by Robin Furth
ATCHISON
See KANSAS (STATE OF); see also ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD below
ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD
The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company (originally called the Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company) was founded in 1859 by Colonel Cyrus K. Holliday of KANSAS, one of the founders of the town of TOPEKA. The railroad changed its name in 1863 because of its planned expansion. By 1887 the railroad extended all the way to Los Angeles. Known as “The Atchison” in the East and as “The Santa Fe” in the West, it was one of the major railroads serving the Southwest United States.
Our ka-tet stumbles across a sign for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe at BLAINE’s terminating point in an alternative version of our world’s Kansas. Roland assumes—quite rightly—that the three names designate three towns. However, because he does not know the history of railroads in our where (or in this Topeka’s alternate when) he does not understand the full significance of these places or of the towns he sees listed on the departures board, namely DENVER, WICHITA, and OMAHA.
All of the listed towns were linked—directly or indirectly—by the AT&SF. Obviously, Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe were part of the service’s main run. Denver was also served by the Atchison line, and Wichita could be reached by one of the railroad’s branch lines. Although Omaha was actually accessible by the Union Pacific Railroad, the Union Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe were linked in 1881, completing the second transcontinental railroad.
Hence, what we learn from Roland’s sojourn in the alternative Topeka is that not only do the GREAT ROADS of MID-WORLD follow the BEAM but so do the great railroads. Also, it seems that these railroads can be used not only to cross continents, but to jump from one level of the DARK TOWER to another. Blaine and his fellow locomotives and slo-trans engines are PORTALS every bit as much as the other doorways in and out of Mid-World. The GREAT OLD ONES, aided by the technology of their sinister company, NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS, learned how to bridge the time/space continuum.
IV:68
ATLANTIC CITY
See NEW JERSEY (STATE OF)
ATTICA STATE PRISON
See NEW YORK (STATE OF)
AUSCHWITZ
See POLAND
AUSTRIA
VIENNA: Sigmund Freud, author of Ego and Id (1923), studied medicine in Vienna and joined the staff of the Vienna General Hospital in 1882. In Ego and Id, Freud discussed his theories concerning the division of the unconscious mind into the id, the ego, and the superego. AUSTIN CORNWELL and his fellow fake UFFIS must have read this book. VI:231 (Viennese)
B
BABYLON
VI:319
BACK BAY
See MASSACHUSETTS (STATE OF)
BAHAMAS
EDDIE DEAN’S little trip to the Bahamas almost ends in disaster and incarceration. Although he is dressed like a college kid, Eddie goes to NASSAU so that he can smuggle packages of cocaine for the drug king ENRICO BALAZAR. At this point in our story (namely, at the beginning of The Drawing of the Three), Eddie is a heroin addict under the thumb of his older brother, the great sage and eminent junkie HENRY DEAN. Roland saves Eddie’s bacon three times: first by helping him evade the CUSTOMS police, second by coming to his aid against Balazar and his thugs, and finally by spiriting Eddie off to LOBSTROSITY BEACH. There, on the shore of the WESTERN SEA, Eddie comes down off the Horse, only to become addicted to ODETTA HOLMES (aka DETTA WALKER/SUSANNAH DEAN) and another potent drug—Love.
II:42, II:86, II:87, II:112, II:176, V:453, VI:212, VII:19
NASSAU (AQUINAS HOTEL): Eddie goes to Nassau to pick up Balazar’s cocaine. While there he stays at the Aquinas Hotel. II:47, II:47–51 (hotel), II:57 (flashback to hotel), II:58, III:346, V:453, V:524, VII:19
BALAZAR’S OFFICE
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: LEANING TOWER
BANGOR
See MAINE (STATE OF): PENOBSCOT COUNTY
BARCELONA LUGGAGE STORE
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: SECOND AVENUE
BEAMS
See BEAMS, PATH OF THE, in PORTALS
BECKHARDT COTTAGE
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY: LOVELL: TURTLEBACK LANE
BEIRUT
See LEBANON
BERGEN-BELSEN
See GERMANY
BERMUDA
LAMLA, a TAHEEN servant of the CRIMSON KING, likes to wear Bermuda shorts (close-fitting shorts which reach the knees). I don’t know what connection Bermuda shorts have to Bermuda, but I figure it’s worth mentioning.
VII:104
BERMUDA TRIANGLE
See entry in PORTALS
BERNIE’S BARBER SHOP
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
BLACK FORK
See ARIZONA (STATE OF)
BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA
See INDIA
BLACK TOWER (2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA)
See LOT, THE: 2 HAMMARSKJÖLD PLAZA, in PORTALS
BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES CAFÉ
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
BLEECKER STREET
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
BOGOTÁ
See COLOMBIA
BOLIVIA
Back in The Drawing of the Three, EDDIE DEAN tried to smuggle cocaine into NEW YORK CITY for ENRICO BALAZAR. This high-grade white powder originated in Bolivia. Eddie refers to it as Bolivian marching powder.
V:525
BONDED ELECTROPLATE FACTORY
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
BOSTON
See MASSACHUSETTS (STATE OF)
BRAZIL
According to FRANK ARMITAGE, secret servant of the CRIMSON KING, most of the South American businessmen who hired the SOUTH AMERICAN SEABEES were Brazilian.
VII:284
RIO: VII:285
BRENDIO’S (SHOP)
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
BRIDGTON
See MAINE (STATE OF): CUMBERLAND COUNTY
BROOKLYN
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
BRYCE
See COLORADO (STATE OF)
BUCHENWALD
See GERMANY
C
CAIRO
See EGYPT
CALIFORNIA (STATE OF)
During his years traveling along the HIGHWAYS IN HIDING, PERE CALLAHAN spent quite a bit of time in California. His longest drunken period (four full days) took place in this state. While in SACRAMENTO, Callahan discovered that his old friend ROWAN MAGRUDER had been attacked by the HITLER BROTHERS.
Callahan’s twinner, TED BRAUTIGAN, applied for his job of a lifetime while in California. He got the position, but it ended up being a life sentence as a BREAKER in THUNDERCLAP.
III:284, V:179, V:305, V:306–309, V:424, VI:13, VI:211, VII:707
DEATH VALLEY: V:461
DISNEYLAND: II:169, V:152, VII:369
FORT ORD: V:101
HOLLYWOOD: V:451, V:640, VII:207
LOS ANGELES: V:451
SACRAMENTO: CALLAHAN spent the spring of 1981 in Sacramento. He read about ROWAN MAGRUDER’s terrible injuries in the Sacramento Bee. V:296 (Bee), V:306–9, V:422, VII:281, VII:283
CRAZY MARY’S: FATHER CALLAHAN and his Mexican workmates liked the enchiladas made at this take-out restaurant. V:307
SLEEPY JOHN’S: FATHER CALLAHAN worked here while living in Sacramento. V:307
SAN BERDOO: V:102
SAN FRANCISCO: In the back of an out-of-business dance studio, surrounded by filmy pink tutus, FRANK ARMITAGE, a hume servant of the CRIMSON KING, offered TED BRAUTIGAN the job of a lifetime. The job turns out to be a life sentence in the DEVAR-TOI of THUNDERCLAP. V:255, V:451, VI:188, VII:7, VII:211, VII:281, VII:283, VII:285, VII:286, VII:289, VII:657
MARK HOPKINS HOTEL: VII:286
SANTA MIRA: A door here leads from our world to THUNDERCLAP. VII:287–89, VII:297
SEAMAN’S SAN FRANCISCO BANK: VII:285, VII:287, VII
:289
SANTA MONICA: VII:471
SANTA MONICA ASPCA: IRENE and DAVID TASSENBAUM began their romance here amid the howls and yaps of homeless pets. Irene arrived looking for a kitten; David came to drop off a stray dog. Irene may not have found her kitten, but she did find a beau. VII:471
YOSEMITE: VI:242
CALTECH
DAVID TASSENBAUM attended CalTech. According to his wife, IRENE, David and his CalTech friends invented the Internet.
VII:429
CANADA
VII:94
MONTREAL: One of the little old ladies on EDDIE DEAN’S disastrous Delta flight from NASSAU to NEW YORK was headed to Montreal. II:78–79, VII:94
CANNIBAL ISLANDS
See entry in PORTALS
CAPE CANAVERAL
See FLORIDA (STATE OF)
CARA LAUGHS
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS, in PORTALS
CASTLE AVENUE
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
CENTRAL PARK
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
CHEW CHEW MAMA’S
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: SECOND AVENUE
CHICAGO
See ILLINOIS (STATE OF)
CHINA
III:287, V:561
CHRISTOPHER STREET STATION
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
CHURCH OF THE HOLY GOD-BOMB
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
CHURCH OF THE WALK-INS
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY: STONEHAM
CITY HALL
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
CLEMENTS GUNS AND SPORTING GOODS
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Clemson University is located in Clemson, SOUTH CAROLINA. DAMLI HOUSE of the DEVAR-TOI would look at home on the Clemson campus.
VII:230
CLEVELAND
See OHIO (STATE OF)
COHOES STREET
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
COLOMBIA
BOGOTÁ: II:58
COLORADO (STATE OF)
IV:32, V:192, VII:283, VII:811
BRYCE: The BREAKER TANYA LEEDS was born and raised in Bryce.
VII:283
DENVER: One of the towns that could be reached by the ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD. (See also ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD.) IV:72, V:192
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
ODETTA HOLMES attended this university. During a late-night college hen party, she heard the story of a girl on a road trip who was too shy to tell her friends that she had to stop and pee. As a result, her bladder burst in the car. (Messy!)
During her college years, Odetta (later Susannah) took Psych I with PROFESSOR OVERMEYER. In this class she learned the fantastic visualization technique which helps her see, and enter, her internal DOGAN. While at Columbia, she also took a medieval history course with PROFESSOR MURRAY. Professor Murray taught his students the story of KING ARTHUR and his betraying son/nephew MORDRED.
VI:62, VI:116, VI:221
CONEY ISLAND
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
CONNECTICUT (STATE OF)
When TED BRAUTIGAN escaped from the DEVAR-TOI through a door made for him by his fellow BREAKER, SHEEMIE, he landed in Connecticut. The story of Ted’s Connecticut adventure—and of his friendship with BOBBY GARFIELD—is the subject of the short story “Low Men in Yellow Coats,” which can be found in the STEPHEN KING book Hearts in Atlantis.
In the recorded tale which our ka-tet listens to in their camp on STEEK-TETE in THUNDERCLAP, Ted confides that he was born in MILFORD, Connecticut, in 1898. However, in Hearts in Atlantis, he tells Bobby Garfield that he was born in Teaneck, NEW JERSEY. (In the latter case, Ted must have been talking about a parallel version of himself.)
VI:389, VII:212, VII:233, VII:234, VII:270, VII:273, VII:297, VII:298, VII:304, VII:326, VII:339, VII:357, VII:376, VII:415
BRIDGEPORT: This is where the LOW MEN caught TED BRAUTIGAN at the end of his Connecticut adventure. They dragged him back to the DEVARTOI. For more information about Ted’s little vacation in Connecticut, see Hearts in Atlantis. VII:376
HARTFORD: V:263, VII:274–76, VII:282, VII:297
EAST HARTFORD HIGH: During World War One, TED BRAUTIGAN visited a recruitment office here. He was rejected because of health problems but also because he was a telepath. His uncanny abilities frightened the doctors. VII:275
HARWICH: VII:483
MOTEL 6: VII:483
MILFORD: In the final book of the Dark Tower series, TED BRAUTIGAN tells our tet that he was born in Milford in 1898. VII:212, VII:273, VII:415
MYSTIC: III:32
NORWICH: PATRICK DANVILLE’s pencils (complete with erasers) were bought in a Norwich Woolworth’s in 1958. Hence, Norwich played its own small but significant part in Roland’s ultimate triumph over the CRIMSON KING. VII:800
SEDONVILLE: Somewhere in this town, buried under a chicken house, is an Irishman shot dead for blowing down one of BALAZAR’s card houses. II:117
WESTPORT: V:544, VI:185
CO-OP CITY
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
COPIAH
See MISSISSIPPI (STATE OF)
COSTA DEL SOL
See SPAIN
CROSS BRONX EXPRESSWAY
See NEW YORK CITY: BRONX
CUBA
JANE DORNING—one of the stewardesses on EDDIE’s Delta flight from NASSAU to JFK—harbors a fear of being hijacked by Cubans.
II:54, VII:599
CULLUM’S CABIN
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY: EAST STONEHAM: KEYWADIN POND
CUSTOMS, NEW YORK
See NEW YORK CITY: QUEENS
CUYAHOGA RIVER
See OHIO
D
DAHLIE’S (DAHLBERG’S)
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
DALE’S FANCY BUTCHER SHOP
See OHIO (STATE OF): AKRON
DEAN FAMILY APARTMENT
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
DELAWARE (STATE OF)
During his years traveling along the HIGHWAYS IN HIDING, PERE CALLAHAN worked for a while as an apple-picker in Delaware.
V:302
ROUTE 71: V:302
DENBY’S DISCOUNT DRUG
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: TIMES SQUARE
DENMARK
See also MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY
VII:603
DENMARK, MAINE
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY
DENNIS’S WAFFLES AND PANCAKES
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: CHEW CHEW MAMA’S
DENVER
See COLORADO; see also ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD
DES MOINES
See IOWA (STATE OF)
DETROIT
See MICHIGAN (STATE OF)
DETTA’S SEX HAUNTS
See DRAWERS, in PORTALS
DIMITY ROAD
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY: EAST STONEHAM
DISNEYLAND
See CALIFORNIA (STATE OF)
DISNEY WORLD
See FLORIDA (STATE OF)
DIXIE PIG
See entry in PORTALS
DODGE
See KANSAS
DOORS: NEW YORK TO MID-WORLD
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS, in PORTALS
DRAWERS
See entry in PORTALS
DUBLIN
See IRELAND
DUKE UNIVERSITY
Duke University has a department of Psychical Research. According to JOHN CULLUM, one of the subjects they study is WALK-IN activity.
VI:152
DUTCH HILL
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
DUTCH HILL MANSION
See DOORWAYS BETWEEN WORLDS, in PORTALS
DUTCH HILL PUB
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
DUTCH HILL USED APPLIANCES
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN
E
EAST CONWAY VILLAGE
See NEW HAMPSHIRE (STATE OF)
EAST FRYEBURG
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY
EAST STONEHAM
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY
EASTER ISLAND
III:24
ECUADOR
IV:86
EGYPT
VII:115
CAIRO: V:140
PYRAMIDS: VII:115
**ENGLAND
In The Gunslinger, WALTER O’DIM claims that he lived in England hundreds (or perhaps a thousand) years before the GREAT OLD ONES crossed the ocean to the land that Roland now inhabits. In the 2003 version of The Gunslinger, the direct reference to England is cut. In the final book of the Dark Tower series we find out that GRACE RUMBELOW, an incredibly annoying BREAKER, came from ALDERSHOT.
I:211, VI:390, VII:394
HAMPSHIRE: VII:394
ALDERSHOT: VII:394
LONDON: IV:34, V:91, V:506, VII:242
STONEHENGE: VII:777
ETHIOPIA
VII:732
EVEREST
See MOUNT EVEREST
F
FIFTH AVENUE AND FORTY-THIRD STREET
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN
FLORIDA (STATE OF)
V:305, VI:408, VII:570, VII:674
BUSCH GARDENS: RIVER CROSSING’s garden (located behind the CHURCH OF THE BLOOD EVERLASTING) reminds EDDIE of Busch Gardens. III:233
CAPE CANAVERAL: When SUSANNAH sees the missiles lining the GREAT ROAD leading to LUD, she thinks about the Redstones fired from Cape Canaveral. III:287
DISNEY WORLD: II:334, III:73, III:91
FLORIDA KEYS: II:227
FORD ORD
See CALIFORNIA (STATE OF)
FORMOSA (TAIWAN)
Originally known by its aboriginal name, Pakan, this island was renamed Formosa when an early Dutch navigator (sailing on a Portuguese ship) saw it and exclaimed, “Ilha formosa,” or “beautiful island.” The contemporary name Taiwan is an adaptation of the word tayouan, which means “terrace bay.”
VII:115
FOUR FATHERS RESTAURANT
See NEW YORK CITY: BROOKLYN: GINELLI’S PIZZA
FRANCE
VII:275, VII:276
PARIS: VI:242
LOUVRE: VII:242
NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL: V:595
FRENCH LANDING
See WISCONSIN (STATE OF)
FRYEBURG
See MAINE (STATE OF): OXFORD COUNTY
G
GAGE PARK
See KANSAS (STATE OF): TOPEKA
GAIETY
See NEW YORK CITY: MANHATTAN: TIMES SQUARE
GARDEN OF THE BEAM
See LOT, THE, in PORTALS
