Van Life Diaries - 3 Real Life Locations from "The Office"

Scranton, Pennsylvania is inseperable from the hit-series “The Office.” 

Although, the show was primarily filmed in California, the series writers took inspiration from many real-life Electric City locations.

Noodles and I stop to visit three such Office locations in Lackawanna County - join us as we explore the wonderful world of "The Office"

As always we'll take listener questions at the end!

Noah and Noodles here!

We want to extend a heartfelt thanks to every listener of Backroad Odyssey.

Your support fuels our passion and inspires us to keep sharing stories and discover overlooked locations.

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Transcript

Office Inspired Road Trip Adventure

Speaker 1 0:00

Cruisin' down the street . I wonder where this road would lead . So many possibilities . Care to share what you think . Oh , noodle Dolls , what do you see ? Back Road Odyssey , van Life Diaries three real-life locations from the Office . Welcome to Van Life Diaries . I'm Noah , your host , along with my trusty sidekick Noodles . The Dog in my van Today is casual . No edits , no scripts . Let's get into it .

Speaker 1 0:40

Scranton , pennsylvania , is synonymous with the events of the hit series the Office . Although the show was primarily filmed in California , the series writers took inspiration from many real-life locations around the infamous Electric City . So , naturally , noodles and I stop to visit three locations in Lackawanna County and want to share our experience with you . We're at a Cracker Barrel in Southern Alabama , just hanging out , perfect place to talk all things the Office . So initially we considered doing a large episode , a standard episode of our visit to Scranton , but something didn't quite click . I don't know . There's something about the show itself , the Office , that feels authentic , that feels relaxed , very unscripted . Eventually , I think , we came to realize that any discussion about the show's location should reflect that same idea . So , with that said , let's start with a location even casual fans will recognize .

Speaker 1 1:48

Much of the opening title sequence depicts scenes around Scranton . You know the song . So John Krasinski , who played Jim Halpert , having been confirmed as casted as Jim in the upcoming American adaptation of the British show of the same name , decides to go where else but Scranton , pennsylvania , where the events of the show will take place . And well there he gets out an old camera and films , and it's this footage that John shot that makes it into the opening sequences of every episode of the Office . One of these shots is the pen paper tower looking building is actually home to the family-owned Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company , even though it now boasts an unmistakable Dunder Mifflin logo at the very top .

Speaker 1 2:52

This tower is our first stop once we drive into the slightly hilly , some 80,000-person town . And surprisingly , it wasn't very hard to find town and surprisingly , it wasn't very hard to find . From watching it hundreds , if not , regrettably , thousands , of times , I can picture it from memory and I knew it right when I saw it . So after driving around the tower for a bit to find kind of roughly the same place that Krasinski filmed that iconic opening shot , we found it . There's a good place , a couple of parking lots right across the street where you can hang out , take photos and chill , and that is exactly what we did . We took some photos , we hung out . I actually worked in the parking lot for a little bit . I could see the tower outside of my window , which was a cool experience . And I'll say this this stop , this stop right here , is the most visibly connected to the show and is definitely worth the short detour to see it . You can drive up to it to make a quick stop of it , like I did , or you can walk from the nearby marketplace at Steam Town place . At Steamtown , unlike our next stop here , the Pen Paper Tower isn't steeped in controversy .

Speaker 1 4:12

Alfredo's Pizza Cafe Not to be confused with Pizza by Alfredo is about a six-minute drive from the Pen Paper Tower and our next stop on our Scranton tour today . Alfredo's is nestled in between shops and is known for their pan pizza , referred to as the better of the two Alfredo's pizza joints by the employees of Dunder Mifflin . So naturally , when I went to Alfredo's Pizza Cafe I had to try the superior Scranton pizza . So I get there , walk past some outdoor seating into the dimly lit entrance and order a pan pizza . It was , after all , the employees of Dunder Mifflin's favorite pizza and was featured on the infamous One Bite Pizza Reviews where Dave gave it a wait for it . What do you think ? It's going to be 7.4 . So I saw that and it's above average , which is good . I was excited . But my own review , after trying the pizza on my little van table with noodles by my side was Meh , you know , it's alright , it's not great , it's not terrible . I just think it wasn't my style of pizza . I'm more of a New York thin crust kind of guy and it was fine . I can only imagine how much I would dislike pizza by Alfredo . Luckily there exists a dive bar frequented by the Dunder Mifflin employees . That's within sight of the slightly underwhelming Afredo's Pizza Cafe .

Exploring Scranton's Office-Inspired Locations

Speaker 1 6:00

Poor Richard's Pub is a frequent watering hole throughout the entire Office series , home to many iconic scenes . Throughout the show's run the employees of Dunder Mifflin would go to relax , connect and generally blow off steam from the surreal events happening up at the office . So you might be thinking that's pretty cool , so I can go and sit at kind of a replica of what I saw on the show or something that looks kind of like it , and the answer is not really , but kind of . So really , in name and in general vibe it has the same vibe as the poor Richards of the show . But in reality poor Richards was filmed in part on a set and in part at a pub called Pickwick's Pub in Woodland Hills , california . But don't get too disappointed yet .

Speaker 1 6:54

Season 4 , episode 6 of the Office shows the back entrance to the building which Poor Richard's is attached to . And notice , I said building because Poor Richard's is not a standalone pub , it is part of a bowling alley . You heard right , as you walk into the building , poor Richards is on your right and the bowling alley is straight ahead . But I digress a little bit . Why go to Poor Richards if you don't get a pint ? I went to the bar , grabbed an amber ale which was well poured , a great friendly staff , watched a Caitlin Clark game , took in the dimly lit dive bar aesthetics that relatively matched that of the show . Then I got permission to park our van in their parking lot for the night . So I stayed right outside of Poor Richard's after I had a couple drinks , which was nice , right outside of poor Richard's after I had a couple drinks , which was nice . And so I walk away from poor Richard's back towards my van and as I lay on my bed I think about the day right , was I underwhelmed , was I happy that I made the effort to go to Scranton .

Speaker 1 8:08

The conclusion I came to was this the Office at its core is a show about the ordinary , the little glimpses of light and happiness you can find in the mundane events of life , the extraordinary within the very , very ordinary . And visiting Scranton , pennsylvania , the electric city , making my pilgrimage to locations and inspirations for the show , I think why should my visit to Scranton be any different than the show that it inspired ? The locations that inspired the Office are ordinary and maybe that's the point Right , a point , in my view , any true office fan can appreciate . With that said , let's get to listener questions , shall we ? Who created the artwork for Backroad Odyssey ? Great question , a Cicerone and beer author . Her name is M Sauter . She is great . You can check her out on Instagram Pints and Panels . She makes a lot of relatable , cool cartoons about beer that are really informative and very approachable . So check it out .

Speaker 1 9:30

What location has been the most underwhelming to travel to ? What location has been the most underwhelming to travel to ? It's more of an object than a location . I would say Plymouth Rock . Yeah , I didn't have high expectations because I'd heard it's just a rock , but that's just what it was . It was a rock . I'm diving a bit more into the history now and hopefully that provides some more appreciation for me , but yeah , I was pretty , pretty underwhelmed by that . I would say how does Noodles get exercise while living in a van ? Great , great , great question . We go to dog parks almost every other day . We do hikes , we go for walks every day . Yeah , I wouldn't have taken her in if I didn't think she'd have a quality of life in the van , but , honestly , we spend more time outside walking around and , yeah , make sure she's tired at the end of each day , which is good .

Speaker 1 10:35

Did you feel differently while walking around the Black Angel ? Not entirely , but I'll say this I think I have kind of an innate reverence for objects and places that other people find significant or special , and I definitely had that in the back of my head as I was looking at the statue . But in terms of like curses and stuff , I didn't do anything . I wasn't supposed to . You know , if you do certain things around the statue , that's supposed to be when you're cursed or when you feel weird , and I didn't do any of that . So , yeah , no , I was respectful and nothing happened . It's Noah here . Thank you for listening to Backroad Odyssey . Reach out to me with any questions about Scranton , about my time there . Happy to answer them at BackroadOdysseyPod at gmailcom . If you enjoy the show , if you enjoy the work that we put into each show , rating , reviewing and subscribing means the world to us and helps us continue to put the amount of work we'd like to into each episode . Really appreciate you , appreciate your time . Be good to each other . We're two . Next Backroad Odyssey .