Scranton Insider on “Boys and Girls”
As always, Dave gives us the view as a Scranton Insider:
First things first: I made an error last week. When referring to The Poconos, I used the term “The Hideaway” to describe the entire region. I was actually thinking of “The Hideout,” which is a gated community down there. Silly me. Also, as many of you pointed out, no self-respecting Scrantonian would spend his/her vacation in The Poconos (even at beautiful Mt. Airy Lodge….for lovers only). No, instead we go to the pearl white beaches of Wildwood, New Jersey! I regret the errors.
In this week’s episode, “Boys and Girls,” Michael becomes miffed when a woman from corporate comes to Scranton to conduct a workshop with the female employees of Dunder Mifflin. So, he attempts to rally the men, and the usual hilarity ensues. Actually, you know what happened, so let’s just get to the great Scranton references.
This first one was a quickie. At the beginning of the show, just as Michael was assembling the men outside of the conference room, I’m fairly certain there was a purple University of Scranton mug on a desk. It was quick, but I checked the scene a couple of times with my TiVo. “The U,” as the locals call it, is a large Jesuit university on the far end of town. They’ve got a beautiful soccer field, and the campus is among the first things you see when driving into the city from the highway.
While in the warehouse, the truck the guys were loading bore the slogan, “Supplying the Scranton business community…” I couldn’t read what followed, but “Scranton” was as plain as day. Later, when the suit from corporate showed up to put the smackdown on the fledgling union threat, she said, “You all remember what happened in Pittsfield.” Pittsfield is pretty far west, and I’ve never been.
Poor Pam. All she wants is a house with a terrace, but as she says, “There aren’t any houses like that in Scranton.” I grew up in the west side of Scranton (west side is the best side!), and the vast majority of the houses look exactly the same. Two stories, bedrooms upstairs, rod iron railings on the porch and maybe the screen door with the letter in the middle, representing the last name of the house’s owners. Some of the houses have that fake, plastic “astro-turf” looking stuff on the porch and steps, which always confused me. Am I supposed to think that grass is growing on your house? Anyway, I can’t remember seeing a house with a terrace as Pam describes. One thing is certain, though: Pam’s pronunciation of “Scranton” is dead on. “Scra-in.” Eliminate that “T.”
Finally, a bit of conjecture. Where did the guys order their pizza? We know they get take out from Abe’s Deli, so Papa’s is an option. Papa’s is right in the middle of town, and very busy with the business crowds at lunch time. If they are in south side, as their 18505 zip code suggests, perhaps they went to Buona (link: Google Map Link), which is on the edge of downtown.
That’s it for this week. As an aside, did anyone else think Dwight making snow angels in the packing peanuts was a riot? I’m still laughing. See you next week.
February 3rd, 2006 09:34
How can you go from saying that the Pokonos is where all Scrantonites vacation to saying that no self respecting Scrantonite would be caught dead there? I’m confused.
February 3rd, 2006 10:00
Call it blatant sillyness, Jeff. When I was young, I knew a few people who vacationed there, but the vast majority of Scrantonians went “down the shore” (meaning Jersey or Maryland). Call it exaggeration for the sake of humor.
February 3rd, 2006 12:52
Hey Dave,
How goes it? Just read your column and your mention of the truck in the warehouse reminded me of what was probably the funniest line of the episode…when the men are all going down the stairs onto the warehouse floor and Dwight turns to the camera and says, “Remember on Lost when they met the others?”
Love Scranton Insider and love the show! It gets funnier every week.
John
February 3rd, 2006 13:14
Dave, first off–are you Dave and Carol Caolo’s son? I know them through our mutual friend. Just a little constructive criticism– you referred to the porch railings as “rod” iron, I believe it is “wrought” iron.
Other suggested references for the show: “up the Eynon” or “up the line”; Steamtown or Viewmont Mall and how about my Alma Mater, Marywood ?. Love Scranton Insider!
February 3rd, 2006 14:06
Diane: Indeed I am.
Is it really “wrought?” Do you know that my whole life, I’ve been saying “rod?” I guess that my pronunciation of “rod” was so similar to “wrought” that no one ever questioned what I was saying. Wow, I feel dumb.
John: Good to see you. I also thought that line was great. I love Dwight. How was the D&W show this morning?
February 3rd, 2006 18:18
Dave,
Sal’s is another possibility for the pizza - last week there was a Sal’s menu hanging up on one of the cabinets by the refrigerator, and they’re downtown too. Of course, there’s no shortage of places they could be ordering from!
As for a house with a terrace in Scranton - maybe somewhere in Green Ridge or the Hill Section?
February 3rd, 2006 18:58
Great again to read your insights, Dave. Thanks!
February 4th, 2006 09:06
Tom: You’re right? Perhaps Green Ridge near Marywood?
February 4th, 2006 09:07
Richard: Glad you liked it, thanks for reading!
February 6th, 2006 08:39
Dave,
Just an unrelated FYI j/i/c you didn’t already know: South Side Bowl, the home of Poor Richard’s of Christmas Party renown, has a website (www.southsidebowl). It’s a little boring — nice glowbowl picture, and inarguably keen souvenirs at honest prices for honest people - I so want a $2 lanyard for sportin’ at the office. They might hock a lot of stock if they sold stuff over the web/ebay. No mention of Poor Richard’s and The Office is not one of their Cool Links (can’t imagine they’re all so sheltered that they don’t know they got a reference)…
V/R,
HI-B…
February 9th, 2006 16:36
I just stumbled on this site…first things first, there are MANY houses in Scranton with terraces. Second, I go to “The U” and we do not have a nice soccer field. It’s astroturf, and it’s not even NCAA regulation.
I’m beginning to doubt you were born and raised in Scranton. I can take inaccurate references from “The Office,” but from a scary man on a blog - that’s another story!
February 9th, 2006 16:51
Student, you be nice. To a non-player of soccer, a field can look nice even if it’s astroturf and not regulation size.
By the way, feel free to write in about Scranton reference you see in teh office that the show gets wrong. I’d like to hear them along with the ones from our Scranton Insider.
February 10th, 2006 09:34
Anyone notice the Red Barons bobbleheads on Dwight’s desk in the first season?
February 10th, 2006 09:39
Another thing….they keep giving plugs to Chili’s. Do they not know that there is no Chili’s in or around Scranton? The nearest is in Wilkes-Barre, and I doubt that Chili’s is so great they would drive 20 miles to eat there. Speaking of Chili’s, remember the episode where they went to lunch with the guy from Lackawanna County government, trying to get the county paper contract. I’m not a racist in the least, but I found it amusing that the guy from the county was black. Scranton really doesn’t have a large black population, and there are no blacks in local government. Scranton and Lackawanna County politics are a backwards good-ol-boy network that is unfortunately exclusive to those who are politically connected…they’re almost all Irish and some Italians. I’m not even sure if they let non-catholics in, since Scranton is about the most catholic place this side of the Vatican. Anyways…enough rambling from this non-catholic Scranton resident….
February 23rd, 2006 18:27
Let’s put our heads together and actually think about what streets have homes with terraces in Scranton. Do we all think of the same thing when we hear or read the word “terrace?” My mini Webster’s Dictionary describes it as a raised flat land; paved garden area. I never really thought about it before, but after 38 years in Scranton I really can’t picture even Green Ridge homes with a terrace. And, I drove through Green Ridge every day for 17 years.
February 24th, 2006 13:35
I know of a few houses in the Hill Section near Da U (for example, on Madison and Monroe avenues, between Mulberry and Vine) that have second-story porches, sometimes screened, sometimes open. I think that thse would technically qualify as “verandas” rather than “terraces”, but given the large number of dilapidated, coal baron-era mansions in the area, there’s probably one or two with a terrace.
March 1st, 2006 18:21
Two things, First its Pappas (not Papa’s) Pizza, and if anyone is planning a viist to Scran’un, they should check it out first. It is different than any Pizza I hav had anywhere else. ( Just don’t get extra cheese or you will be sopping up the grease off the Pizza before you eat it.) An aside, a reference to Old Forge may be in order… The City of Pizza, or some other self-proclaimed title.
Secondly, there are many homes in Green Ridge with second floor doors that open unto a roof. This may technically be a terrace, but your view will likely be Unto North Washington Avenue or Electric Street.
I’m a stickler for verisimiltude.
May 24th, 2006 12:30
Hey Dave! Just rewatching this ep, I spotted something in the scene with Jim and Pam. They are in the breakroom, when Jim walks in and knows by the look on her face, she’s not taking the internship program. Right after he says “Why not?”, the camera changes to Pam. You can see on the left corner of the screen a container of sorts, that says something Scranton. It looks like a jar, and it looks like “Greater Scranton”, which does not make sense to me. Is it a cookie jar? It boggles the mind. Perhaps you can shed some light on this!