Bedrock (The Flintstones)
Encyclopedia
Bedrock is the fictional prehistoric city, which is home to the characters of the animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 television series, The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...

(1960).

Size

Though the first several seasons' opening credits of the original Flintstones series stated the town's population as only 2,500 people (though it did swell to 30,000 in a dream sequence in the episode entitled "Rip Van Flintstone"), Bedrock was generally presented as a medium-sized American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 city, with all the amenities of such, but with a "prehistoric" twist. For instance, dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

s were seen being used as cranes at the town's most well-known employer, "Slate Rock and Gravel" (also known as "Rockhead and Quarry Cave Construction Company" in the series' earlier episodes).

Features

The climate of Bedrock was somewhat undetermined, since different Flintstones episodes and media have portrayed it differently. Palm trees and cycads were common yard trees, suggesting a warm climate. However, episodes and movies set at Christmas time depicted plenty of snow. Sometimes the wilderness on Bedrock's outskirts appeared to be desert-like, whereas other times it resembled a tropical/subtropical jungle.

In terms of educational features, Bedrock apparently had just one high school, Bedrock High School, alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

 of Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone
Frederick Joseph “Fred” Flintstone, also known as Fred W. Flintstone or Frederick J. Flintstone, is the protagonist of the animated sitcom The Flintstones, which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960-66. He is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles...

, his wife Wilma
Wilma Flintstone
Wilma Anna Flintstone is a fictional character in the television animated series The Flintstones. She was the red-headed wife of caveman Fred Flintstone, daughter of Pearl Slaghoople, mother of Pebbles Flintstone and a grandmother...

, and later his daughter Pebbles
Pebbles Flintstone
Pebbles Flintstone is a fictional character, the red-haired daughter of Fred and Wilma Flintstone...

. Near Bedrock could also be found Princestone University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 as well as its arch rival school Shale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, members of the Poison Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

. Also located near Bedrock was Camp Millstone Army Base, where Fred and his best friend Barney Rubble
Barney Rubble
Bernard "Barney" Rubble is the deuteragonist of the television animated series The Flintstones. He is the diminutive blonde-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble...

 were stationed after they were mistakenly inducted into the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

.

For a town its size, Bedrock has a sizeable concentration of media. Bedrock had at least one radio station (which had the call letters "BDRX") several television stations (including ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 - the Abbadabba Broadcasting Company), and several newspapers. One of the newspapers was The Daily Granite, edited by Lou Granite
Lou Grant
Lou Grant is a fictional character played by Edward Asner in two television series produced by MTM Enterprises for CBS. The first was Mary Tyler Moore , in which the character was the news director at the fictional television station WJM-TV...

, that for a time employed Wilma Flintstone
Wilma Flintstone
Wilma Anna Flintstone is a fictional character in the television animated series The Flintstones. She was the red-headed wife of caveman Fred Flintstone, daughter of Pearl Slaghoople, mother of Pebbles Flintstone and a grandmother...

 and Betty Rubble
Betty Rubble
Elizabeth 'Betty' Jean Rubble is a fictional character in the television animated series The Flintstones and its spin-offs and live-action motion pictures. She is the black-haired wife of caveman Barney Rubble and the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm Rubble...

 as reporters. Another was The Daily Slab (which usually ended up clobbering Fred after being "delivered" by Arnold the Newsboy). There were also two recording companies located in Bedrock—the Keen Teen Record Company and the Flippo Record Company. Television programs produced in Bedrock included the cooking program The Happy Housewife Show (which, for a time, starred Wilma) and the teen dance program Shinrock
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....

. Other favorite programs of Bedrock citizens, though not produced there, included such fare as Peek-a-Boo Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...

 and variety program The Ed Sulleystone Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....

.
In terms of entertainment, Bedrock featured a drive-in
Drive-in
A drive-in is a facility such as a bank, restaurant, or movie theater where one can literally drive in with an automobile for service. It is usually distinguished from a drive-through. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk out...

 movie theater where films such as The Monster and Tar Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

(produced by Gorge Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

) would play, the amphitheater The Bedrock Bowl, and several nightclubs, ranging from middle-class to high-end exclusive clubs for the city's wealthy residents (such as Cavern on the Green
Tavern on the Green
Tavern on the Green was a privately owned American cuisine restaurant located in Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City. It remained in operation from 1934 to 2009 under various owners...

, featuring their house band, "The B.C. 52s") . Bedrock also fielded a major league baseball team, the Giants (though in an earlier episode the team is known as the Boulders)as well as a pro football team, the Brontos.

There were plenty of dining options in Bedrock as well, including a drive-in restaurant serving Brontosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...

ribs and numerous fast-food outlets, including RocDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 and Bronto King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...

. There were also a number of upscale restaurants, including Maison-LaRock and Le Chateau Rockinbleau.

Regarding health care, Bedrock had the Rockapedic Hospital, where Pebbles was born. A police department helps protect the residents, as does a volunteer fire department, although the episode in which the volunteer fire department was introduced suggests the uselessness of such a service in a city of stone buildings; instead, its members use it as an excuse to create a social club. However several other episodes feature a more traditional full-time firefighting service.

Other businesses included bowling alleys, pool halls (including Boulder Dan's, which Fred and Barney almost bought), health clubs, hotels, supermarkets (including Safestone's), department stores (such as Macyrock's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

 [where Fred once worked as a department store Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...

 during the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 Season] and Gimblestone's [where Pebbles worked as a teenager]), one catering service—Cobblestone Caterers (as the owner proclaimed, "we're the only caterer in town!"), one Fancy Dress costume store, an amusement park, football arena, and the Pyrite Advertising Agency, where Pebbles worked as an adult. Bedrock Airport was served by Ptrans-Pterodactyl Airlines. In one of the earliest episodes (in which Fred switches places with his double, J. P. Gotrox), Bedrock is introduced by a narrator as having, "a butcher, a baker and a pizza pie maker".

Not much is known of the layout of Bedrock, but it does include Cobblestone Way, the street the Flintstones and the Rubbles live (though the original series also listed it as Cobblestone Lane and as Stonecave Road). The town is shown consistently to include areas of suburban development, as well as a well-developed downtown core, complete with multi-story skyscrapers. The city is also served by a freeway system that is shown in numerous episodes to be subject to gridlock
Gridlock
The term gridlock is defined as "A state of severe road congestion arising when continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill; a traffic jam of this kind." The term originates from a situation possible in...

, despite Bedrock's modest stated population. In one episode in the original series, it is depicted as even having its own subway system.

Next door to the Flintstone residence was Tombstone Manor, home to The Gruesomes
The Gruesomes (fictional characters)
The Gruesomes are a family of fictional characters who appeared on The Flintstones television series. They debuted in 1964 during the show's fifth season...

 - Weirdly, Creepella, and their son, Goblin (a.k.a. Gobby) as well as a strange assortment of relatives and pets.

The people of Bedrock tended to be fairly friendly, if not without having various quirks. The denizens of Bedrock had a strong sense of civic spirit, and tended to participate in various charities, parades, and so forth. The city is home to a number of service organizations, the best known of which (in the context of the Flintstones television series) was the Loyal Order of Water Buffalos, which counted among its membership Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.

Location

Bedrock was the county seat of fictional Cobblestone County, and stated in the first season episode "The Tycoon" to be 200 feet below sea level; presumably, the nearby town of Red Rock was located in Cobblestone County as well. However, no further information was ever given for any of these locations, besides being set in a prehistoric version of the United States. The climate is debatable, but the flora indicates that Bedrock is either subtropical or arid. To the north of Bedrock lies Granitetown—hometown of Barney Rubble
Barney Rubble
Bernard "Barney" Rubble is the deuteragonist of the television animated series The Flintstones. He is the diminutive blonde-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble...

 and Fred's boss, Mr. Slate.

Bedrock was in one episode shown as being a two day drive from Rock Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, and in another episode, several hours' drive from Indiarockolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

 (which suggests that Bedrock might be located in what is today the Midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

). In another episode, traveling to New Rock City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to make it to the 'big time'. Travel to Hollyrock in Rock Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, usually involved an "airplane" flight --- the "plane" in this case often shown as either a giant pterodactyl or a wooden plane with smaller pterodactyls on each wing as the "engines". In one episode Fred and Barney went to a convention in Frantic City. Another episode had the Flintstones and the Rubbles visiting the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

—being several million years in prehistoric times, the canyon was little more than a small stream which "might be a big thing someday."

It has also been suggested that Bedrock is fairly close to the ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...

 as the city has a Yacht Club
Yacht club
A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to sailing and yachting.-Description:Yacht Clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there are some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations...

 and the Flintstones and Rubbles took several trips to the beach. It is also not far from Oceanrock Aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

 - home of Dripper the Seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

asaurus.

Tourist attractions

Several small tourist attractions and/or camper parks have been built in honor of Bedrock. The most famous and oldest is Bedrock City
Bedrock City
Bedrock City is a campground and theme park in Custer, South Dakota in the Black Hills which features buildings and characters inspired by The Flintstones television series. The facility was created by a pair of Custer concrete makers.-Summary:...

 in Custer, South Dakota
Custer, South Dakota
Custer is a city in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,067 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Custer County.-History:...

 which opened in 1966 and is still around. There is also a Bedrock City in Valle, Arizona
Valle, Arizona
Valle is an unincorporated community in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. It lies at , at an altitude of 5,994 feet , at the junction of U.S. Route 180 and State Route 64. Its attractions include the Valle Airport , the Planes of Fame Air Museum, and Flintstones Bedrock City...

 which opened in 1972. Two Canadian Bedrock Cities, both in British Columbia, were closed and/or demolished in the late 1990s. One in Kelowna
Kelowna
Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 was closed in 1998, demolished and changed into the Landmark
Landmark Cinemas (Canada)
Landmark Cinemas Inc. is a film exhibition chain operating 33 theatres across the four western provinces of Canada. Landmark Cinemas Inc. was founded in 1965. The company's corporate office is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.-British Columbia:...

 Grand 10 multiplex theatre & a strip mall. The second one located in Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...

 was closed in 1994 and was changed into a dinosaur theme park called "Dinotown
Dinotown
Originally located at Bridal Falls B.C. Canada, 15 minutes east of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Dinotown opened in 1975, under the name Bedrock City. Based around The Flintstones licensing, it reopened in 1995 under the non-licensed theming. It was on Highway 1.The Ell family opened Bedrock City...

" which has in turn shutdown on September 6, 2010; The owners are exploring options for moving the park.
Another Flintstones themed park in Canada was Calaway Park
Calaway Park
Calaway Park is Western Canada's largest outdoor family amusement park. The park is located in Springbank, Rocky View County, Alberta, west of the city of Calgary on the Trans-Canada Highway....

 near Calgary, Alberta. It is still in operation, although the Hanna-Barbera licensing was dropped several years ago.

The reason for the closure of the two Canadian theme parks was due to licensing. "Throughout the '80s and '90s the licensing for any intellectual properties of Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...

 changed hands numerous times before they ended up in the possession of Time Warner".

As of 1977, Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...

 was a possible site for a Flintstone Fun Park; it's believed that this was never built.

Other places

In Kendall, Florida
Kendall, Florida
Kendall is a suburban neighborhood of metropolitan Miami, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the area had a total population of 75,226....

, there is a construction company named Fred and Barney's Gravel Pit with a picture of them outside.

In Flint, Michigan
Flint, Michigan
Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

, Bedrock is the common unofficial nickname of the city.

External links

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