The 800th episode of the longest-running primetime scripted show in U.S. history — The Simpsons — is scheduled to air on Sunday. This milestone installment of the nearly 40-year-old animated series finds the family in Philadelphia. But much of the show’s true DNA is rooted almost 3,000 miles west, in Portland, Ore.
Although The Simpsons is famously set in the fictional town of “Springfield,” the creator of the satirical animated series, Matt Groening, grew up in Portland and sought early inspiration for some of the show’s characters in the local landscape.
“Matt Groening was influenced by this place to a degree and chose to name characters after these streets,” said Bill Oakley, who served as a showrunner and head writer on The Simpsons through most of the 1990s. He moved to Portland after his tenure on the series…