Keep Portland Weird...the Incredible Simpsons Connection

 My Family has loved the Simpsons cartoon for years.  Scott and I were married in 1988 and the Simpsons debuted in December of 1989.  We have a shared kinship with them and almost the same anniversary. When our boys were growing up we shared countless nights of laughter being entertained by the antics of this family.  Some episodes may have been considered "edgy" and controversial, but they always seemed to be spot on and dealt with all kinds of contemporary issues of the American family.  They may have exaggerated to make a point, but the writing on the show was done in such a way that people really could relate to many of the circumstances of this family. If you are a Simpsons connoisseur like my family, not only do you know the core family characters: Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie, you learn many of the other characters in the town (No state!!?) of Springfield. I was intrigued to find out that much of the inspiration for the show came from Portland, Oregon.

I just recently found out that the creator of the Simpsons Matt Groening, was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. At any other time I would probably not give it a second thought...but next month we are planning a trip to Portland. This just adds to the excitement and challenge of finding some of the connections that Matt Groening made to the city when crafting his show. If you didn't already know it...The Simpsons is the longest running American animated series. Bravo!  Good for them, it's a great show.  But in my humble opinion, the older episodes were better.  Maybe back then they were not afraid to poke fun at certain institutions to make a point.

In any case, I found out that there are so many fun connections to Portland.  For starters Matt Groening's parents are Homer and Marge. His sisters were named Lisa and Maggie and Bart-an anagram for Brat-is a stand in for Matt himself.  He grew up on a street named Evergreen Terrace  and many of the character names were taken from street names in Portland. Here are just a few: Burnside, Flanders, Lovejoy, and  Quimby. I was going to give the reader tips as to which name matched with which character, but if you are a Simpson fan....you know.  Montgomery Park was cited as the inspiration for Mr. Burn's nuclear plant.  Also, in 2021 a Ned Flanders footbridge was built named after the Simpson's endearing and sometimes annoying neighbor.

When our family watched the show, we could really relate to some of the situations.  My family has always teased me that I am frequently an optimist, sometimes overly so.  They draw a parallel to me of the episode of Marge at the racetrack:

"Can't I just bet that all the horses will have a fun time?". 

In our family, we frequently spout Simpsons dialogue when the situation requires it. When I hear "Can't I just bet that all the horses will have a fun time?" then sometimes I know that maybe I'm trying to hard to "make" everyone have a fun time. Yeah, kind of strange, and perhaps a little passive-aggressive, but sometimes it works for the Smith family.

Keep Portland Weird, photo by Jimmy Emerson on flickr

I just know we will have fun looking for Simpsons connections as well as the Keep Portland Weird murals.  I wondered why they had a doughnut named "Homer" at Voodoo Doughnuts...now I know why.  Classic Homer.