The Simpsons is Really Set in Portlandia

By Dennis Romero Wed., Apr. 11 2012 at 8:05 AM

Fox

If you thought The Simpsons was Portlandia-like in its satiric outlook, what with the nuclear-hi-jinx backstory, psychedlic romps by Homer and pot-smoking school bus driver, you were right.

Show creator Matt Groening revealed this week that the location of the show that got its start via his "Life in Hell" comic strip in the local Reader newspaper, is named after a mythical town, Springfield, Oregon, that reminded him of his own hometown ...

... Portland.

Yeah, home of all that is politically correct.

After years of speculation about the location of Springfield (it was even kept a secret in The Simpsons move) -- Massachusetts? Ohio? -- Groening made the reveal in an interview with the Smithsonian magazine.

Springfield was named after Springfield, Oregon. The only reason is that when I was a kid, the TV show "Father Knows Best" took place in the town of Springfield, and I was thrilled because I imagined that it was the town next to Portland, my hometown. When I grew up, I realized it was just a fictitious name. I also figured out that Springfield was one of the most common names for a city in the U.S. In anticipation of the success of the show, I thought, "This will be cool; everyone will think it's their Springfield." And they do.

And, in case you wondered, the artist is gung-ho about his hometown, ultra-liberal warts and all:

Everything you can experience in Los Angeles, you can have a much better version of in Portland--including, very basically, the air you breathe.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

Matt Groening, Portland, Springfield, The Simpsons

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Oregon

Springfield is 2 hours south of Portland and is nothing like Portland. Springfield is stunning in its mediocrity.

MTkill_a_manJaro

when this story broke on buzzfeed people were going apeshit, swearing up and down that matt groening is WRONG and that springfield is really based in (ohio, new jersey, mass, etc..) Its interesting to me that people would argue that the creator himself is wrong about the inspiration for the town HE created. Just goes to show you how beloved the series is (or was)

I was always ok with thinking it was just a fictional, generic american town that took inspiration from a lot of little towns and major cities all over america.Like how in more recent episodes, they created districts in springfield to align with whatever the plot was. For example, "waverly hills" and "sprooklyn" we're obvious parodies that were just invented for the week and we're never made to be permanent springfield locations and obviously couldnt be based on a real springfield. But Im wasting time on this because the simpsons arent very funny or clever anymore.

Capitolafun

You must haven't been watching the past 2 seasons because Simpson's is back and hilarious!

Orin

Umm , Springfield, Oregon is not a fictional town, its a REAL city in Oregon. Its right next to Eugene, Oregon.

Dennis Romero

Seems to me his version of it is that he named if after a fictional Springfield next to Portland, not the real Springfield, Oregon. Read what he says above.

Guest

i know i know it's easy to say this now but us that grew up w/ The Simpsons and became adults and learned where Groening was from sorta always assumed it to be Portland...cool though it was confirmed...