Springfield (The Simpsons)

Springfield
city
city of Springfield
A panoramic view of Springfield (as seen in The Simpsons Movie) A panoramic view of Springfield (as seen in The Simpsons Movie)
Nickname(s): Meanest Town in America! Springfield: Good
Motto: A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.
Country	United States
Established	1796
Founded by	Jebediah Springfield
Named for	Jebediah Springfield
Government
• Mayor	Joe Quimby (D)
Elevation	1,582 ft (482 m)
Population
• Total	30,720
Demonym(s)	Springfieldian

Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its surroundings is flexible, changing to address whatever an episode's plot calls for.

Springfield's location is impossible to determine, and the show is deliberately evasive on the subject, providing contradictory clues and information about an actual geographic location.

Creation

Springfield is meant to represent "anytown, USA" and not be a specific real town, although the producers acknowledge basing the town on various locations including The Simpsons creator Matt Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon and Mike Scully's hometown, Springfield, Massachusetts. Groening named Springfield after Springfield, Oregon, and also took inspiration from Springfield being the fictitious setting of the series Father Knows Best. He said, "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." Groening liked Second City Television's use of Melonville, a town with a large cast of recurring characters that serves as a mini-universe for the show, and partially based The Simpsons on it.

Location

Because of the many contradictory statements regarding Springfield, it is impossible for the town to exist in a specific state. The Simpsons Movie makes light of this confusion when Ned Flanders tells Bart that Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky all border Springfield's state, whereas in real life Nevada and Maine are obviously not located anywhere near Ohio or Kentucky (though the latter two border each other).

The city's unknown and unknowable geography is a recurring joke in the series; despite the "riddle wrapped in an enigma that is Springfield's location", Lisa Simpson states that "it's a bit of a mystery, yes. But if you look at the clues, you can figure it out." Episodes frequently make fun of the fact that Springfield's state is unidentifiable by adding further conflicting descriptions, obscuring onscreen map representations, and interrupting conversational references.

David Silverman, who directed the movie and various episodes of the series, joked that Springfield is located in the fictional state of "North Takoma". This is substantiated by the state abbreviations NT and TA used within the show. The telephone area codes for Springfield are 636 (St. Charles County and Western St. Louis County, Missouri) and 939 (Puerto Rico).

To promote The Simpsons Movie, various factual towns and cities across the U.S. called Springfield competed to hold the premiere. The town of Springfield, Vermont, was chosen.

The town

Springfield was founded in 1796 by a group led by Jebediah Springfield (also known as Hans Sprungfeld) that, after misinterpreting a passage in the Bible, left Maryland trying to find "New Sodom." After he refused to found a town where men were free to marry their cousins, half of the group left. The dissenters founded Shelbyville, after fellow pioneer Shelbyville Manhattan, and the two cities remain rivals. Springfield reached its pinnacle in the mid-20th century, when it became the home of the world's first Aquacar factory; one half of the U.S. was said to wear Springfield galoshes and Springfield's streets were literally paved with gold. The town's prosperity faded; a Time cover story on Springfield was titled "America's Worst City", and Newsweek called the town "America's Crud Bucket".

Geography, climate, and environment

Springfield's geography is varied, including forests, meadows, mountain ranges, a desert, a gorge, a glacier, beaches, badlands, canyons, swamps, a harbor, waterholes, and waterways. Major named geographical features include Springfield Gorge, Springfield National Forest, the volcanic Mt. Springfield, the West Springfield Desert ("three times the size of Texas!"), the Springfield Badlands (also known as the Alkali Flats), the gigantic Murderhorn Mountain, Springfield Glacier, Mt. Useful National Park, Springfield Mesa, Springfield Monument Park, and Springfield National Park. The Springfield Mystery Spot (seen in "Homer at the Bat"), apparently a portal to another dimension, is a popular tourist attraction.

The town's skies are usually blue and sunny. However, it has been subject to many natural disasters, including heat waves, blizzards, avalanches, earthquakes, acid rain, floods, hurricanes, lightning strikes, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions.

Springfield's environment is unusually polluted. Overflowing garbage forced the whole town—both population and structures—to move five miles (8 km) away from the massive dump that the old town had become. Springfield is home to the state's largest self-sustaining tire fire, which has been burning continuously for decades. Lake Springfield's pollution almost led to the town's destruction by an Environmental Protection Agency bomb, and pollution from the nuclear power plant has mutated the fish in the river. Its atmosphere proved to have such a thick and acidic pollution layer that it once reduced a comet to a tiny rock the size of a chihuahua's head.

Politics, religion, and the media

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Seal of the Mayor of Springfield.

In politics, the mayor of Springfield is Joe Quimby (D), while the town's representative in congress is Herschel "Krusty the Clown" Krustofsky (R) of the 24th congressional district. Previous representatives include Horace Wilcox, who died of a heart attack while in office, and Bob Arnold, who is forced to resign after Lisa exposes his corruption. Mary Bailey (D) is the governor of Springfield's state. Political corruption and police bribery are common enough to be virtually taken for granted.

Religious houses of worship include Congregation Beth Springfield, the First Church of Springfield, First AME Church, the Cathedral of the Downtown, and a Buddhist vihara.

KBBL Broadcasting Inc. is the major media outlet, owning at least three radio stations and one television station. Channel 6 airs The Krusty the Clown Show and Kent Brockman's nightly news broadcast. The Springfield Shopper is a town newspaper.

Neighborhoods and attractions

The town is divided into many neighborhoods, including Rats Nest, Bum Town, Chinatown, Crackton, East Springfield, Greek Town, Russian Town, Junkyville, Little Bangkok, Little Ethiopia, Little Italy, Little Newark, Little Stockholm, Little Seattle, Little Ukraine, Ethnictown, the Jewish Lower East Side, Kelly Terrace, Pressboard Estates, Recluse Ranch Estates, Skid Row, Springfield Harbor, Springfield Heights, Hyperion Drive, Springshire, Tibet Town, the wealthy Waverly Hills, the artistic borough of Sprooklyn, the Lincoln Park Village Housing Project, the Flammable District, a gay district and a fast-food district.

Springfield boasts an opera house, an outdoor amphitheater, an arboretum, and a vibrant jazz scene, and was previously regarded as the entertainment capital of its state.

The town has several universities, including Springfield University and sports archrival Springfield A&M, Springfield Heights Institute of Technology, and Springfield Community College. Museums include the Springfield Museum and its world's largest cubic zirconium, Springfield Knowledgeum, Springfield Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Swordfish, Springsonian Museum, and a stamp museum.

For transportation, Springfield has an international airport, is served by a railroad, and has both an abandoned subway system, a public transit system, and an unsuccessful monorail line, as well as an escalator to nowhere.

The town is home to the Springfield Isotopes, an AA minor league baseball team which plays its home games at Duff Stadium; the Springfield Atoms football team at Springfield Stadium; the NBA's Springfield Excitement (formerly the Austin Celtics); and the Springfield Ice-O-Topes hockey team at the Springfield Arena.

Businesses

Springfield Nuclear Power Plant

The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Springfield owned by Montgomery Burns. The plant has the monopoly on the city of Springfield's energy supply, and the carelessness of Mr. Burns and the plant's employees (like Homer, who is employed at Sector 7G) often endangers the residents and natural environment of Springfield. At the core of the plant are two Fissionator 1952 Slow-Fission Reactors, operating in spite of more than 342 safety violations with an estimated repair bill to bring the plant up to code being in excess of $56 million. Among the more alarming safety violations are emergency exits that are just painted on the wall, cracks in the cooling towers held together by tape, massive amounts of poorly stored toxic waste and dangerously unqualified personnel, some of which are not even human, such as a chicken that briefly substituted for Homer, and a duck that was used to pull a cart of toxic waste around. A running gag in earlier seasons was the poor security of the plant, with the outside security booth often going unmanned, but this has changed in recent episodes, with the entrance to the plant being heavily guarded. The plant has come close to a meltdown several times and has blown up at least once.

There is an unseen crow or raven that lives near the Power Plant that caws whenever an establishing shot of the Power Plant is on screen. Mutated fish with more than two eyes have been seen in the lake behind the power plant, which has a large pipe pumping nuclear waste into it. According to Mr. Burns, the plant is endowed with flippered mutants. In the Season 25 episode "Homerland," he comments that the air conditioning system has never worked properly.

The design and folly of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is often rumored to be based on the troubled Trojan Nuclear Power Plant (closed in 1993 due to defects) near Matt Groening's home town of Portland, Oregon, or the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington. However, Antonia Coffman, Groening's publicist, has said that the Springfield plant's design is generic and that "the Springfield Nuclear Power plant was not based on the Trojan Plant or any other power plant in the country."

Employees

• Owner: Charles Montgomery Burns
• Owner's executive assistant: Waylon Smithers
• Safety inspector: Homer Simpson
• Employees: Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson and others

Kwik-E-Mart

Main article: Kwik-E-Mart

A Seattle 7-Eleven store transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart.

Kwik-E-Mart is a convenience store located in Springfield and run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. The Kwik-E-Mart first appeared in the first season episode "The Telltale Head" (although mentioned in "Bart the General" as the "Quick-e-Mart"). The episode "Homer and Apu" suggests that Apu is an employee of the Kwik-E-Mart and after losing his job there had to travel to India where the Kwik-E-Mart head office is located, in the Himalayas. However, Apu mentions at a bachelor auction that he runs his own business in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons".

In addition to the sale of food, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and other items offered at a typical convenience store, gasoline pumps have been shown in front on two occasions. In the episode "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", Bart is visiting Principal Skinner at Fort Springfield. Skinner tells his troops to hold their fire and a mortar is fired in the wrong direction; the scene cuts to Apu standing in front of the Kwik-E-Mart bragging about his 16 new pumps just as a shadow from the mortar appears, and back to Fort Springfield where a 'K' from the Kwik-E-Mart lands in smoke. The episode "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" also shows the pumps where Apu refuses to go out and serve a customer on the forecourt.

In July 2007, convenience store chain 7-Eleven converted 11 of its stores in the United States and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts to promote the release of The Simpsons Movie. The locations of the renovated Kwik-E-Marts were: Bladensburg, Maryland/Washington, D.C.; Burbank, California; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Henderson/Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Mountain View/San Francisco, California; New York, New York; Orlando/Lake Buena Vista, Florida; Seattle, Washington; and Vancouver/Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. These 12 locations, as well as the majority of other North American 7-Elevens, sold products found in The Simpsons, such as "Buzz Cola", "Krusty-O's", "Squishees", pink frosted "Sprinklicious doughnuts", and other Simpsons-themed merchandise. The Squishees were Slurpees that are sold in special collector cups and the Krusty-O's were made by Malt-O-Meal. The promotion resulted in a 30% increase in profits for the changed 7-Eleven stores. This can be seen during the opening of The Simpsons Movie.

The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop

The Android's Dungeon is a comic book store owned by Jeff Albertson a.k.a. Comic Book Guy. The comic book store and its owner first appeared in the episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", when Bart sees a copy of the first issue of the Radioactive Man comic on sale for $100.

In the episode titled "Worst Episode Ever" (which is a remark often used by Comic Book Guy), Bart and Milhouse are given the job of running the comic book store after Comic Book Guy suffers from a heart attack and is told to take a rest from the store and go out and make some friends. It was damaged in The Simpsons Movie, where Comic Book Guy stated that spending his entire life collecting comics was a "life well spent."

Aztec Theater

Aztec Theater is the old downtown movie theater in Springfield. The first known appearance was in "The Telltale Head" where Bart and the school bullies Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph all sneak into the theater through the fire escape to watch Space Mutants IV. The theater was used to screen the premiere of Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie in the episode of the same name. In the future, Soylent Green is on sale in the lobby. The name and appearance parodies various ethnically named theaters in Hollywood and other parts of the United States.

Barney's Bowl-A-Rama

Barney's Bowl-A-Rama is the bowling alley in Springfield. It is owned by Barney Gumble's Uncle Al. The Bowl-A-Rama has appeared several times in Simpsons episodes. The very first known appearance is the episode "Life on the Fast Lane" where Homer forgets Marge's birthday and after rushing out to purchase a gift, he ends up buying a bowling ball. Marge is insulted at the fact her gift from Homer was something obviously intended for his own personal use given the fact the ball had Homer's name engraved on it. Marge decides she will keep the gift for her own use and goes bowling for the first time. This is seen destroyed in The Simpsons Movie.

In the episode "And Maggie Makes Three", Homer tells the family the story of Maggie's birth. In this story, Homer explains how he quit his job at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to work at the Bowl-A-Rama, which was Homer's dream job. This episode reveals where the bowling pins go after they are knocked over; the pins are shown ending up in a heap and new pins are manufactured instantly to replace those knocked over.

The Bowl-A-Rama is used in the episode "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" as a way of smuggling beer into Moe's Tavern. In this episode, alcohol is banned in Springfield and Homer begins bootlegging beer he uncovered from the city dump. The beer is poured into bowling balls and Homer then bowls the ball into the gutter at the Bowl-A-Rama; the ball then falls into a pipe leading to Moe's Tavern where Moe charges an outrageous price.

Costingtons

Costingtons is a high-end department store located in Downtown Springfield. Their slogan is "Over A Century Without A Slogan". Costington's sponsors the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade and holds a "Love Day" celebration. Owned by Mr. Costington, the store has employed many Springfieldians, including Homer (as their parade Santa and as a mattress salesman), Gil and The Yes Guy. Lenny and Carl once crashed into Costington's, which sparked a city riot. It was first seen in the episode "Trash of The Titans".

KBBL Broadcasting

KBBL Broadcasting is a media company which runs all KBBL TV and radio stations; it is used to parody the media. Its personalities include Kent Brockman, Krusty, Bill & Marty, and Bumble Bee man. The station jingle is "No sports, no rock, no information! For mindless chatter, we're your station!"

King Toots

King Toots is a music store located next door to Moe's Tavern. The store sells musical instruments and is the place where Lisa's saxophone was purchased. The most notable appearance of King Toots Music Store was in "Lisa's Pony" where Lisa asks Homer to pick up a new reed for her saxophone for her recital. Homer heads to the store after work and realizes Moe's is next door; since the store wasn't to close for 5 minutes, Homer decides to have a quick beer first. Homer finishes his beer with 15 seconds to spare only to find the store owner has closed early. Homer goes back to Moe's fortunately to find the owner of the store and after much convincing from Homer and Moe the owner opens up to sell Homer a reed. Unfortunately, Homer is too late for Lisa's recital. Another appearance was in "Lisa's Sax" where after Lisa's saxophone was run over by a truck, as a result of a fight between Bart and Lisa, Homer tells the story of how Lisa first got her sax. King Toots is seen briefly during the opening of The Simpsons Movie and later while the dome is being put over Springfield. In Covercraft King Toot is revealed to be a sleazy, overweight middle-aged man with a mustache who torments Moe by dumping all of his junk into Moe's alley dumpster without paying him, and ends up having a huge fight with Moe that ends with them both getting arrested and the music store being closed for repairs.

The Leftorium

The Leftorium is a store in the Springfield Mall that specializes in products for left-handed people. The store is owned by Ned Flanders, who first started The Leftorium in the season 3 episode "When Flanders Failed". At first, business at the store was going very poorly. Irritated with Flanders, Homer wished that the store would go out of business after Homer received the larger half of a wishbone. Homer got his wish and the Flanders family were forced to sell many of their possessions, much of which Homer purchased at a very low price. The bank repossessed the Flanders home and the store was to be next. Homer then regretted making this wish and the fact that he never told any of his friends who were in need of left-handed items about The Leftorium. As a result, he managed to get everyone he knew in town to shop at Ned's store, thus saving the store.

The Leftorium has continued to thrive since. However, there have been episodes where Flanders mentioned the store does not do that well, such as in the season ten episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo," where Ned mentions that he purchased most of his possessions cheaply, and that the business moved way down hill since "Leftopolis" moved in next door to it. In the episode "Home Away from Homer", Ned mentions that a recently opened, left-hand megastore, called "Left-Mart" (a parody of Wal-Mart) is threatening his business.

The writers had wanted to have Flanders own a failing business and the idea for the store was suggested by George Meyer. He got the idea from a friend whose family had owned a left-handed specialty store which had failed.

Noiseland Video Arcade

Noiseland Video Arcade is the video arcade in downtown Springfield, a popular place for the youth. Arcade games include Escape from Grandma's House, Kevin Costner's Water World and Larry the Looter. The video arcade has had several appearances in The Simpsons, although mostly in the earlier seasons. The earliest known appearance was in "Moaning Lisa" where Bart challenges Homer to a boxing game on their home TV game system. As Bart is continuously undefeated, Homer decides to fight back by going to the video arcade to learn from the young children how to win in the same boxing game. Homer almost beats Bart but Marge switches off the game at the crucial moment. It was seen destroyed briefly in The Simpsons Movie.

Sprawl-Mart

Sprawl-Mart is a big department store in Springfield and a parody of Wal-Mart, even though in "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister", there is a sign saying "Not a Parody of Wal-Mart". It is first seen in "The Fat and the Furriest". Abe and Homer worked there in "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister"; Homer was required to work overtime in the store for no extra pay and workers were locked in the store. The workers used this as an opportunity to steal whatever wasn't bolted down.

Springfield Mall

The Springfield Mall is a shopping mall in Springfield and it features stores such as Happy Market, Cost-Mo, and smaller stores such as Girdles N' Such, Eye Caramba, The Ear Piercery, Happy Sailor Tattoo Parlor, Love Your Computer, Gum4Less, Popular Books, The Leftorium, Nick's Bowling Shop, Stoner's Pot Palace, Bookacchino's, Moe's Express (a mini version of Moe's Tavern), a Mapple Store (a parody of the Apple Store), numerous Starbucks coffee shops, and many others.

Stoner's Pot Palace

Briefly seen in the episode "A Milhouse Divided". A store which sells kitchenwear and cutlery located in the Springfield Mall. Otto Mann believes its name to be flagrant false advertising, thinking it to be a head shop.

Try-N-Save

In the episode "Marge Be Not Proud", Bart is caught shoplifting in a Try-N-Save, a store based on retail outlet Pick 'n Save. Despite being told by Try-N-Save security to never return to the store because of shoplifting, Bart is forced to go back with his family for a photo portrait session. Seen by security again, Bart's crime is revealed, and his relationship with Marge is threatened. The store also appears in the "Kamp Krusty" episode of The Simpsons. In the episode "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly", the Try-N-Save brand comes up when Seymour Skinner leads Superintendent Chalmers to believe that his shoes are genuine Hush Puppies when they are actually Try-N-Save Shush Mutts.

Jake's Unisex Hairplace

Jake's Unisex Hairplace is a salon/ barber in Springfield. As the name implies, it serves both men and women.

Bars and restaurants

The Gilded Truffle

The Gilded Truffle is an elegant, upscale restaurant in Springfield. The restaurant once employed Groundskeeper Willie until he quit and returned to his old job at Springfield Elementary. The restaurant serves French cuisine. It first appeared in the episode "Bart The Lover".

Moe's Tavern

Moe's Tavern is a local bar in Springfield frequented by Homer Simpson, Carl Carlson, Lenny Leonard and Barney Gumble. The tavern is named after and run by Moe Szyslak. Moe's Tavern first appeared in the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". In the first season of The Simpsons, the entrance appeared to be a saloon door. The bar sells mostly Duff Beer although other beverages are served. In the episode "Flaming Moe's", Moe's beer payments were delinquent so his beer distributor stopped delivering to him. When Homer shows Moe a drink he developed called the Flaming Homer, Moe sells it as his own, calling it the Flaming Moe. The drink becomes extremely popular until Homer reveals its secret ingredient, allowing other businesses to create a similar product. The drink's popularity wanes significantly.

Moe's Tavern undergoes several makeovers in various episodes of The Simpsons, but it always reverts to its original dark, squalid state before the show's end. In the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" Moe's Tavern is named Moe's Cavern as a reference to the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles played. Other notable makeovers are in the episode "Bart Sells His Soul" where Moe turns his tavern into a family restaurant called Uncle Moe's Family Feed Bag and in "Homer the Moe" where Moe turns his tavern into a yuppie bar called "m". Also in this episode, it is revealed that the television in Moe's is not black and white (as it is always seen) but a dirty color television (Homer says "When was the last time Moe cleaned this thing?" then wipes the screen with a cloth). In addition it is turned into an English pub named Nag and Weasel in the episode "Mommie Beerest". In "My Sister, My Sitter", Moe appears to have become Moe's Brewing Co., a brewpub that is moved to a posh new premises at the Springfield Squidport, but it is revealed to just be a very long tunnel to the existing bar. In "Flaming Moe", he enlists the help of Waylon Smithers to transform the bar into a gay bar called Mo's, although he changes it back again at the end of the episode. In The Simpsons Movie it is located next to the church and named Moe's Bar, and in The Simpsons Game it is seen next to the Sleep-Eazy Motel. In the episode "Homer the Smithers", Mr. Burns believes in order to operate a telephone, you spell the requested person's name out using the alphabetic keypad (he spells out S-M-I-T-H-E-R-S), he is instead connected to Moe's Tavern. As a result, if one was to spell Smithers name out on a telephone keypad, the fictional phone number minus the area code for the tavern would be revealed as 764-8437(7). Moe and his tavern had been the victim of Bart's ongoing prank calls in the earlier seasons of the Simpsons when Bart would call looking for nonexistent people with names that would get Moe laughed at by his customers. Though there was one name that backfired on Bart when he asked for Hugh Jass, who had been sitting in the tavern. In more recent episodes it was revealed that Bart still torments Moe with prank calls, although the calls themselves haven't been shown onscreen.

"Moe's" name is a reference to Mo's, which was and is a locally-famous chowder house in Newport, Oregon. Moe's tavern physically is a remarkably close recreation of Duffy's Tavern which was on East 13th Street in Eugene, a block from campus, during Groening's days and was a popular U of O hangout. It had the same red and green diamond pane windows inside. It is now a Starbucks. Duff Beer is the obvious clue to connect Duffy's to Moe's.

Krusty Burger

Krusty Burger is a fast food restaurant chain owned by Krusty the Clown as one of his many branded products and services. Krusty Burger is seen as a parody of a typical fast food chain such as McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Carl's Jr, Wendy's, or Arby's. A typical store features a drive-thru with a speaker box and most of the employees are young teenage workers. In the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", the Springfield police are comparing the differences between Krusty Burger and McDonald's, a parallel of the "Royale With Cheese discussion" seen in Pulp Fiction. This can be seen in The Simpsons Movie during the dome sequence after Homer and Bart buy lunch by themselves and with the family.

It appears that Krusty Burger is located across the entire United States; in the episode "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood", Homer loses the map of the rafting route but tells the group that luckily he has brought a map along. It happens to be a map of the entire United States with locations of Krusty Burger restaurants. There is even a Krusty Burger located on an offshore oil rig; it was seen after Homer, Bart, Ned Flanders, and Rod Flanders had been lost at sea several days and were saved from starvation after finding it. There is also a Krusty Burger in France, as seen in the episode "The Devil Wears Nada". It exists under the name "Le Krusty Burger". In the episode "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" it was also revealed that Krusty Burger operates in different markets across the USA when Krusty Burger has a new burger called the Ribwich. After the Ribwich stopped selling in Springfield, Homer and a group of Ribwich fans known as the "Ribheads" followed the "Ribwich tour" as the Ribwich was tested in various markets. The Ribwich sandwich is based on a real life McDonald's sandwich called the McRib.

According to the episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", Krusty Burger is one of the only burger places open in Springfield because Krusty has been paying mobster Fat Tony to keep McDonald's and Burger King from establishing local locations. The extent of Fat Tony's involvement is unknown, as there are no locations of Wendy's, and other major chains. However, Springfield does have an In-N-Out Burger location in town to compete with Krusty Burger.

Lard Lad Donuts

Lard Lad Donuts is a donut store in Springfield. Its mascot is an (estimated) 8-metre (26 ft) tall mascot of a boy proudly holding a donut over his head. The name and the statue of the eponymous boy are likely references to Big Boy Restaurants.

In The Simpsons Game, the Lard Lad mascot is a boss. Lard Lad Donuts is shut down by a health inspector in The Simpsons Movie, and the Lard Lad is painted in different colors and seen later in the movie during the dome sequence. The former was disproved in "E Pluribus Wiggum" when an explosion violently detaches the correctly colored Lard Lad's head. In another episode it appears to have a secret trap door leading to a tunnel, which Homer knows about.

Luigi's

Luigi's is a Springfield Italian restaurant owned by Luigi Risotto, who is a parody of the "Italian pasta/pizza chef" stereotype but seems to be aware of his status as a stock character. Luigi is polite to his customers and treats them with respect when they order and then loudly insults and belittles them to his cook Salvatore, apparently unaware that they can hear him from the kitchen. The restaurant also employs an old Italian saucier, who in Take My Life, Please, claims can tell what someone's life could have been like by stirring tomato sauce in a certain way. By using his magical tomato sauce, the saucer helps Homer see what his life would have been like if he had won his high-school election. Fat Tony and his mob frequently use the restaurant for their meetings.

The Frying Dutchman

The Frying Dutchman is a maritime-themed restaurant operated by Sea Captain Horatio MacAllister. Its cuisine specializes in seafood (to which Marge is allergic), and even the bread has fish in it. Homer sued for their refusal to honor the 'all you can eat' promise in the episode "New Kid on the Block" and was given a job as a freak attraction "more stomach than man" (to Marge's great embarrassment).

The Singing Sirloin

The Singing Sirloin is a restaurant where all the waiters sing everything they say. It is first featured in the Season 1 episode "Life on the Fast Lane"; Marge celebrates her birthday there. Bart also celebrated here after getting an A, however after Homer was unable to pay them for the food, they had to sing on stage to pay for the bill (in the episode "Homer vs. Dignity").

The Happy Sumo

The Happy Sumo is a Japanese restaurant. Among the restaurant's menu offerings are all kinds of sushi, including fugu, which can be fatally poisonous if not properly prepared. The Master Sushi Chef is the only person at the restaurant qualified to prepare fugu. The restaurant also offers karaoke.

The Java Server

The Java Server is a coffee shop such as "Starbucks".

Pimento Grove

The Pimento Grove is the Simpsons version of "Olive Garden"

Schools

Springfield Elementary School

Springfield Elementary School is a local school on The Simpsons, attended by Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson and other Springfield children. Springfield Elementary is a grossly underfunded school and suffers from the incompetence and apathy of its administration, teachers, staff and students. It is portrayed within the show as a satire of publicly funded schools and education in the United States. As an illustrative example and parody of the lengths undertaken by some schools to attempt to overcome underfunding, some Springfield Elementary School students (specifically Cletus and Brandine Spuckler's children) are purposely excluded from state or federal standardized testing regimens. The impetus being the maintenance of artificial school-wide averages and therefore basic levels of government support—a practice not unheard of in the United States and other systems where funding is tied to test results.

Established in the episodes "Separate Vocations" and "Pokey Mom", the school's mascot is a puma. It's revealed in the episode "Lisa Gets an "A"" that Springfield Elementary was at one time voted "The Most Dilapidated School in Missouri"—it was then moved, brick-by-brick, to Springfield. It has been stated several times that the school is filled with asbestos, and the underfunding of the school has resulted in a variety of troubling scenarios for students and staff. Sub-standard facilities abound; including a cinder block having replaced the school's tetherball, cafeteria food made from circus animals and in several decades-old cans, shredded newspaper, and old gym mats, among others (only the teachers eat French fries made from potatoes), and "malk" having replaced milk. In one episode, prison inmates occupied the cloakrooms in the classrooms, in an effort to make extra money. In another episode, Lisa Simpson who has been voted student president is tricked into authorizing the cancellation of music, gym and art. The school later finds the funding for these extra curricular activities by cancelling flu shots. The school's poor funding is made worse by the towns refusal to accept any tax increases, no matter how minor, and even basic services are sometimes refused by the PTA, including a free service of refilling the fire extinguishers.

For a few episodes the school also had a tower with a winding staircase within which led to an observation area. This has since been removed. Other short period additions include a phony disabled ramp access system built by the local Mafia and other constructions. In one episode the presentation hall is bulldozed to make way for a mini-mall. The school's address is 19 Plympton Street, revealed in the episode "Bart on the Road" when Principal Skinner receives an envelope addressed to the school containing his airline tickets to Hong Kong. In the episode "Team Homer", school uniforms are temporarily introduced following a riot brought on by Bart wearing a "Down With Homework" T-shirt to school.

Most students travel to school by bus with Otto being the regular driver. However, in "The Otto Show", Otto is suspended from his job and Principal Skinner temporarily takes over his route. Additionally, in another episode the students are forced to car pool when the school bus is wrecked after Otto falls asleep at the wheel and the bus crashes into the auto wrecking yard. In the episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", the regular school bus breaks down and a Springfield State Prison bus is used instead.

In "Lisa the Vegetarian" it is shown that both Ms. Hoover and Lunch Lady Doris have access to "Independent Thought Alarms" which are sent to Principal Skinner's office and are both triggered by Lisa. Also in "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", Superintendent Chalmers fires Ned Flanders only because the latter freely expresses his religious views in the school. Many of the school faculty seem very bored with their jobs and do not try to help students, leaving them to unfulfilling futures. They also take full advantage of any-and-all time off that they have. Several of the teachers and staff smoke and drink. In one episode, the teachers are shown joyfully running out of the school building with the students at the end of the day and subsequently are then shown trooping back into school the following day. Otto Mann is shown to be a user of illicit drugs, and in the episode "Weekend At Burnsie's", Lisa notices a smell of marijuana and remarks that "it smells like the art teacher's office". The teachers like Miss Elizabeth Hoover do not seem to care whether or not the students achieve in their class, and seem to have given up on many of them.

In 1994, the naming of a new elementary school in Greenwood, South Carolina, was left up to the students, and the name Springfield Elementary was chosen. The school board was unaware of the connection to The Simpsons until a protest by one group of parents, who argued that Bart was a poor role model. The name stood, and the school opened in August 1994. Bart Simpson weighed in on the controversy, in a statement from the Fox Network where he said "at least they didn't call it Beavis and Butt-head Elementary".

West Springfield Elementary School

West Springfield Elementary School is an elementary school in Springfield. It was designed identically in layout to Springfield Elementary, as both were designed from the same plans.

Lisa arrives at the school by mistake, one of the differences is that they teach French at this school. It was in the episode "Trilogy of Error".

Springfield Preparatory School

Springfield Preparatory School was a private school in Springfield. Greta Wolfcastle and other students attend there. The Simpsons attended an Annual Fair there in the episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants".

Colleges/universities

Springfield University is a large college which Homer attended in "Homer Goes to College". It teaches several different courses, including nuclear physics, arts management, and the meaning of cartoons, and has a fierce rivalry with Springfield A&M University. In the episode "Faith Off", the nickname of the Springfield University football team is revealed to be the Nittany Tide—a reference to the Penn State Nittany Lions and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Springfield Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) University is a rival institution of Springfield University, possibly a reference to the fierce rivalry between Texas A&M and the University of Texas. Carl Carlson is an A&M alumnus. Springfield A&M's mascot is a pig named Sir Oinks-A-Lot, who was kidnapped by Homer and his three student tutors as a prank in "Homer Goes to College".

Springfield Heights Institute of Technology focuses on the engineering sciences.

Springfield Community College is a community college. Nothing to see here, move along.

Springfield High School

Springfield High School is the high school in Springfield, is most often seen in flashbacks, notably in "The Way We Was" when Homer and Marge tell the story of how they met. Springfield High School is seen in the present time in "The Front" when Marge and Homer have their high school reunion there. The Squeaky Voiced Teen has said that the school has an air hockey table. As well as being a school, they have hosted events there. One such event was a ballet performance, despite the fact there was a gas leak in the school.

Landmarks

Krustylu Studios

Krustylu Studios is the television studio in Springfield in which the Krusty the Klown Show is recorded. It is located either in or in the vicinity of the Channel 6 studio lot. The lot is located across the street from a box factory. The name Krustylu is an homage to Desilu Productions, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's production company, which produced the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy. The first appearance was in the episode "The Krusty The Clown Show".

Sleep Eazy Motel

First seen in "The Cartridge Family", this is a run-down motel where everything is coin operated, including the Bible. The building itself is deteriorating and prostitutes hang outside the lobby. When Marge and the kids stayed there, a body was seen floating in the pool. Selma claims that she woke up there once. Homer once stayed there to cheat on his diet behind Marge's back, though he was caught on camera by the producers of Sneakers. The name is a play on "sleazy motel", a fact highlighted by its malfunctioning neon sign.

Springfield Retirement Castle

The Springfield Retirement Castle is Springfield's retirement home for the elderly. Some noted residents of the Castle include Abraham "Grampa" J. Simpson and his neighbors, Jasper Beardley, and the Crazy Old Man.

For Grampa Simpson, the Retirement Castle is a lonely place to be. He often gets mad when his family does not come and visit him. The door features a sign reading 'Thank you for not discussing the outside world'. The most interesting way to pass time at the home is to "stake yourself out a good spot at the staring window", which overlooks nothing but a barren tree, and bingo (the prize being a banana). The staff of the home have little to no respect for the residents, doing things like vacuuming their hair during "nap time", or switching their IV bags with their catheter bags when the former is empty and the latter is full. In the episode "Old Money" Grandpa inherits $106,000 from his girlfriend Beatrice "Bea" Simmons. He uses the money to refurbish and redecorate the home, after which its name is changed to Springfield Retirement Castle instead of Springfield Retirement Home. The main dining area is renamed "The Beatrice Simmons Memorial Hall".

The Springfield City Hall

The City Hall of Springfield serves as the workplace of Mayor Quimby and the City Government. Often it is the site of town meetings regarding an issue facing the city, where the citizens vote to approve a proposal that generally causes havoc (most of the time proposed by Homer) and causes more problems. The building is based on the Chelmsford, Massachusetts public library due to longtime The Simpsons background designer Lance Wilder, a former resident.

Springfield Courthouse

The courthouse is the center for all trials and cases in Springfield. Its judges include Judge Constance Harm, who is a tough and unforgiving judge who enjoys giving cruel punishments to criminals in her courtroom, and Judge Roy Snyder, who is known for his lenient punishments. Often the prosecutor is The Blue Haired Lawyer who also represents Mr. Burns and The Walt Disney Company and unlike Gil Gunderson or Lionel Hutz, he is a competent lawyer (but not always ethical).

Five Corners

Five Corners is "the only geographic location in the US where five states meet". A boundary marker indicates the exact spot. While on their road trip to Itchy & Scratchy Land the Simpsons visit Five Corners, where they each "stand in five different states while holding hands". The location is visited again in "The Bob Next Door", where Sideshow Bob plots to kill Bart at the marker where the location's unique property would result in a lack of extraterritorial jurisdiction, explaining it as: "I can stand in one state, fire a gun in a second state, the bullet will travel through the third, hitting you in the fourth, so you fall dead in the fifth. No single act is against any law, but their sum total is the greatest murder..." In reality no such place exists in the US; the location is a spoof of Four Corners.

Krustyland

Krustyland is The Simpsons version of Disneyland. It appeared in The Food Wife at the end where the Simpsons went out for a family fun day, which Homer promised Marge.

Other towns

Shelbyville

Shelbyville is Springfield's neighbor and rival city. It was founded in 1796 by Shelbyville Manhattan, who advocated cousin marriage among his followers, causing a split between himself and Jebediah Springfield. An intense rivalry between the two cities continues today, especially in the sixth season episode "Lemon of Troy", in which Shelbyville residents steal a prized lemon tree from Springfield. In several episodes, "Lemon of Troy" in particular, it is suggested that Shelbyville is to an extent a parallel version of Springfield. Shelbyville is also the city where Luann van Houten grew up. It also has at least one McDonald's restaurant, a Speed-E-Mart, Joe's Tavern and a school. Per "Last Exit to Springfield," Shelbyville was at least briefly called "Morganville" during Abe Simpson's youth. According to The Simpsons Movie, Shelbyville is west of Springfield. It is the home of the button fly.

Shelbyville was ranked 10th in "The 10 Best Dystopias" in the December 2005 issue of Wired.

Capital City

Capital City (often spelled Capitol City in early episodes) is the capital and largest city in the state in which the show is set. It is a major urban center, hosting major sports events, conventions, and United Nations conferences. Its nickname is The Windy Apple (a joke by the show's writers, combining the nicknames of New York City's "The Big Apple" and Chicago's "The Windy City"). Landmarks include a Duff brewery, possibly mimicking the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, the Cross-town suspension bridge resembling San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, the Capital City Stadium, the Capital City Amphitheatre, and the intersection of 4th Street and Avenue D. The Simpsons Movie places Capital City just to the north of Springfield.

Brockway

Brockway is mentioned by Lyle Lanley (voiced by Phil Hartman) as a town to which he has sold monorail systems ("Marge vs. the Monorail").

Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook are also mentioned in Episode 18 of the TV series Supernatural by Sam Winchester, as locations of past Shtriga activity.

Ogdenville

Ogdenville was first mentioned in "Marge vs. the Monorail", when Lyle Lanley claimed to have sold a monorail to Ogdenville. Ogdenville has also been mentioned in other episodes such as "Saddlesore Galactica", "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield", "Bart Star" and "To Surveil with Love". In "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe", Maya is from Ogdenville. Ogdenville has an outlet mall, and is separated from Springfield by a rocky desert. In "Coming to Homerica", Ogdenville is a town of barley producing farms that are shut down due to tainted barley being used in a new, vegetarian Krusty Burger. Ogdenvillians are composed of Norwegian immigrants with thick Norwegian accents. They also are big fans of the Minnesota Vikings due to the heavy incidence of Norwegians immigrants in the state of Minnesota. As a small easter egg, during a flu outbreak in Springfield, the hospital only received schemas in Norwegian, which is later confirmed via close-up. Series creator Matt Groening's background is Norwegian and German, which he has described as "two of the unfunniest ethnic groups in the history of the world".

North Haverbrook

North Haverbrook was first mentioned by Lyle Lanley in "Marge vs. the Monorail". Marge arrives in North Haverbrook and finds a desolate ghost town, where the faulty monorail derailed, causing a disaster, chasing away most of their residents and scaring away investors. The remaining North Haverbrook locals have since denied the monorail's existence presumably blaming Lanley for the whole thing that ruined their town's reputation. Marge is met with hostility by the locals, including a woman who works at the 'Monorail Cafe'. She orders Marge to leave her town at once and never speak of the monorail anymore. A resident scientist from Germany, Sebastian Cobb, was the only one willing to help Marge out and save the passengers of the Springfield Monorail from suffering the same fate as North Haverbrook. Lanley is later attacked by the citizens of the town after his plane makes an unscheduled stop there, presumably tipped off by Marge knowing Lanley will answer for his crimes.

North Haverbrook also appeared in "Little Big Girl". After Bart is awarded a driver's license, he gets sick of countless errands and goes for a drive and eventually finds North Haverbrook, and falls in love with a girl named Darcy. In this episode, the town appears to have recovered well from the monorail disaster, as it is now changed from a ghost town to a thriving community with multiple businesses Bart enjoys. It has a romantic reputation. All signs of the monorail have also disappeared.

It also appears on a road sign as Snake drives towards Mexico with the Kwik-E-Mart on a flatbed trailer during "Marge in Chains".

Cypress Creek

Cypress Creek is a town created for the workers of the Globex Corporation. It appears in the episode "You Only Move Twice". It is an affluent town, and is home to many wild flowers (to which Lisa is allergic). The city is an obvious parody of Silicon Valley or the master planned communities often built by major corporations.

Barnacle Bay

Barnacle Bay is a small fishing island, formerly a prosperous tourist destination before an economic collapse caused the island to become impoverished, mostly due to overfishing of the Yum Yum Fish, the island's main attraction. It appears in the episode "The Wife Aquatic". The island's distinguishing landmarks are a small New England-style church and a pier.

References

Bibliography

External links

• Where Is The Simpsons' Springfield? from the fan-maintained "The Simpsons Archive"