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So anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of The Office. HUGE. Well, I just happened to be in the Scranton, PA area this weekend for a wedding, so obviously I had to go there. There really wasn't any question.
**NOTE** If you don't watch the show, you probably won't know what I'm talking about through most of this haha...**
I left my hotel around 11, but got briefly distracted by the 100 store outlet mall directly next door. *Ahem*
I get to Scranton around 1:00 in the afternoon and head straight into downtown. I was ready for lunch so I headed for Cooper's Seafood (where the Office workers frequently go to eat and where Michael took Holly in one episode)...
How awesome is the giant octopus??
I have to say that Cooper's might be the coolest themed restaurant I've been in. The whole thing is decorated very randomly, but with a definitely nautical/piratey theme to it. I say random because, for example, the women's room was entirely devoted to Elvis and even played Elvis' music haha.
All throughout the restaurant (which is composed of quite a few separate dining rooms) there are these little window vignettes that feature some kind of scene built with (usually) toys. For example, they had one vignette set up like the Planet of the Apes with the action figures and scenery and everything. One had Barbie and Ken's beach volleyball party, one had Gilligan's Island action figures on a little fake island etc. etc. It was really cool to wander around and look at them all.
They have a train set that runs around the top of all the rooms and goes throughout the whole restaurant.
^The train runs around the top of the room and you can see one of the little vignettes on the right there.
My booth had a window next to it but instead of an actual window, it was a fish tank which was pretty cool.
There was even a Zoltar machine! (from the movie Big with Tom Hanks). I got a fortune, but didn't turn into a 30 year-old the next morning. :(
Next I drove right around the corner to check out the PA Paper building (previously Penn Paper) which is seen in the opening credits of the show.
Not the best of neighborhoods so I left after I took a few quick shots.
I drove over to the Steamtown Mall (where Michael took the ladies for Women's Appreciation).
Look who's riding the elevator!
Dunder Mifflin supports the local mall...
Boscovs, where Pam & Phyllis both bought the same shirt...
The mall is where the "Scranton Welcomes You" sign from the show's opening credits has been moved.
It was insanely hard to take a photo of myself and the sign...with my iphone..backwards...while looking decent...so please excuse the fug.
Every weekend they hold The Office fan tours (which I missed by a day, oh well). This is the inside of the office where everybody meets. Pretty cool!
When you go through the food court of the mall you can walk out onto this big walkway that goes over the railroad tracks. I think it's part of the Trolley Museum.
^I love this shot of the conductor just standing there all nonchalant. Yes, he's real.
After the mall, I decided to find the "Scranton: The Electric City" sign. I didn't feel like finding a place to park on the street so I left my car in the mall garage and decided to walk. Eventually I found it on top of a building in the middle of a big square where they have a large veterans memorial.
Sorry the sign is so hard to see. I would love to go back and get a shot of it at night all lit up!
I walked back to the mall and decided to go check out Nay Aug park (which has nothing to do with the show, I just wanted to go.
On the way there I drove past this awesome mural (there are actually a ton of murals all over Scranton):
The park has a sweet treehouse and bridge there.
^The view from the treehouse. It was at this point that the sky decided to open up and drown us. Luckily, I anticipated this and brought an umbrella.
^Down at the bottom of the gorge, in the rain. I'd like to walk the trail that goes over there someday!
At this point I had been planning on driving out to Lake Scranton, but since it was POURING I decided to go to the Anthracite Museum (Lazy Scranton rap video, anyone?) instead.
I got there, and they literally were locking the doors just as I pulled in. Damn. I was really looking forward to all that coal mining history, too. :)
The building is really much more impressive than it looks in this photo and the one they used on the episode of the office. This is the side of the building but it is actually quite large in the front.
The coal mine tour actually did look pretty neat. I would have liked to do that.
It was getting kinda late so I drove over to Poor Richards Pub (which is located in the South Side Bowl, actually) and checked it out.
It's actually pretty small. I bought a t-shirt and talked to the bartender for a bit about the show. He said they sent NBC a whole bunch of photos of the bar so that they could recreate a set for the show. He showed me the plaque they gave him at the Office Convention in 2007:
And the magnet Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration (Bobby Ray Schaefer) signed for them when he visited last week on the Office fan tour.
At this point I was ready for dinner so I went (literally) right around the corner to Alfredo's Pizza Cafe! (from the episode where Michael orders from Pizza by Alfredo's instead of Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, and subsequently kidnaps their delivery boy).
I had the barbeque chicken pizza and it was quite tasty. And no, I did not eat the whole thing. I took the rest home with me for a coworker who is also an Office fan!
At this point it was around 6:30 and I was ready to head home (which was a 4 hour drive!) I was still disappointed that I hadn't gotten to go to Lake Scranton (beach games episode) so I figured what the heck. I might as well try and make my way over.
Following my GPS was not a good idea. Since it was a Lake and not a physical address, I ended up in some neighborhood where the road to the lake was totally blocked off.
I'll make a point to say here how pretty the area around Scranton is. The city is kinda crappy, I'll be honest..but the landscape is beautiful. The downtown area is basically built in a valley which is surrounded on all sides by mountains and hills. The houses run right up the sides of those mountains and hills, which reminded me a little of San Francisco.
After almost giving up hope of finding the Lake, I took my iPhone and my google maps and found a route around the other side of the Lake. I just followed it street by street until suddenly, boom! It was there!
Much more beautiful than on the show, eh?
At this point all the crappy weather that had been hovering all day suddenly broke and Scranton gave me a gift! I was about to head home when suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and I just happened to pass a "scenic overlook" at that exact moment. There was fog everywhere too which made it even more dramatic.
How pretty is that? Ugh.
I really didn't want to leave at that point but seeing as it was already 7:30 and I had to work the next day, I said goodbye to Scranton. For now.
**NOTE** If you don't watch the show, you probably won't know what I'm talking about through most of this haha...**
I left my hotel around 11, but got briefly distracted by the 100 store outlet mall directly next door. *Ahem*
I get to Scranton around 1:00 in the afternoon and head straight into downtown. I was ready for lunch so I headed for Cooper's Seafood (where the Office workers frequently go to eat and where Michael took Holly in one episode)...
How awesome is the giant octopus??
I have to say that Cooper's might be the coolest themed restaurant I've been in. The whole thing is decorated very randomly, but with a definitely nautical/piratey theme to it. I say random because, for example, the women's room was entirely devoted to Elvis and even played Elvis' music haha.
All throughout the restaurant (which is composed of quite a few separate dining rooms) there are these little window vignettes that feature some kind of scene built with (usually) toys. For example, they had one vignette set up like the Planet of the Apes with the action figures and scenery and everything. One had Barbie and Ken's beach volleyball party, one had Gilligan's Island action figures on a little fake island etc. etc. It was really cool to wander around and look at them all.
They have a train set that runs around the top of all the rooms and goes throughout the whole restaurant.
^The train runs around the top of the room and you can see one of the little vignettes on the right there.
My booth had a window next to it but instead of an actual window, it was a fish tank which was pretty cool.
There was even a Zoltar machine! (from the movie Big with Tom Hanks). I got a fortune, but didn't turn into a 30 year-old the next morning. :(
Next I drove right around the corner to check out the PA Paper building (previously Penn Paper) which is seen in the opening credits of the show.
Not the best of neighborhoods so I left after I took a few quick shots.
I drove over to the Steamtown Mall (where Michael took the ladies for Women's Appreciation).
Look who's riding the elevator!
Dunder Mifflin supports the local mall...
Boscovs, where Pam & Phyllis both bought the same shirt...
The mall is where the "Scranton Welcomes You" sign from the show's opening credits has been moved.
It was insanely hard to take a photo of myself and the sign...with my iphone..backwards...while looking decent...so please excuse the fug.
Every weekend they hold The Office fan tours (which I missed by a day, oh well). This is the inside of the office where everybody meets. Pretty cool!
When you go through the food court of the mall you can walk out onto this big walkway that goes over the railroad tracks. I think it's part of the Trolley Museum.
^I love this shot of the conductor just standing there all nonchalant. Yes, he's real.
After the mall, I decided to find the "Scranton: The Electric City" sign. I didn't feel like finding a place to park on the street so I left my car in the mall garage and decided to walk. Eventually I found it on top of a building in the middle of a big square where they have a large veterans memorial.
Sorry the sign is so hard to see. I would love to go back and get a shot of it at night all lit up!
I walked back to the mall and decided to go check out Nay Aug park (which has nothing to do with the show, I just wanted to go.
On the way there I drove past this awesome mural (there are actually a ton of murals all over Scranton):
The park has a sweet treehouse and bridge there.
^The view from the treehouse. It was at this point that the sky decided to open up and drown us. Luckily, I anticipated this and brought an umbrella.
^Down at the bottom of the gorge, in the rain. I'd like to walk the trail that goes over there someday!
At this point I had been planning on driving out to Lake Scranton, but since it was POURING I decided to go to the Anthracite Museum (Lazy Scranton rap video, anyone?) instead.
I got there, and they literally were locking the doors just as I pulled in. Damn. I was really looking forward to all that coal mining history, too. :)
The building is really much more impressive than it looks in this photo and the one they used on the episode of the office. This is the side of the building but it is actually quite large in the front.
The coal mine tour actually did look pretty neat. I would have liked to do that.
It was getting kinda late so I drove over to Poor Richards Pub (which is located in the South Side Bowl, actually) and checked it out.
It's actually pretty small. I bought a t-shirt and talked to the bartender for a bit about the show. He said they sent NBC a whole bunch of photos of the bar so that they could recreate a set for the show. He showed me the plaque they gave him at the Office Convention in 2007:
And the magnet Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration (Bobby Ray Schaefer) signed for them when he visited last week on the Office fan tour.
At this point I was ready for dinner so I went (literally) right around the corner to Alfredo's Pizza Cafe! (from the episode where Michael orders from Pizza by Alfredo's instead of Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, and subsequently kidnaps their delivery boy).
I had the barbeque chicken pizza and it was quite tasty. And no, I did not eat the whole thing. I took the rest home with me for a coworker who is also an Office fan!
At this point it was around 6:30 and I was ready to head home (which was a 4 hour drive!) I was still disappointed that I hadn't gotten to go to Lake Scranton (beach games episode) so I figured what the heck. I might as well try and make my way over.
Following my GPS was not a good idea. Since it was a Lake and not a physical address, I ended up in some neighborhood where the road to the lake was totally blocked off.
I'll make a point to say here how pretty the area around Scranton is. The city is kinda crappy, I'll be honest..but the landscape is beautiful. The downtown area is basically built in a valley which is surrounded on all sides by mountains and hills. The houses run right up the sides of those mountains and hills, which reminded me a little of San Francisco.
After almost giving up hope of finding the Lake, I took my iPhone and my google maps and found a route around the other side of the Lake. I just followed it street by street until suddenly, boom! It was there!
Much more beautiful than on the show, eh?
At this point all the crappy weather that had been hovering all day suddenly broke and Scranton gave me a gift! I was about to head home when suddenly the sun broke through the clouds and I just happened to pass a "scenic overlook" at that exact moment. There was fog everywhere too which made it even more dramatic.
How pretty is that? Ugh.
I really didn't want to leave at that point but seeing as it was already 7:30 and I had to work the next day, I said goodbye to Scranton. For now.