Where Was Gilmore Girls Filmed? From Stars Hollow To Yale

Wondering where Gilmore Girls was filmed? Grab a coffee and find out, from Stars Hollow’s gazebo to Yale’s ivy-covered corners.

If you’ve ever watched Gilmore Girls and thought, “I could totally live there,” congratulations, you’re one of us. The ones who google where was Gilmore Girls filmed?? at 2 a.m. while brewing coffee and wondering if the DragonFly Inn is actually somewhere you can vacation into (it’s not, but we’ll get to that). The ones who can quote entire scenes, and who still kind of want to major in “reading in small-town diners.”

The funny thing about the Gilmore Girls filming locations is that they’re both real and not real: a fever dream of Connecticut coziness that was, in fact, mostly built under a Californian sun. But it feels real, and that’s the magic. Every clapboard porch, every mug, every suspiciously symmetrical pumpkin arrangement.

So let’s answer the questions that have kept fans caffeinated for twenty-five years: Where is Stars Hollow? Is Stars Hollow a real place? And, more importantly, where can you actually go to stand where Lorelai and Rory once fast-talked their way through life?

So, where was Gilmore Girls filmed?
Mostly in California, which already feels like a betrayal of autumn itself. Specifically, the Warner Bros. Studio backlot in Burbank, a sun-soaked maze of façades and recycled street corners that somehow became the most convincing small town on television. That perfect Connecticut light? Artificial. The falling leaves? Fabricated. But the charm? Absolutely real.

Wait, so is Stars Hollow a real place or not?
Heartbreaking, no it’s not. Stars Hollow was manufactured on set in California, though it was inspired by Washington Depot, a tiny Connecticut town where creator Amy Sherman-Palladino once spent a weekend and apparently had a full spiritual awakening involving pie and gossip.

Then where is Stars Hollow supposed to be in the show?
Canonically, somewhere in Litchfield County, Connecticut, near fictional Woodbury. You know, the kind of town where your mailman knows your SAT scores.

And what about Yale? Was that real?
Sometimes. The “Yale” campus you see is mostly USC wearing an Ivy League costume. There are a few exterior shots of the real Yale in New Haven, but most of Rory’s college years were filmed back in Burbank.

When did Gilmore Girls come out?
October 2000, right before the world collectively decided that everyone on TV should talk twice as fast as normal humans. Seven seasons, one revival, countless cups of coffee, and a Yale acceptance letter later, it’s still the blueprint.

1. Stars Hollow: Warner Bros. Studio Backlot, Burbank

Stars Hollow lives on Midwest Street, a purpose-built town set on the Warner Bros. backlot that has played small-town America since the 1940s. Walk the square and you’ll recognize the gazebo, the storefronts, and that compact grid of streets that somehow contains an entire universe of opinions about coffee.

What you can actually see today depends on filming, but the Warner Bros. Studio Tour routinely rolls through Stars Hollow territory. Guides point out the square, Luke’s Diner’s facade, Miss Patty’s, Doose’s Market, the Dragonfly and the cluster of houses that subbed in for key exteriors. Around the holidays they sometimes lean into the fantasy with seasonal decor, which is on brand for a town that changes seasons on command. Book a tour rather than just showing up at the gate.

Finally, a quick lore check for the obsessives: town square you know as Stars Hollow has also masqueraded as Rosewood in Pretty Little Liars and a handful of other TV zip codes. Hollywood recycles because it’s efficient, and in this case the reuse is part of the charm.

The Stars Hollow “Inspiration”: Washington Depot, Connecticut

If Stars Hollow had an actual zip code, it would be Washington Depot’s. This quiet Connecticut town is the real-life muse that sparked Amy Sherman-Palladino’s caffeine-fueled vision. She stayed here while developing Gilmore Girls and apparently thought, “Ah yes, a place where everyone knows everyone and there’s a general store that sells both local honey and emotional safety.” That’s Washington Depot in a sentence.

It’s not a film set, and the show itself wasn’t shot here, but the vibe is eerily familiar. There’s a bookshop and general store, the Hickory Stick Bookshop,  that feels like it could sell Rory’s favourites and Luke’s coffee beans; a few clapboard buildings that could pass for Doose’s Market with the right lighting, and just enough community gossip to make you think Miss Patty might emerge from yoga class at any moment.

Travelers looking for Gilmore Girls filming locations often stop here out of sheer devotion, and locals have learned to handle it with Stars Hollow-level patience. There’s even an annual Gilmore Girls Fan Festival that fills the streets with coffee cups, knit scarves, and rapid-fire references.

3. Yale (Sort of)

When Rory Gilmore packed her cardigans and emotional baggage for Yale, she technically moved… about twenty minutes across Los Angeles. Most of the so-called Gilmore Girls Yale scenes were filmed on the University of Southern California campus, which stood in for the Ivy League dream. If you look closely, those sandstone arches and immaculate lawns have SoCal written all over them (metaphorically — no palm trees were visible, but you can feel them). Some scenes were shot at Pomona College campus, too.

However, a few exterior establishing shots were actually filmed at the real Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, mainly the courtyards and the Old Campus gates, just enough to convince viewers that Rory was somewhere snowy and sophisticated. But nearly every dorm-room scene, cafeteria moment, and Paris Geller meltdown happened under that dependable Burbank sky.
Fans who want to walk in Rory’s boots can visit both: Yale, for the real architecture and the illusion of academic calm; and USC, for the filming nostalgia. Just don’t expect to bump into Logan.

4. Chilton Prep: Greystone Mansion, Beverly Hills

Before Rory was dissecting T.S. Eliot at Yale, she was surviving Chilton, the elite prep school that gave us Paris Geller, plaid, and Lorelai’s recurring tuition panic. The exteriors of Chilton were filmed at Greystone Mansion, a 1920s Tudor-style estate tucked into the hills of Beverly Hills. You’ve probably seen it in dozens of other movies (from The Social Network to There Will Be Blood), but Gilmore Girls gave it the illusion of academic snobbery and school bells.

You can actually visit as the gardens are open to the public, and they’re spectacularly un-Connecticut. When you walk up the grand stone steps you can practically hear Headmaster Charleston sighing at Lorelai’s outfit choices. It’s a perfect stop for anyone tracing Gilmore Girls filming locations beyond Stars Hollow, and it makes for the most unexpectedly glamorous photo op of the entire route.

5. Harvard University: UCLA Campus, Los Angeles

Before Rory actually went to Yale, she had an entire relationship arc with Harvard. The dream, the sweatshirt, the FOMO. Anyway, when Gilmore Girls showed her wandering Harvard’s leafy quads, that wasn’t Boston at all. It was UCLA, standing in convincingly for one of the world’s most intimidating institutions.

Those early-season episodes — where Rory tours the campus with Lorelai, pretends to casually belong, and inevitably finds herself lost — were filmed on UCLA’s North Campus, especially around Royce Hall and Powell Library. If you’ve ever visited, you’ll recognize the pale brick arcades and that golden, too-perfect California light that no amount of New England crunch leaves could fake.

You can stroll through the same courtyards today (no tour ticket needed), and if you close your eyes, it’s easy to imagine Lorelai making an inappropriate comment about college boys in rugby shirts. It’s one of those Gilmore Girls filming locations that reminds you just how much Hollywood loves a good academic illusion.

6. New York City: The Occasional Big-City Detour

Every time Gilmore Girls left Stars Hollow, it felt like watching your small-town friend visit a fancy cousin. Rory’s New York episodes, especially the one where she impulsively meets Jess for a day in the city, gave the show a quick jolt of realism, but it is uncertain whether or not all those shots actually were filmed in New York.

It’s possible that the record store where they browse through vinyls could have been Bleecker Street Records, a beloved haunt for actual music nerds until it closed its original location years later (it’s since moved uptown).

Some sources report, however, that most of the scenes, including the park bench moment that reads like Washington Square Park, was actually staged on the Warner Bros. backlot. Anyhow, if you want the on-screen vibe, you can wander around Greenwich Village and tell yourself you’re late to meet Jess (purely for atmosphere, not accuracy).

7. Emily and Richard’s House: South Pasadena, California

Every time the camera cut from Lorelai’s chaos to Emily’s pristine dinner table, the world seemed to shift from coffee to crystal. That stately Hartford mansion where Emily and Richard hosted their Friday night dinners? It’s a real house, or at least, the exterior is. The scenes were filmed in South Pasadena, a leafy neighborhood about 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, known for its turn-of-the-century homes that scream old money and generational trauma.

The interiors were built on a soundstage, but the exterior you see (arched windows, perfect hedges, and that imposing front door) belongs to a private residence on 293 South Grand Avenue. It’s been used for other productions too, but Gilmore Girls made it famous. You can’t go inside (it’s still a private home), yet you can drive past and instantly picture Emily silently judging your parking job.

8. The Independence Inn: Brookfield Farms, Connecticut

Before the Dragonfly, there was the Independence Inn: Lorelai’s first professional home and the backdrop for some of the show’s best early chaos — burned wedding cakes, misplaced guests, and Sookie wielding kitchen utensils like weapons.

Early Independence Inn exteriors were filmed at Brookfield Farms (1464 Hidden Valley Road, Thousand Oaks). It’s a real Colonial-style property with wraparound porch energy that sells “Connecticut hospitality” without breaking a sweat. It’s also a private residence and it’s gated, which means no tours, no peeking through hedges, no “just one photo” diplomacy. A respectful drive-by from the public road is the only move.

As the series grew, production rebuilt portions of the inn back on the Warner lot for control and consistency, but that first impression of Lorelai sprinting between kitchen disasters and wedding parties came from this address.

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