My Visit to Scranton's Dunder Mifflin, By Way of Van Nuys

It's the desk that once housed Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and is now the seat of Andy Bernard (Ed Helms)! After nine seasons, I finally traveled to Van Nuys in order to visit Scranton, Pa.'s Dunder Mifflin office on Wednesday. It was the final day of the TV Critics Assn. press tour, and "The Office" set welcomed critics and reporters with Pennsylvania snacks (craft beers, local chips and pies). But more importantly, it was one last chance to get the whole cast in one place to reminisce about the show and talk about the final season.

It was a rather fun and even emotional press conference, as cast members like Jenna Fischer lamented that their time there was close to being over. Executive producer Greg Daniels, who returned to the show to run its final season (and help conclude the show's storylines), told reporters that every episode from now until the end of the run would wrap up loose ends, give favorite characters a chance to say goodbye and give the show an opportunity to do things it couldn't have done earlier in the run. Daniels has an idea how the show will end, but hasn't yet written that final episode.

Some pics from my brief visit to Dunder Mifflin:



It's the main "Office" office!

Facing the office conference room



Craig Robinson, Ed Helms and Brian Baumgartner serenade us with "When Doves Cry."



One more of the Andy/Darryl/Kevin band.

The Story Behind That "Parks and Recreation" Pit

If you caught the first episode of NBC's new Amy Poehler comedy, "Parks and Recreation," you may have caught a few familiar sights.

The show takes place in fictional Pawnee, Indiana, but of course, is actually shot here in Southern California. That's why the Pawnee city hall looks a lot like Pasadena's -- because it is.

And then there's the issue of the pit, which actually plays a major role in the entire "Parks and Rec" series conceit. In the show, Poehler plays Leslie Knope -- a low-level city employee who vows to turn the pit into a park after being approached by Ann (Rashida Jones), whose boyfriend was injured on the property.

In real life, NBC confirmed that the pit was actually dug by the "Parks and Recreation" production team. It's located on undeveloped property around Hazeltine and Collins in Van Nuys.

Also, as the "Parks and Rec" writing team spent time researching local politics, that included at least one visit to a Los Angeles City Council meeting. As a result, you may notice a character on the show who was inspired by infamous L.A. gadfly Zuma Dogg.

"Parks and Recreation" airs tonight on NBC (Channel 4) at 8:30 p.m.

The Ghost of Montgomery Ward, Still On Display in Panorama City

Next year marks a decade since Montgomery Ward went out of business, shutting down all of its department stores. Yet in Panorama City (near Van Nuys and Roscoe), the abandoned Ward's still remains, signage still up and plans to redevelop the site stalled.


(Flickr pic by sgroi.)

Publicly Observing the Van Nuys Airport

Back when I visited my folks over the holidays, my dad sat me down to watch the HD documentary One Six Right. The lavishly filmed doc goes over the history of the Van Nuys Airport, featuring great aerial photography and old footage of aviation pioneers who made their mark at the local airport.

The doc also featured some footage from the airport's public observation area -- including shots of kids running around a mini, play runway (right next to the real thing).

Of course, my first thought was, "Blogger Preschooler would love this."

So when my mom and dad came to town last month, we grabbed the BP and headed to the Van Nuys airport to check it out.



It took a while to actually find the public observation area (yes, we should have looked up the details here beforehand). Open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset, the observation area is located off of Woodley Avenue at the end of Waterman Drive, adjacent to the east side of the airfield.



The airport's public observation area features exhibits, picnic benches and a children's activity area. When we got there, a group of older aviation enthusiasts were listing to the control tower frequency, while hanging out.



Above, something for the kids: Cut outs of a control tower, police car and fire truck -- in front of a mini-runway. (Evan spent an hour running up and down that thing, pretending to be an airplane. Next time, we'll bring along a trike or scooter.)



The VNY observation area hit the BP's sweet spot -- we watched as airplanes and helicopters constantly took off and landed. After about an hour, we headed over to Balboa Park, where the Shane's Inspiration park beckoned. Yep, it was a good morning for the BP -- who was quite exhausted after all that excitement.

A few more shots from VNY: