Throughout college I never really watched a show devotedly because I didn't have a TV, but this past year I've started watching two shows religiously. The first was West Wing and the second was The OC. Now, say what you want, but The OC rules. Watch it from the beginning before passing judgment.

Anyhow, this winter break my house mate Andrew and I went exploring the real Orange County to compare, contrast, and live the life of our friends Ryan, Seth, Marissa, and Summer.

Before we got started we found this guide put out by the Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau. It shows all the locations they allegedly use in Newport Beach to film the show. The first place we went was the pier that is supposed to be where the characters go to "The Bait Shop", a trendy local music venue. It turns out the real-life establishment is a sushi joint.

After this, we went down to to another pier, which is supposed to be the diner that the show's characters frequent. The real-life restaurant in this place turns out to be Ruby's Diner. It's a 1950s look-alike diner, not the Coco's style diner they have in the show. I think it's safe to say that the two pier locations are just inspirational locations or that they just use the piers themselves for shots.

The next place we went to was the ferris wheel at Balboa Fun Zone. This was supposed to be the ferris wheel where Ryan and Marissa kissed for the first time, as the map from the Conference & Visitors Bureau suggests. Well, take a look at the difference. Here is the ferris wheel and Andrew:

Now let's take a look at the difference between that ferris wheel and the one in the show.

Clearly, this is just another site that "inspired" the show. The ferris wheel in the show is a portable one shot somewhere else -- not at the Fun Zone. By now it was clear that the Conference & Visitors Bureau just put out this guide to appease the fans coming to visit and direct them to places to spend their money.

The last thing we did was check out the cliffs and aerial shot in the opening of the show.

After this was done, we went to Fashion Island, the ritzy shopping center for Newport. Sporting a t-shirt and jeans, I felt kind of out of place, what with the great lengths the other shoppers went through to make their apperance impeccable. Anyhow, the reason we went was to eat at Thaifoon, a restaurant mentioned frequently on the show, though it's never shown.

Thaifoon wasn't bad. It was a lot like PF Chang's, but Thai. After eating there we went to Crystal Cove, the state park used in many of the aerial shots in The OC. The park was probably the highlight of the day.

After we were done, we planned to go to Chino, Ryan's hometown. However, the traffic was atrocious and we didn't make it. That led us to one conclusion about the show: Despite it's geographic closeness, Ryan can't drive out to Chino on a whim. The second conclusion is that the places they film are inspired by Orange County and generally aren't on location.