Where Was Gotham?

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

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Yellow Oval
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Where Was Gotham?

Post by Yellow Oval »

We all know watching the show that they either filmed outdoor shots in the Fox lot or out around the L.A. area and used stock footage of New York City to give the huge metropolis impression. That said, as a kid for some reason I always pictured Gotham City being somewhere lower on the east coast around where Philadelphia is and not New York. Did anyone else have any particular place on the map they put Gotham?
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Catfan
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Catfan »

While the TV series showed Gotham City as New York, if I am not mistaken, the comics have it located it around Asbury Park, NJ, or Cape May, NJ.
greenhornet66
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by greenhornet66 »

When ever you see the city skyline and the tall buildings, and busy city streets with lots of traffic, and people walking , it would give me the impression that Gotham was a city such as NY. I wouldnt have thought it to be in a city like phila. I live here in phila, and down town center city didnt even have tall skyscraper building like NY did back in the 60's.
Bat 66
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Bat 66 »

Watching the show at an "older" age there is a lot of confirmed New York locations that are used. Bringing me to what I have always thought .......Gotham City is NEW YORK City !!!!
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epaddon
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by epaddon »

Except that in one early S1 episode, Joker says, "Gotham City's having a power outage just like New York!"
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Scott Sebring
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Scott Sebring »

epaddon wrote:Except that in one early S1 episode, Joker says, "Gotham City's having a power outage just like New York!"
I was just about to point that out and you beat me to it. Kudos!
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Dr. Shimel
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Dr. Shimel »

References to Mayor Linseed, Governor Stonefellow and Chime Square make it obvious that the producers were setting it in their version of New York City.
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Mark Racop
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Mark Racop »

I, too, as a kid thought the city was on the east coast, somewhere "near" New York. Bob Kane's selection of the name "Gotham City" is great fun, especially considering the nickname of NY is Gotham. Have any of you ever googled "Gotham" to see what you get? There are many businesses in New York named "Gotham something."
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Jim Akin
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Jim Akin »

Along with the previously mentioned spoofs of Empire State politicians (Linseed & Stonefellow), many Gotham landmarks are stand-ins for sites in and around New York City:

Gotham Square Garden
Short Island Sound
New Guernsey
Gotham City Stock Exchange
Spiffany's jewelry store
Phoney Island

I'm sure there are others as well. BUT: Gotham also has a number of other locations that decidedly do not have counterparts in New York City, and that are in fact reminiscent of landmarks in other cities. They are nevertheless incorporated into Gotham''s geography as needed, to meet plot requirements:

Gotham Point surf beach
Movie backlots (Shame's hideout)
Dunbar's Drive-In (an actual SoCal eatery)

(While these might be cited as evidence that Gotham is actually LA, that's ruled out just as explicitly as New York is by the Joker's blackout remark: In "Catwoman Goes to College," we're told that Capt. Courageous, the newly hired Gotham police officer who arrests Batman by mistake, does so because, as new arrival from Hollywood, he's unfamiliar with the Caped Crusader.)

Just to add to the confusion, The Hexagon is also in the greater Gotham area.

So, Gotham is mostly a funhouse-mirror Manhattan, but it's really just an all-purpose Anytown.

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NJ_Batfan
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by NJ_Batfan »

Good points by all linking Gotham to New York City. In fact, in Detective Comics 31, the fifth appearance of Batman, the opening panel refers to the dark of a New York City street. The first mention of the name Gotham City was not until Detective Comics 48.

Here's something I found on the Huffington Post:
"Originally I was going to call Gotham City 'Civic City,'" said writer Bill Finger in 1970's The Steranko History of Comics. "Then I tried 'Capital City', then 'Coast City'. Then I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name 'Gotham Jewelers' and said, 'That's it,' Gotham City. We didn't call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/1 ... 80988.html
Bat 66
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Bat 66 »

Sing it Mr.Sinatra......New York New York !!
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Gotham
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by Gotham »

I always thought Superman lived in Metropolis as New York and Gotham city as kind of a Twin City
like Minneapolis/St. Paul..
Who knows but its not too hard to fool a 10 yr old. Or a 51 yr old some days...
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SprangFan
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Re: Where Was Gotham?

Post by SprangFan »

Based on the surrounding countryside, and the fact that it's always sunny (enough so that the Batmobile has no top!), Gotham is obviously in California. :D
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