History Main / QuirkyTown

%%* The Bunny Mountain Shopping District in ''Anime/TamakoMarket''.

%%* ''TheAndyGriffithShow'': Mayberry.

%%* ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'': Night Vale with a lot more death and existential horror.

%%* Cicely, Alaska in ''Series/NorthernExposure''

** In the same sense, Manhattan, Kansas. It is another University town where everyone is especially enthusiastic about the Wildcats. It goes so far to the point that if you are caught wearing a Jayhawks shirt within the city limits, you will be immediately escorted out of town. This Troper learned it the hard way while wearing a KU shirt '''AT K-STATE UNIVERSITY'''.
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* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Roalt, capital of Ataidar, has some strange folks in it. The artists make their homes reflect whatever their style and medium might be, the warriors consider a giant snake sneaking in through the waterways as a boon of good fortune, and shenanigans regularly occur in places of worship, because the deities worshipped their are trickster gods.

* Lawrence, Kansas. Not only is it a University town, but it also has a long history of oddball culture. It is not uncommon to see all walks of life represented on the street corners of Massachusetts Street, (Mass Street to locals). Mentions of its colorful history abound, whether it is the hotel that has been shot at with a cannon and burned down twice, or Quantrill's Raid, or the long standing fueds with many other towns (Columbia Mo, Osceola Mo which is so extreme that the citizens of Osceola have said that they refuse to capitalize the name of the town or state, anywhere in Nebraska, or Manhattan, Kansas), or the atmosphere that in general makes this kinda like a real life Twin Peaks.

%%* Half the fun of ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' is letting the player live in a QuirkyTown.

* The street in ''Film/EdwardScissorhands''. The whole town are in each others lives, half the women are practically in love with Edward, they all follow everything that is done by their neighbors and eventually start a mob in search of him late in the film.
* ''Film/BigFish'': Tim Burton loves this trope: see the hidden town of Spectre in this film. Nobody wears shows, they always know who is set to come in town before they do and everyone is unbearably, cheery and serene.
* ''Film/GroundhogDay'': Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania is of the quirky, everyone in each others business sort of way. Phil is able to get himself in everyone's good graces by learning their habits and quirks over the repeated time loops.

* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Everyone is in each others business, they hold wakes over a cat, are sticklers to tradition to the point of staying out in blizzards to reenact war scenes and just generally are clingy and on top of each other. They seem very close-nit and happy in spite of this.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'''s Springfield. Everyone is dysfunctional, they are in each others lives and they have to face off against various foes over the course of the long series.

* Ponyville from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The first impression asocial city-girl Twilight Sparkle gets is "All the ponies in this town are ''crazy!''" Considering that this is a town with a pony who will throw a party or sing a song for everyone who moves in, considers a bugbear attacking the city as hardly worthy of comment yet is horrified by a stampede of bunnies, and has an extremely lazy yet competent weather manager, she's not far off.

%%* The street in ''Film/EdwardScissorhands''.
%%* ''Film/BigFish'': Tim Burton loves this trope: see the hidden town of Spectre in
%%* ''Film/GroundhogDay'': Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in .

%%* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': Stars Hollow, Connecticut

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'''s Springfield.

** ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Roalt, capital of Ataidar, has some strange folks in it. The artists make their homes reflect whatever their style and medium might be, the warriors consider a giant snake sneaking in through the waterways as a boon of good fortune, and shenanigans regularly occur in places of worship, because the deities worshipped their are trickster gods.

* %%''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'':
* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''

* TheStellarSix has a town made of a series of bazaars and shops, and everyone seems to not only get along extremely well, but most of the main cast have known everyone there since childhood, and everyone (for the most part) gets along.
* In one of the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' novels, Ed and Al arrived in a desert town named Wisteria where everything seems extremely happy and kind, and the main female character of the novel, Ruby, insists it's the greatest place ever. [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to the brothers at first however, is that the poor of the village, at the behest of the mayor, are sold into slavery.]]
* The Bunny Mountain Shopping District in ''Anime/TamakoMarket''.

* The British comic ''Strangehaven''.
* The UndefeatableLittleVillage in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}''.

* HalloweenTown in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' might count as a very, ''very'' quirky version of this trope.
* Dirt in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}''

* The town in Federico Fellini's ''Film/{{Amarcord}}''. All the more poignant when you realize the town is in Fascist Italy in the 1930s, and {{World War II}} is just on the horizon...
* The street in ''Film/EdwardScissorhands''.
* Tim Burton loves this trope: see the hidden town of Spectre in ''Film/BigFish''
* Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in ''Film/GroundhogDay''.
* The town in ''Film/MysteryTeam''.
* Virgil, Texas in ''Film/TrueStories''

* Bogusville in Duncan Ball's ''Selby'' series.
* Centerburg, the setting of Robert [=McCloskey=]'s ''Homer Price'' and ''Centerburg Tales''.
* Lancre Town in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels. In fact, the Kingdom of Lancre is small enough that most of the villages probably count as suburbs of a single Quirky Town.
* Remarkable of Lizzie K. Foley's ''Remarkable'', where everyone except our heroine Jane is remarkable in some way.

* [[TheAndyGriffithShow Mayberry]].
* Dog River in ''Series/CornerGas''.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives''
* Portwenn in ''Series/DocMartin''.
* Stuckeyville, Ohio in ''Series/{{Ed}}''
* ''Series/EerieIndiana'' perhaps goes a little beyond "quirky". John Astin, the original Gomez Addams, is one of the more ''normal'' residents.
* ''Series/{{Eureka}}''
* ''Series/{{Everwood}}''
* ''Series/GilmoreGirls'': Stars Hollow, Connecticut
* ''Series/GreenAcres''
* Loch Dubh in ''Series/HamishMacbeth''
* Men In Trees
* ''Series/{{Newhart}}'', in which the town is simply "The Town" (NoNameGiven)
* Cicely, Alaska in ''Series/NorthernExposure''
* [[Series/ParksAndRecreation Pawnee, Indiana]].
* ''Series/PetticoatJunction''

* Rome, Wisconsin of ''Series/PicketFences''
* Royston Vasey from ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'' (version with added ''Nightmare Fuel'')
* ''Series/TwinPeaks''
* Rutherford, Ohio from ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun''
* Port Niranda in ''Series/RoundTheTwist''.
* Bluebell in ''Series/HartOfDixie''.
* Wellsville, um...somewhere... "Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete"
* Pontyberry, in ''Series/{{Stella|UK}}''

* Music/TomLehrer has great fun parodying this in his song "My Home Town."

* [[Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale Night Vale]] fits this trope to a T, just with a lot more death and existential horror.

* ''Radio/{{Adventures in Odyssey}}''
* ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly''
* ''The Great Gildersleeve''
* Lake Wobegon in ''Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion''

* River City, Iowa in ''Theatre/TheMusicMan''.
* Mapleton, Ohio in several plays by Moss Hart.
* An unnamed Connecticut town in ''Ah, Wilderness!'' by Eugene O'Neill.
* Richard O'Brien was inspired to write ''[[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow The Rocky Horror Show]]'' by his experiences living in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, during the 1950s.

* Half the fun of ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' is letting you actually live in a QuirkyTown.
* Just try to name a town in ''VideoGame/{{Earthbound}}'' that's ''not'' this. Go on, we'll be waiting.
** Well, except the overpriced tourist town of Summers.
*** And Fourside, the big city.
*** And Moonside, the other big city.
** Saturn Valley totally counts, though.
* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' has Tazmily Village, which is arguably a {{Deconstruction}}. It's a QuirkyTown because it's cut off from all other civilization. [[spoiler: When outsiders start showing up, it quickly becomes less quirky and a lot less idyllic.]]
* Greenvale in ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition.'' Some of the townsfolk are downright ''goofy'', which just adds to the MoodWhiplash regarding the horrific murders you investigate.
* Falderal from ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride''. The china shop is run by a bull, the snake oil salesman literally has scales, and Archduke Fifi le Yip Yap is MisterMuffykins in Louis XIV attire. Be sure to take the Faux shop with a grain of salt.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon''. The game is all about knowing people of the town and living there.
* Basically every small village you come across in ProfessorLayton and their puzzle loving inhabitants. St. Mystere in the first game and Folsense in the second.
** Though the idyllic little villages are far from it. By the end of the game, you find St. Mystere's residents [[spoiler:are all robots]] and Folsense [[spoiler:is a product of hallucinogenic gas]]!
* Thamasa in VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI.

* Generictown in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob''
* ''Webcomic/{{City of Reality}}'', full stop. For starters, their mayor is a bunny rabbit (actually, what looks like a living ''sock puppet'' of a bunny rabbit, and that's not just an art style!). Hawk even goes to great lengths in order to test how close it is to being a TownWithADarkSecret, thinking that secret is pent-up rage.

* ''Webcomic/{{Zoophobia}}''

* Calling WesternAnimation/SouthPark quirky is an understatement.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold's'' Brooklyn-inspired neighborhood, which is (among other things) known for throwing tomatoes at the British during the Revolutionary War. Aren't you jealous?
* ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'', even though it's a neighborhood of a large city.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'''s Springfield.
* Bluffington from ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' has Elwood City, which is only ''slightly'' quirky.

* Townsville in ''ThePowerPuffGirls'' can be this and [[CrapsaccharineWorld another type of world]] at times.
* Dillydale in ''TheMrMenShow'' is as quirky as they come.
* The titular town in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is as quirky as they come, and doubles as a TownWithADarkSecret. Sometimes it seems like the various monsters surrounding the town are more sane than the humans.
** [[spoiler: There's s a reason why the town is so weird; The Society of the Blind Eye has been using LaserGuidedAmnesia so much that most of the people are brain-damaged.]]

* Cassadega, UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}.
* Seaside, Florida. (''Film/TheTrumanShow'' was filmed there.)
* Hell, Florida itself is [[OnlyInFlorida often stereotyped]] as America's Quirky ''State''.
* Ditto for Vermont, often seen by those on the East Coast as ''Series/{{Portlandia}}'' stretched over a whole state.
* College towns in the United States. Other countries tend not to have these, as their universities were built in major cities.
* Salem, Massachusetts: Where there are more occult shops and people walking around in robes than Diagon Alley.
* Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom: Pretty much this UpToEleven - and this was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by a local newspaper, and the subject of a TakeThat by a Mancunian newspaper.

* Ponyville from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The first impression asocial city-girl Twilight Sparkle gets is "All the ponies in this town are ''crazy!''"

* ''EerieIndiana'' perhaps goes a little beyond "quirky". John Astin, the original Gomez Addams, is one of the more ''normal'' residents.

* ''{{Everwood}}''
* [[GilmoreGirls Stars Hollow, Connecticut]]

* ''{{Newhart}}'', in which the town is simply "The Town" (NoNameGiven)
* Cicely, Alaska in ''NorthernExposure''

* UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} in ''{{Portlandia}}''. Some of it is TruthInTelevision.
* Rome, Wisconsin of ''{{Picket Fences}}''
* Royston Vasey from ''{{The League of Gentlemen}}'' (version with added ''Nightmare Fuel'')
* ''TwinPeaks''

* Port Niranda in ''RoundTheTwist''.

* ''{{Adventures in Odyssey}}''
* ''FibberMcGeeAndMolly''

* River City, Iowa in ''TheMusicMan''.

* ''The Sims 2'' has Strangetown, a town whose residents include aliens, a mad scientist couple, a man pregnant by aliens, and a serial killer
** ''The Sims 3 Supernatural'' has Moonlight Falls, a town consisting of witches, fairies, werewolves, and vampires

* Townsville in ''ThePowerPuffGirls'' can be this and a [[CrapsaccharineWorld]] at times.

* Townsville in ''ThePowerPuffGirls'' can be this and a [[Crapsaccharine World]] at times.

* Townsville in ''ThePowerPuffGirls'' can be this and a [[CrapshackWorld]].

* ''WesternAnimation/NedsNewt'': Friendly Falls, the show's setting. That said, friendly as they might be, the inhabitants also tend to be a tad kooky.
* Townsville in ''ThePowerPuffGirls.''

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''MariAndGali'' has Hubble Gali, populated by deceased scientists.

* In one of the Manga/FullmetalAlchemist novels, Ed and Al arrived in a desert town named Wisteria where everything seems extremely happy and kind, and the main female character of the novel, Ruby, insists it's the greatest place ever. [[spoiler: Unbeknownst to the brothers at first however, is that the poor of the village, at the behest of the mayor, are sold into slavery.]]
* The Bunny Mountain Shopping District in Anime/{{Tamako Market}}

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[[folder: Film ]]

** Tim Burton loves this trope: see the hidden town of Spectre in ''Film/BigFish''
** HalloweenTown in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' might count as a very, ''very'' quirky version of this trope.

* Dirt in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}''

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* The titular town in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' is as quirky as they come, and doubles as a TownWithADarkSecret.

* The UndefeatableLittleVillage in ''{{Asterix}}''.