Quahog, Rhode Island
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Quahog (pronounced "KO-hog") is a fictional city in Providence County, Rhode Island where the animated television comedy Family Guy is set. The Griffin family, the Brown family, the Swanson family, and Glenn Quagmire live on Spooner Street, with the Griffin family residing at 31 Spooner Street. Zip code 00093 (Zip revealed in FOX-y Lady)
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[edit] History
Quahog was founded by Griffin Peterson, who had been exiled to America by King Stewart. The king later gave Peterson control over Quahog after Peterson beat him in a talent show. A myth was later created that said that Quahog was founded by Miles Chatterbox Musket with the assistance of a magical talking clam.
[edit] People and places in Quahog
Adam West, who shares a name and is voiced by the actor who portrayed Batman on the 1960s TV series, is the mayor of Quahog. Quahog's local celebrities are the anchors of its Channel 5 news show, Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons. The Drunken Clam is a bar that protagonist Peter Griffin and his friends frequently visit. Lois's Aunt Margarite left her estate in Newport, Rhode Island to the Griffins, which they made an extended visit to in Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater, and eventually sold. In the episode "E. Peterbus Unum" it is found out that Peter's house is not part of Quahog, and not even part of the United States of America, in which he calls the new territory Petoria.
[edit] Possible real-world locations
Seth MacFarlane, the show's creator, had been a resident of Rhode Island, and leaves unequivocal Rhode Island landmarks from which one may infer intended locations for events.
Several times every episode, the actual Providence skyline can be seen in the distance. The three buildings that are depicted are, from left to right and furthest to closest, One Financial Plaza, 50 Kennedy Plaza, and the Bank of America Tower. This ordering of buildings and the angle at which they are viewed (see figure at right) indicates that Quahog is primarily west of downtown Providence. If Quahog is to have a counterpart in Rhode Island geography and be consistent with this, it would have to be either Johnston, Rhode Island, Cranston Rhode Isla, North Providence, Rhode Island, Scituate, Rhode Island, or a western portion of Providence itself. However, in a few episodes Quahog is shown to have a coastline (see "Fifteen Minutes of Shame", "Fore Father", and "The Perfect Castaway"), which only Cranston and Providence possess. This is supported by the fact that the real-world "31 Spooner Street" is located in Providence, immediately west of Roger Williams Park. This could be a coincidence, as MacFarlane has said in a DVD commentary that the street was named after Spooner Hill Road, along which is his boyhood home. Also, a map seen in "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" does not resemble a map of the neighborhood of the actual Spooner Street.
In "E. Peterbus Unum", a map of Rhode Island is shown with Quahog shown in red with Quahog appearing to be in the vicinity of Tiverton, Rhode Island.
MacFarlane, in an interview with local WNAC Fox 64 News, has stated that the town is modeled after Cranston, Rhode Island.
[edit] The name Quahog
A quahog is an edible clam. The word "quahog" has been absorbed into the American English language as a loanword from the original Narragansett This, along with the fact that the town Quahog was co-founded by a clam, might suggest a different scenario for the reason of the name. There is a restaurant in Newport which is named the Rhode Island Quahog Co but is known just as "Quahog's".
The choice of the name "Quahog" for the town is possibly inspired by the real Rhode Island village of Quonochontaug. Many of the features of Quahog exist in Quonochontaug, such as a coast. Additional more conspicuous evidence can be seen on the reverse of the UK DVD, clearly stating, "Meet the Griffins and find out what in the name of Quonochontaug, Rhode Island is going on in their heads!" Many people living in Quonochontaug commonly refer to their home as Quahog. However, the real Quonochontaug is a tiny village community of no more than a few hundred people located within the rural town of Charlestown, Rhode Island, more than halfway across the state from Providence where the aforementioned urban skyline would not be visible.
