Welcome to the underground bar Steve Jobs at the headquarters of Pixar

The ventilation shaft of one of the offices Pixar headquarters is a door that leads to the secret room with Christmas garlands, soft carpets, lava lamps and a breakfast bar.

In 2000, Pixar studio moved to its new headquarters in Emeryville, California, that. Every aspect of the new campus, up to the finish of the steel beams, has been meticulously thought out business owner - Steve Jobs.

He hoped that the location of the restrooms, entertainment and sports facilities in the center of the atrium will benefit from collaboration and interaction thousands of employees. But one thing Jobs is still not taken into account ...

Examining his new cabinet after the move, the animator Andrew Gordon noticed the locked door on one of the walls. Turning the key, he crawled on the opened ventilation shaft and was in the secret room. This place builders used for maintenance of ventilation equipment, but Gordon had other plans for him.

"I thought," Well, well! Would be cool to arrange their secret place here "," - he recalled in a short film of a special edition of "Toy Story 3".

In the video he tells his boss, director of Pixar and the owner of two "Oscars" Andrew Stanton I am walking up and down in their offices during Productions "Finding Nemo" and did not find Gordon at the office, got into a rabbit hole. "I thought I'd be fired", - says Andrew of the moment when the head Stanton appeared in the vents. But everything happened exactly the opposite: Stanton liked this place, and they turned it into an underground bar (in the original - speakeasy, the so-called underground drinking establishments during the "dry law" in USA. — Approx. per.).

This place is called The Love Lounge and put the logo on the napkins, cushions and a small neon sign over the entrance.

The room was decorated with Christmas garlands, fleecy rugs, lava lamps, and, of course, there have equipped bar. Even set the camera in the outer office to see those who have come.

Soon we found out about this place all. However, instead of showing dissatisfaction with all Pixar management, including Steve Jobs himself, became a frequent visitor in the underground bar.

The biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson wrote that Jobs liked this place, even though he was not fond of a drink. Steve called him a "meditation room" and told Isaacson that it is very similar to his room in the dormitory Reed College in Oregon, "only without the acid."

As you know, one day a week, Jobs held on the campus of Pixar and often looked in The Love Lounge.

"I want to say that I could work, and then there is Steve Jobs and John Lasseter," - says Gordon, having in the human mind, which is now the chief creative director of Disney Animation, Disneytoons and Pixar.

Bar was the duty place for VIP-guests. Among adorn the walls of the plates with the names of visitors were the names of Tim Allen (famous American comedian. — Approx. lane.), Randy Newman (known American singer and songwriter - Approx. lane.) And Roy Disney (Walt Disney's nephew, former head of The Walt Disney Company - Approx. lane.). Once I fit a full orchestra in the underground bar, and at other times managed to squeeze a football team.

Later, Gordon changed his room, but asked to equip additional secret room, this time - the more accessible. He made bookshelf that by pressing a hidden button on the bust of Shakespeare shifted to the side, revealing a secret door. This version of the underground bar Lounge got Lucky 7's name. A similar inscription in the Vegas splendor adorned on the walls of red.

In Pixar also has a bar open to all The Knife and The Fiddle. It was built and is fully managed by employees.

But that's not all Jobs' ideas on arrangement of the campus: there is still a theater, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an outdoor amphitheater and a basketball court.

The biography of Steve Jobs Isaacson quotes Oscar-winning director Brad Bird Pixar, which describes the spirit of the campus with the following words:

If you walk through the offices of animators, you will see that they are variegated. People are allowed to execute their offices as they want. One guy made out of the office the town in the Wild West, the other chose a stylized Hawaii. John [Lasseter] believes that a free, informal atmosphere promotes creativity.

(via)