I’m watching family guy & Peter found a missing kid and as a reward the mayor gave him the key to the city (or town hall?).
I’ve also seen this happen in a few other movies.
Was this ever a real thing? Is this an inside joke I’m not aware of?
In: 2567
My grandpa was a judge and got a key to the city, which we found when he died. I don’t remember now exactly which city it was, but I believe he mostly lived in Riverside, CA, so maybe there
City councilmember here. We have dozens of ceremonial keys. Before the pandemic, we gave them to a middle schooler who would write a winning essay and then come to read it from the Mayor’s seat on the dais.
I live in Buffalo, NY. Our mayor, Byron Brown, held a press conference and gave a key to the city to Terrell Owens because he signed to play for the Buffalo Bills. It was embarrassing to say the least.
Edit: the key was given under the terms that he scored 10 touchdowns and the team made the playoffs. He ended up scoring 5 touchdowns and they did not make the playoffs. The year was 2009.
When I was a kid I thought the key to the city was like a skeleton key that opened everyone’s doors, so you could just help yourself into any home and sit down for dinner or watch TV or something.
My husband was given the Key to the city of Miami when he was Mayor of Crawley. He and his then wife and children were invited over to Miami by the Mayor when he visited the U.K. and my beloved Gray met him at Gatwick Airport. By the time Gray and family visited Miami the Mayor had been replaced and Gray and family ended up having to pay for everything themselves.
Anyway he ended up being given the key to the city, I still have it somewhere. This was back in the 1980’s, my beloved Gray and I got together twenty odd years later, and we really did have a good marriage.
He had stepped away from being involved in politics by then, and truly I don’t think he really missed it.
The Key to the City is gold in colour and is in a little red suede bag.
So, it’s never been a physical key that let you into the city.
However going waaay back, when cities were walled in, not just anyone was allowed into the city. You had to have work lined up, or own property in the city, or be a merchant.
Although also worth noting that except in a few situations, the cities generally expanded well beyond the walled parts. So just because you didn’t have access to “the city” you still had access to urban areas.
This led to “the cities” being the area for the wealthier people. They tended to be cleaner and safer. Like a modern gated community. Just a little more extreme on the gates. As in these cities, gates were guarded during the day and closed and locked at night.
Anyway, if you did a good deed for the city you might be rewarded with “freedom of the city” meaning you were allowed to come and go as you pleased, whether or not you owned property there or had business there. It was a reward. The guards would let you pass and the night time watchmen would open the gate for you.
Anyway these days it’s entirely ceremonial, as walled cities aren’t really a thing anymore.
Ninja Edit: And I should add this is a western European thing. Might be different elsewhere. But this was practiced in England and France and Northern Italy.
In 2010 I was awarded the key to the city where I lived. I had opened and funded a teen center that served over a quarter of 1 million kids over 10 years. The city honored me with the key to the city. I told them I just wanted the key to the bathroom.
Yes it was basically a free way to kiss someone’s ass and have photo opp but there is good reason why they don’t do it anymore, sometimes the people that get such an award later turn out to be a giant piece of shit like the time[ Saddam Hussein was given the Key of Detroit.](https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2019/11/27/the-odd-list-of-those-awarded-key-to-the-city-of-detroit-over-the-years/)
I always thought it was stupid as a kid, I still think it was a stupid idea.
Places still do it, the band A day to remember got given the key to the city of ocala not long ago
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