My Visit to Pixar: Across the Street

On Park Avenue, the street on which the Pixar Studios are located, there are several lucky buildings that are just a few steps away from the giant animation studio. Some of these nice structures and organizations around Pixar include a city hall, an animation school, and a restaurant where many Pixarians go and eat lunch. I took the time to take some pictures of many of these places, to give you a taste of the environment that surrounds Pixar.

Brooklyn is hidden by an army of trees on Park Avenue.

The fence that separates the rest of the world from the Pixar grounds.

The Can't Fail Cafe, best known for its fine burgers. At lunchtime, you can catch a glimpse of several Pixar employees coming over here to grab a bite!

Near this building, I'm pretty sure a new animation school recently opened across the street from Pixar. Some students might find that they might actually someday work just footsteps away from where they learned animation. As you can see, bricks seem to be very popular in Emeryville.

Emeryville City Offices sits proudly in front of Pixar's Brooklyn building, and to the right of the Can't Fail Cafe.

A lovely, modern looking building stands next to Emeryville City Offices, surrounded by tall palm trees.

The lovely street of Park Avenue.

I saw a lot more of Emeryville other than Pixar and Park Avenue that day, and it was a delightful city to visit. All the buildings were beautiful, and many of them were made of brightly colored bricks, much like Pixar itself. Emeryville was also a nice place for shopping; I visited a lovely bookstore, the Apple store, Target, and even Toys R Us. But of course, the best shopping spot I visited on May 13th was the one and only Pixar Studio Store! Check back soon to read about some of the Pixar goodies I was fortunate enough to obtain during my visit!

My Visit to Pixar: The Studio Grounds

What's a trip to Pixar without going for an unforgettable walk in the studio's beautiful grounds? When visiting Pixar in May, I was bewildered by all the trees, plants, fields, and gorgeous flowers that they keep in their property. Below, read all about what the Pixar grounds were like, and take a look at some of the pictures as well.

 The Parking Lot

As you pass the front gate and start driving towards the parking lot, you see a familiar logo painted on the driveway; the logo for Cars 2. It used to read just "Cars" when the first film came out, but it was recently updated to match the current Pixar release. As soon as I got out of the car and I was standing in the Pixar parking lot, I let out an excited scream.

 The Amphitheater

The amphitheater at Pixar is often used for many things, including fencing, picnics, and some meetings too. At Pixar's annual Motorama event, cars are even parked in the amphitheater! It's also a nice place to just come and sit down and relax.

The [Giant] Lamp and Ball

Giant versions of the iconic Pixar luxo lamp and rubber ball are stationed right in front of the entrance to the main building. The ball is roughly around 4 feet in height, and the lamp actually lights up at night!

The Building

Even from the outside, the architecture of the building is beautiful. To make the landscape even more attractive, there are trees all over the place, along with nice tables where employees can sit down and have a nice chat.

I hope you enjoyed this post. It serves as a reminder that not only does Pixar make great films, but they do so in this wonderful environment!

My Visit to Pixar: Brooklyn

Pixar's Phase II building as seen from Park Avenue

During my visit to the giant animation studio stationed in Emeryville on May 13th, I was lucky enough to enter the recently opened Phase II building at Pixar, more commonly known to Pixarians as Brooklyn.

I felt honoured to be one of the very first people from outside of Pixar to get to actually go inside and see the new building. The first thing I must mention is the beauty of the architecture in the building, which was absolutely marvelous. The moment you enter you realize how much planning and hard thinking went in to design the wonderful building.

Here are a few fun facts about Brooklyn:

• At the entrance, there is concept art from Brave, the upcoming 2012 Pixar feature, on display.
• Beside the door to the Brooklyn recording studio, there is the "STAND BY/SCARE" sign from the Scare Floor in Monsters, Inc.
• All throughout the building, you can find hidden metallic silhouettes of Pixar characters imprinted on the ground.
• Behind the chimney there is a secret room, similar to the Lucky 7 and the Love Lounge in the main building.
• There is another cereal bar in the second building! The only difference is that the Brooklyn cereal bar is a different style.

Pixar has not yet released images of the interior of Brooklyn, so I was not able to take pictures of the inside, but I can say that it sure was a magnificent building, and a great expansion to the Pixar studio grounds!

My Visit to Pixar: The Cereal Bar

When I visited Pixar on May 13th, one of the things I was most anxious to see was the famous, iconic, legendary Pixar Cereal Bar.

Since the Cereal Room is in the atrium, it was one of the  first things I saw during the tour. Later on, I also got to eat a nice bowl of cereal from the actual bar! It was awesome finally getting to see that big row of free cereal...there were Frosted Flakes, Mini Wheats, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, and so many more. Along with the cereal, there was also plenty of other healthy snacks, like bananas and oranges, bread, jars of peanut butter and jam, and of course, lots and lots of milk. There was a refrigerator, two microwave ovens, and I also recall seeing a toaster in there as well.

Check out some pictures I took in at the Cereal Bar, and other parts of the Cereal Room, below.

So basically, if you wanted to sum up the Cereal Room,  you could describe it as the perfect place to have a perfect breakfast.

Stay tuned for more on my visit to Pixar Animation Studios!

My Visit to Pixar: The Almighty Atrium

The very first thing you see when you enter the Pixar studios is the atrium. As many people know, Steve Jobs designed the Pixar building, and when he was doing so, he wanted a place where all Pixar employees would be forced to go into this big, open space. This way, people could unexpectedly meet in the atrium, and have a nice meeting, and possibly solve a problem. As Chris Wiggum said, it is kind of impossible to go through a day at Pixar without entering the atrium.

The atrium holds many important rooms at Pixar. These include the Luxo Cafe, where Pixarians often eat, the Mail Room, where a couple of my handwritten letters have arrived in the past, the Studio Store, where there are loads of awesome and exclusive Pixar merchandise, and of course, the very famous Cereal Bar. There is even a game room! The atrium also holds several Pixar monuments and decorations, and an awards case for all the awards that Pixar films win. However, the only Oscar missing in the case was the one that Lee Unkrich won back in February. Right now, the atrium is flooded with Cars 2 retro posters and concept art. Some decorations that are usually stationed in the atrium year-round are statues of Mike and Sulley, Luigi and Guido, and the Toy Story Aliens, as well as LEGO statues of Woody and Buzz, which were added last year to celebrate the release of TS3.

Below are some pictures and a video I took while I was in the Almighty Atrium, which was very, very cool.

Some Pixarians sit on the couch reading beside Luigi and Guido, with  the awards case and Cars 2 concept art in the background

Cars 2 concept art on display

 The Pixar Game Room, where Pixarians can come and chill out. It includes air hockey, Foosball, and the TVs in the background are for playing the Toy Story 3 video game.

At the entrance, Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. and Luigi and Guido from Cars give you a warm welcome.

Statues of Woody and Buzz made entirely of LEGO stand by the front desk.

The cute three-eyed Aliens from the Toy Story franchise look happy to be at Pixar.

The Cars 2 triptych is on display in the atrium as well.

My Spectacular Visit to Pixar!

It was Friday, May 13th, 2011, I woke up at around 6:30 am. Friday the 13th is supposed to be an unlucky day, but this day would be the complete opposite.

Earlier on today at 3 pm, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, and I must say, it was the experience of a lifetime. Visiting Pixar had always been a dream of mine, and it finally became a reality!

Since it would be impossible to tell my beloved readers all about this amazing experience in just one post, I will be publishing several posts in the coming days with different themes of what saw, heard, felt, etc.

Here is a quick summary of my trip:

• The tour was given to me by Pixar Publicist, Chris Wiggum, who was indeed, very kind.
• I got the chance to take a few pictures of the famous Pixar atrium and the beautiful studio grounds.
• I was able to go inside the recently opened Brooklyn, the astounding new addition to the Pixar grounds.
• I made a nice stop at the Pixar Studio Store and bought a few things.
• I saw (and tasted) the Legendary Pixar Cereal Bar!

Keep coming back in the next few days to read how the rest of the trip went! I can assure one thing though--Pixar is as AWESOME as it seems, and that is a proven fact.