Sunnydale

**Notable Locations:** | * 1630 Revello Drive
* Sunnydale High
* UC Sunnydale
* The Bronze
* Mayor's Office
* The Magic Box
* Sunnydale Natural History Museum
 **Relevance:** | A major town mentioned and talked about in Walking With The Witches.

**Sunnydale** was a small Californian town, inhabited by the Slayer Buffy Summers, until shortly after the empowering of all of the Potential Slayers and the town's destruction.

A college town, it housed the University of California at Sunnydale. The area of Sunnydale was a concentration of demonic energy, which had its focal point under the Sunnydale High School, and was caused by this being the site of the Hellmouth, a gateway between the Earthly and Demonic dimensions. Sunnydale was destroyed and sank into the earth when a massive fissure opened beneath it. Fortunately for the inhabitants, the preceding sense of unrest on the streets and psychic disturbance in the town had already spurred most of the population to leave.

## Foundation

Sunnydale was founded in 1899 on an area Spanish settlers had called "Boca del Infierno" — Hellmouth — where they had also built a Catholic mission for the conversion of the local Chumash tribe. The town's founder, *Richard Wilkins*, intended the town to be a feeding ground for demons, as part of his pact to achieve Ascension. After considering the names Happydale and Sunny Acres, Wilkins came up with the name Sunnydale.

In the late 1990s, Sunnydale's population was around 38,500, with very few high schools (*Sunnydale High*, *Fondren High*, *Kent Preparatory School*, *Miss Porter's*), forty-three churches, a small private college (*Crestwood College*), the *Sunnydale Zoo*, the *Sunnydale Natural History Museum*, and one modest main street (*Maple Court*). Even so, it had twelve cemeteries. These cemeteries were so heavily used that services were sometimes held at night.

Sunnydale also contained a campus of the University of California system, as well as a profitable magic supply shop, the *Magic Box*. The town, or a surrounding area, was also seen to include a large park containing a creek and a lake, and one of its cemeteries was shown to be adjacent to a lake.

Sunnydale had a train station, a bus station, a small airport, and a small military base.

Directly beneath Sunnydale High School was a Hellmouth, a location in which mystical energy converges and in which the walls that separate this world from hell dimensions was particularly thin, attracting demonic creatures and affecting the surrounding areas. This explains why vampires and other demons were so prevalent in the city.

Sunnydale possessed many common horror-movie characteristics, such as an abundance of dark alleyways, abandoned mansions and factories, and an adult population that was either clueless or perpetually in denial, in stark contrast to the demon-fighting, supernaturally aware teens.

By the year 2002, the city's population had fallen to 32,900. In the spring, the town was almost completely evacuated, before its complete destruction.

### Sunnydale's Surroundings

Sunnydale had a somewhat isolated location. Whenever the city was stricken by a town-wide epidemic — such as the silence spell —, no other towns seemed to be nearby.

The town was situated near several acres of woods and forest, including *Miller's Woods*. *Breaker's Woods* was a 45-minute drive from town.

Sunnydale was located on or near the Pacific Ocean. An ocean port with several docked ships was nearby. Nearby, *Kingman's Bluff* stands on a tall cliff overlooking the sea. There was a nearby beach.

Near, or in Sunnydale was an old quarry house built beside a deep lake, located a few feet from a cliff edge. In addition, there was a hydroelectric dam in the vicinity of Sunnydale.

Within a day's drive of Sunnydale was a desert. After its destruction, it was surrounded by desert terrain.

### Maps of Sunnydale

A large map of "Sunnydale County" hangs on the wall of *Principal Snyder*'s office, as well as on the wall of *Mayor Wilkins*' office. This was actually a map of Santa Barbara County, California with the words "Sunnydale County" superimposed on it. According to this map, Sunnydale was located at a bend on the California coast. To the south and west of Sunnydale was the Pacific Ocean.

Giles uses a street map of Santa Barbara as a map of Sunnydale when he was plotting sightings of the *Initiative* commandos in Buffy's fourth season.

A street map of central Sunnydale was used by the Scooby Gang twice in 2002.

*Andrew Wells* drew a map of Sunnydale to track the First's activities. The general shape of the coastline matched previously used maps. According to Andrew's map, there were woods between Sunnydale and the ocean to the west and to the south, and a dark forest directly southeast of the town, where the coast bends. There were also woods to the east of Sunnydale, as well as railroad tracks.

A map of Sunnydale.Another map of Sunnydale.
## History

### Prior to Buffy's Arrival

Long before humans settled the area, an entrance to the Hellmouth existed at the site of the future town of Sunnydale.

In ancient times, a *magic scythe* was used at the site of the Hellmouth "to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the Earth." After this, the scythe was hidden, and its last guardian remained, waiting in a pagan temple that would somehow remain unnoticed for centuries.

Centuries later, Navajo and Chumash peoples lived in this area. One or more groups of monks or friars also settled in this area. As in general California history, it can safely be supposed those friars to be Spanish Franciscans, who arrived in California in the late 18th century. In 1812, there was an earthquake in the Sunnydale region that caused a cave-in in which an entire mission was lost; the very existence of the mission was soon forgotten.

*Richard Wilkins* arrived in California in the late 1800s, looking for gold. He founded Sunnydale (after considering the alternate names "Happydale" and "Sunny Acres") in a demon infested valley after a Navajo Slayer died there. He made a pact with the demons to found a town atop the Hellmouth for them "to feed on", in return for the promise of immortality by becoming a pure demon himself. Wilkins became Mayor of Sunnydale.

In the 1930s, there was at least one more major earthquake in Sunnydale. This caused a cave-in that swallowed up *The Master* and his lair, as well as the temple on Kingman's Bluff. (The date of this earthquake was given as either 1932 or 1937, although it was possible these were two distinct quakes.)

Sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, Richard Wilkins was again elected mayor, now under the name of "Richard Wilkins III", and served more than one term.

By the 1990s, Sunnydale appeared to have become a typical on the California coast, with a popular mayor, a police force, and a local newspaper (the *Sunnydale Press*). However, Mayor Wilkins had instructed the police to cover up any supernatural or mysterious violence occurring in the city, and had instructed *Principal Snyder* to cover up supernatural violence occurring at Sunnydale High.

### After Buffy's Arrival

In the winter of 1997, Buffy Summers, the active vampire Slayer, moved to *1630 Revello Drive*, where she began attending *Sunnydale High*. There she met new friends, including Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, and Oz, as well as the vampire Angel and her new watcher, Rupert Giles. This Scooby Gang often hung out at the *Bronze*, the *Espresso Pump* coffee house, and the *Sun Cinema*. Buffy's mother, Joyce, worked in an art gallery in Sunnydale.

During their time in high school, Buffy and her friends fought a number of vampires, most notably *the Master*, Spike, Drusilla, and (when he had lost his soul) Angel. Another slayer, Faith, arrived during their senior year of high school and lived at the *Downtowner Motel* until she joined forces with Mayor Wilkins.

In June 1999 Sunnydale High was destroyed in a great conflict that killed Mayor Wilkins and Principal Snyder. The political leaders of the city after this point remain unknown. The police occasionally appeared, but the police chief did not. One newspaper headline suggested the police continued covering up supernatural evidence.

In the fall of 1999, Buffy, Willow and Oz began attending *UC Sunnydale*. There they discovered that the United States government had been operating a secret military complex, the *Initiative*, in a cavern beneath the campus. The Initiative was closed down in spring 2000 after a climactic battle with the cyborg *Adam*. By this time, Tara Maclay and Anya had joined the Scooby Gang. Later this same year, Giles purchased a magic shop named the *Magic Box*.

During the summer of 2000, the mysterious *Key* was transformed into Buffy's younger sister, Dawn Summers. The next year brought the deaths of Joyce Summers and also of Buffy herself, although Buffy was returned from the grave. After this point, Buffy and Dawn became co-owners of the family house.

In spring 2002, the *Magic Box* was destroyed in a battle between Willow and Buffy. In the fall of 2002, Sunnydale High was rebuilt, on exactly the same location as before: directly over the Hellmouth.

By this time, knowledge of supernatural phenomena seemed to be slowly growing in the town. Sunnydale's population had dropped to 32,900.

In early 2003, supernatural manifestations at Sunnydale High reached unprecedented levels. Within less than a month, virtually the entire population of the town fled in a mass evacuation. Soon thereafter, the cataclysmic showdown between the Scooby Gang and The First Evil resulted in the complete obliteration of the town, which collapsed into a giant pit, closing the entrance to the Hellmouth.

## Notes and Trivia

* Series creator *Joss Whedon* conceived the town as a representation of the typical, anonymous, generic suburban city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror movies.
* Sunnydale was "located" on the California coast, two hours northwest of Los Angeles. If Sunnydale was to be identified with an actual college town in this region, Santa Barbara (or perhaps San Luis Obispo) would be the logical choice. In Season Three, the mayor's office was shown with a giant map of "Sunnydale County"; this map was an actual map of Santa Barbara County with a new name pasted over it. Many of the long-range outside shots of the town were actually shots of Santa Barbara. These were especially clear in the widescreen versions of seasons four to seven; some of the Spanish-style buildings were obviously in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara to anyone familiar with the city.
* In fiction fandom, "Sunnydale Syndrome" is a name given to the semi-common tendency of mundane characters to fail to notice, or to reject as unreal or impossible, the unusual activities taking place under their noses, even when blindingly obvious.
* The screen used map was little more than background set dressing and does not even show the street Revello Drive (the street Buffy lived on).