From 2000 to 2007, the WB’s (later The CW's) wildly popular series Gilmore Girls enchanted audiences all over the world with its fast-talking, well-developed characters – led by a single mom and her daughter, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore – as well as its stories of love, laughter and hardships, and a penchant for pop culture and literary references, some more obscure than others.
The series, set in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, was home-based in Burbank at Warner Bros. Studios. There, the series made heavy use of the famed backlot’s Midwest Street and almost any other area of the studio it could incorporate into storylines. Practical locations all over the L.A.-area also helped to widen the scope of not only Stars Hollow but additional locales outside the confines of the small New England town, to settings such as New York; Boston; New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut; Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Florida; and, of course, Venice Beach.
Gilmore Girls devotees have yearned for more over the past decade, and thanks to Warner Bros. Television and Netflix, they’re finally getting their wish. A new four-part special, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, is set to air on the streaming service beginning Nov. 25. With the upcoming new episodes, we scoured the Warner Bros. backlot and drove and hiked to as many of the original series’ surviving filming locations as possible. Not only that, but we were granted special access to the Warner Bros. archives to get a peek at some recognizable items from the set.
So grab your cups of coffee and your Pop-Tarts as we travel around Stars Hollow and the world of Gilmore Girls without ever leaving Los Angeles.
Check out Stars Hollow up close on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. Special thanks to Warner Bros. Studio Facilities and the Warner Bros. Studios Archives. Follow Jared on Twitter at @JaredCowan1. Please keep in mind that some of these locations are on private property. Do not trespass or disturb the owners.
