garden & Rosicrucian Museum
Japantown
Olympic Black Power Statues at SJSU
Giant Monopoly Board in Discovery Meadow
Decommissioned radar tower on Mount Umunhum
Winchester Mystery House
Grand Staircase on Communications Hill
Walk from San Jose to Santa Clara inside of Valley Fair Mall (it straddles the city border)
IBM Bldg. 25 monument (where the hard drive was invented); now a Lowe's parking lot.
posted by JDC8 at 11:06 AM on December 18, 2020