Ben's visit to Dunder Mifflin Inc.

Today I took a little driving adventure to try and find the setting of one of my favourite TV shows, NBC's The Office. I had read online that it was possible and was even able to locate an address for the business park. Mapquest gave me a driving time of 25 minutes and that seemed doable. I figured it would be fun to check it out.

For those who are new to the Office, go watch the show! It's really great. If you've seen it before you know that it is located in Scranton, PA. Funny then that it is filmed in a shady part of Van Nuys, CA. Today's weather seemed more like late September in Pennsylvania than California, so the setting was almost perfect. As you can see from the picture below, the outside isn't much to look at...


It's basically a big gray warehouse with Valley Center Studios listed on the outside. There are a bunch of trailers for the actors, and on days when the show is filming (such as today) there was also an angry looking security guard by the big gate. There is one telltale sign that you are in the right place, just above the hedges...


Yup! A very odd place to put this, but there it is -- an advertisement for the fictional Dunder Mifflin as well as their TV neighbours, Vance Refrigeration. AWESOME. It's hard to find a place to park on weekdays, but I eventually found one and wandered up to the chain link fence where I was met with such a wonderful sight...


The front door! I had to take this shot through a chain link fence, and I couldn't get much closer than where this picture is taken from, but still very cool. Also...



if you are an astute fan of the show you will recognize this little blue car (complete with Pennsylvania license plates) as Pam's. Hopefully will also recognize that it was where the audience first found out that Pam and Jim were dating and then saw them kiss in the season 4 premiere. The parking lot also contained my favourite item of the day...


Yup! Meredith's van! (ugh, what is her problem?) It looks pretty beat up in real life, which I guess is the way the show implies. Very cool to see that. To check out the loading dock around the corner involves walking a little into another business, but fortunately no one was around to ask me what I thought I was doing. Remember when Michael went to get a joke from the warehouse guys? Here's where they were sitting...


And here's the dock, complete with a nice sign.


While circling looking for a parking spot I discovered the corner from the fun run where Jan offers water to Toby and Michael (don't believe me? watch the episode)...


and I also drove past a Staples store which I can only assume is the one that Dwight breifly worked at (however that is a pretty shaky claim considering the outside of the store was never shown in the episode and this appeared to be a pretty rundown location...


That's all, but it was fun while it lasted. If you have any questions or comments, please post them and I'll try and answer.

And keep watching the Office.