Another day in Stranger Things location land, and we made it to “Hawkins,” which is actually the downtown square of Jackson, Georgia, about an hour from our house. We went yesterday, so the square was decorated for Halloween too. They had a map of “Hawkins” so you could walk around and point things out annoying to your friends, of which Jackson did. Ha! It was really cute, and it didn’t take very long. Of course everything was shut down and the signs were all gone, but he recognized the buildings, even the spot in the alley where the boys got into a fight in season one. So please enjoy some more pics today and I’ll get back to our regularly scheduled program tomorrow, when I’m not tired as hell from Halloween festivities!
M.
Chief Hopper checking out the map at the pub that was used as the face of “Hawk Theater.” The other side of the pub, headed down to the alley.Finding the right spot to recreate the scene. Peeved that there was a car in the lot, even though it said, “No parking in alley.” But you can see the Rental Solutions in the background, same as it was in season one, see below. Melvard’s right next to Radio Shack! Where Joyce and Bob (season two) work!The Probate Court building is under construction, but this was used as the outside of the Hawkins Library. Jackson recognized the clock tower as we pulled into town. Don’t mind if he does. He is dressed up after all!
We have a kid obsessed with the Netflix series, “Stranger Things.” To be fair, only season one so far, but still. We also have a Halloween upon us wherein it is not safe to wander door to door asking strangers for Covid, err, candy, so we’ve been thinking up ways to celebrate this year while being socially conscious. Enter, visiting “Stranger Things” film locations while in costume! So far, so good. Living in the South’s version of Hollywood has been pretty interesting. Here, take a gander:
Chief Hopper at the Wheeler house (in East Point) Hopper lighting a cigarette leaving the hospital. (Don’t worry it’s not real. The cigarette or the hospital, it’s actually a Baptist church by Tyler Perry Studios.) Hopper “looking around” after finding Benny dead at his diner. Looking for Mad Max and the boys (season two) at the Palace Arcade. No sign of the kids at the Hawkins Middle School gym (and we had just missed them starting the set-up to film season four, got to see some new signs going up and a huge tent, before security ran us off. Oops!) And then there was Hawkins Lab. Talk about spooky szn! It’s actually an old building on Emory’s campus about ten minutes from our house. It’s so close we are headed up in a week or so to get Covid tested there (before we see family for the holidays). Ha! I’m sure Hopper will make another appearance then too.
Today we are headed to a little town just outside metro Atlanta called Jackson, Georgia which is the setting for Downtown Hawkins. More pics tomorrow. Until then, Happy Halloween and enjoy more of his favorite location!
We finished season one of “Stranger Things” with Jackson last week and have moved on to season two, but we can only watch it during the day because he likes it, but also thinks it’s creepy. Sure, I feel that flow. So it’s been slow going, but he has developed a little obsession with Hopper, which makes sense seeing as Jackson loves the law. Police Chief Jim Hopper is his new favorite, but “Stranger Things” isn’t new at our house.
Way back in 2018, Jerimiah and I watched the first season with my mom when she was visiting. She also loved the show, and had asked to wait to watch the next season with her until she came back again. Well we forgot about it the last time she was here, so we’ve been stuck in this season one standoff for ages now. Back then Jackson was too scared to watch it BUT he had a little crush on a girl who liked the show and when he asked her what she thought he should be for Halloween that year, she said “Eleven” from “Stranger Things.” So this happened…
Yeah, that’s all of us dressed up for Trunk-or-Treat at Jackson’s school that year to impress a girl he never got the guts to “ask out.” Ho hum.
We were a big hit, but I did have to explain the Eggo connection to him because again, he’d NEVER watched the show.
Fast forward to 2020 and he’s like, “Ohhh, now I get the Eggos!”
Cool.
Anyway, I wanted to be Marv, Harry, and Kevin from “Home Alone” this year. But then Covid happened and well, it’s not like we are going trick-or-treating anyway, so I let him do what he wanted and guess what he wanted?
Yeah, that’s Chief Hopper with a (fake) cigarette dangling from his mouth while he decides if he’s gonna crack open another beer or get to work. “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation” my 12-year-old has taken a liking to saying, “Coffee and contemplation.”
So there you have it. The Halloween costume has been created, once again, and he was headed to being all dressed up and nowhere to go. That is until we got a great idea! But this is a long post and my fingers are all burned to shit from ironing patches on shirts and coats and what not, so I’ll tell you about that another time. For now, enjoy some more pics of Chief Hopper.
Fall hasn’t hit Central Georgia yet, but I was feeling optimistic with the storms we were having over the weekend, so I made chili. Then we ate it in the air conditioning. It’s humid as hell today, y’all. Damn you, The South! But we pressed forward and pulled out the Halloween decorations last night. Jackson has been slowly inching into more “spooky” things lately. We certainly aren’t ready to watch “Halloween” let’s say, but we’ve almost finished the first season of “Stranger Things” and we are considering that a win. He’s so sensitive to that kind of “spookiness” though, that we have to watch the episodes during the day, quickly followed by an old episode of “The Big Bang Theory.” Ha! Working on it.
So last night we put on some Halloween music (mainly “Thriller” and the “Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack and we got to work making things “spooky” for #SpookySzn, but you know, only a little spooky.
Hope you are all full in Spooky Season, or in the least, able to eat some chili.
As y’all probably know I currently live in the Atlanta-metro area (just like Ludacris and Elton John) and today I was thinking since we share a border with Florida, the craziest state in the union, I wonder if weird stuff happens here too? And yeah, it does. Here is a list of shit that happened this week in Georgia. Enjoy!
The doors of an armored truck opened on The Perimeter and approx. $175,000 flew out onto the highway
I pooped seven or eight times a day, on average
A landlord evicted tenants for inviting black friends over, denies claim by saying: “Some of the best friends I got is colored folk.”
A Wendy’s was shut down when several employees tested positive for Hep B
A woman ordered a “Moana” cake, but her accent was so thick that the baker thought she said “Marijuana” so she got a cake with high My Little Ponies and a huge pot leaf
A Bibb County deputy was arrested for leading a racketeering scheme that involved gas station slot machines
The man who was accused of killing his mom for “Driving him crazy” was arrested at the ATL Airport
I filled up the hot tub with super-cold water and floated around in it while I drank spiked seltzer waters, listened to Adele, and had a very real conversation with an imaginary character in the book I am reading
A slow-moving triangular aircraft traveling under the cover of darkness was reported in Marietta
It was revealed that the highest number of military enlistees come from Georgia
A couple of teenagers staged a kidnapping at a mall for a YouTube video. People thought it was real, chaos ensued.
“Hipster Mayor” of Clarkston, Ted Terry, is running for senate (he’s the guy from “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” turned mayor, actually, yeah, for real)
My neighbor Ginger, tried to give me a sheet cake that someone gave her
A homeowner shot a man who was breaking into his house carrying a machete
“The Peach Truck” is on sale on Amazon. It is a cookbook made by the guy who drives all over the country selling Georgia peaches from the back of his pick-up
A 30-year-old man tossed a 13-year-old girl out of the car window during a low-speed police chase. He met her online for sex. While this happened in South Carolina, the man was from Georgia, so it counts.
It was discovered that the Starcourt Mall in Stranger Things 3 (an actual mall in Gwinnett County) may not be around for that much longer. A sports aficionado wants to bulldoze it and turn it into a Cricket stadium with 20,000 seats.
The Georgia Poison Control Center says no on essential oils, too dangerous especially for kids under 5. But for real, did you not know that? Put the damn essential oils down, Karen and go to the doctor.
Mr. Kim’s cat ran into my backyard and tried to eat peaches from my tree, when I let the dog out to chase the cat away my damn dog didn’t see the cat and the cat froze like a statue and I thought the cat was dead, like terrified straight, then about 14 squirrels who were hiding in the tree came out at once and distracted my damn dog and the cat got away
Melissa Goodnight 
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