Heck, in a story I'm writing (what's done is published on the Wapsi Square forum) I have a couple of characters eating in a certain restaurant in Minneapolis. I mention what they are eating. You could walk into that restaurant with a friend and order the same thing. It's real.
(I use that to shoot down the "it's all true or it's all lies" crowd, because that part of the story IS true, as are a number of other details such as typical driving time between the university area of Saint Paul and the nearest Wal-Mart, but as for the overall story... well, while eating at that restaurant in real life you won't have a pair of centaurs eating at the next table, and I'm pretty sure there aren't three werewolf art-school students renting a basement apartment near the university.)
While it's possible I've passed through Minneapolis/St Paul once or twice, I can't say for sure that I have, and I've definitely never been there in any meaningful sense.
The internet is very helpful to writers.