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Scranton Was A Dump Until The Office
The Office was not shot in a sleepy northeastern Pennsylvania town, but plain old Southern California. Still, the financial impact of luring reverent Prison Mike fans has proven real tempting for Scranton. Sure, you can buy a Dunder Mifflin coffee mug from a boring online repository, but there's just something special about getting it in the city where the company never really existed, right? At least, that's what the city leaders are betting on. From Office-themed booze cruises on Lake Wallenpaupack to themed restaurants that name all their sandwiches after characters from the show, local businesses have taken full advantage of the national exposure.
Woodland Farm and BrewerySee how each list of ingredients contains a clever jokes about the character? No? Well, keep looking and have another drink.
If you tire of the dry humor of The Office, you can pivot to classic horror and celebrate The Exorcist at Farley's Eatery and Pub on Spruce Street. No, it wasn't filmed in Scranton either, but Farley's is where Jason Miller, the Scranton native who played Father Karras, dropped dead of a heart attack. His bust and ashes are displayed on the street outside, because The Exorcist wasn't a creepy enough legacy for him.
Via Wikimedia CommonsNo word on whether there's a poster of him with the caption "Our food is to die for," but we imagine someone has floated the idea.
5
Houtong Was Rescued By Stray Cats
Houtong was once a buzzing Taiwanese coal town, but the development of neighboring cities inadvertently drained the life out of it in the '90s. Thousands of residents bailed, leaving a scant population who had 99 problems, of which feral cats were about 97.
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