A few weeks ago, the Perry family (and the Nunan addition) embarked on our annual Perry Adventure. We headed to southern California without much of a plan except Disneyland one day and an attempt to find the place where they shoot the exterior scenes of The Office, our FAVORITE show. My new brother in law, Mike, found the address online and google mapped it, so we knew exactly where we were going. We pulled onto the street and were SO EXCITED just to see the office building and the parking lot. OMG! We also saw covered up set pieces at the end of the street with writing like "Jim & Pam's house." We all got out of the car and were geeking out about taking pictures outside the gated fence. As we walked down the street we passed another big building with a gate and a guard shack. The gate was open, so my mother-in-law (who, lets face it, she can make things happen people) stopped to talk to talk to a person walking across the parking lot while the rest of us continued walking down to "the" building.
Mother in Law asks the guy "can my son take a picture in your parking lot?" (Meanwhile, I was sarcastically saying to Mike, "watch Lynn meet someone and get us a tour of the set." I'm not joking when I say she is eerily capable of making things happen. She maintains that it is God's favor, and I would have to agree with her.) :)
Guy replies, "No. But I have a few minutes and I can give you a private tour of the set." A. PRIVATE. TOUR. OF. THE. SET! OMG!
M-I-L yells after us and we come running back down the street. By this time Mike and I were FREAKING OUT about what was about to happen.
The Guy, who happens to be a producer for the show, reminded us multiple times that they NEVER do this for people and not to tell our friends to come down and expect to get a tour because it NEVER happens.
So, we walk in. The first part we see is mostly a big warehouse and there is a set built inside of it. When you walk into the actual "office" part it looks exactly like an office. Pretty much exactly like what you see on the show. There aren't any high ceilings, no boom mics or cranes or anything.
Again, we are TOTALLY FREAKING OUT at this point. Producer Guy tells us we can take pictures, sit in the chairs, etc. The first place we go is Michael Scott's office. My hands were shaking the entire time I was trying to take pictures. I finally had to give up and rely on someone else's camera because my shots were all blurry. We got to see everything on the desks, pick stuff up. It was amazing! It turns out that all the pictures and things on the desks are actually the actor's personal photos and belongings. You see pics of Dwight's family, Jim's family, etc. After the main office we checked out the kitchen, bathrooms (that have a movable wall depending on which room they are shooting, the breakroom. I think we were all completely overwhelmed. We also got to see the "corporate office" which was kind of in disarry because they weren't shooting any scenes there. We saw the dismantled pieces of the Michael Scott Paper Company office (which hadn't happened yet on the show and we were sworn to secrecy).
Then, THEN, we got to walk to the lot next door and take pictures in the parking lot and see the actual warehouse, which really is a warehouse. We also saw Michael Scott's Sebring and PT Cruiser parked along the side. The square of concrete where Michael Scott stuck his face is there, except it was re-set after the face-sticking incident. We saw the bench where the occasional pow wow takes place and the ping pong table in the warehouse.
We were on Cloud 9 for the rest of the day. Michael and I kept saying "WE WERE ON THE SET OF THE OFFICE TODAY!" all day long. For the rest of the week actually. Our only regret for the day was not thinking through more posed photo ops in the actual office. That, and I would have taken a picture with one of Angela's cats.
Best. Day. Ever.
