November 15, 2024 • 11 mins
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.
Follow each adventure visually at:
https://www.instagram.com/backroadsodyssey/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cruisin' down the street.
I wonder where this road wouldlead.
So many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
Oh, noodle Dolls, what do yousee?
Back Road Odyssey, van LifeDiaries three real-life
(00:24):
locations from the Office.
Welcome to Van Life Diaries.
I'm Noah, your host, along withmy trusty sidekick Noodles.
The Dog in my van Today iscasual.
No edits, no scripts.
Let's get into it.
Scranton, pennsylvania, issynonymous with the events of
(00:45):
the hit series the Office.
Although the show was primarilyfilmed in California, the
series writers took inspirationfrom many real-life locations
around the infamous ElectricCity.
So, naturally, noodles and Istop to visit three locations in
Lackawanna County and want toshare our experience with you.
(01:05):
We're at a Cracker Barrel inSouthern Alabama, just hanging
out, perfect place to talk allthings the Office.
So initially we considereddoing a large episode, a
standard episode of our visit toScranton, but something didn't
quite click.
I don't know.
(01:26):
There's something about theshow itself, the Office, that
feels authentic, that feelsrelaxed, very unscripted.
Eventually, I think, we came torealize that any discussion
about the show's location shouldreflect that same idea.
So, with that said, let's startwith a location even casual
(01:46):
fans will recognize.
Much of the opening titlesequence depicts scenes around
Scranton.
You know the song.
So John Krasinski, who playedJim Halpert, having been
confirmed as casted as Jim inthe upcoming American adaptation
of the British show of the samename, decides to go where else
(02:10):
but Scranton, pennsylvania,where the events of the show
will take place.
And well there he gets out anold camera and films, and it's
this footage that John shot thatmakes it into the opening
sequences of every episode ofthe Office.
One of these shots is the penpaper tower looking building is
(02:41):
actually home to thefamily-owned Pennsylvania Paper
and Supply Company, even thoughit now boasts an unmistakable
Dunder Mifflin logo at the verytop.
This tower is our first stoponce we drive into the slightly
hilly, some 80,000-person town.
And surprisingly, it wasn'tvery hard to find town and
(03:08):
surprisingly, it wasn't veryhard to find.
From watching it hundreds, ifnot, regrettably, thousands, of
times, I can picture it frommemory and I knew it right when
I saw it.
So after driving around thetower for a bit to find kind of
roughly the same place thatKrasinski filmed that iconic
opening shot, we found it.
There's a good place, a coupleof parking lots right across the
street where you can hang out,take photos and chill, and that
(03:31):
is exactly what we did.
We took some photos, we hungout.
I actually worked in theparking lot for a little bit.
I could see the tower outsideof my window, which was a cool
experience.
And I'll say this this stop,this stop right here, is the
most visibly connected to theshow and is definitely worth the
short detour to see it.
(03:53):
You can drive up to it to makea quick stop of it, like I did,
or you can walk from the nearbymarketplace at Steam Town place.
At Steamtown, unlike our nextstop here, the Pen Paper Tower
isn't steeped in controversy.
Alfredo's Pizza Cafe Not to beconfused with Pizza by Alfredo
(04:17):
is about a six-minute drive fromthe Pen Paper Tower and our
next stop on our Scranton tourtoday.
Alfredo's is nestled in betweenshops and is known for their
pan pizza, referred to as thebetter of the two Alfredo's
pizza joints by the employees ofDunder Mifflin.
So naturally, when I went toAlfredo's Pizza Cafe I had to
(04:40):
try the superior Scranton pizza.
So I get there, walk past someoutdoor seating into the dimly
lit entrance and order a panpizza.
It was, after all, theemployees of Dunder Mifflin's
favorite pizza and was featuredon the infamous One Bite Pizza
(05:01):
Reviews where Dave gave it await for it.
What do you think?
It's going to be 7.4.
So I saw that and it's aboveaverage, which is good.
I was excited.
But my own review, after tryingthe pizza on my little van
table with noodles by my sidewas Meh, you know, it's alright,
(05:27):
it's not great, it's notterrible.
I just think it wasn't my styleof pizza.
I'm more of a New York thincrust kind of guy and it was
fine.
I can only imagine how much Iwould dislike pizza by Alfredo.
Luckily there exists a dive barfrequented by the Dunder
(05:50):
Mifflin employees.
That's within sight of theslightly underwhelming Afredo's
Pizza Cafe.
Poor Richard's Pub is a frequentwatering hole throughout the
entire Office series, home tomany iconic scenes.
Throughout the show's run theemployees of Dunder Mifflin
(06:12):
would go to relax, connect andgenerally blow off steam from
the surreal events happening upat the office.
So you might be thinking that'spretty cool, so I can go and
sit at kind of a replica of whatI saw on the show or something
that looks kind of like it, andthe answer is not really, but
kind of.
So really, in name and ingeneral vibe it has the same
(06:37):
vibe as the poor Richards of theshow.
But in reality poor Richardswas filmed in part on a set and
in part at a pub calledPickwick's Pub in Woodland Hills
, california.
But don't get too disappointedyet.
Season 4, episode 6 of theOffice shows the back entrance
(07:00):
to the building which PoorRichard's is attached to.
And notice, I said buildingbecause Poor Richard's is not a
standalone pub, it is part of abowling alley.
You heard right, as you walkinto the building, poor Richards
is on your right and thebowling alley is straight ahead.
(07:20):
But I digress a little bit.
Why go to Poor Richards if youdon't get a pint?
I went to the bar, grabbed anamber ale which was well poured,
a great friendly staff, watcheda Caitlin Clark game, took in
the dimly lit dive baraesthetics that relatively
matched that of the show.
(07:41):
Then I got permission to parkour van in their parking lot for
the night.
So I stayed right outside ofPoor 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 poorRichard's back towards my van
and as I lay on my bed I thinkabout the day right, was I
(08:03):
underwhelmed, was I happy that Imade the effort to go to
Scranton.
The conclusion I came to wasthis the Office at its core is a
show about the ordinary, thelittle glimpses of light and
happiness you can find in themundane events of life, the
(08:25):
extraordinary within the very,very ordinary.
And visiting Scranton,pennsylvania, the electric city,
making my pilgrimage tolocations and inspirations for
the show, I think why should myvisit to Scranton be any
different than the show that itinspired?
The locations that inspired theOffice are ordinary and maybe
(08:50):
that's the point Right, a point,in my view, any true office fan
can appreciate.
With that said, let's get tolistener questions, shall we?
Who created the artwork forBackroad Odyssey?
Great question, a Cicerone andbeer author.
(09:13):
Her name is M Sauter.
She is great.
You can check her out onInstagram Pints and Panels.
She makes a lot of relatable,cool cartoons about beer that
are really informative and veryapproachable.
So check it out.
What location has been the mostunderwhelming to travel to?
(09:34):
What location has been the mostunderwhelming to travel to?
It's more of an object than alocation.
I would say Plymouth Rock.
Yeah, I didn't have highexpectations because I'd heard
it's just a rock, but that'sjust what it was.
It was a rock.
I'm diving a bit more into thehistory now and hopefully that
(09:56):
provides some more appreciationfor me, but yeah, I was pretty,
pretty underwhelmed by that.
I would say how does Noodlesget exercise while living in a
van?
Great, great, great question.
We go to dog parks almost everyother day.
We do hikes, we go for walksevery day.
(10:16):
Yeah, I wouldn't have taken herin 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 isgood.
Did you feel differently whilewalking around the Black Angel?
(10:39):
Not entirely, but I'll say thisI think I have kind of an
innate reverence for objects andplaces that other people find
significant or special, and Idefinitely had that in the back
of my head as I was looking atthe statue.
But in terms of like curses andstuff, I didn't do anything.
(11:03):
I wasn't supposed to.
You know, if you do certainthings around the statue, that's
supposed to be when you'recursed or when you feel weird,
and I didn't do any of that.
So, yeah, no, I was respectfuland nothing happened.
It's Noah here.
Thank you for listening toBackroad Odyssey.
(11:25):
Reach out to me with anyquestions about Scranton, about
my time there.
Happy to answer them atBackroadOdysseyPod at gmailcom.
If you enjoy the show, if youenjoy the work that we put into
each show, rating, reviewing andsubscribing means the world to
us and helps us continue to putthe amount of work we'd like to
(11:46):
into each episode.
Really appreciate you,appreciate your time.
Be good to each other.
We're two.
Next Backroad Odyssey.
Cruisin' down the street.
I wonder where this road wouldlead.
So many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
Oh, noodle Dolls, what do yousee?
Back Road Odyssey, van LifeDiaries three real-life
(00:24):
locations from the Office.
Welcome to Van Life Diaries.
I'm Noah, your host, along withmy trusty sidekick Noodles.
The Dog in my van Today iscasual.
No edits, no scripts.
Let's get into it.
Scranton, pennsylvania, issynonymous with the events of
(00:45):
the hit series the Office.
Although the show was primarilyfilmed in California, the
series writers took inspirationfrom many real-life locations
around the infamous ElectricCity.
So, naturally, noodles and Istop to visit three locations in
Lackawanna County and want toshare our experience with you.
(01:05):
We're at a Cracker Barrel inSouthern Alabama, just hanging
out, perfect place to talk allthings the Office.
So initially we considereddoing a large episode, a
standard episode of our visit toScranton, but something didn't
quite click.
I don't know.
(01:26):
There's something about theshow itself, the Office, that
feels authentic, that feelsrelaxed, very unscripted.
Eventually, I think, we came torealize that any discussion
about the show's location shouldreflect that same idea.
So, with that said, let's startwith a location even casual
(01:46):
fans will recognize.
Much of the opening titlesequence depicts scenes around
Scranton.
You know the song.
So John Krasinski, who playedJim Halpert, having been
confirmed as casted as Jim inthe upcoming American adaptation
of the British show of the samename, decides to go where else
(02:10):
but Scranton, pennsylvania,where the events of the show
will take place.
And well there he gets out anold camera and films, and it's
this footage that John shot thatmakes it into the opening
sequences of every episode ofthe Office.
One of these shots is the penpaper tower looking building is
(02:41):
actually home to thefamily-owned Pennsylvania Paper
and Supply Company, even thoughit now boasts an unmistakable
Dunder Mifflin logo at the verytop.
This tower is our first stoponce we drive into the slightly
hilly, some 80,000-person town.
And surprisingly, it wasn'tvery hard to find town and
(03:08):
surprisingly, it wasn't veryhard to find.
From watching it hundreds, ifnot, regrettably, thousands, of
times, I can picture it frommemory and I knew it right when
I saw it.
So after driving around thetower for a bit to find kind of
roughly the same place thatKrasinski filmed that iconic
opening shot, we found it.
There's a good place, a coupleof parking lots right across the
street where you can hang out,take photos and chill, and that
(03:31):
is exactly what we did.
We took some photos, we hungout.
I actually worked in theparking lot for a little bit.
I could see the tower outsideof my window, which was a cool
experience.
And I'll say this this stop,this stop right here, is the
most visibly connected to theshow and is definitely worth the
short detour to see it.
(03:53):
You can drive up to it to makea quick stop of it, like I did,
or you can walk from the nearbymarketplace at Steam Town place.
At Steamtown, unlike our nextstop here, the Pen Paper Tower
isn't steeped in controversy.
Alfredo's Pizza Cafe Not to beconfused with Pizza by Alfredo
(04:17):
is about a six-minute drive fromthe Pen Paper Tower and our
next stop on our Scranton tourtoday.
Alfredo's is nestled in betweenshops and is known for their
pan pizza, referred to as thebetter of the two Alfredo's
pizza joints by the employees ofDunder Mifflin.
So naturally, when I went toAlfredo's Pizza Cafe I had to
(04:40):
try the superior Scranton pizza.
So I get there, walk past someoutdoor seating into the dimly
lit entrance and order a panpizza.
It was, after all, theemployees of Dunder Mifflin's
favorite pizza and was featuredon the infamous One Bite Pizza
(05:01):
Reviews where Dave gave it await for it.
What do you think?
It's going to be 7.4.
So I saw that and it's aboveaverage, which is good.
I was excited.
But my own review, after tryingthe pizza on my little van
table with noodles by my sidewas Meh, you know, it's alright,
(05:27):
it's not great, it's notterrible.
I just think it wasn't my styleof pizza.
I'm more of a New York thincrust kind of guy and it was
fine.
I can only imagine how much Iwould dislike pizza by Alfredo.
Luckily there exists a dive barfrequented by the Dunder
(05:50):
Mifflin employees.
That's within sight of theslightly underwhelming Afredo's
Pizza Cafe.
Poor Richard's Pub is a frequentwatering hole throughout the
entire Office series, home tomany iconic scenes.
Throughout the show's run theemployees of Dunder Mifflin
(06:12):
would go to relax, connect andgenerally blow off steam from
the surreal events happening upat the office.
So you might be thinking that'spretty cool, so I can go and
sit at kind of a replica of whatI saw on the show or something
that looks kind of like it, andthe answer is not really, but
kind of.
So really, in name and ingeneral vibe it has the same
(06:37):
vibe as the poor Richards of theshow.
But in reality poor Richardswas filmed in part on a set and
in part at a pub calledPickwick's Pub in Woodland Hills
, california.
But don't get too disappointedyet.
Season 4, episode 6 of theOffice shows the back entrance
(07:00):
to the building which PoorRichard's is attached to.
And notice, I said buildingbecause Poor Richard's is not a
standalone pub, it is part of abowling alley.
You heard right, as you walkinto the building, poor Richards
is on your right and thebowling alley is straight ahead.
(07:20):
But I digress a little bit.
Why go to Poor Richards if youdon't get a pint?
I went to the bar, grabbed anamber ale which was well poured,
a great friendly staff, watcheda Caitlin Clark game, took in
the dimly lit dive baraesthetics that relatively
matched that of the show.
(07:41):
Then I got permission to parkour van in their parking lot for
the night.
So I stayed right outside ofPoor 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 poorRichard's back towards my van
and as I lay on my bed I thinkabout the day right, was I
(08:03):
underwhelmed, was I happy that Imade the effort to go to
Scranton.
The conclusion I came to wasthis the Office at its core is a
show about the ordinary, thelittle glimpses of light and
happiness you can find in themundane events of life, the
(08:25):
extraordinary within the very,very ordinary.
And visiting Scranton,pennsylvania, the electric city,
making my pilgrimage tolocations and inspirations for
the show, I think why should myvisit to Scranton be any
different than the show that itinspired?
The locations that inspired theOffice are ordinary and maybe
(08:50):
that's the point Right, a point,in my view, any true office fan
can appreciate.
With that said, let's get tolistener questions, shall we?
Who created the artwork forBackroad Odyssey?
Great question, a Cicerone andbeer author.
(09:13):
Her name is M Sauter.
She is great.
You can check her out onInstagram Pints and Panels.
She makes a lot of relatable,cool cartoons about beer that
are really informative and veryapproachable.
So check it out.
What location has been the mostunderwhelming to travel to?
(09:34):
What location has been the mostunderwhelming to travel to?
It's more of an object than alocation.
I would say Plymouth Rock.
Yeah, I didn't have highexpectations because I'd heard
it's just a rock, but that'sjust what it was.
It was a rock.
I'm diving a bit more into thehistory now and hopefully that
(09:56):
provides some more appreciationfor me, but yeah, I was pretty,
pretty underwhelmed by that.
I would say how does Noodlesget exercise while living in a
van?
Great, great, great question.
We go to dog parks almost everyother day.
We do hikes, we go for walksevery day.
(10:16):
Yeah, I wouldn't have taken herin 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 isgood.
Did you feel differently whilewalking around the Black Angel?
(10:39):
Not entirely, but I'll say thisI think I have kind of an
innate reverence for objects andplaces that other people find
significant or special, and Idefinitely had that in the back
of my head as I was looking atthe statue.
But in terms of like curses andstuff, I didn't do anything.
(11:03):
I wasn't supposed to.
You know, if you do certainthings around the statue, that's
supposed to be when you'recursed or when you feel weird,
and I didn't do any of that.
So, yeah, no, I was respectfuland nothing happened.
It's Noah here.
Thank you for listening toBackroad Odyssey.
(11:25):
Reach out to me with anyquestions about Scranton, about
my time there.
Happy to answer them atBackroadOdysseyPod at gmailcom.
If you enjoy the show, if youenjoy the work that we put into
each show, rating, reviewing andsubscribing means the world to
us and helps us continue to putthe amount of work we'd like to
(11:46):
into each episode.
Really appreciate you,appreciate your time.
Be good to each other.
We're two.
Next Backroad Odyssey.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.