The Birth of Horny Town U.S.A.

If we have room for "development" to the south of Slippery Richard Road, can we have a fairly decent Hotel round there please?
My character is going to have problems with the friendly lot.
I assume you mean other than the lodge at the hotsprings?

I don't see any reason that there wouldn't be temporary lodgings of several levels of cost/luxury, but I wouldn't expect a five-star Luxury Hotel in competition with the lodge.

I would expect a town with the history of Horner Springs to have an old Historic Hotel in or near the old town center which may or may not have been in continuous opperation as a Hotel or had periods of other uses -- or multi-purposing. Old Hotels that can't compete with Motor Courts and Motel chains make nice bordellos for the officer class of wartime occupiers (the brass at the airbase during the war.)

I would expect the best accomodations in town to be a relatively modern four-star Holiday Inn or Best Western franchise -- the kind of Holiday Inn cross between a pure hotel and pure motel that includes a meeting/convention/ball-room for proms, cotillions and class reunions. Holiday Inn and Best Western are represented in towns much smaller than 25-50K.

There would probably be a Motel 6 or competitor on the outskirts of town and probably a rustic 40s-50s era motor hotel -- with fanciful wigwam or "old west" architecture -- that is barely staying in business with help from the local historical society's efforts to declare it a "historic landmark." The motor hotel probably isn't one of the more outrageous examples of fanciful architecture the precursors of "Motels" are sometimes known for, but it won't be just a row of crackerbox cabins either.

I think as long as you don't plan on importing a thousand-room MGM Grand or other Vegas style resort you can just pick a national chain francise and plop it down in a likely location -- Holiday Inn, Best Western, Days Inn, Travelodge et al are all ubiquitous enough there's likely to be one or more of each around town.
 
I assume you mean other than the lodge at the hotsprings?

I don't see any reason that there wouldn't be temporary lodgings of several levels of cost/luxury, but I wouldn't expect a five-star Luxury Hotel in competition with the lodge.

I would expect a town with the history of Horner Springs to have an old Historic Hotel in or near the old town center which may or may not have been in continuous operation as a Hotel or had periods of other uses -- or multi-purposing. Old Hotels that can't compete with Motor Courts and Motel chains make nice bordellos for the officer class of wartime occupiers (the brass at the airbase during the war.)

I would expect the best accomodations in town to be a relatively modern four-star Holiday Inn or Best Western franchise -- the kind of Holiday Inn cross between a pure hotel and pure motel that includes a meeting/convention/ball-room for proms, cotillions and class reunions. Holiday Inn and Best Western are represented in towns much smaller than 25-50K.

I think as long as you don't plan on importing a thousand-room MGM Grand or other Vegas style resort you can just pick a national chain francise and plop it down in a likely location -- Holiday Inn, Best Western, Days Inn, Travelodge et al are all ubiquitous enough there's likely to be one or more of each around town.

Now there you have me at a disadvantage; in the UK Holiday Inn tends to be regarded as a bit up-market. 'Travelodge' we have in abundance (they really are boring).

JackLuis kindly sent to me a few pages for my view (it was an education). The way he paints the folks (real friendly), my character would have trouble, 'cos he's British and kinda reserved.
(I haven't a clue how to get out of this one). So unless or until my character gets a contact in HS, he's stuck!
 
Now there you have me at a disadvantage; in the UK Holiday Inn tends to be regarded as a bit up-market. 'Travelodge' we have in abundance (they really are boring).

Holiday Inns here are pretty much clones of what they are in the UK (actually vice versa) -- or what they were in the UK in the 70's when I was last there. They're generally at or near the top-end of the chain hotels and not quite as boringly corporate-clone as Travelodges. One distinction is that Holiday Inn has Hotels, Motels, and combinations in their properties listing, where Travelodge generally stays with a motel configuration (parking adjacent to or near the rooms.) Best Western has the widest variety of motel architectures, I think -- they tend to buy out competitors rather than build new rooms. There is a standard Best Western architecture for places they build new rooms, but in big cities, it isn't uncommon to find four or five Best Westerns in close proximity without any evidence of the "Best Western Corporate" architecture.

http://www.google.com/images?btnG=S...n-US:official&tbs=isch:1&q=best western motel

Motel 6 began as a low budget chain (of prefab buildings) that only charged $6/night (when Holiday Inns were getting $25-$35/night for their bottom tier roooms.) It was derided as "Bed in a box" because for $6 you got a double bed, and a bathroom -- TV was an extra charge.

They've gotten more expensive over the last 40+ years, but they're still generic "bed-in-a-box," minimalist lodgings. Motel 7 and Motel 8 started the same way -- priced according to their name but basically minimilist accomodations for the minimum profitable pricing.

The attachment is an early prefab-style Motel 6 -- such as I'd expect to find in a place like Horner Springs.
 

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...my character would have trouble, 'cos he's British and kinda reserved.

(I haven't a clue how to get out of this one). So unless or until my character gets a contact in HS, he's stuck!

Perhaps an intermediary character? A british war-bride or retired serviceman that recognise the (regional?) accent who wants to reminisce about "Over 'ome." (Over 'ome is what my late father's associates in the BAD 2 Association call the village of Freckleton and Wharton AB (near Blackpool) where "Base Air Depot #2" was located.)
 
Now there you have me at a disadvantage; in the UK Holiday Inn tends to be regarded as a bit up-market. 'Travelodge' we have in abundance (they really are boring).

JackLuis kindly sent to me a few pages for my view (it was an education). The way he paints the folks (real friendly), my character would have trouble, 'cos he's British and kinda reserved.
(I haven't a clue how to get out of this one). So unless or until my character gets a contact in HS, he's stuck!

If he just needs a place to stay and hideout, try the Slezey 8's
Ranches and farms seemed to reach all the way to the city limits. The river ran sinuously though the valley floor through green fields and down thru town. The lake, which was the source of the river, was surrounded by trees. Lester drove down into this bucolic heaven and found the motel he had booked on line.
The Sleazy Eights didn’t sound like much, but the pictures of the vintage cabins and knotty pine interiors intrigued Lester. When he pulled in to the Sleazy Eights that Friday night, he saw its distinctive sign, a poker hand, a pair of eights and four deuces. He found that the restaurant was open until ten pm and there was a bar as well in the comfortable lodge that housed the office.
He checked in, arranged his room, had a shower and in completely civilian clothes walked to the lodge to eat as a free man for what seemed like the first time. Even his hair was contributing to the new Lester Murphy as it was growing enough to almost be considered fuzz. Lester sat in the bar and had a burger and a few beers as he listened to a girl sing country western at the Karaoke. He was grinning as he walked back to his room and went to bed in his new town.

I imagine this as a older motel, catering to the fishing crowd, but spruced up for the new millennium. Log cabins with a large central Log lodge. I modeled it after a place in Gardnerville NV.
 
I imagine this as a older motel, catering to the fishing crowd, but spruced up for the new millennium. Log cabins with a large central Log lodge. I modeled it after a place in Gardnerville NV.

Ooo! Ooo! I know that place. Never stayed there 'cause I only go through town on my way to the Safari Club Convention but I've sure passed by it.


BTW, you've never seen funny looks until you've watched other members see a bear go through the booths talking about fine guns and hunting trips. Funny? Man! And those 'ladies of a certain age' wearing black leather jeans? Howlin' at the mooooooooooooooon!
 
The wife and I stayed there one night after we got snowed out of Twin Lakes and had to go north to get out of the snow.

Real nice small cabins, varnished knotty pine paneling and F Remington prints on the walls.
 
The wife and I stayed there one night after we got snowed out of Twin Lakes and had to go north to get out of the snow.

Real nice small cabins, varnished knotty pine paneling and F Remington prints on the walls.

Sounds nice. I hope to learn fly fishing (and photoshop) this summer. Maybe a trip up that way for the autumn brown trout spawn would be in order.
 
Sounds nice. I hope to learn fly fishing (and photoshop) this summer. Maybe a trip up that way for the autumn brown trout spawn would be in order.

Try Bridgeport, and fish upper and lower Twin Lakes. Record 38 LB Brown taken at Upper Twin a few years ago.
 
If he just needs a place to stay and hideout, try the Slezey 8's


I imagine this as a older motel, catering to the fishing crowd, but spruced up for the new millennium. Log cabins with a large central Log lodge. I modeled it after a place in Gardnerville NV.
Basically what I described as:

"and probably a rustic 40s-50s era motor hotel -- with fanciful wigwam or "old west" architecture -- that is barely staying in business with help from the local historical society's efforts to declare it a "historic landmark." The motor hotel probably isn't one of the more outrageous examples of fanciful architecture the precursors of "Motels" are sometimes known for, but it won't be just a row of crackerbox cabins either."
 
Basically what I described as:

"and probably a rustic 40s-50s era motor hotel -- with fanciful wigwam or "old west" architecture -- that is barely staying in business with help from the local historical society's efforts to declare it a "historic landmark." The motor hotel probably isn't one of the more outrageous examples of fanciful architecture the precursors of "Motels" are sometimes known for, but it won't be just a row of crackerbox cabins either."

Yep. Lots of older Motels get fixed up and recycled.
 
Yep. Lots of older Motels get fixed up and recycled.
But what you described was a lovingly, well-maintained original, not a renovation.

"...varnished knotty pine paneling and F Remington prints..." tend to get trashed during renovations because they don't hold up well without constant care.
 
Sounds nice. I hope to learn fly fishing (and photoshop) this summer. Maybe a trip up that way for the autumn brown trout spawn would be in order.

1.
/off topic
Forgive my asking but why when they spawn ?
/on topic

2.
OK, I got that; I like the idea of a 'link' person.
I know one example and thanks for reminding me.

3.
My definition of a "town", "city" or 'berg is a little limited. HS cannot be a city, can it? I was looking at a similar place (in Nebraska, near the Kansas border). It's a little place of some 8000 souls. But what surprised me was that it has three hotels two hospitals and a municipal airport (opened in 1947, I think). It's 22 miles to the nearest major road (for a given value of 'major').
The "village" where I live has 10,000 souls no hospitals (but has a medical centre), an airfield for Microlites and a railway station. It has three or four 'hotels' (as in a place to lay the traveller's weary head; mostly old coaching Inn types).

As I see it, if the Military (missiles) are "down the road", then a bit of a quiet revolution in expert employment might be worthwhile (major government contractor on the airfield), especially as that's where my character is going (so far).
 
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1.
/off topic
Forgive my asking but why when they spawn ?
/on topic

2.
OK, I got that; I like the idea of a 'link' person.
I know one example and thanks for reminding me.

3.
My definition of a "town", "city" or 'berg is a little limited. HS cannot be a city, can it? I was looking at a similar place (in Nebraska, near the Kansas border). It's a little place of some 8000 souls. But what surprised me was that it has three hotels two hospitals and a municipal airport (opened in 1947, I think). It's 22 miles to the nearest major road (for a given value of 'major').
The "village" where I live has 10,000 souls no hospitals (but has a medical centre), an airfield for Microlites and a railway station. It has three or four 'hotels' (as in a place to lay the traveller's weary head; mostly old coaching Inn types).

As I see it, if the Military (missiles) are "down the road", then a bit of a quiet revolution in expert employment might be worthwhile (major government contractor on the airfield), especially as that's where my character is going (so far).

Fishing for spawning brown trout is when you catch-and-release the really big ones.

One reason why the difference in terminology for towns is the distances involved. Especially in the inter-mountain West, Horner Springs may be over a hundred miles from the next cluster of houses.
 
Fishing for spawning brown trout is when you catch-and-release the really big ones.

One reason why the difference in terminology for towns is the distances involved. Especially in the inter-mountain West, Horner Springs may be over a hundred miles from the next cluster of houses.

Also HP, in America:
the difference in a Town, City and Village is more in how they project their civic personalities. True they need a suitable population to support their pretensions, but a Town of 25,000 can be a city if they incorporate as such, and provide the services, Fire, Law and Planning Department etc.

In my HS, the Village, is the remains of the original settlement. Lost Horses I called it. I postulated that the original "Horny" Horner, came west in the 1880's to use his eastern money connections to buy a big ranch and be a Land Lord. he soon realized that controlling the economic life of the area was more reliable that depending upon the fertility of the bovine.

He bought the property at the edge of Lost Horses and set up the "Springs", established the Bank, and built a new town. Fanny Futter's whore house was across the river and everything was just fine.

The Hot Springs and Miss Fanny's were consistent draws, until prohibition, came in, by then the Horner line had split into several factions, and this continues to this day. The Horners may fight each other, but they will band together to oppose anyone who attacks a Horner's prerogatives or profits.

Prohibition was easy to adapt to, Several Clubs, owe their start to this era, although by now they have romanticizesed the bootlegging and gamboling and prostitution that followed.

In the 50's the town Incorporated and absorbed the village of Lost Horses inside the City Limits, as well as part of the other side of the river, This allows the County to police the area around the Drive-in and out by the Airport.

An aside on Miss Futter's Home for Wayward Girls, was originally a place to send girls to prepare them of life as women. Isolated as it was by distance from the sources of funding, in the east, they developed a particularly unique curriculum, including teaching girls what sex was all about and how to fully exploit the advantages of their sexuality. This allowed the girls to earn a living and build a nest egg so when they were sent out into the world, they at least were no longer dependent on the kindness of strangers.

Come on Help me out here VM?
 
One reason why the difference in terminology for towns is the distances involved. Especially in the inter-mountain West, Horner Springs may be over a hundred miles from the next cluster of houses.

Actually, it probably isn't more than 40 miles from a "cluster of houses" that is incorporated as either a civil township or as a city and less than 70 from one that has "traveler's services" like "gas, food, and lodging." The longest such distance between services I know of in the intermountain west is 97 highway miles.

To further complicate things for Handley, the common usage applied to a place often doesn't match the official, legal, description.

The town of Horner Springs, as Horner Springs is commonly referred to by its denizens -- or simply "town" got that designation from its beginning as an unicorporated "Survey Township", the 36 square mile US Geographic survey plot which includes the one square mile "survey section" homesteaded and built up as Horner Springs Lodge and Spa.

Officially and legally known only by survey plot numbers, the area became known informally as "Horner Springs' Township"

At some point, the civil township of Horner Spring -- co-located with the survey township -- was incorporated under a State (or territorial) Charter as a City; which confers certain taxation and other legal options that incorporation as a town or civil township doesn't permit.

At various times, characters may refer to Horner Springs as a Town, City, or Municipality, but the "Town of Horner Springs" will still be a state chartered City co-located with the 36 square mile block of survey sections designated "Horner Springs Township."

IOW, while Horner Springs is legally a City, your characters can refer to it by whatever label fits their mood or inclinations, but the name on the maps is just "Horner Springs" and the name on the City's letterhead is "The Town of Horner Springs." There is theoretically, a legal line on the map that changes someone's address from the Town of Horner Springs to "in the county," meaning that city services -- and taxes -- don't apply.
 
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An aside on Miss Futter's Home for Wayward Girls, was originally a place to send girls to prepare them of life as women.

IIRC, Miss Futter's wasn't a "home for wayward girls" it was a "School For Young Women" and later a "Women's College."

The difference is that a "home for wayward girls" was almost universally a place for unwed mothers to go to have their babies out of sight and sound of the scandal mongers and gossips who might embarass the unwed mothers' parents.

A "school for young women," otoh, was a boarding school for young women where embarassingly free spirited women could be sent to keep them from becoming unwed mothers or separate them from unsuitable love interests. Basically, a "military school for girls" where inconvenient and/or undisciplined female children of rich parents could be hidden away to prevent any interference with the parents' social lives or position in society.

The purpose was not just to keep them out of sight until the baby was born, but to teach them the graces of "proper young women" and/or prepare them for spinsterhood by training them as teachers and nannies. I doubt that there ever was a "Miss Futter's Whorehouse," BTW; The distinction might not have been measurable with a micrometer at some points in history, but until relatively recent times -- mid 20th century -- there wasn't any openly acknowledged interaction between Miss Futter's Young Ladies and the cadets of Horner Academy other than a monthly cotillion so both student bodies could practice the social graces -- like dancing and which fork to eat soup with.
 
Is anyone ready to publish yet?

Thank you for cleaning up my mess, WH.
 
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Thank you for cleaning up my mess, WH.

I think the summary of what is and isn't included needs to be updated and reposted. I think the last effort is about five or six pages back (and I'm set for more posts per page than most people -- the max of forty posts/page -- and I'm up to ten pages already.

ETA: Click Here to Skip summary posts

An index of summary posts.

Summary in progress part I -- from 1 through 40

Summary in progress part II -- from 41 through 80

Summary in progress part III -- from 81 through 120

Summary in progress part IV -- from 121 through 160

Summary in Progress part V -- from posts 161-200

Summary in progress Part VI -- from posts 201 through 240

Summary in progress: from posts 241 through 280

Posts 261 through Irezumi's revision 2 -- subsequent current map discussion not indexed.

Click the blue buttons to go to the indexed posts (since they spread across a page break no matter how many posts per page you use.)
 
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Summary compilation in progress:
Last edited by litfan10 : 08-21-2010 at 03:43 PM.

Established locations:
Keep in mind - towns can have multiples of the same type of business! Competition can be healthy and fun

Suggested names for town - [superceded by Horner Springs]

Name/type of place/characters/Post numbers with information/founding writer

  • Shear Pleasure/ beauty shop/Kitty Wells proprietor, Margaret, Amy, Ty staff/4,6, 38/ Emerald Kitten
  • Choicest Pearls/ Chinese restaurant/Mr. Fu, Lin Fu/20/ Litfan10
  • Loosen Up! / Physical Therapy (office and mobile) / (metrosexual) Bob Krackel, Proprietor/15,18/Tx Tall Tales
  • TBA/Office Building/Darren, security guard (Tiffany girlfriend)/10/Stella Omega
  • TBA/Drive-in Theatre/TBA/10/Stella Omega
  • Knight Mart/small grocery store/Cassie Knight Proprietor, Mac the butcher, Jayne Boyd clerk/21/JeffLeigh
  • Sheer Fun/ women's nightwear/ Mrs. Minter (3 daughters)/30/ Handley Page (would turn over to another writer)
  • Write Place/expensive techie work in an old office building/ Fred Place proprietor/30/ Handley Page

Ha! I see My business cards now..
Shear Pleasure..
Would you like it teased or blown?

character, Drive-in movie

geography, generic business distribution

business/characters

Geography, business/characters

business/characters

Businesss, characters, geograpphy -- some dead ends

businesss/characters

Just links to the first 40 posts where significant parts of the discussion were taking shape for now -- WH
 
More summary in progress; Second 40 posts: Mostly the evolution of Futter U.

I think one of the first things that needs to be decided, then, is, "Just How Big Is Hornytown?"

throwing in a college, which I think is a good idea, I lean towards 20,000 - 25,000 ...

...but the amenities, services, and layout of those towns would be what a small university town could be expected to have -- Basketball arena, football stadium, Athletics field(s) Baseball field/stadium, Olympic sized pool, performing arts theater/'opera house,' etc.

This point seems to have gotten lost.

In a town of 25,000 or so ...
I'm thinking river town, ...

Perhaps a formerly gender segregated school (or two) forced to go co-ed -- think VMI forced to accept female cadets

A military school for arrogant rich boys who have to be shuffled away from polite company, ...

I like the Girls/Military School angle, if this place is in the stick's, so to speak, then it needs a Major industry, besides porn. ...

How about an Ammunition Plant, that was doomed by base closure but reopened after the Wars started. ....

The birth of the airport^^

... Minerva would be the mother, a feisty older lady, maybe mid 50s who spends a lot of her time these days at the beauty salon, gossiping. Yes, the diner is named after her. It's simply called Minerva's. ...

The nice thing about college towns, is that they have a lot ... places suitable for "hanging out" (and/or letting it all hang out.)

Perhaps Minerva was a hot babe when she was younger and modeled for the scandalously under-clad goddess on Minerva's sign?
...

In college towns, the major industry often is the college.
...

Locating Hornytown in the high deserts of the intermountain west -- even in a hidden, verdant, valley that isn't desert -- ...

First mention of IMW^^

I'd suggest some variation of Hornerville or Hornerton; some town founded by a notable 19th (eta: rich) century letch named Horatio "Horny" Horner -- There's a statue of him in the park just down the street from Minerva's restaurant that is almost as scandalous as Minerva's restaurant sign. :p

Musn't forget old Horny's satue or Minerva's sign. :p

Another good reason for centering the lil' burg around a small college. You are almost guaranteed to have some foreign born faculty ...

Fannie Futter's (Fine) Female Finishing School? :p Sort of the feminine equivalent of the Military school for "remittance men" I suggested earlier. ...

Origin of the girl's campus of Futter U^^

Oh, then this is an old town. Fannie's Finishing School merged with Horner Military Institute to form Futter College around 1963. ... It's sort of an American Shangri-La where Erectile Disfunction and Female Libido Loss are unknown. Must be the water or something. :D

Origin of the Hotsprings ^^^

... people are somehat inclined to the idea of formerly separate gender-segregated schools merging; which would mean a college with essentially two campuses.

...

One thing that hasn't been specifically mentioned is a waterfront or riverwalk, which would be implied by JL's suggestion of a bigger town possibly being "across the river."

Oh definitely a river walk with shops, cafe's, art galleries, bait and tackle stores and a dock where you can rent a pontoon boat and sail off into warm summer evenings . . .

Here is born the river -- and eventually the lake^^
 
Summary in progress part III A town is born!

Perhaps Horatio 'Horny' Horner discovered the hot springs and touted them as a cure for "family problems" and "female hysteria" -- That would make the town Horner Springs? The original "industry" would have been support for the hot springs resort and possibly a bottling plant for Horner's Mineral Spring Water?

It would also account for the establishment of Fannie's Finishing school and the Horner Military Academy as a way of broadening the economic base of the community.

Today, the hot springs are the foundation of Futter College's Geothermal Studies and Ecology programs?

^^ The basic description of the town and History that seems to have been adopted en toto. (although the bottling plant does seem to have gotten lost in the post war expansion -- it would have to be north of town/lake to bottle the mineral water from the Hotsprings rather than in the northeast industrial park.

I like the idea of Horner Springs. Suggestive enough without being too blatant.
And with the legacy of old Horatio touting the spring water's aphrodisiac properties an easy transition to the sobriquet "Horny Springs"

The water was sold all over the area (region - not state), until foreign imports, production costs and finally disinterest finally saw it off except as a local stuff.

I agree, I think it's a perfect name for the town.
I like the idea of the merged Girl/Military schools even if they are just at opposite ends of town, ...

Watch out for too big a river, it would have made Horny Springs too much of a metropolis. Perhaps the Mayor is promoting the "River Walk" as a way to develop the town center, ...

Western rivers tend to be shallow and seasonal, except for the Colorado and Sacramento, which have large dams to moderate the floods.

But students need a place for recreation. A place by the lake offers all sorts of activities, ... The lake place offers a large restaurant-bar, a widely varied menu, a live band and a large dance floor.

Squarejohn's "lake place" doesn't seem to have survived (except as a marina on the map) but the lake remains.

The Springs flow into the lake and then down into the river. That way you get everything. ...

The local Hospital is a FREE one (from a Fund set up by the original bottlers of the Water).

^^ An important point, here. Is the (a) Hospital still free? or did the fund go broke in a stockmarket crash?

Some more thoughts- ...

Small airport, not big enough for a jet, but can handle the larger dual props.

...

Small military post not too far away brings a constant business in-flow. Might be too much however. Maybe a closed base, with a small reserve unit.

^^ Lots of good points, but only the airport and its military roots survive.


^^ I lost on the lake. :( but the pictures of the Deshutes river are still good references for authors.


^^ A picture of the hotsprings lodge that inpired the name. I picture Horner Springs Lodge and Spa as more the "log cabin castle" type of grand rustic hotel, though.

<notes on economy and infrastructure>

...a small military training area with a skeleton staff that is occasionally "closed to unauthorized personnel" for training exercises of an unspecified nature? ...

An active military base would swell the population beyond 20-25K.

A mothballed base with a small reserve detachment would suit -- possibly a base that doubles as the regional airport? ...

The hosptial probably has an old vietnam era UH1 "Huey" for medevac ...

^^ a small reserve detachment with a mysterious mission seems to be what eventually developed at the airport/old base

I need a small hill close to town, sort of Lovers Leap with lots of parking.
...
50-125 ft AGL would do, ~ 800 yds from town center?

The geology is a mix of "very ancient" and "merely old" formations so a huge rock ridge in the middle of town, (possibly surrounded by founder's park?) wouldn't be much of a stretch.

^^ plus more about geology. Lover's leap discarded, Jack? I don't think it made it on the map -- but then founder's park didn't either. :(
 
Summary in progress part IV

During WWII there was a air base ...

PS: perhaps because of the surrounding mountains, the runway has never been much more than an emergency landing strip -- ... strictly civil aviation and has not ATC or tower, but it has a nicely paved 5000+ foot runway with arresting cables courtesy of ... Air National Guard ...

Additionally, every so often all the fences around the military portion of the airfield are closed and armed sentries appear. ...

^^ pretty much a dead suggestion.

Okay, I compiled all the physical references of Horner Springs up to this post.

...

^^ the first full summary of the discussion -- some superceded and deleted suggestions.

Actually, about a quarter of the intermountain west is military reservations where they don't need to bring in any additional security to operate secretly in the dark ...

I doubt even Homeland Security, DEA or ICE would have any reason to operate out of a remote bare-base with the kind of secrecy and security you propose. ...

^^ argument against big military operations.

I think you've included a lot of superceded suggestions and contradictions....

^^ rebuttal of Litfan's first summation.


A good visualization aid^^

Leadville, CO is about 1/10 the population of Horner Springs, but this is more the setting I pictured for a town in a hidden valley:

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/1f/98/4e/downtown-leadville-in.jpg

Another visualization aid^^

<airport/airbase details>

<airport/airbase details, character sketch

If it is an old cluster of runways, then at least one runway has been converted to -- or is at least used for -- a drag strip on the weekends.

Plus <airport/airbase ddetails>

< speedshop and harley dealer suggested>

As for Horner Springs, the local law cracks down hard on street racers -- a guaranteed week in jail waiting for a trial -- but donates an officer or two's time and a pair of speed guns on weekends at the airfield.

<Horatios Horner's descendants?>

<Speedshops, drag races, et al>

HH VI probably isn't still around, but both his '38 Lincoln and his '28 Duesenburg are still seen around town in the enthusiastic hands of his grandson HH VIII, AKA "Horny the Eighth." ...

^^ general character suggestion + plot bunnies for free.

...

I see the drive in as an 'American Graffiti'-'Hollywood Knights' sort of place with neon signage, in-line skating car hops, ...

Drive-in restaurant not earlier suggested drive-in movie.^^

<drag racing/speedshop thoughts>

The Sonic Drive-in chain ... it won't require a throwback, nostalgia themed drive-in for a motorheads' hangout.

... the Society for Creative Nostalgia ...

Plausible Drive-in reastaurant model.^^

^^ SCN: an organization that doesn't exist -- yet -- but probably should. :p
 
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Summary in Progress part V -- from posts 161-200

As I see it, there's a Cafe (diner/bar/ whatever-you-call-it) at the mile post position just outside town ...

Come to think of it, it's not far from what some might regard as the brothel, near the real hotel (do not confuse the two).

^ a brothel and hotel on the outskerts of town? no further development or discussion, though

<character studies>

<thoughts on elevation and climate>

<aug 2010>
In the meantime let's submit under our own names - crediting the gang as a whole in an opening Author note and making sure we are consistent with titles so the stories can easily be identified - "Horner Springs:specific title." For example, my first entry which I hope to finish this weekend is "Horner Springs:Why Lin Fu Hates Spiders."
The note I will use is the same I put in post #130 - "This story is set in Horner Springs, a town created and populated by a joint effort of numerous Literotica writers."
The title format, opening note, map, definitive character/location descriptions and directory of stories (as well as anything else anyone thinks we need) I will put in a new Official thread once I have them - turning this thread into the conversation and planning thread.

^^ posting instructions -- did we ever get an "Official Horner Springs Bible" thread? I don't recall ever seeing it.

<character sketches>

And is there a bookstore? adult or otherwise?

<character sketches, character sharing>

Let's have a lady mayor, the first ever lady mayor in town. Eloise Bensen is in her mid-fifties and was born and raised in Horner Springs. She won the election by default (the old mayor who was up for re-election died in bed...) and has been fighting the overbearing males who rule the town board. These men can include local businessmen.
<+ other city government sketchs.>

^^This is the most complete sketch of the mayor and city government; there have been a couple of competing suggestions, but wanting a woman Mayor has been fairly consistent.

<Rules for Sharing a Universe and Characters>

... the proper nomenclature of the College's Human Sexualities Studies program, or what ever the "Correct" title will be. The mayor alludes to it in a town Council meeting ...

<thoughts on bookstores + character sketches>

<thoughts on bookstores>

See? Ye Purple Onyun and Alfred's. Just the way you described them.

^^ the two non-chain bookstores. :)

This town might have a lot of sex going on in it, but let's not make it all roses and peaches. Sex is NOT the town's main preoccupation, ...
<+ character info>

<adult toys and character info.>

The Horner Institute for Studies in Human Sexuality ... originally funded by Horny the VI with the profits he made speculating in stocks. He pulled out of the market one week before the great crash of '29, bought bonds and made out like seven bandits.

So the "Institute" has been around for what 70 years? ...

A major plot bunny for college related stories. ^^

Are the Futtr boys nerds? I like that-- nerdy electronics geeks with an erotic imagination that no one really notices...

^^ part of the HISHS student body/faculty?
 
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