As any Buffalonian will tell you, Hill Street Blues episodes were full of references to streets and locations in Buffalo, as Co-Producer Anthony Yerkovich and writer David Milch are Buffalo boys. Streets like Hertel, Delaware, West Utica, Richmond, North, Hodge, Elmwood, Ashland, Amherst, Bailey, Jefferson, Ferry…Bars like Gabriel’s Gate (Henry Goldblume’s hangout after Rachel left him), Kubiak Lodge (where so many of the Hill’s parties and weddings were held), Cole’s, Mulligan’s…High schools like Burgard and Emerson…Memorial Auditorium…Hell, in one episode, one of the cops is trying to get rid of two Sabres tickets! In another episode, Sgt. Esterhaus needs four officers for crowd control, and picks Officers “Coley, Lyle, Walsh and Tubbs”…I went to high school with those guys - they all knew Yerkovich! While the exact city location is not specified (although it’s clearly in the Northeast or Midwest), Buffalo references are all over most episodes…
Reported for a move to the Café.
The show was filmed in Hollywood on sound stages and in Chicago and Downtown LA for exterior shots. The Cook County Courthouse and Jail at 26th and California was often shown as well as the Maxwell St. police station
It’s creator (Steven Bochco) went to college in Pittsburgh and often hinted at that being the inspiration for the series.
Indeed, it’s been said for decades that the story is set in The Hill District.
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Hal Briston - MPSIMS Moderator
Didn’t they often have the name “Decker” in the show? I seem to remember that. “Robbery on Decker…”
Yes, they had “Decker” (possibly spelled “Dekker”) Avenue.
I loved HSB. Probably one of the greatest, if not THE greatest show of the eighties.
Quick: who can name all the gangs on the show?
I remember a newspaper interview with Bochco where he just said it was set in a city “with a Northern mindset” or something similar. It was a deliberate pastiche of place names, with Chicago establishing shots and LA alley chases and location shots. For how warmly the guys were dressed, it was suspiciously sunny every time they went outside.
But hey, let’s be careful out there.
Along with some of the exterior shots being of Chicago, the uniforms and police cars were the same as Chicago. The cars had Metro Police instead of Chicago but had the same look. The cops had hats with the distinctive Chicago checkerboard band. To me it always felt Chicago.
Now if they’d just release it on DVD… (more than two seasons, that is…)
The Jets and the Smelts?
[sub]Hey, Buffalo is on Lake Erie…[/sub]
You’re in luck! I heard before that Shout! is coming out with a 34-disc complete release of Hill Street Blues.
Thought you might like to know!
Great! I have been waiting for this for a long time.
Glad you think so! I’m sure you’ll like it.
No wonder the Shamrocks got wiped out - their leader didn’t have any sunglasses.
200 clams! Woo, better start saving for it now.
Heh. I wonder if he was as much a pain in the ass to work with on HSB as he supposedly was on NYPD Blue.
Loved that show! I grew up near Pittsburgh, and much was made at the time of Bochco’s Pittsburgh roots and the Hill District, but the show really was set in an Everycity. I do remember, though, a street scene once where you could see interstate signs on a pole; I checked a road atlas and those interstates only came near each other in Chicago.
As to the Shamrocks’ leader and his later work in Miami: - YouTube
Not only was it usually warm and sunny, you could often see palm trees in the background… :rolleyes:
Also read this at the time the show came out, but wantd to point out that not only Bochco, but quite a few of the actors in the original cast also went to Carnegie Tech (later becoming Carnegie Mellon University) around the same time: Bruce Wietz (Belker), Kiel Martin (LaRue) Barbara Bosson (played Faye Furillo and is/was married to Bochco) are the names that come immediately to mind.