The Simpsons in Portland

Friday July 6, 2012

When I arrived in Portland for my second visit I saw a street sign that said "Flanders St". As a long time fan of The Simpsons I chuckled to myself, as it reminded me of the do-gooder neighbour.

A few minutes later I encountered a sign indicating "Lovejoy St". Hmmm, could this be a coincidence? I hurried to the hostel to do some research.

To my delight I found that the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, grew up in Portland, Oregon. And it was no coincidence – he named many of the characters after Portland landmarks. I then had little choice but to visit as many of those as I could. The pictures shown in this blog article were all taken by me during the “treasure hunt”.

MONTGOMERY BURNS

The wealthy owner of the Springfield nuclear power plant had his moniker derived from Montgomery Park and Burnside Road. The former is a massive office building and the latter is the main east-west thoroughfare that divides the city into northern and southern halves. Groening has mentioned in interviews that as a child he thought that the brightly lit Montgomery Park sign was what his prayers went to. And the sign really is huge – my photo was taken from five blocks away!

REVEREND LOVEJOY

The apathetic Christian leader of Springfield was named after Lovejoy St – my picture was taken in the northwest quarter of Portland (hence the “NW” prefix).

KEARNEY

Kearney, one of the bullies at Springfield Elementary, drew his name from Kearney St – again the NW prefix indicates my photo was snapped in the northwest quarter.

MAYOR QUIMBY

Groening was inspired to name the corrupt, horny, and perennially elected mayor of Springfield with the Kennedy-esque accent after Quimby St. The northwest quarter was again the site of the photographed sign.

NED FLANDERS

The NE Flanders St signs are the most vandalised and stolen public property in Portland. Many times a “D” is scribbled onto the end of “NE”. Although I was staying at a hostel metres away from NW Flanders St, I walked for an hour to a desolate industrial area to see the much sought after NE Flanders St sign. This was turning out to be a true Simpsons pilgrimage.

EVERGREEN TERRACE

Matt Groening’s childhood home was on Evergreen Terrace in a wealthy neighbourhood in the forests behind the Rose Garden and Japanese Garden, west of downtown. It took me an hour of hiking up the windy streets through the woods to get to Evergreen Terrace. The Simpsons live in house number 742 in Springfield, but in the Portland street there is no such number. The house that Groening was raised in by his mother Margaret, father Bart and sisters Patty is still there, but the family has long since moved away.

TERWILLIGER

Bart’s long time nemesis Sideshow Bob’s surname is seen in the university district, where 6th Avenue turns into Terwilliger Boulevard.

BART SIMPSON

Bart was not labelled after any Portland landmark – the name is an anagram of “brat”. However on the footpath outside Groening’s old high school, Lincoln High School, he has drawn a lovely picture of Bart in the wet concrete. The photo also shows my wristwatch, just to prove that I was present and it’s not a picture plucked from the Internet.

MILHOUSE VAN HOUTEN

Van Houten Avenue is in the northern suburbs of Portland. This was the only treasure I couldn’t reach, as it was over 10km from downtown – far too cumbersome for a tourist to commute to!