Locations of Soap Opera towns

[Gray Bunny]

I think in the pilot episode of DAYS, Marie mentions driving down to Boston with her fiance. They gave a definite feel of being in Massachusetts or close by. But as mentioned, DAYS' actual location will always be a mystery. It's near mountains, rivers, has an international airport, but in more recent years it seems it's a simple drive away from Chicago. 

 

I didn't like when they set GL in Springfield, Illinois during the Conboy/Weston era of 2003-2004 because not only is that the state capital city, but they had previously established GL's Springfield as being on the coast of one of the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan most likely), so it'd make the most sense for GL's Springfield to be in Michigan. 

[Bright Eyes]

At this point, Salem is closer to being in Westeros than anywhere in the United States.

[mikelyons]

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[DaytimeFan]

 

And let's not forget that Bo and Hope could board the Fancy Face...a sailboat...and travel to parts unknown. Also, it's conveniently located near the Canadian border for a quick run from the law and is an easy flight to Bermuda and the Caribbean islands.

[te.]

So Salem might indeed be located in that terrible virtual reality fantasy that Austin / Greta had in the early 2000s?

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[Dion]

I did see a map of Salem once in a Days book from the late 90s, early 2000s. It located Salem on both a river and a lake (with a smaller river connecting the lake with the river). I always liked that map.

[SFK]

Jeffersonia on Capitol has the ring of a NoVa D.C. burb akin to Arlington, Alexandria, Great Falls, McLean... 

The on-location scenes and  household establishing shots of fictional Jeffersonia were actually shot on the other side of the Potomac River in Potomac Maryland.

[Broderick]

 

Y&R's been pretty good over the years about referencing its "real" location, by mentioning Walworth County (the real county where Genoa City is located), as well as making references to nearby Lake Geneva.  Envelopes and packages shown on the show typically contains the real-life zip codes of Genoa City and Lake Geneva (53128 and 53147).  I can recall several instances over the years in which Milwaukee was mentioned --- specifically Nick "scoring some tickets to a Brewers game", and the storyline in the early 2000s when Nick and Sharon planned to opened a statewide chain of Crimson Lights coffee shops, beginning with Crimson Lights Two in Milwaukee.   They even visited Milwaukee several times to scout locations.  (They planned to have Carter Mills manage the Milwaukee location, but he turned out to be Matt Clark, so that was the end of that!)   In the dialogue, it was mentioned that they'd selected Milwaukee because it was close enough for them to keep an eye on the management before they branched into Madison and other places.     The show has also been pretty good about referencing "Route 12", the U.S. Highway that runs through real-life Genoa City, and there've been several mentions on the show of I-94, the interstate highway that connects Milwaukee and Chicago.  

Edited February 11, 2021 by Broderick

[Mitch]

GL's Springfield would have to be in Michigan..there are only 4 lighthouses in Illinois and if they created a fictional one where would it go...it couldn't be a northern suburb of Chicago as GL had a farm and the lower income 5th and 7th streets...which no North Shore suburb would have (plus...if the Spauldings lived on the northshore they would most definitely live on Lake Michigan. I wish soap writers and producers would look at maps once in a while.

[j swift]

Although it still doesn't explain why Lewis Oil would relocate from Oklahoma to Michigan.  According to facts I googled from Michigan State University,  Oklahoma produced 130 times more oil than Michigan between the years of 1859 and 1996.  So, changing their headquarters to Springfield made as much sense as OLTL's Buchanan Enterprises having an office in London. 

 

However, Michigan is a hub for tech and electronics, which would account for why the Chamberlains choose to relocate to Springfield from Chicago. 

Edited February 12, 2021 by j swift

[Mitch]

None of Lewis Oil made any sense....Spaulding should have just assumed the company at the very begging and have the Lewis and Spaulding unhappy and unfriendly bed fellows.

 

[soapfan770]

I found it a bit silly Capitol made up some fictional suburb of DC as opposed to using something real like Alexandria or Bethesda etc. 

 

Re: GL’s Springfield I have always had to wonder if the show’s location should have just remained in Selby Flats California. I am quite sure there would be a far more diverse representation of the LA area compared to anything B&B has ever done. 

Good point. Lewis Oil eventually turned into Lewis Construction and it just didn’t sound as interesting when it came to Spaulding vs. Lewis.

[NothinButAttitude]

I remember Edge of Night referencing Oakdale during the Molly Sherwood arc. Wasn't that house that Draper/Emily/Molly in Oakdale?

 

Also, didn't SFT mention Oakdale, Springfield, or Bay City during the Henderson flood?

 

And didn't ATWT (in the Sheffer era) have a scene in the airport where the marquee board read ABC soaps towns on it? 

[Mitch]

Off topic but we really should have know what the hell Spaulding did...I know they had Spaulding Pharmacuticals which sense tying into Cedars..but whatever the hell else they did. But absorbing Lewis into Spaulding would have made it more interesting...besides getting rid of a ridiculous Oil company in the midwest, but also bringing a new energy to Spaulding stories where the Alex vs. Alan and who is CEO stuff was worn out by 1996, so you would have the old rich versus the neuvo riche and it would renergize Van who would have conflicts with both sides. ..(when they got rid of Alex I kept hoping they woudl move Van back to corporate shark and for her to team up with Josh to merge with Spaulding and knock Alan off his throne.)

 

I always wanted GL to just call 5th and 7th street area "Selby Flats" with a nod to the past.

[soapfan770]

LOL. I’m not sure it was ever fully explained what Spaulding Enterprises did aside from pharmaceuticals, electronics/technologies, and I believe that oddly of all things had a fashion division that Marah did. But I think this was a common issue for soaps to not go into detail about what their company what exactly did lol. Or the case of Newman Enterprises start off as a P&G/Colgate-Palmolive type company that now for some mystery reason also owns offshore oil drilling platforms lol. But your storyline idea would have definitely worked out well; Y&R did it with Newman buying out Jabot and that alone provided juicy drama for a decade. 
 

Going back to Springfield this article from 1996 is about the show using downtown Hartford CT locations to pretend to be downtown Springfield:

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1996-07-19-9607190286-story.html