Toontown (location)

This article is on the fictional location from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Mickey Mouse & Friends franchise. For the themed area of Disneyland, see Mickey's Toontown (Disneyland Park). For the themed land in Tokyo Disneyland, see Toontown (Tokyo Disneyland).

Toontown is a fictional location from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Toontown is a stylized, cartoon neighbourhood/municipality which is home to, "Toon" cartoon characters and which follows cartoon logic. A Disney cartoon centric version of Toontown often appears in the parks, sometimes referred to as Mickey's Toontown, in attractions and as the setting for Toontown themed lands.

Description[]

Toontown is a city-like neighbourhood/township located outside of Los Angeles, California. Much of the architecture is vibrant, unconventionally formed and somewhat anthropomorphic with nature also appearing to operate on cartoon logic within the town's boundaries.

The four most prominent known organizations in Toontown are the Toontown Hysterical Society, Junior Woodchucks, Mouse Ear Society, and Toontown Handy Helpers (with past prominent organizations including the Loyal Knights of the Inkwell, Daughters of the Animated Reel, Benevolent & Protective Order of Mouse, and Optimist Intoonational).^[1] The township also considers itself, "Best Friend City" to Duckburg, Spoonerville, Hot Dog Hills and Mouseton. Toontown also has radio-services such as, "W.A.C.K.Y. Radio".

Features[]

Assorted[]

Brave Little Tailor Shop:^[2]
Carnival: Somewhere in the Toontown vicinity is a carnival attended by various Toontown residents. It was largely destroyed in a twister.
Carolwood Barn: This is a barn just outside of Mickey's neighbourhood in Toontown, along one of the roads. The barn was presumably connected to Walt Disney and his Carolwood-Pacific Railroad.
Minnie's Style Studio:
Old Mill: In the hills visible along Toontown is "The Old Mill", a ramshackle mill which is home to various animals.

Downtown Toontown[]

Downtown Toontown is an urban and commerce-filled section of Toontown with various dark streets and alleyways.

1401 Flower Shop:
3rd Little Piggy Bank: A bank adjacent to Toontown City Hall.
Barber:
Bestaurant:
Brave Little Tailor shop:
Bullina China Shoppe: A china shop run by an anthropomorphic bull named Bullina.
Café Daisy:
Carter's Cameras:
Clarabelle's: A dining-service run by Clarabelle Cow.
Clara Cluck's Singing School: A singing-school at the address 4213, run by operatic chicken Clara Cluck since at least the 1940s.
Courthouse: The courthouse adjacent to Toontown City Hall. Also in the courthouse was office of Scrooge McDuck, acting as an investment counsellor.
Department of Street Repair:^[3]
Daisy's Dance Studio: An inner-city dance studio run by Daisy Duck.
Dog Pound: On the lower-levels is Toontown's dog pound while the upper levels has the dentistry office of Dr. Drillum.
Dusty Antiques:
El CapiTOON Theater: Toontown's historic first movie theater which is protected and managed by the Toontown Hysterical Society.
EngineEar Souvenirs: EngineEar Souvenirs is a store which primarily sells resources for model train-tracks.
Factory: A dangerous factory in inner-city Toontown.
Fireworks Factory:
Gag Factory:
Gag Warehouse:
Glass Factory:
Goofy's Gas: A gas-station run by Goofy.
Grand Central Hotel:
Holt's Coffee Shop:
Horace Horsecollar Gym:
Ice Cream: An ice-cream shop at the address 312.
Ink and Paint Club: The Ink and Paint Club is a back-alley nightclub which has been active since the 1940s and which has Toon employees and performers. It appears to border Toontown and non-cartoon Los Angeles.
Insurance: An insurance agency allocated between the Toontown Cab Co. and Safe Company. The upper-level of the building is an office for the detective Toby Tortoise.
Iwerks & Uwerks Water Works: An inner-city waterworks, seemingly established in 1901.
Jolly Trolley:
Library: A library above which is the space of, "Laugh-O-Grams Films, Inc." employing Walt Disney.
Maison des Souris: The Maison des Souris (French: House of Mouse) is a downtown nightclub.
Planning Commission:
Pluto's Dog House:
Post Office:
Retlaw Parking:
Safe Company: A building which specialized in the sale of safes, which often dropped from its roof.
Toontown Alley Street: Alley street is a dark street which in the 1940s was used by the villainous weasels of the Toon Patrol as a base and to brew, "The Dip".
Toontown Cab Co.: The brick building headquarters for Toontown's taxi-cab company, run by sentient taxi-cars such as Benny the Cab and Lenny the Cab.
Toontown City Hall:
Toontown Fire Department: A fire department established in the year 1928.
Toontown Hill Sign: On the hills outside of Toontown are a sign reading, "TOONTOWN", similar to the Hollywood Hills signage.
Toontown Hotel:^[4]
Toontown Power House:
Toontown Train Depot: The train depot for the Toontown Railway, known to connect to Camp Woodchuck, Duckberg, Spoonerville, Hot Dog Hills and Mouseton.^[5]^[6]

Mickey's Neighbourhood[]

A much more suburban portion of Toontown, where more famous and powerful Toons live.

CenTOONial Park:
- Replaced, "Toon Park", labelled as having been established in 1932.
Chip ‘n Dale’s Treehouse:
Gadget's House: This is the house of inventor squirrel, Gadget Hackwrech. Behind the house is the (likely miniature) rollercoaster, Gadget's Go Coaster, made by Gadget from scavenged materials.
Goofy’s Freez Time:
Goofy's Playhouse:
Mickey's Fountain: A fountain in the middle of several of the houses which has a sculpture depicting Mickey Mouse conducting various anthropomorphic instruments.
Mickey's House:
Minnie's House:
Toon Lake: Toon Lake is a small lake along the neighbourhood.
- The S.S. Miss Daisy: The Miss Daisy is the houseboat of Donald Duck.

Runnamuck Park[]

Runnamuck Park is a large and grassy park outside of Downtown Toontown. The Runamuck Railroad passes throughout the park.

Merry-Go-Round:
Picnic Area:
Playground:
Runnamuck Railroad Station: The RRR (Runamuck Rail Road) passes through the park and is based out of a wooden train-station.
Tunnel: A tunnel-system for the railroad and cars, established in 1928.
Yensid Valley: A valley seemingly named after the sorcerer Yen Sid.

History[]

Background[]

Early history[]

The earliest year known in Toontown history is, "1901" when some of its waterways were constructed. As, "Toons" became prominent performers in animated film and cartoons for studios like Disney, Warner Bros, Fleischer Studios and Maroon Cartoons, Toontown became a neighbourhood for Toon denizens of Hollywood. For much of the 20th century, these Toons were a marginalized community, subject to discriminatory laws from the government and who were segregated from several spaces while exploited for the entertainment industry.

Toontown's official seal was established in the year 1928. In the same year, the Toontown Fire Department was established. In 1932, CenTOONial Park was established. In 1935 and 1936, Toontown's mayor was one, "Ani Mation" who gave Mickey Mouse various awards.

By the 1940s, Toontown was mainly owned by the ACME Corporation and its toon-loving, "Gag King" owner, Marvin Acme. The ACME Corporation engineered and sold large amounts of the cartoon props used by Toontown's citizens.

Cloverleaf Industries[]

By 1947, Toontown came under the jurisdiction of Judge Doom through way of bribery. As judge, Doom created a fascist, Nazi-like identity and employed a gang of nefarious weasels called the Toon Patrol to act as law-enforcement. Doom also found a way which permanently kills Toons, inventing a green substance called, "The Dip" used for brutal executions of Toons, sometimes without trial.

Around 1947, Doom happened upon Los Angeles city council's plans to create a, "Freeway". Judge Doom planned to profiteer off of these plans through plotting to destroy Toontown with a Dip Machine, and build a freeway through it. He also created a business called Cloverleaf Industries to purchase and dismantle the Pacific Electric Railway's inexpensive Red Car system of public transit, forcing residents to use the planned freeway.

To destroy Toontown, Doom first needed to remove its owner Marvin Acme of the ACME Corporation and pin the murder on another. For this, Doom offered to buy Maroon Cartoons from its owner R.K. Maroon in-return for him black-mailing Jessica Rabbit, the wife of Maroon Cartoons star Roger Rabbit, into having an affair with Marvin Acme or else he would black-list Roger. Maroon subsequently hired private-investigator Eddie Valiant to follow Jessica and take photos of her affair then reveal this to Roger, giving him a motive for murdering Acme. That night, Judge Doom murdered Marvin Acme by following his old modus operandi, dropping a safe on his head. Also on this night, Roger went to Jessica's dressing-room to make up with her and when she wasn't there, he wrote her a love-letter on a piece of paper left by Marvin Acme.

The following day, Judge Doom and the Toon Patrol showed up to blame Roger for the murder, planning to hunt him down and Dip him without trial. Eddie and Roger teamed up however and learned of Cloverleaf's offers to buy both Toontown and Maroon Cartoons, leading to Eddie confronting R.K. Maroon. However, Judge Doom shot Maroon dead before he was able to tell his identity to Valiant. After this, Doom was able to take Eddie and Jessica as captives before Roger showed up to save them, at which point he captured the rabbit as-well.

While Doom left the room, Eddie was able to kill the Toon Patrol through causing them to laugh themselves to death, and kicking their leader into a vat of Dip. When Doom returned, Eddie managed to save his Toon allies then left Doom to be crushed under a steam-roller, revealing the judge's true toon identity. Judge Doom then revealed to Eddie that it was he who murdered Eddie's brother, and attempted to kill Eddie as-well, only for Eddie to activate a Dip nozzle and melt him to death in his own creation, screaming. After this, Doom's machine was destroyed by a Toontown train and many Toons gathered around to see his lair. While initially afraid that Toontown would be bought and used by the next land-developer, Eddie pieced together that the paper he wrote his love-letter on was Marvin Acme's will which left Toontown to the Toons.

Car Toon Spin[]

Around 1947-1948, the Toon Patrol returned under unknown circumstances and began a crime ring while secretly brewing large quantities of Dip.^[7] Inspired by Eddie Valiant, Jessica decided to become a private-investigator herself and track down the weasels. Using her celebrity status, Jessica spoke out on the weasels saying, "Enough is enough. The good toons of our neighbourhoods are afraid to come out at night, and it is getting worse by the day! Those weasels are up to something big...I am going to find out what it is, and put a stop to it!".

On one night of investigation, Jessica tracked down the weasels as their leader Smartass was transporting canisters of Dip. Smartass dumped some Dip on the street, burning the wheels of Benny being driven by Roger, and his cousin Lenny who was transporting cab passengers. After driving through the streets of Toontown, the heroes found the Weasels in the Gag Factory where Jessica knocked out Wheezy and Smoky with a mallet. When Smartass attempted to attack Lenny with a Dip Machine, Roger helped them all escape using a large portable hole.

Mickey's Toontown[]

Eventually, in 1993, Mickey Mouse and his fellow Toontown residents decided to open their hometown to the public for visitors, digging a tunnel through the berm.

Around the 2010s/2020s, McDuck Enterprises funded a renovation of the El CapiTOON Theater. Around this time Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was seemingly elected to a prominent political position.

Appearances[]

Disney's Hollywood Studios[]

Disney's Hollywood Studios is largely themed to a fictionalized depiction of Hollywood which often references Toontown characters and the plot of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It was once planned for Sunset Boulevard to have a Roger Rabbit themed attraction which would bring guests to Toontown.

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway[]

This attraction's main ride is largely set in the Toontown region and part of Toontown's city.

Disney Springs Marketplace Coop[]

There is a flight-board in the marketplace which mentions a flight arriving in Disney Springs from Toontown. The code for the flight is MK 993 at gate 71, referencing Mickey's name, Mickey's Toontown opening in Disneyland in 1993, and the opening date of Walt Disney World.^[8]

Mickey's Toontown[]

Toontown is the eponymous setting for this themed land.

Mickey's Toontown Fair[]

Mickey's Toontown Fair was named for Toontown though its setting is questionable, with some references to it occurring in Duckberg or some other location outside Toontown where Toontown characters go to get away from the city.^[9] However, in Minnie's house was an honour of citizenship for the fair which possibly referenced it as being a part of Toontown, with Scrooge McDuck referenced as mayor.^[10]

Trivia[]

Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit parallels how predominately black communities were treated in the 1940s. In the film, "Toons" are treated similarly to how black performers were (especially given how many cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse have their design and performances originating from animated depictions of minstrel black-face performances). In the film elements of this include: the Toons being segregated at spaces where they perform, Judge Doom's use of Roger as a political scapegoat, Doom's Nazi influenced aesthetic and oppression of the Toons, and the plan to destroy the Toons' neighbourhood being analogous to the conspiracy behind the construction of the Southern California freeways.
Toontown has some references to other Disney Parks entities:
- The framed edition of Mickey Mouse Disco comes from G-Force Records from Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.
- The condiments used by the El CapiTOON comes from Begorra Farms, referencing the Adventureland leprechaun Patrick Begorra.
- The carnival's Great Moving Ride and twister attraction is a reference to the Great Movie Ride.
Windows in the Downtown Toontown area have referenced businesses belonging to Jiminy Cricket, Figaro, the Three Little Pigs, Walt Disney, and the Big Bad Wolf.^[11]
Toontown's "Best Friend" municipalities are other Toon inhabited locations used by Disney. Duckburg is the setting of DuckTales and home of Scrooge McDuck, Spoonerville is home of Goofy, Max and Pete in Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie (1995), Hot Dog Hills is setting of various pre-school oriented Mickey Mouse cartoons, and Mouseton is the home of various Mickey Mouse characters in some comics and shorts.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Toontown was home to cartoons from various non-Disney studios such as Warner Bros, Universal Cartoon Studios, MGM and Max Fleischer cartoons.
Toontown's official, "Seal", is Salty the Seal from Mickey Mouse cartoons.^[12]
In the background of hills and the Toontown skyline, the Old Mill (1937) from the Old Mill is visible, as well as the barn which housed Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific miniature railroad which inspired Disneyland.^[13]