Leave It To Beaver

Beaver-watcher · Joined: 11 Jul 2009 Posts: 1

I reviewed FAQ segment of the webpage & obviously took notice of everyone's curiosity regarding the location (state) of Mayfield. I subsequently read several opinions pointing to Ohio. -

I have noticed that in several episodes, references were made to a near-coastal location. The strongest reference (in my opinion) was Wally & Lumpy agreeing to make a trip with Eddy (sp) for an interview of summer employment (which was arranged by Eddy's uncle). The job involved deep-sea fishing & the interview was being held on the 'docks'. Either Wally or Lumpy comments on the "one hour drive" to get to the docks for said interview... -[/b]

Puggg · Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 5

The writers were deliberately vague on which state, and so much so that in the Wally's Pug Nose episode in Season 2, Ward finds the box that the nose straightener was mailed in, and his thumb covers up the state name.

But I'm comfortable in thinking that Mayfield was in the San Fernando Valley. Of course, the Universal lot in the Valley is where LITB was filmed. There is more evidence for Southern California than against.

There were numerous allusions to the beaches. In Season 2, "The Visiting Aunts," Wally and his friends want to take the bus to "Garden Grove" for a fair. In Season 1, when the new neighbors move in next door and Beaver gets scared because the Husband might take out after him, Eddie scares Beaver by talking about all the people that jealous husbands have killed, and stipulates that there have been such and such a number "just in California."

You never see any snow on the ground.

It doesn't rain too often, either.

In Season 2, the family goes on a camping trip, to a place that was at a pretty high elevation, and surrounded by mountains of even higher elevation, that is within an evening's drive. There's no place like that on the East Coast, that is possible in California.

In the Season 2 episode where Beaver and Larry play hooky, Wally is home sick, and sees Beaver and Larry on the lunch time TV show. He says that a "couple of million people must have seen it." In the late 1950s, the only places where a couple of million people would have been watching lunch time TV was New York, LA and maybe Chicago. The climate eliminates NY and Chicago.

There are numerous mentions of The Cleavers living "out west."

shouge · Joined: 09 Aug 2009 Posts: 2

I'm sure Mayfield is definitely in the midwest. No scenes of any hollywood type scenes. the Kids have to find things to do - much like kids in the midwest. There mannerisms and talk style represent the midwest.