I remember watching this show when I was a kid and have recently started watching it on A&E. I find it immensely entertaining....probably for all the wrong reasons.
At any rate, I always assumed the show was about the LAPD but the show alludes to the LCPD---uniform patches, car decals, the academy, etc.
What gives?
I read that it takes place in a fictional city in California. However, I don't know if thats true. It could be a smaller, lesser known city near Los Angeles. But I have been wondering myself. Anybody else?
shareI've started rewatching this show recently, also. I always liked it when I was young. Sometimes it seems kind of dumb now, but I still like it, probably because I liked it so much before. I remember asking my Dad what LCPD stood for once, and he said that it was Los Angeles County Police Dept. Don't know if he was making it up or what, but it made sense at the time...........
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That must be the case.
Seems like back in the Eighties most shows were based on fictional cities/organizations even though the audience knew better.
I used to watch it back in the 80's, too, so the A&E repeats are something like a trip down memory lane. I still lived in England back then. Anyway, somewhere along the line, I heard that the L.C. in L.C.P.D. stands for Locker County. Wether it's a real place or not, I don't know. However, sometimes, it looks a bit like San Francisco.
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I was reading on TV.com's summary of TJ Hooker that LCPD stood for Lake City Police Department. But they said it was rumored to be that and not definite since it was never officially announced on the show what it stood for.
shareI have heard or read over the years that it is the:
a. Los Conchos Police Department
b. Los Angeles County Police Department (most prevelant)
c. Lake City Police
No it is LCPD and it was fictional, just like Starsky and Hutch's Bay City (another Aaron Spelling production).
shareT J Hooker was set in the fictional city of Los County
shareAll the above options are churned up now and again; however, Los Angeles County Police Department is by far the most popular, followed by Lake City. The rest only appear in one place each so probably not valid. However:
(a) The series is set in California, Romano often goes on about being a "South Philly boy trying the Californiate"
(b) The outside scenes, and some establishing shots of hospitals, bridges, cityscape etc. are of LA
(c) According to tj-hooker.com (which is the nearest thing we've got to an official site) it was always intended to be an 'alternate' Los Angeles
(d) The Academy is the LAPD Academy; they covered Los Angeles up on the gate that features in the start sequence, but amongst other things Romano is pictured in front of a large Los Angeles Police Rifle And Athletics Club hoarding in the titles sequence - this is also dated as from Class 2 of 1981
(e) the show does mention real-life people, particularly singers and movie stars. There is also that famed episode with stock footage of a Beach Boys concert cut in with "mocked up" sequences of a Beach Boy praising "my pal Hooker" on stage!!
Does anyone know
(a) if there is or was a Valley Hospital Medical Center, or Memorial Hospital, in LA?
(b) if there is or was a 'Schaefer' or 'Professional' ambulance service, or such like in LA?
(c) if there is or was a Wellington Elementary school in LA?
All these places are in the last 3 episodes I watched!! I'm from the UK and furthest afield I've ever been is Belgium, so I don't know LA too well!!
While all the names of streets etc. are made up, I think in essence the creators envisaged an alternate-universe kind of thing, whereby LA was still LA etc. etc. physically, but with all the names and organisations different. If only Hooker and Romano had pursued someone over the Golden Gate Bridge!!
Can't believe I said that, Golden Gate bridge is in San Francisco isn't it? Oh God......
shareIt was filmed in and around Burbank and other parts of the San Fernando Valley-you know Valley Girl-Totally!! And there was a Valley Presbyterian Hospital in that general area! LCPD- is supposed to be Los Angeles County Police dept. As everyone knows-the Sheriff's dept. is county wide, not the police. They operate only in individual cities.
shareThe City is LA, the police acamdemy is LAPD's academy, shots of the vehicles use LAPD markings. The LAPD did not want to be potraded as bad as Chicago PD was in the Blues Brothers, so the name was changed to LCPD.
shareAs taken from Wikipedia at (www.wikipedia.com)
"Hooker and Romano's radio call sign for their "black and white" was "4-Adam-30", and radio calls were very similar to those of Los Angeles Police Department, using three bursts of a 900 Hz tone, using LAPD-type radio codes, and the officers acknowledging with roger. The series itself was produced in the Los Angeles area, and the call sign denoted a two-officer unit ("Adam") based in the LAPD's Hollenbeck division ("4"), with "30" as a supervisor unit."
The reality is: the show was filmed in L.A. and from the numerous locations and lankmarks it really doesn't hide that fact. So,reality wise it was in L.A. Storyline wise in the show it's a fictiocous crime ridden city in America; Of course L.C.P.D. could mean for the sake of argument the obvious Los Angeles County Police Department. Hooker was with a new recruit, Romano so it'd make sense if it was county based law enforcement.
So choose whatever fan based theory you want too I guess.
The police cars were obviously copied from the real life
patrol cars of the LAPD and Hooker and Romano wore
badges that looked very much like real Los Angeles Police
Department issue shields. I noticed right away how much
of the exterior scenes of the city were definitely those
of Los Angeles, CA. And I recall one early episode where
Hooker and Romano went to visit a group of young
Hispanic gang banger looking types to ask questions and
to get information about recent crimes. And the young
dudes all drove lowrider autos which also was a giveaway
that TJ Hooker was set in Los Angeles of the early 80's.
LorenzoSunnyFlorida
Romano needed to drive a lowrider. lol.
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"At any rate, I always assumed the show was about the LAPD but the show alludes to the LCPD---uniform patches, car decals, the academy, etc"
I noticed it also. perhaps the LAPD didn't want to be associated with the series. The T.J. Hooker character is a little old school in mentality and they maybe didn't want that image anymore. Just conjecture. In any event, those locations look like Los Angeles to be.
Live Long and Prosper!
There is an LA County Police Department, as well as the sheriffs and LAPD.
Only thing is that the LA County Police Department wears pretty much the same uniform as the sheriffs department, and they primarily patrol county properties.
"There is an LA County Police Department, as well as the sheriffs and LAPD.
Only thing is that the LA County Police Department wears pretty much the same uniform as the sheriffs department, and they primarily patrol county properties."--bentstrider
Thanks for the info. I have an infatuation with everything L.A. and enjoy learning anything and everything about Los Angeles.
Live Long and Prosper!
No problem dude.
I live about 100 miles away from the city itself and even I'm surprised by how many different, municipal law-enforcement agencies exist within that area alone.
Not to mention I'm considering joining up with the LAPD one of these days.
It was filmed in L.A. Alot of the exterior scenes were shot in hollywood,downtown los angeles, and the san fernando valley. I grew up here in those areas so its fun to watch this show and be able to see the area as it was when I was young.
shareby - mike_7857 on Fri Jun 3 2011 22:24:32
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It was filmed in L.A. A lot of the exterior scenes were shot in Hollywood,downtown Los Angeles, and the San Fernando valley. I grew up here in those areas so its fun to watch this show and be able to see the area as it was when I was young.
My response:
Awesome! I've only been a visitor to Los Angeles and truth be told, a big percentage of my enjoyment of watching many eighties television shows is to watch the Los Angeles backgrounds.
Live Full & Die Empty. Tap Your Potential and Realise Your Dreams!
That's cool.
shareLos Angeles County Police Department?
They actually go by the LACP (Los Angeles County Police) without the designation of "department". I am not sure if this was always the case (things may be different now than in 1982) but that is their acronym and they wear the brown and tan like the sherifs office. Oops just checked further, the LACP was created in 1998 consolidating the former Park Police from the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Safety Police from the Departments of Health and Internal Services. So no go there, most likely as close to LAPD as they can get without LAPD's permission.
Forgot to say but they do have California Plates on the bad fellas car. So I guess it is somewhere in California. Maybe the Attica statement should be in the goofs department.
shareThe city is fictisous, but it all takes place in Los Angeles. You see signs in the background. Saw an L.A radio station sign on the side of a bue for KBIG 104 FM, which is out of Los Angeles. Also a freeway sign that said Highway 5 Los Angeles. I guess they were not endorsed to use L.A.P.D's name, but the front of the Academy looks just like L.A's. The patrol car logo's look the same and they where the same color of uniform. I guess LCPD could stand fro Los Angeles City Police Department.
shareI always liked Large City Police Department, since it was a fictional city anyway.
Note to writers:
If you must kill off a character, make it the sunglasses dude on CSI Miami!
They never do make reference to the city they work for. Hooker did help out on a case in Hollywood the other day with Sharon Stone playing a detective for Hollywood P.D, which is actually policed by LAPD.
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