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Lawndale

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Quinn - Attention, guys. We're just two little city gals from Lawndale.

The city of which Lawndale is a suburb, as seen from Andrew Landon's office.

Cowboy - Lawndale's a suburb.
-Speedtrapped


Lawndale is the suburb in which the events of the Daria TV series take place. Maps of the region may be found in The Daria Diaries ("Welcome to Lawndale") and online at MTV's Virtual Lawndale webpage (see "External Links").

For a small and apparently dull suburb, Lawndale boasts its own corporate park, the upper-class prep school Fielding and a country club, and its own university.

The location of Lawndale is endlessly debated, and even the show's creators tended to keep it loose. Glenn Eichler suggested in an interview that it might be a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland, and this is a frequently used location for many fanfics whose authors caught the hint. However, evidence in the series and Eichler's further comments allow for other locations as well, possibly into eastern Pennsylvania near Philadelphia.

The guv'nor.


Whichever state Lawndale's located in, its voters get to vote on whether or not they have a property tax increase ("Fizz Ed"). For the three years Daria was there, they voted against it every time despite the known impact on school funding. The third time, the governor was quoted saying "crap". ("Fizz Ed")

Lawndale dates back to colonial times: a newspaper article seen briefly in "See Jane Run" mentions roadworks found "that the street lies over a pre-revolutionary Dutch Orthodox cemetery" (presumably meaning Dutch followers of an orthodox church, not the name of the sect). Depending on your view of Lawndale's state, that means it was either a Dutch colony or had a Dutch migrant community. (Maryland's Cecil County had Dutch North American holdings)

Lawndale is within reasonable driving distance of the coast (the Sloane's have a summer home there), somewhere with southern accents ("I Don't"; in the same interview, Eichler indicated this was Virginia), a rural desert with "cowboy" accents ("Speedtrapped"), and Camp Grizzly.

The not-known-for sure city of which Lawndale is a suburb is only actually seen once in the series. Lawndale lacks tall buildings, but in Is It College Yet? when Mack goes to visit Jodie's father, there are tall buildings seen out of the very high window of Mr. Landon's office. This location must be close to Lawndale because Mack came by to visit him before school.

Even the county in which Lawndale resides is conflicted in canon. For more on the Carter County/Lawndale County debate, see Off-Canon Canon.


Lawndale Locations And Landmarks

Big Strawberry

The Big Strawberry is a roadside tourist attraction shown on the Lawndale map in "The Daria Diaries", but is otherwise never mentioned in canon. However, it has commonly been used in fanfiction. It is sometimes called the Giant Strawberry.

Cranberry Commons

Cranberry Commons is the mall shown on the Lawndale map of "The Daria Database" but otherwise has not been shown or mentioned. However, the Virtual Lawndale map on the MTV website shows the same location as the Lawndale Mall.

Crewe Neck

Is a fictional gated community introduced in "The Invitation" and described in "The Daria Diaries" as "Where nobody mows their own lawn, mops their own floor or colors their own hair in the sink. The unofficial motto was "Private and Proud." Brittany Taylor and her family live at Deerview Court.

Dega Street

Dega Street is located in Downtown Lawndale and most promiently shown in the episode, "Pierce Me.

Halcyon Hills Corporate Park

Is a fictional corporate office park in Lawndale shown on the map in "The Daria Diaries." Morgendorffer Consulting is located in Building G. The sunlight reflecting off the buildings has been known to set nearby woods on fire.

High Hills Park

Is a public park shown on the map in "The Daria Diaries" and described as, "Picnic tables, tennis courts, nightly Satan worship."

Lawndale High School

Lawndale High School is one of the primary settings for the show. The school is featured on the map in "The Daria Diaries" and also the "Virtual Lawndale" map on the MTV website.

Lawndale Mall

The Lawndale Mall is also an important setting for the show and featured in multiple episodes. It is shown on the "Virtual Lawndale" map of the MTV website, while the same location is marked as "Cranberry Commons" on the "Daria Diaries" map.

Rx Plex

It is the medical office complex shown in the episode, "Too Cute" where Dr. Shar's Swan Shoppe is located. One of the earliest dating clues in the series is a banner that read, "1997 Adjustable Bed Show" visible when Daria and Quinn arrive.

Sedimentary Rock Country Club And Links

Is a fictional country club and golf course shown on the map in "The Daria Diaries". The description is, "Not restricted. At least, nobody's been able to prove it in court."

Seven Corners

Seven Corners is a complex intersection shown on the map in "The Daria Diaries" and described as "Lawndale's most confusing intersection." Most notable for use in fan fiction.

Village Green

Is the town center shown on the map in "The Daria Diaries" and described as having a statue of a bearded man that nobody remembers.

Winged Tree Country Club

Lawndale Businesses

 
24 Hour Photo

24 Hour Photo

It is seen along the Homecoming parade route during "I Loathe a Parade." The Coffee Snob is to the right of it, if one is facing the store.

 
A la Lawndale

A la Lawndale

At store of uncertain business along the parade route of "I Loathe a Parade." Most notably, Daria Morgendorffer found Tad Gupty crying in front of the store because he had lost his parents.

Axle's Peircing Parlor

Axl's Piercing Parlor is a Dega Street business shown in "Pierce Me" run by Axl.

 
Big Sub Shop

Big Sub

Seen in "I Loathe a Parade" near the spot where Daria, Tad and Tom Sloane hop on the Fashion Club float. Also seen as "Mmm Sub".

Cashmans's

Cashman's is a high-end clothing store in the Lawndale Mall and a frequent shopping destination of the Fashion Club.

 
Cedars of Lawndale

Cedars of Lawndale

Cedars of Lawndale is the fictional hospital in Lawndale shown in "Jake of Hearts" and mostly likely also the hospital in "Ill".

Chez Pierre

Chez Pierre is a high-priced French restaurant in Lawndale that is a favorite of Quinn Morgendorffer and others of the Fashion Club.

 
The Coffee Snob

The Coffee Snob

Is a downtown Lawndale store seen along the Homecoming parade route during "I Loathe a Parade." 24 Hour Photo] is to the left of it, if one is facing the store.

 
Deuce Hardware

Deuce Hardware

Is a fictional hardware store seen in several episodes. It is located next to the Pizza Place. Lackluster Video is located on the other side of the store.

The name is a play off of the Ace Hardware store chain.

 
Dr. Shar's Swan Shoppe

Dr. Shar's Swan Shoppe

is the cosmetic surgery office run by Dr. Shar seen in the episode, "Too Cute." It is located in the Rx Plex.

 
Drugs 'N' Stuff

Drugs 'N' Stuff

is a fictional store in downtown seen in the episode, "I Loathe a Parade". This is the store where Daria Morgendorffer buys the toilet paper and where she first meets Jane Lane during the parade.

Mr Fun's Exciting World of Games

The local arcade, seen in "The New Kid" - with incredibly advanced virtual reality combat games for a small town in 1998 (and now!). Daria regularly goes and allots $15 of her weekly budget on it ("The Daria Database").

Play House 99

A cinema in downtown Lawndale, which has put on arty film festivals like Food In Film. Seen in "Monster", the Food In Film playlist shown in "The Daria Database". Likely holding the Fellini film festival in "Fire!".

Neighbouring towns

Whichever county Lawndale is in, it has a number of other towns with high schools. Oakwood is mentioned in several episodes, as Oakwood High School's football team (the Taproots) are a key rival of the Lawndale Lions.

MTV's old website mentioned the towns of Briarwood, Eagleton, Lawrenceville, and Lakeland.

Lawndale and the paranormal

Lawndale has been the centre of some quite bizarre occurences, and equally bizarre urban legends:

  • Everyone in town spent a whole day singing ("Daria!")
  • Artie is allegedly abducted by aliens time and again in Lawndale, though this is not independently verified

In most of these cases, nobody talks about this odd events ever again after they've happened. (While the show presents them as really happening, many fans have theorised alternate explanations for the events - others have used them as 'carte blanche' to write more fantasty-based fanfiction)

Fandom's Views on Lawndale's Location

Debate exists among fans as to other possible locations for the fictional suburb, or at least places that had a curious similarity to it. For example, Richard Lobinske has brought up the Florida Connection (though this is more about inspirations than actual location). Suggested locations of Lawndale, other than the Baltimore area, include the following, listed with the fan who offered the idea.

  • Bacner: Essex County, Massachusetts
  • Kristen Bealer: American Midwest
  • Lisa Bleujabbe: California
  • Brother Grimace: Lower Midwestern or southwestern United States, especially southern or eastern Texas, away from Dallas and Houston
  • Decelaraptor: Inside a tesseract extradimensionally connected to many places in the United States (he was the first one in the fandom to come up with the idea)
  • Dervish: In a fictitious American state called Vikizan
  • DJPotatoe: Frederick MD or Red Lion PA
  • Michelle Klein-Häss: Connecticut
  • Lawndale Stalker: East-central Washington state (e.g., Richland, Washington), or inside a tesseract or time/space warp
  • Mike N: Texas coast between Corpus Christi and Houston
  • Robert Nowall: Similar to town of Poughkeepsie, New York
  • Ranchoth: The Netherworld or Texas
  • Ranger Thorne: Texas, though he recalls a map putting it in Connecticut; also wrote a story in which Lawndale was between New York, Metropolis (down around Norfolk), and Gotham City (on the Great Lakes)
  • TerraEsperZ: Inside a tesseract (per Decelaraptor)
  • Veldrin: Massachusetts
  • WacoKid: Colorado
  • Mike Xeno: St. Louis, Missouri, or New England
  • Pittsburghmuggle: Always assumed it to be in California (a lot of other shows always seem to be), until Is It College Yet? when they drove up to Boston.

External Links

PPMB threads discussing Lawndale and Its Location

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