Wait. Hey Arnold! isn't set in NYC???
- Thread starter Typhon
- Start date
I always thought it was meant to be ambiguous. Not specific to one place or the other.
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Hillwood
Hillwood is the city where Arnold lives, and where most events of the show Hey Arnold! take place. It is located in Washington state, as revealed in the episode "Road Trip" and evidenced throughout other episodes. The city's name is never explicitly said in the show, but it's visible in several...
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Why did they even bother with a fictional city? I always thought it was NYC, it looked super like NYC (or what I've seen of NYC in American media anyway).
I think it's just easier for storytelling purposes to have fictional cities.
Fictional city heavily inspired by NYC makes the most sense anyways. Lets the show tell whatever stories it wants without being concerned about the logistics of the real place.
I assumed New York as well, but once I realized I couldn't figure out the borough, Seattle made more sense.
Coastal New Jersey. They mention a lot of cities in that area as being nearby or a short drive away.
Apparently a lot of the names come from there, since that's where the creator grew up.
Visually, I'd say it looks way more like NYC though.
There's the rail, but I've yet to hear someone call it a subway.
This is one of those things that I think people get confused. The plots and stories are based on his childhood in PNW but the show is very clearly taking stylized and aesthetic choices from NYC/Chicago/other Midwest and NE locations. Besides all the elevated highways (seattles old Alaskan Way Viaduct it looks nothing like Seattle or Portland)
For some reason I always thought it was set in Philly. Had no idea it was in the Pacific Northwest.
NYC is one of those places that people think they know on sight based on movies they've seen when a lot of those movies were probably filmed somewhere else. Hell, quintessential NYC film Mean Streets was largely filmed in Los Angeles.
I think Bartlett himself has said the city in Hey Arnold! Is an amalgamation of cities he's lived in and since people are most familiar with NYC those elements seem more apparent.
I think Bartlett himself has said the city in Hey Arnold! Is an amalgamation of cities he's lived in and since people are most familiar with NYC those elements seem more apparent.
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Yeah there's definitely some NYC influence in there, but I remember hearing that a lot of the influences came from places like Portland and Seattle where Craig Bartlett spent a lot of time. I always got the impression of like a "city version of Springfield" that could be from anywhere in the US.
Yeah as a kid I thought it was NYC too, kinda disappointing that it turned out to be a fictional city. Something about thinking it was in NYC added to the charm for me
Also Helga's last name was Pataki when George Pataki was the governer of NY.
I always though it was heavily inspired by NY, without calling it NY. Never once made the Seattle connection; then again I didn't know much about Seattle during the shows running.
It is NYC. Can't tell me otherwise.
I always thought it was Brooklyn.
I always thought it was Brooklyn.
Both of these points make even more sense when you know that Craig Bartlett and Matt Groening are in-laws.
I also always assumed Hey Arnold took place in NYC, but it made sense to find out it wasn't when you consider how hilly the landscape is.
After that episode where they have the Pig catching Holiday and it's a competition with their neighboring City who are clearly some kind of Canadian I realized Hey Arnold was probably not in New York City.
Edit: This Episode
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If there was a dispute between American and Canadian territories, the city was most certainly not going to be New York City and PNW makes more sense.
Edit: This Episode
The Pig War
"The Pig War" is an episode of Hey Arnold!. Arnold and his friends reenact an important event of their city's history. The episode opens with Arnold and his friends playing with water guns in front of the boarding house when Grandpa steps outside wearing an old-fashioned American Army uniform...
heyarnold.fandom.com
If there was a dispute between American and Canadian territories, the city was most certainly not going to be New York City and PNW makes more sense.
I distinctly remember that it was set in Philly and I should have no reference what a Philly is and what it looks like. I just know it was when I was a kid.
Actually, Hey Arnold is my basis of what Philly looks like.
Don't know where I got that from tho.
I also just recently learned its supposed to be in Seattle or around that area.
Actually, Hey Arnold is my basis of what Philly looks like.
Don't know where I got that from tho.
I also just recently learned its supposed to be in Seattle or around that area.
Reminder that in the DC universe, NYC exists and that Metropolis and Gotham City are in Delaware and New Jersey.
I didn't even live in NYC and still saw it as what I imagined NYC to be soo
Also Arnold and friends go to Elk Island frequently which I cannot ever see as a place existing near New York City.
Not with a landscape like this.
Or houses like this.
Not with a landscape like this.
Or houses like this.