No it is not a real place. According to co-founder Mark Gane "While I was a student at the Ontario College of Art, I got a job one summer at a paint and wallpaper factory. Whenever the huge wallpaper presses made errors in the printing run, it was my job to separate the good wallpaper from the stuff that had been damaged or misprinted. It was the kind of job where your head didn't have to know what your hands were doing, which allowed me to think and daydream for hours at a time. I often thought of places I had been or would like to be - anywhere but there! It was there that the germ of the song was born. Since the idea of a wallpaper quality control checker was too obscure for the lyrics, I used an office clerk which seemed more universal. Most of the second verse was inspired by a summer's evening spent at Sunnyside Beach on the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto. The lake and beach could have been in the middle of nowhere while the city behind became a "surrealistic sight". While Echo Beach did not exist for me as a real location, I used it as a symbol of the place everyone wants to escape to when they're not where they want to be". Any more questions about "Muffin" songs? Go to this link: http://www.marthaandthemuffins.com/ss/s_eb.htm#one