Popular culture is a powerful yet invisible force. Pervasive and influential, it drives our subconcious choices on the consumer products we buy, the fashions we wear, the music we download and listen to, the films we go see and the television programs we watch. Popular culture even helps us plan our vacations.
With that in mind, here is part one of our look at sixteen notable pop culture destinations, past and present.
The upscale village of Amityville in Suffolk County, Long Island, in the state of New York, has a notorious past. In November, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot dead six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue. The murder spree was the subsequent inspiration for the bestseller book The Amityville Horror by Jay Ansen, as well as the films of the same name.
Near the town of Dyersville in the state of Iowa is a special baseball field. Built on former farmland, the original purpose of the field was as the principal set for Field of Dreams, the blockbuster Kevin Costner vehicle based on the superb book Shoeless Joe, by Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella. Other points of interest in Dubuque Country will be familiar to fans of the film.
14. Seneca Creek State Park and Burkittsville, Maryland
The Blair Witch Project is one of the most profitable independent films of all-time. In fact, the film still holds the best profit-to-cost ratio in history. The documentary-style realism of Blair Witch made the multiple sets in and around Seneca Creek State Park and the nearby town of Burkittsville, Maryland seem eerily horrific. They now serve as popular pilgrimmage sites for fans of the cult horror classic.
13. North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
Throughout the course of his career, director David Lynch has become famous for a trademark, avant-garde style and defiance in the face of Hollywood pressure to compromise his ideals. Films like Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway testify to his love of the unorthodox and surreal. So too did the most unusual serial drama to ever air on mainstream network television. Twin Peaks is still a cult-favorite and put locations North Bend and Snoqualmie, towns of under 5,000 in the state of Washington, on the map. Stop in for a slice of cherry pie and a cup of joe.
The province of Prince Edward Island draws tourists from around the world to Canada. The idyllic island in the Maritimes has a comely capital in the small town of Charlottetown, beautiful red sand coastlines and lush, pastoral scenery. As the backdrop of the classic novel Anne of Green Gables and birthplace of author Lucy Maud Montgomery however, Prince Edward Island is most famous.
Small town Washington appears again as a paramount pop culture destination. With under 2,000 people, Roslyn was the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska in the popular television program Northern Exposure. The offbeat and witty show ran for 110 episodes on CBS between 1991 and 1995.
While a surprise to many, Tataouine, Tunisia does in fact, exist. Tatooine of course, is the famous home of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films. The fictional George Lucas creation comes to life for visitors in Tunisia. The Berber village of Tataouine was an obvious inspiration for the director, where ancient adobe structures gave Star Wars an indelible, otherworldly backdrop.
9. Santa Ynez Valley, California
The sleeper hit of 2004, the film Sideways was a comedy-drama romp about two men on a mission to drink their way through California wine country. The adaptation of Rex Pickett’s novel of the same name was set in the very real Santa Ynez Valley. What the success of the film did for the career of Paul Giamatti, sales of Pinot Noir and tourism to California is the stuff of legend.
Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Responses to this Article
Leave a Reply