Come to beautiful Mt. Airy, North Carolina, where Barney Fife’s girlfriend gets robbed on the street!
Betty Lou Lynn, 83, whose character Thelma Lou was the girlfriend of Deputy Barney Fife on the long-running series, said in a 2008 interview that she moved to Mount Airy the year before to get away from crime-infested Los Angeles after living there for decades.
With all due sympathy and respect to Betty Lou Lynn, it’s kind of awesome that it happened in Mt. Airy. That city makes such a big deal about being the alleged “real” Mayberry that it gets on the nerves.
The city URL is visitmayberry.com, after all. (“Mount Airy has Floyd’s City Barber Shop, Snappy Lunch, the Andy Griffith Playhouse, Andy’s Homeplace, Aunt Bee’s Room and Wally’s Service Station, Squad Car Tours, The Old City Jail, The Mayberry Courthouse, Mayberry Soda Fountain, Opie’s Candy Store, Mayberry on Main.”)
Andy Griffith grew up there, sure, and god bless him. But isn’t it time for Mt. Airy to move out of Andy’s spare bedroom and make a respectable living?
Like, how about a Chang and Eng Bunker theme? They’re buried right outside of town.