History Main / HollywoodNewEngland

In reality, New England is one of the oldest regions of the United States: six separate states,[[note]]Writers have an annoying tendency of treating New England as a single legal entity rather than six states that handle their affairs every bit as separately as the other 44--sorry ''Series/OnceUponATime'', but orphans from Maine would not be sent to foster care in Massachusetts[[/note]] with a mountain range[[note]]technically the northern end of the Appalachians, although the region is located well outside of what most of us think of as UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}}[[/note]] running up the middle and the Gulf Stream just offshore, meaning the climate and geography are all a lot more variable than that found in most other regions of the country. (Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes.) Seacoast Massachusetts is a very different place from the suburbs of Connecticut's Fairfield County, the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, the "Northern Plantations" of Maine or the Green Mountains of Vermont, and each region has its own variations of culture, accent and traditions. All of which is pretty much lost on Hollywood.

Ah, New England: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Cradle of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, home of Plymouth Rock, Ben and Jerry's, the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bruins, Walden Pond and the Red Sox, and chock full of fish.

In reality, New England is one of the oldest regions of the United States: six separate states [[note]]Writers have an annoying tendency of treating New England as a single legal entity rather than six states that handle their affairs every bit as separately as the other 44--sorry ''Series/OnceUponATime'', but orphans from Maine would not be sent to foster care in Massachusetts[[/note]] with a mountain range up the middle and the Gulf Stream just offshore, meaning the climate and geography are all a lot more variable than that found in most other regions of the country. (Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes.) Seacoast Massachusetts is a very different place from the suburbs of Connecticut's Fairfield County, the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, the "Northern Plantations" of Maine or the Green Mountains of Vermont, and each region has its own variations of culture, accent and traditions. All of which is pretty much lost on Hollywood.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'' takes place in the deciduous forests of either Connecticut or New York, Blue Sky Studios' then-current and former base of headquarters. During the end credits, we see memorabilia from both those states, as well as a few others in New England, like Vermont.

''[[AC:[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Note: This trope is not about Hollywood. Its place is in Los Angeles, not in New England.]]]]'' [[note]]Even if there were a city anywhere in New England called Hollywood, it would not be identified as "Hollywood, New England"; it would be "Hollywood, [insert name of state]".[[/note]]

* Music/{{Abiotic}} (as of their reunion, as John Matos, Kilian Duarte, and Anthony Lusk-Simone all currently live in Massachusetts, and Lusk-Simone's studio in Leominster is effectively their central base of operations).

* Music/ShadowOfIntent (formed in central Connecticut and are still based out of there, but they now have members from New York and Texas as well)

''[[AC:[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Note: This trope is not about Hollywood. Its place is in Los Angeles, not in New England.]]]]''

* ''Series/{{Haven}}'': Based on a Stephen King short story, the show is, of course, set in Maine. The show was filmed in Nova Scotia, lending to a more authentic coastal Maine aesthetic. It also tends to avoid most of the stereotypes of Mainers, apart from [[LampshadeHanging lampshading them.]] When outsider Audrey decides to become a local, her police partner (and a local), Nathan, gifts her with duck boots, flannel, waders, a bucket hat, and a U-Maine travel mug. He also [[StereotypeFlip doesn't like lobster.]]

* ''Series/{{Haven}}'': Based on a Stephen King short story, the show is, of course, set in Maine. The show was filmed in Nova Scotia, lending to a more authentic coastal Maine aesthetic. It also tends to avoid most of the stereotypes of Mainers, apart from [[LampshadeHanging lampshading them.]] When outsider Audrey decides to become a local, her police partner (and a local), Nathan, gifts her with duck boots, flannel, waders, a bucket hat, and a U-Maine travel mug.

** '''Springfield''': As mentioned above, a rough, decrepit, dangerous city whose best days passed eons ago, and now rests on life support with the occasional well-meaning but ultimately doomed revitalization effort coming and going with little impact. If you're here, you're almost assuredly passing by on the Mass Pike or 91 on your way to Hartford and 95, and if not that, you're on your way to Six Flags New England or the Big E.

** '''Northampton''': [[{{Gayborhood}} The Provincetown of Western Mass]] - while traditionally viewed as the domain of women (primarily due to Smith College and the nearby Mount Holyoke College in Hadley), the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum has a presence there these days and you will find about as many gay and queer men and nonbinaries there. Also generally known as Western Mass's countercultural hub, rivaled only by Amherst and possibly Brattleboro, Vermont (about an hour to the north - while not in Western Mass, it is close enough to the border to have a fair bit of cultural overlap), with numerous independent art spaces and music venues (though any self-respecting Northamptonite will ''not'' include Pearl Street or anything else owned by Iron Horse Entertainment Group in that assessment).

* '''Western Mass''': Farmland, woods, college kids, and more farmland. There's also quite a bit of suburban sprawl down in the southwestern corner, particularly in Agawam, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham. Stay out of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee at all cost, and it may not be a bad idea to just stick to Amherst and Northampton if you're averse to rednecks as well. Depending on your delineation (Palmer, Belchertown, and Ware generally being the line between Western and Central), the Quabbin region (including Athol, see below) is sometimes put into this area... and the Quabbin itself being a reservoir built atop four dissolved townships (with some ruins still standing, explored by scuba divers) adds to the forlorn and isolated feel of the area.

* '''Berkshires''': Trees. Lots of trees. May as well be another plane of existence. Often treated as a part of upstate New York with the serial numbers filed off, and Pittsfield is often viewed as your first taste of the Rust Belt. Say your prayers if you have to traverse the North Adams-Charlemont stretch of the Mohawk Trail at literally any point during the winter or during heavy rainfall; between the absurdly steep hills and even more absurdly sharp hairpin turns, there's a wealth of opportunities to lose control and slam into a guardrail (if you're lucky) or a rock wall or tree (if you're not).

* '''Berkshires''': Trees. Lots of trees. May as well be another plane of existence. Often treated as a part of upstate New York with the serial numbers filed off, and Pittsfield is often viewed as your first taste of the Rust Belt. Say your prayers if you have to traverse the North Adams-Charlemont stretch of the Mohawk Trail at literally any point during the winter or during heavy rainfall - between the absurdly steep hills and even more absurdly sharp hairpin turns, there's a wealth of opportunities to lose control and slam into a guardrail (if you're lucky) or a rock wall or tree (if you're not).

* '''Merrimack Valley''': Suburban sprawl and lots of it, especially as you cross into New Hampshire (Nashua in particular is ''legendary'' for its vast loosely-connected web of strip malls, chain restaurants, and office parks near the Mass border). Do not, under any circumstances, ever enter [[WretchedHive Lawrence]] unless you have a deathwish.[[note]]The ultra-short version: There are Puerto Rican gangs north of the river and Dominican gangs south of it and they've been shooting at each other since 1978[[/note]]

* '''North Shore''': Fishermen, townies, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick heroin]]. Also has some LovecraftCountry features, especially since Salem -- of the [[SalemIsWitchCountry witch trials]] -- is located here. If you're venturing up here, you're probably either going to a large gathering at the Kowloon or passing through on your way to the New Hampshire Seacoast. If you live here, you're either a townie or you work in Boston but don't want to live in Greater Boston (or can't afford to) or don't want to commute from New Hampshire (or can't afford Portsmouth housing prices). Stay out of Lynn if you can.

* '''North Shore''': Fishermen, townies, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick heroin]]. Also has some LovecraftCountry features, especially since Salem is located here. If you're venturing up here, you're probably either going to a large gathering at the Kowloon or passing through on your way to the New Hampshire Seacoast. If you live here, you're either a townie or you work in Boston but don't want to live in Greater Boston (or can't afford to) or don't want to commute from New Hampshire (or can't afford Portsmouth housing prices). Stay out of Lynn if you can.

* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the grand old men of New England and uses it as a background in such poetry collections as ''Tales of a Wayside Inn'' and ''The Courtship of Miles Standish'' among others.

''[[AC:([[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Note: This trope is not about Hollywood. Its place is in Los Angeles, not in New England.]])]]''

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Quite a few examples, actually:
** Wrestling/{{WWE}} is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut (basically a suburb of NYC, so ''barely'' an example), even though Vincent J. [=McMahon=] (late father of the Vincent K. [=McMahon=] we all know and LoveToHate) was born in Harlem, and Madison Square Garden in lower Manhattan has always been WWE's spiritual home. (Ironically, Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the immediate forerunner of WWE, was founded in 1953 in Washington, D.C.)
** Wrestling/TripleH is from Nashua (and was even Mr. Teen New Hampshire in the 1980s), but bills himself as being from Greenwich, partly because of his marriage to [=Stephanie McMahon=]. (He also played up his French-Canadian heritage in the early days, going by the ring name "Jean-Paul Levesque.")
** Wrestling/JohnCena is from West Newbury, a suburb of Boston, and included an anthem called "Beantown" on his ''You Can't See Me'' album (where he raps, [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece "I'm like the Big Dig, baby - nobody can finish me."]])
** Despite often dressing like a stereotypical Southern Californian, Scotty 2 Hotty was from Maine.
** The Mean Street Posse were a [[GangOfHats "gang" of stereotypical Connecticut preppies in sweater-vests]].
** Jack Pfeffer, a Jewish immigrant who lived in Boston in the 1930s, promoted shows there and is generally credited with first designing the "Wrestling/RicFlair" style of wrestling costume as we know it today. He is also considered to be the first wrestling promoter to break {{Kayfabe}}.
** Perry Saturn, who wrestled in ECW, WCW, and the WWE was billed as being from Boston, Massachusetts and trained under Killer Kowalski, who lived in Massachusetts and died in Malden where he had started a very prestigious wrestling school which later moved to North Andover. Other Kowalski students included: Triple H, Chyna, Saturn's ECW tag partner John Kronus, Big John Studd, Chris Nowinski whom attended Harvard prior, Albert aka current NXT trainer Matt Bloom, Damien Sandow, and Fandango.
*** Kronus was born in Everett, MA and died in New Hampshire. Damien Sandow was born in Worcester, MA and resides in Detroit, Michigan. Fandango was born in Standish, Maine and resides in Florida. Albert/Matt Bloom was born in Peabody, MA.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* '''Merrimack Valley''': Suburban sprawl and lots of it, especially as you cross into New Hampshire (Nashua in particular is ''legendary'' for its vast loosely-connected web of strip malls, chain restaurants, and office parks near the Mass border). Do not, under any circumstances, ever enter [[WretchedHive Lawrence]] unless you have a deathwish.

* The Adam Ezra Group, a Boston-based folk-rock band, plays up just about every aspect of the urban version of this trope up to eleven in "The Devil Came up to Boston", an AffectionateParody of the Charlie Daniels classic "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".

* J. Geils band.

* Music/{{Abiotic}} (as of their reunion, as John Matos, Kilian Duarte, and Anthony Lusk-Simone all currently live in Massachusetts, and Lusk-Simone's studio in Leominster is effectively their central base of operations)

* '''Western Mass''': Farmland, woods, college kids, and more farmland. There's also quite a bit of suburban sprawl down in the southwestern corner, particularly in Agawam, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham. Stay out of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee at all cost, and it may not be a bad idea to just stick to Amherst and Northampton if you're averse to rednecks as well. Depending on your delineation, the Quabbin region (including Athol, see below) is sometimes put into this area... and the Quabbin itself being a reservoir built atop four dissolved townships (with some ruins still standing, explored by scuba divers) adds to the forlorn and isolated feel of the area.

** '''Northampton''': [[{{Gayborhood}} The Provincetown of Western Mass]] - while traditionally viewed as the domain of women (primarily due to Smith College and the nearby Mount Holyoke College in Hadley), the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum has a presence there these days and you will find about as many gay and queer men and nonbinaries there. Also generally known as Western Mass's countercultural hub, rivaled only by Amherst and possibly Brattleboro, Vermont (about an hour to the north - while not in Western Mass, it is close enough to the border to have a fair bit of cultural overlap), with numerous independent art spaces and music venues.

* '''Western Mass''': Farmland, woods, college kids, and more farmland. Add in lesbians if you're in Northampton (which anyone who lives there and/or goes to Smith can tell you is very much TruthInTelevision). There's also quite a bit of suburban sprawl down in the southwestern corner, particularly in Agawam, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham. Stay out of Springfield, Holyoke, and Chicopee at all cost, and it may not be a bad idea to just stick to Amherst and Northampton if you're averse to rednecks as well. Depending on your delineation, the Quabbin region (including Athol, see below) is sometimes put into this area... and the Quabbin itself being a reservoir built atop four dissolved townships (with some ruins still standing, explored by scuba divers) adds to the forlorn and isolated feel of the area.

** '''Lowell''': A textile city that actually managed to bounce back (unlike its neighbors Lawrence and Haverhill), mostly due to UMass Lowell and, to a much lesser degree, tourism from the historical architecture in the center. If you're here and don't go to school here, you're probably attending something at the Tsongas Center.