Sunnydale

Sunnydale was a small Californian town, inhabited by the slayer Buffy Anne Summers, until shortly after the empowering of all of the Potential Slayers and the town's destruction.

A college town, it housed the University of California at Sunnydale. The area of Sunnydale was a concentration of demonic energy, which had its focal point under the old Sunnydale High School, and was caused by this being the site of the Hellmouth, a gateway between the Earthly and Demonic dimensions. Sunnydale was destroyed and sank into the earth when a massive fissure opened beneath it. Fortunately for the inhabitants the preceding sense of unrest on the streets and psychic disturbance in the town had already spurred most of the population to leave.

Sunnydale itself
Sunnydale's size and surroundings are implausible, it is designed largely for comic effect and narrative convenience. During the first three seasons, Sunnydale's population is revealed to be 38,500, very few high schools, forty-three churches, a small private college, a zoo, a museum, and one modest main street (Maple Court). Even so, it has twelve gothic cemeteries. These cemeteries are so heavily used that services are sometimes held at night.

In later seasons it is revealed that Sunnydale contains a campus of the University of California system, as well as a profitable magic supply shop. The town, or a surrounding area, is also seen to include a large park containing a creek and a lake, and one of its cemeteries is shown to be adjacent to a lake.

Sunnydale has a train station, a bus station, a small airport, and a small military base.

Directly beneath Sunnydale High School is a Hellmouth, a location in which mystical energy converges and in which the walls that separate this world from hell dimensions is particularly thin, attracting demonic creatures and affecting the surrounding areas. This functions as a major plot device in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as it explains why vampires and other demons are so prevalent in Sunnydale.



Sunnydale possesses many common horror-movie characteristics, such as an abundance of dark alleyways, abandoned mansions and factories, and an adult population that is either clueless or perpetually in denial, in stark contrast to the demon-fighting, supernaturally aware teens.

By the show's seventh season, set in 2002-03, the city's population has fallen to 32,900. In the spring, the town is almost completely evacuated before its destruction.

Sunnydale's surroundings
Sunnydale has a somewhat isolated location.

The town is situated near several acres of woods and forest, including Miller's Woods. Breaker's Woods is 45-minute drive from town.

Sunnydale is located on or near the Pacific Ocean. An ocean port with several docked ships is nearby. Nearby, Kingman's Bluff stands on a tall cliff overlooking the sea. There is a nearby beach.

Near, or in Sunnydale is an old quarry house built beside a deep lake, located a few feet from a cliff edge. In addition, there is a hydroelectric dam in the vicinity of Sunnydale.

Within a day's drive of Sunnydale is a desert.

In the final episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Chosen"), and also in the first issue of the Buffy: Season Eight comic book, Sunnydale is depicted being surrounded by desert terrain. However, this appears to contradict information established earlier in the series about Sunnydale's surroundings.

Maps of Sunnydale
Maps of Sunnydale have appeared at various times during the show:


 * A large map of "Sunnydale County" hangs on the wall of Principal Snyder's office and also on the wall of Mayor Wilkins' office. This is actually a map of Santa Barbara County, California with the words "Sunnydale County" superimposed on it. According to this map, Sunnydale is located at a bend on the California coast. To the south and west of Sunnydale is the Pacific Ocean.


 * Giles uses a street map of Santa Barbara as a map of Sunnydale when he is plotting sightings of the Initiative commandos in the series's fourth season.


 * A street map of central Sunnydale is used by the Scooby Gang twice in the seventh season.


 * In the seventh season, Andrew draws a map of Sunnydale to track the First's activities. The general shape of the coastline matches the map used in season three.  According to Andrew's map, there are woods between Sunnydale and the ocean to the west and to the south, and directly southeast of the town, at the location where the coast bends, there is a dark forest. There are also woods to the east of Sunnydale, as well as railroad tracks.

Evidence for a location in the Santa Barbara region
Sunnydale is located on the California coast, about a two-hour drive northwest of Los Angeles. This is indicated by the following:


 * In the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy has just moved from Los Angeles to a house in Sunnydale, and she complains that she is now "two hours from a Neiman Marcus". This is evidently in reference to the Neiman Marcus store in Beverly Hills.


 * The characters visit other towns on the central and southern coast of California, including Monterey and Oxnard.


 * The characters often drive to Los Angeles, but rarely refer to the San Francisco Bay Area, suggesting that they are much closer to the former than to the latter. Indeed, when the characters visit the Bay Area, it seems to be a more substantial trip. When Giles visits Oakland, he flies by plane, and Gilroy is a significant ride "up north" on a motorcycle.


 * In the third season, Sunnydale is shown on a TV weather map in approximately the same position as Santa Barbara.


 * In the fourth season, the characters are attacked by the spirits of Native Americans described as Chumash, a tribe local to Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.


 * In an episode of Angel, Lilah refers to Sunnydale as being "up the coast" from Los Angeles.


 * In the comic book Reunion, written by Jane Espenson, Anya states that the Denny's in Oxnard is exactly half-way between Buffy's and Angel's residences. From the Hyperion Hotel to Oxnard is 59 miles; assuming that Anya was being precise, this would put Sunnydale on the northwest outskirts of Santa Barbara.

Thus, this evidence would place Sunnydale very close to Santa Barbara, California. Since Santa Barbara is never itself been mentioned in the show, it could be surmised that Sunnydale simply is the Santa Barbara of the Buffy universe. Many of the establishing shots of the town are in fact shots of Santa Barbara.

On the other hand, it also is possible that Santa Barbara exists in the Buffy universe, and that Sunnydale is merely located close to it. Joss Whedon stated in November 1998 that "Sunnydale is in fact near Santa Barbara."

Evidence for other locations
There are also a few indications that associate Sunnydale with other California locations:


 * UC Sunnydale also has a connection to the University of California, Santa Cruz. In several episodes of the fourth season, UC Sunnydale dormitories named Kresge and Stevenson are mentioned. Kresge and Stevenson are names of colleges on the campus of UC Santa Cruz. Note, however, that in Angel, Eve refers to UC Santa Cruz as her alma mater, so UC Santa Cruz is a distinct school in the Buffy universe.


 * Buffy's home is in the 95037 ZIP Code, according to the text on a letter shown in the show. This is the real life ZIP Code for the city of Morgan Hill, which is situated southwest of San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale.


 * Joss Whedon has remarked that originally he loosely based Sunnydale on Monterey, California, but that it was never intended to be an exact parallel.

Connection to Sunnyvale
Sunnydale's name is very close to that of Sunnyvale, a city in California's Silicon Valley. There is some evidence of a Sunnydale-Sunnyvale connection:


 * In the seventh season, the character Cassie Newton is shown to have created a website. Screenwriter Rebecca Rand Kirshner created an actual website for this character, and registered it to "Cassie Newton" at a fake address. The ZIP Code she used is 94086, which is an actual ZIP Code in Sunnyvale.


 * Sunnyvale borders the city of Santa Clara, California whose name bears a resemblance to Santa Carla, another fictional vampire-infested California coastal town and the setting of the film The Lost Boys, from whence the term vamp out, used often in Buffy and Angel, originates.

However, the geography of Sunnyvale makes it a poor candidate for Sunnydale, since it is located more than 300 miles (480 km) north of Los Angeles.

Filming locations
Various southern California locations are used as stand-ins for Sunnydale:


 * The exterior shots of Sunnydale High are of Torrance High School in Torrance, California.


 * The exterior shots, and some interior shots, of Buffy's home are of an actual home located in Torrance.


 * The exterior shots of the Mayor's office in season three are filmed in Torrance, California.


 * Most of the University of California, Sunnydale scenes were filmed at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in a closed sound stage designed to match the UCLA architecture. Some of the later scenes were filmed at a private business park.


 * The exterior shots of New Sunnydale High were filmed at California State University, Northridge in Northridge, California.

Prior to Buffy's arrival
Long before humans settled the area, an entrance to the Hellmouth existed at the site of the future town of Sunnydale.

In ancient times, a magic scythe was used at the site of the Hellmouth "to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the Earth." After this, the scythe was hidden, and its last guardian remained, waiting in a pagan temple that would somehow remain unnoticed for centuries.

Centuries later, Navajo and Chumash peoples lived in this area. One or more groups of monks or friars also settled in this area. As in general California history, it can safely supposed those friars to be Spanish Franciscans, who arrived in California in the late 18th century. In 1812, there was an earthquake in the Sunnydale region that caused a cave-in in which an entire mission was lost; the very existence of the mission was soon forgotten. .

Richard Wilkins arrived in California in the late 1800s, looking for gold. He founded Sunnydale (after considering the alternate names "Happydale" and "Sunny Acres") in a demon infested valley after a Navajo Slayer died there. He made a pact with the demons to found a town atop the Hellmouth for them "to feed on", in return for the promise of immortality by becoming a pure demon himself. Wilkins became Mayor of Sunnydale.

In the 1930s, there was at least one more major earthquake in Sunnydale. This caused a cave-in that swallowed up The Master and his lair, as well as the temple on Kingman's Bluff. (The date of this earthquake is given as either 1932 or 1937, although it is possible these were two distinct quakes.)

Sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, Richard Wilkins was again elected mayor, now under the name of "Richard Wilkins III", and served more than one term.

By the 1990s, Sunnydale appeared to have become a typical on the California coast, with a popular mayor, a police force, and a local newspaper (the Sunnydale Press ). However, Mayor Wilkins had instructed the police to cover up any supernatural or mysterious violence occurring in the city, and had instructed Principal Snyder to cover up supernatural violence occurring at Sunnydale High.

During the series
The series begins in the winter of 1997, when Buffy Summers, the current vampire slayer, moves to 1630 Revello Drive, and Buffy begin attending Sunnydale High. There she meets new friends, including Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, and Oz, as well as the vampire Angel and her new watcher, Rupert Giles. This "Scooby Gang" often hangs out at the Bronze, the Espresso Pump (a local coffee house with a retro gas station motif) and the Sun Cinema. Buffy's mother, Joyce, works in an art gallery in Sunnydale.

During their time in high school, Buffy and her friends fight a number of vampires, most notably the Master, Spike, Drusilla, and (when he had lost his soul) Angel. Another slayer, Faith, arrives in their senior year of high school (Season 3) and lives at the Downtowner Motel until she joins forces with Mayor Wilkins.

At the end of the third season (June 1999), Sunnydale High is destroyed in a great conflict that kills Mayor Wilkins and Principal Snyder. After this point, there is no mention in the television show of the political leaders of the city. The police occasionally appear, but the police chief does not. There is no further discussion of the police covering up supernatural evidence, although one newspaper headline suggests this may have continued.

As the fourth season begins (fall 1999), Buffy and Willow begin attending the University of California, Sunnydale. There they discover that the United States government was operating a secret military complex, the Initiative, in a cavern beneath the UC Sunnydale campus. The Initiative is closed down at the end of the season (spring 2000) after a climactic battle with the cyborg Adam. By this time, Tara Maclay and Anya have been added to the Scooby Gang. Later this same year, Giles purchases a magic shop named the Magic Box.

Sometime between the fourth and fifth seasons (during the summer of 2000), the mysterious "Key" is transformed into Buffy's younger "sister", Dawn Summers. The next year brings deaths of Joyce Summers and also of Buffy herself, although Buffy manages to return from the grave. After this point, Buffy and Dawn become co-owners of the family house.

At the end of the sixth season (spring 2002), the Magic Box is destroyed in a battle between Willow and Buffy. At the beginning of the next season (fall 2002), Sunnydale High is rebuilt, on exactly the same location as before - directly over the Hellmouth.

By this time, knowledge of supernatural phenomena seems to be slowly growing in the town. Sunnydale's population is also revealed to have dropped to 32,900.

In the second half of the seventh season (early 2003), supernatural manifestations at Sunnydale High reach unprecedented levels. Within less than a month, virtually the entire population of the town flees in a mass evacuation. Soon thereafter, the cataclysmic showdown between the Scooby Gang and The First Evil results in the complete obliteration of the town, which collapses into a giant pit, closing the entrance to the Hellmouth.



Behind the Scenes
Sunnydale, California is the fictional suburban setting for the popular television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of the typical, anonymous, generic suburban city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror movies.

Sunnydale's size and surroundings are implausible and the size of the town changed as the series progressed.

Sunnydale possesses many common horror-movie characteristics, such as an abundance of dark alleyways, abandoned mansions and factories, and an inexplicable divide between its demon-fighting, supernaturally aware teens and the sinister or clueless, perpetually in-denial adults.

Sunnydale is "located" on the California coast, two hours northwest of Los Angeles. If Sunnydale is to be identified with an actual college town in this region, Santa Barbara (or perhaps San Luis Obispo) would be the logical choice. In Season Three, the mayor's office is shown with a giant map of "Sunnydale County"; this map is an actual map of Santa Barbara County with a new name pasted over it. Many of the long-range outside shots of the town are actually shots of Santa Barbara. These are especially clear in the widescreen versions of seasons four to seven; some of the Spanish-style buildings are obviously in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara to anyone familiar with the city.

In fiction fandom, Sunnydale Syndrome is a name given to the semi-common tendency of mundane characters to fail to notice, or to reject as unreal or impossible, the unusual activities taking place under their noses, even when blindingly obvious.