Tue 16 Sep 2008
So, Like, Where Does Don Draper Live?
Posted by TJ under Don Draper, Mad Men
I like Mad Men.
I’m not gaga over it the way some of the more talented television viewers out there are, but I recognize the quality and enjoy watching these badly behaved but still intriguing ad guys do their thing. Typically, the Missus watches, while I half-watch as I read the Sunday Times.
The most recent episode featured a party at the Draper house in the ‘burbs. One attendee said he took the Saw Mill Parkway to get there; another mentioned having lived in New Rochelle; another said his idea of fun was sailing from Old Lyme to Larchmont.
So Draper lives in Westchester, off the Saw Mill. But where? I missed the whole first season…do they ever say where he lives? If not, let’s see what we know: Stately colonial on decent property. No water within sight. Mrs. Draper enjoys horseback riding (there’s riding in Pleasantville and Pocantico Hills, and certainly points north).
So is it Tarrytown? Dobbs Ferry? Ardsley?
Perhaps further north in Cheever country, like Ossining?
Anyone out there know, or care to venture a guess?
And how come they never show the ad guys on the train back to the ‘burbs? With all the drinking they do, surely someone pulls an Accidental Tourist now and then?
September 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
In the first season we see him riding Metro-North.
And yeah this season we found out he lives in Westchester.
Someone on this forum said his stop is Ossining:
http://www.youbemom.com/forum/view/245352
September 17th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Ossining! Geez pay attention.
Tho I’m wondering how fast and loose they playing with local locales. In an episode a couple weeks ago Mrs. Comedian’s wife talks about her beach house in “Stony Brook” where the “waves crash” I think she also mentioned sand.
As it’s on the Long Island Sound, any beach house in Stony Brook is a lot more likely to feature water lapping against mossy rocks than what she described.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:26 am
But if Metro-North has only been around 25 years–the giant banners in Grand Central say as much–Draper couldn’t have been riding Metro North back in 1960. Either its the creators playing fast and loose with the facts, or he was on ConnRail or whatever the train was known as back then.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Reader Laurel confirms:
The Drapers live in Ossining. It was a mystery until episode 4 or 5. He referred to living “upstate” and also read a paper from Poughkeepsie. I forget how it came out…
As a fellow commuter, enjoying your blog.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
He reads the Poughkeepsie Journal, so it’s gotta be up there. Supports the Ossining theory.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
It is Ossining. There is a scene in the first season where Betty goes to the Ossining train station to come into the city.
January 4th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
What about in the second episode Season 1, when talking about the divorcee moving into the neighborhood? The woman said that “Jaunita is concerned with it effecting real estate prices in Chilmark.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Chilmark is an area within Ossining.
September 6th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Ossining cruiser pulled up to the Draper household and the officer announced Gene’s death.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I heard Ossining last week during their country club get together. Which is not an easy commute into NYC. And back than Ossining was like living in the boone docks it definetly wasn’t upscale.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Gosh, you don’t think Don Draper may live in a “prison of his own making”, do you? I’d guess the Cheever nod is a happy coincidence.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
When I was a child in the 60’s, my grandmother had a friend who would bring her grandson down from Ossining. My grandmother made the biggest deal about it, Ossining was definitely upscale back then.
I live there now. Ironically, the reservoir they refer to in tonight’s episode is in Briarcliff Manor, but Ossining school district.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Ossining. Just got through season 1 DVD. Episode where Betty learns of her friend/neighbor’s affair after getting a phone bill has Betty doing the same with Don’s phone bill. There is a close up of the envelope, and the address is clear. Ossining, NY.
December 15th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I have attached this image here as further proof.
http://imgur.com/InWpM.png
Don Draper’s signed 3 year contract in season 3 Episode 7.