Bedrock, stone-age small town home of The Flintstones
Originally, The Flintstones were largely an animated adaptation of Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners. Ralph and Ed were replaced by Fred and Barney, while their wives Wilma and Betty took the place of Alice and Trixie. Though they didn't reside in a Brooklyn walk-up, The Flintstones and Rubbles did. They resided in Bedrock, a medium-sized city that in the original series offered a lot of amenities for a place of its size. Although the location of Bedrock was never made known, several hints allow for conjecture. Although the presence of palms and desert-like scenery would seem to place it in the American Southwest, Christmas programs revealed that Bedrock was covered with seasonal snow during the holidays.
The current Stone Age family was supposedly two days' trip from Rock Vegas, which is likely Las Vegas, in one episode of the original series. Another had them traveling many hours to Indianrockolis, which would locate Bedrock in the American Midwest if the latter corresponds to the modern Indianapolis. It appeared to be an ordinary 1960s mid-sized American city. Barney had an undefined area of employment, but both he and Fred held blue-collar positions. In a quarry, Fred had a job driving a brontosaurus crane. Both showed the prevailing clichés of the Midwest at the time, including joining a Lodge (the Loyal Order of Dinosaurs, later renamed the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo), playing pool and bowling, and getting married to stay-at-home wives.
Many of the midwestern cities of the time could have served as inspiration for Bedrock. Where it wasn't, we know more about than where it was. Given that the Flintstones and Rubble frequently visit the beach and that the city has a yacht club, it may have been close to the Great Lakes. To serve the tourist industry, Bedrock City opened near Custer, South Dakota, in 1966. It is currently closed. As of the time of writing, a Bedrock in Arizona is still open.
- Location: fictitious location
