Netflix dropped its Little House on the Prairie reboot, and if you were a ’70s and ’80s kid obsessed with the Ingalls, there’s a pretty good chance you spent some time convinced Walnut Grove was a real place you could visit. You were a kid, and your only access to information was Encyclopedia Britannica.
Never mind the fact that it was actually filmed in Simi Valley, California, about as far from a Minnesota prairie as you can get. (You seemed to miss the fact that there were parched-looking mountains in the background.)
Every Kid Wanted Their Life to Look Like a Movie or TV Show
As you got a bit older, Chicago started to feel like the center of the universe once John Hughes got his angsty hands on it. How about a haunted subdivision built on an ancient Indian burial ground? That sounds like fun! Or a ghost town where you may end up locked in a jail cell with your family while on vacation? Heck, even a romantic cruise with a cool crew seemed like a nice way to spend some time.
MORE ’80s | The 20 Most Iconic Cars of the ’80s From Movies and TV
None of it was real, or even accurate — it all just looked better and way more interesting than your boring life as a kid with a paper route or a crappy babysitting job.
With the new “Little House” reboot bringing Walnut Grove back into the conversation, it felt like a perfect time to revisit the TV and movie spots that had every kid thinking, “I want to go there.”
LOOK: Every Kid Wanted to Go to These Famous TV and Movie Locations
Before Google Earth and instant streaming, your imagination had to do the traveling, and TV and movies were your passport. From pirate coves to suburban streets, these were the places every kid dreamed of visiting.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
LOOK: The 20 Most Iconic Cars & Trucks of the 1980s From Movies, TV, and Music
These weren’t the cars people drove to work — they were the ones that showed up on bedroom walls, Saturday morning cartoons, and the big screen.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
