Utica, New York - Utica in Popular Culture and Literature

Utica in Popular Culture and Literature

• Utica is mentioned in Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl ("I'm with you in Rockland / where you drink the tea of the / breasts of the spinsters of Utica" ).
• Portions of the 1977 film Slap Shot starring Paul Newman were filmed at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
• The American television program The Office makes occasional reference to Utica: The "Utica branch" is one of a handful of the fictional company Dunder-Mifflin's satellite offices, and has been mentioned sporadically throughout the show.
  • The Branch Wars episode is set partly in Utica. It was not filmed there, so the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce and other local groups donated objects to dress the set to look like an actual Utica-style office.
  • The Lecture Circuit Pt. 1 episode is also partly set in Utica.
• The American television program The Simpsons makes occasional reference to Utica.
  • Superintendent Chalmers is from Utica.
  • The Eeny Teeny Maya Moe episode (#LABF06) shows a hockey game between the Springfield Isotopes and the Utica Mohawks.
  • Another episode features an old newsreel that ends with the narrator exclaiming, "So watch out, Utica! Springfield is a city on the... grow!"
• Bobbi Anderson, the protagonist of Stephen King's novel The Tommyknockers, is from Utica.
• The rock band Phish released a DVD/CD set of their October 20, 2010 performance in Utica entitled "Live In Utica At The Aud".
• The protagonist of the 1997-1998 NBC sitcom Jenny, starring Jenny McCarthy, is from Utica and the series begins there.
• On The Honeymooners 1950s television show starring Jackie Gleason, Alice's Uncle is from Utica.