A ‘Gilmore Girls’ Fan Thinks They’ve Spotted Al of Al’s Pancake World Fame; There Is Still No Sign of JoJo
Stars Hollow is one of the most beloved fictional towns in television history. That’s because Amy Sherman-Palladino crafted a robust story around the main characters and the town they lived in. In many ways, the town and its residents became main characters in their own right. While we learned a lot about Stars Hollow and met many residents during the seven-season run of Gilmore Girls, there were still some residents we heard plenty about but never got to lay eyes on, or did we? One superfan thinks they may have solved the mystery of Al, the famous owner of Al’s Pancake World, Rory and Lorelai Gilmore’s second-most frequented restaurant. While it is largely believed he never appeared in the show, there is reason to believe he actually might have been hidden in a quick season 5 scene.
A ‘Gilmore Girls’ fan may have found the owner of Al’s Pancake World
A Reddit user made a startling discovery during the cold open of the season 5 episode “A Messenger and Nothing More.” In the first few seconds of the episode, Lorelai Gilmore walks down the street of Stars Hollow. As she passes the newsstand, she says hello to three men reading magazines on the sidewalk. She refers to them as Al, Fred, and Sam. Could the Al sitting at the newsstand be the famed owner of Al’s Pancake World? We think so.
While there is no concrete evidence that the Al sitting at the newsstand is the famous Al of Al’s Pancake World, it would stand to reason that the men are one and the same. After all, Stars Hollow is a relatively small hamlet, so how many residents named Al could there be? Gilmore Girls never showed Al’s Pancake World on screen, but most of the town’s businesses were located in one central town square. Based on the town’s general layout and a season 1 statement by Rory, it seems that Al’s was located across the street from Luke’s Diner, which was just down the road from the newsstand. Logically, Al might take a break from his international menus to read a magazine.
A ‘Gilmore Girls’ fans might have solved the Al mystery, but there still has never been a sighting of JoJo
Al’s Pancake World was one of just a few eateries Lorelai and Rory Gilmore frequented. Aside from Luke’s Diner and Weston’s Bakery, Gilmore Girls, fans never saw the interior, or in most cases, the exterior of those eateries. Their proprietors remain mysteries, as well. While Al may have finally been located, there is one restaurant owner we are fairly certain we never met.
Lorelai Gilmore, Rory Gilmore, and Dean Forrester were big movie buffs. Whenever they were taking in a film at the local movie house, they picked up burgers from JoJo’s. Dean once explained that JoJo’s burgers were so bad that it didn’t matter if they got cold. Rory implied that JoJo wasn’t doing much business, either. Still, he hung around Stars Hollow, seemingly lurking in the shadows.
We are sad that JoJo never appeared in the show, although perhaps another eagle-eyed fan will also spot him in the background. Now that Al has been seemingly unmasked, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for JoJo.
