Where It All Goes Down
In an interview with the American Library Association, David Levithan said that Boy Meets Boy was "about creating an ideal town (situated next to a less than ideal town)." He didn't give either town a name, but because Paul (who is from the ideal town) and Tony (who is from the less-than-ideal town) meet at the iconic New York City bookstore the Strand and go home together on a commuter train, and Infinite Darlene later references a football game in Passaic, we can assume the book takes place in New Jersey. As Levithan – who is, himself, a Jersey boy now living in New York City -- put it, "Some books were made to reflect reality, but [Boy Meets Boy is] more about creating reality, and showing where it can go."
So what kind of reality does he create? Well essentially it's everything you would have wanted if you were a gay kid in the 80s, as Levithan was, though the book takes place in the present day.
There's a gay record store with plenty of retro vinyl, a funky vintage clothing store, an ice cream shop called I Scream that sells horror-themed cones, and a cemetery with a diary in a lock box on every grave in which visitors can write messages to the deceased. The lake at the park even has paddleboats shaped like ducks on which boys can freely kiss without fear. We're looking at a setting through a rose-tinted, soft-focus lens for sure.