'Gilmore Girls' Fans Will Be Stunned to Learn This Piece of Filming Trivia
When Gilmore Girls first aired back in October 2000, the world was officially introduced to a light-hearted dramedy starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel as mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.
The show explored the two's up-and-down relationship as they go through the trials and tribulations of life: love, friendship and complex family dynamics with Lorelai's parents Emily (Kelly Bishop) and Richard (Edward Herrmann). But what's just as important as these dynamics with their loved ones (hello Luke Danes, a.k.a. Scott Patterson!) is the backdrop where they play out: the quaint location of Stars Hollow.
As longtime fans are well aware, Stars Hollow, Connecticut is the quintessential Northeast town filled with kind townspeople, quirky traditions (like a weekly town meeting in Miss Patty's shed-turned-dance school) and little shops that look like something out of a storybook. Over the years, fans have wondered where Gilmore Girls was filmed, primarily because we all want to know if Stars Hollow is a real place we can visit. Well, you'll definitely want to take a sip of coffee before reading this, because we have both good and bad news to share with you.
The bad news is that Stars Hollow is in fact a fictional town written for Gilmore Girls. Viewers may already be aware of that key piece of information, but they might not know this interesting fact. As it turns out, the series didn't actually film on the East Coast at all.
Like most television shows, Gilmore Girls was shot on a back lot called "Midwest Street," located at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. What's more, when Warner Bros. released a behind-the-scenes look of the locations on YouTube in 2017, it was revealed that one of the key sets of the show actually served a dual purpose throughout its seven seasons on the air.
"Fans may not know, but Sookie (St. James) [Melissa McCarthy] and Lorelai shared the same house over the run of the series," said tour guide Amanda Yslas at the time. "One side of the house was the front of Lorelai and Rory's house, and the other was the front of Sookie's house."
While sadly a lot of the show's sets are no longer there, fans can enjoy one key location of Gilmore Girls if they go on an official tour of the Warner Bros. Studios lots, as the famous Stars Hollow gazebo is still standing.
Another fun fact fans may not know? Although the majority of Gilmore Girls filmed in California, folks may be surprised to learn that the pilot had a different setting entirely. The show's first episode actually filmed in the Unionville neighborhood of Markham in Ontario, Canada. As Markham's official website reads, the dramedy used a series of famous spots around the town while filming the pilot.
And should you want to take a self-guided walking tour of Unionville, the website gives you some key spots to look out for... like the original Stars Hollow sign and where the Luke's Diner scenes were filmed.
As for those famous Yale moments, those too were shot on a set, according to the school itself.
Still, the magic of Stars Hollow is very much real, even if it isn't.
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