# Oz: Where does the RED brick road lead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875 "2004-12-20T22:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/1 "2004-12-20T22:52:23Z")
Caught some of Wizard of Oz on TV last night, and I wondered: Dorothy takes the yellow brick road that spirals out of MunchkinLand … but also in that spiral is a RED brick road (making up the other half of the spiral … else you wouldn’t be able to see that the yellow was a road, rather than just a circle). Where does the Red Brick Road lead? ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/2 "2004-12-20T22:53:06Z")
Away. ---
**Author:** ![BlueMit11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@BlueMit11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMit11)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/3 "2004-12-20T22:55:34Z")
New Jersey. That’s why no one goes on it. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/4 "2004-12-20T22:56:03Z")
It leads right back where it started. It takes a circle-like path. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/5 "2004-12-20T22:59:01Z")
Or it leads back to Quadling County. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/6 "2004-12-20T23:04:58Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > It leads right back where it started. It takes a circle-like path. Yeah, that’s New Jersey, all right. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/7 "2004-12-20T23:20:58Z")
“It’s easy… just take the red road, second left… wait a minute, where the hell did that house come from? Cripes, now you gotta take the _yellow_ road. We haven’t used that one in years. Goes smack through the forest with all them cranky trees, it does. Good freakin’ luck, and don’t tell them we sent you.” ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/8 "2004-12-20T23:34:30Z")
I’ve always assumed it headed north. That is the direction Glinda’s bubble heads off to as she leaves. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/9 "2004-12-21T00:26:35Z")
In case it wasn’t clear, Kel’s second answer was serious: > [@](#): > > Most folks believe that ‘the red brick road’ is an L. Frank Baum book convention that made it into MGM’s 1939 classic film. In his books, the Land of Oz was divided into four quadrants and each was designated a particular color: Winkie Country = Yellow, Gillikin Country = Purple, Munchkin Country = Blue, and Quadling Country = Red. Glinda the Good was the ruler of the Quadlings in L. Frank Baum’s Oz series. As her bubble floats away from Munchkinland in the 1939 film, it appears to be following the red brick road. Therefore, the red brick road most likely leads back to her homeland, Quadling Country. From [Wizard of Oz Lore](http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/6396/oz-lore.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/10 "2004-12-21T00:31:10Z")
Same place as the Yellow Brick Road. The Emerald City is just a stop. Goes to Rome. 😉😃 ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/11 "2004-12-21T00:36:03Z")
Oh come on guys. It’s one of those analogy problems. She takes a YELLOW road to a GREEN city, so… yellow : green :: red : \_\_\_\_\_\_ Remember that **green = yellow + blue** and that **purple = red + blue**. Hence, she’ll end up in a city where everything is purple. Purple purple purple. The implications of this are left as an exercise to the reader. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/12 "2004-12-21T00:38:27Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > Oh come on guys. It’s one of those analogy problems. She takes a YELLOW road to a GREEN city, so… > > yellow : green :: red : \_\_\_\_\_\_ > > Remember that **green = yellow + blue** and that **purple = red + blue**. Hence, she’ll end up in a city where everything is purple. Purple purple purple. The implications of this are left as an exercise to the reader. You’re really **The Grapist** , aren’t you, **TJ**? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/13 "2004-12-21T01:18:13Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > “It’s easy… just take the red road, second left… wait a minute, where the hell did that house come from? Cripes, now you gotta take the _yellow_ road. We haven’t used that one in years. Goes smack through the forest with all them cranky trees, it does. Good freakin’ luck, and don’t tell them we sent you.” What I think is interesting is that the Yellow Brick road is in such good repair until you get to about a mile or so from the emerald city…and then there’s thing HUGE gap filled with poppy plants. What? Nobody can see that big gap in the road from the emerald city? Or do they need the extra space to prop up their herion industry? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/14 "2004-12-21T01:34:55Z")
It goes to the “hanging tree.” ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/15 "2004-12-21T01:39:42Z")
California or the general trans-Mississippi west? I think that once the Populists went to the Emerald City they had to SURELY go get wasted and screwed at one of those cowtowns, especially after seeing what a sham political activism was. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/16 "2004-12-21T01:58:10Z")
Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/17 "2004-12-21T02:41:18Z")
I know what you’re thinking, 'cause right now I’m thinking the same thing. Actually, I’ve been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn’t I take the RED brick road? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/18 "2004-12-21T02:57:00Z")
You take the yellow road, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red road, you stay in wonderland. And, I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/19 "2004-12-21T04:53:08Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > In case it wasn’t clear, Kel’s second answer was serious: So was the first answer. There is a story about the red brick road not leading anywhere on the set. A scene was shot where Dorothy followed the red brick road. Dorothy would just go in circles while the Munchkins sang to follow the red brick road. The scene went on for a _very_ long time. In story someone was fired and sued over this terrible idea. This story might not be true. I will do some research tommorrow. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875/20 "2004-12-21T05:43:14Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > You take the yellow road, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red road, you stay in wonderland. And, I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Ah…So OZ and Wonderland are actually the same place. That explains so much. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oz-where-does-the-red-brick-road-lead/280875.md?page=2)