# Subtle inaccuracies in depictions of your city/region in fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2021, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508 "2021-01-14T09:45:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/181 "2021-02-02T19:39:05Z")
I always wince when I see a character in a recent movie or TV show checking out books from the New York Public Library’s main branch, which hasn’t contained a circulating collection for over 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/182 "2021-02-02T20:45:07Z")
I enjoyed **Haven** , but there aren’t any cities that size in that part of Maine. Perhaps Ellsworth? Machias? Not really as big as implied. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/183 "2021-02-02T20:53:01Z")
There definitely isn’t a mountain range visible near Claremore Oklahoma as seen in “Oklahoma” Miami and Miami Beach are two different cities. Miami Beach has no major sports teams, but that doesn’t keep networks from saying, “Tonight in Miami Beach!! So and so face so and so!” ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/184 "2021-02-02T21:13:28Z")
It isn’t my city or region, but on this morning’s episode of Leave It to Beaver, the boys took a trip to visit their aunt, and came home with a starfish in their luggage which they picked up on the beach during their trip. I’ve always had the impression that the Cleavers lived somewhere in the midwest (despite the occasional CA backdrops that look a lot like Korea in MASH, and their recent trip to an alligator farm that had palm trees), so I’m not sure which ocean they could reach via a four-dollar afternoon train ride (which they didn’t have enough funds for after blowing it on snacks). ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/185 "2021-02-02T21:14:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There is a surprising amount of movie- and TV show-related tourism. A friend who was visiting the SF Bay Area from out of town had a semi-comedic crush on oft-killed actor Michael Biehn. At her urging we did the Alcatraz Island tour and she was amusedly crushed to see that none of the interior locations, like the one where Biehn is gunned down early in the film The Rock, actually existed 😆. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/186 "2021-02-02T21:33:05Z")
Speaking of Union Station. In one of the first few episodes of Sean Bean vehicle Legends, his character has a fight in Chicago’s “Union Station” which is clearly one of the underground CTA stops with L trains passing through as the fight progressed. On one hand, it was a neat location that they snagged for the shooting and one that doesn’t get shown on TV very often. On the other hand, it was definitely not Union Station. There didn’t seem to be any reason why they had to call it Union in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/187 "2021-02-02T21:50:03Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > I agree with those who can’t figure out the Louisiana accents. New Orleans is not a Cajun accent. It’s not even southern. The friends/colleagues I’ve known from New Orleans speak with an accent that is undifferentiated from New York (Brookyn? Bronx? – I’m not from NY, so I’m not sure). But I guarantee a native New Yorker speaking with a native New Orleanser would be hard pressed to tell the difference. I’ve lived in both metropolitan areas and there is a slight difference: they swap “oi” and “ur” sounds. In the stereotypical New York accent, “bird” is “boid”; in the stereotypical New Orleans accent, “boil” is “burl”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/188 "2021-02-02T21:54:51Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I always wince when I see a character in a recent movie or TV show checking out books from the New York Public Library’s main branch, which hasn’t contained a circulating collection for over 50 years. Why wince, though? That library is iconic. What would be the purpose of showing someone going into a nondescript, unknown New York Public Library? It’s interesting to note these kinds of discrepancies, but in many cases, I think it’s perfectly fine to do things like this. The purpose of a movie or show isn’t to faithfully reproduce real life details like this. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/189 "2021-02-02T21:55:14Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > they swap “oi” and “ur” sounds. In the stereotypical New York accent, “bird” is “boid”; in the stereotypical New Orleans accent, “boil” is “burl”. I’ve always been puzzled by this, but apparently there’s some accent which I think is from the New York area that does that same substitution. I recall Art Carney playing New Yorker Ed Norton on _The Honeymooners_, pronouncing “oyster” as “erster”. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/190 "2021-02-02T22:01:39Z")
Yep, and my NYC born and raised grandparents used to “burl the earl” and had a “terlet”. In their accent , the swap went in both directions. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/191 "2021-02-02T22:15:23Z")
Now I’m wondering if the New Orleans accent is the result of migrating New Yakkers. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/192 "2021-02-02T22:43:00Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > In the stereotypical New York accent, “bird” is “boid” [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/44262008816928985/](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/44262008816928985/) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/193 "2021-02-02T23:00:23Z")
I mentioned something back in post 66 or so - from what I’ve read, the similarities are not due to migrating New Yorkers but due to both port cities attracting immigrants from the [same countries](https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2012/06/11/a-common-misconception-about-the-new-orleans-accent/#:~:text=The%20common%20dialect%20in%20the,popular%20cheer%2C%20%E2%80%9CWho%20Dat%3F) ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/194 "2021-02-03T02:33:36Z")
White people in Miami definitely have one…well…a lot… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/195 "2021-02-03T15:39:14Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Chicago, “The Windy City”, does not refer to the sometimes vicious winter wind coming off Lake Michigan into downtown, it originally referred to politics in Chicago. Well, the answer to that one is a bit more complicated. That was one story we were given growing up as kids here. Another was because of our boisterous nature duing the World’s Fair in the late 1800s. Another is, simply, because it is somewhat windy here. > **[Windy City (nickname)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_City_(nickname))** > > The city of Chicago has been known by many nicknames, but it is most widely recognized as the "Windy City". > The earliest known reference to the "Windy City" was actually to Green Bay in 1856. The first known repeated effort to label Chicago with this nickname is from 1876 and involves Chicago's rivalry with Cincinnati. The popularity of the nickname endures to this day, more than a century after the Cincinnati rivalry ended. > There are four main possibilities to explain the city's nickname: the ... It’s certainly not clear-cut which is the correct explanation. My feeling is that it probably does originate from the actual weather, and then took on a double meaning later. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/196 "2021-02-03T16:09:47Z")
Despite what _Age of Ultron_ might lead you to believe, Johannesburg is _not_ within a single Hulk leap of any ocean. Especially not any beaches where ship-breaking happens, as those are all in Asia… ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/197 "2021-02-04T13:08:08Z")
In the forgettable movie _Elizabethtown_, Orlando Bloom drives north on I-65 from Louisville International Airport on his way to the titular city. You can tell because he passes [this](https://images.app.goo.gl/VyDuLnHMS9kjg3wQA) on his left-hand side. But Elizabethtown is _south_ from that airport. The way that Bloom is heading would take him straight into southern Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/198 "2021-02-04T14:55:34Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > The thing about the train station reminded me of another one from _Monk_ . … by train, In the finale two parter, they had a scene set at the San Francisco train station. Funny how it looked EXACTLY like LA Union Station! Must be the same architect! 🙂 > [@peccavi](#): > > Isn’t it remarkable how much train stations in television and movies look like LA’s Union Station? 😄 First time I visited LAUS, I was amazed. It was like i’d been there many times! Not only as a train station, but as the headquarters for the Blade Runner unit. Speaking of SF, on an early McMillan & Wife, they were down at the docks, and clearly visible in the background was a large building that was labeled “PORT OF LO”, and the rest was cut off by a closer building. LO what? They weren’t even trying with that one. > [@Pavelb1](#): > > There definitely isn’t a mountain range visible near Claremore Oklahoma as seen in “Oklahoma” > > Miami and Miami Beach are two different cities. Right! Miami is just about 60 miles north of Claremore on Rte 66. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/199 "2021-02-04T15:13:25Z")
It’s a little disconcerting the first time you see it, but Amtrak has the same station abbreviation system as the airlines. So your ticket to or from Union Station shows “LAX”. (Port of LO? Never heard of it. \< grin \>) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508/200 "2021-02-04T15:30:53Z")
_The Blues Brothers_ has a number of them, but one that sticks out is most of the final Nazi-Blue Brothers chase scene was filmed in Milwaukee. I remember watching it a few times before the internet and scratching my head at that scene, as none of the roads were making any sense to me. No part of 90/94 came that close to the lake (they briefly showed a Van Buren and Jackson exit), the shots of the highway didn’t look familiar at all. It wasn’t until a couple years later visiting Milwaukee that I realized where that scene was filmed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtle-inaccuracies-in-depictions-of-your-city-region-in-fiction/930508.md?page=11)