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Let's start on the first floor of the main building. 

The first floor of Nickelodeon Studios, now half divided by Blue Man Group.
 

One of the coolest things that no one ever got to see in Nickelodeon Studios was the amazingly comprehensive wall of plaques that spanned an entire hallway.  Every Nick Studios show had a plaque dedicated to it with the logo and dates on it.  It was really a humbling sight to behold.  It was so long that it couldn't be captured in one photo.

Nickelodeon Studios' wall of plaques.

A part of Nickelodeon Studios that many people knew about, and got to see partially from the tourist side of things was the infamous Gak Kitchen.  The Gak Kitchen was where the gakmeisters mixed all the slime and gak for shows that required it such as Family Double Dare, as well as the Game Lab shows.  The Gak Kitchen was down the hall from the wall of plaques and was between the makeup and wardrobe rooms. 

It was a relatively small room that contained several industrial sized mixers, a huge refrigerator, a rack which contained ingredients for gak and slime, and a window for the tourist portion of the Gak Kitchen. 

The entrance to the Gak Kitchen, taken from the hallway.

 The left side of the Gak Kitchen.

 The right side of the Gak Kitchen.

Taken from inside the Gak Kitchen looking out into the hallway.

Truthfully, for shows that contained a lot of the concoctions, the mixers were moved closer to the soundstage so that the gak and slime didn't have to be carried down the hallways.  The Gak Kitchen was removed when walls were taken out and new ones were put in in different places for Blue Man Group.  It was approximately where Blue Man's concession stand is now.

Next door to the Gak Kitchen on the right was wardrobe.  The wardrobe department held hundreds and hundreds of clothing items to be used on Nickelodeon shows.  Every shirt you ever saw worn on-screen was there, and then some.  Wearable relics from years gone by adorned the walls and racks everywhere.  It also contained sewing machines with every color thread in the rainbow for seamstresses to make alterations on the spot. 

Like the Gak Kitchen, it had a window on it for tourists to walk by and look into on the Nick tour.  Mannequins stood in the window like a Macy's store display, wearing recognizable shirts from Nick shows.  Today, the wardrobe department no longer exists for the same reasons as the Gak Kitchen.

A wardrobe rack containing shirts from Slimetime Live, including
3 of Joe's shirts from Blues Clues from when he visited the show.

A helmet from Nick Arcade in the wardrobe department.

Another interesting room on the first floor was the Green Room.  For those not familiar, the Green Room is where people who are appearing on television shows are held before going on.  It's basically a glorified room to chill in, with beverages, snacks, and things to amuse yourself during all the waiting involved with taping a television show.  In the cast of Nickelodeon Studios' Green Room, its main purpose was holding contestants for the game shows.

In Nickelodeon Studios' Green Room, there were video games, televisions, couches, tables and chairs, and a captain's room (a small kitchen) with a fridge.  There were also restrooms in the green room.  Today, the green room remains virtually unchanged.  It's been maintained beautifully and has even had new Nickelodeon couches moved into it from other parts of the building.  In fact, we used it quite a bit for My Family's Got GUTS.  We utilized the bathrooms for players to change into their uniforms and took naps on the couches did absolutely nothing else.

Nickelodeon Studios Green Room while Nickelodeon Studios was open.

Nickelodeon Studios Green Room during My Family's Got GUTS, 2008.

There were a number of dressing rooms on the first floor of Nickelodeon Studios.  Typically, four were in use.  As years went by, some were converted into offices, or vice versa.  Inside them were some couches, tables, chairs, TVs and a bathroom.  Nothing too glorious. 

Blue Man Group now uses the dressing rooms for their talent and aside from the walls being painted black instead of white, they've remained visually the same. 

Outside of a Nickelodeon Studios dressing room, taken after Blue Man Group
took over, 2008.

Inside a Nickelodeon Studios dressing room while the studios were still open.  This particular
dressing room was usually used for hosts because it was the closest to the soundstages. 
Were you expecting more? Welcome to show business!

We've covered the main parts of the first floor.  Now, let's move up to the second floor of the main building.

Upon getting off of the elevator that took you to the second floor, the first thing in front of you is the control room.  This is where the magic happened for all of the Nickelodeon Studios shows, and today, it looks exactly as it did in 1990.  Some of the equipment has been updated for the current clients who rent and utilize it (namely SunSports), but at a glance, it's just as it was during the glory days.

Nickelodeon Studios control room.

Typically, the director and his/her associates sat on the first row, and the producers sat on the back row.  In the far back corner was the lady who did the on-screen graphics (aka CGs).  The control room was a place to hear new four-letter words when cameras were rolling, and a place to laugh when they weren't.  

Directly outside of the control room was an amazing piece of history that still remains to this day.  When the studios first opened, the head honchos of the network all signed a slab of concrete that has still never been carpeted over.  It's directly outside of the control room and is signed by people such as Geoffrey Darby (creator of Double Dare and You Can't Do That on Television) and the famous Geraldine Laybourne, president of Nickelodeon at the time. 

Slab of concrete signed by those who opened Nick Studios in 1990.

Outside of the control room, the walls are overwhelmingly Nickelodeon themed.  Ren & Stimpy were a hit on the network at the time the walls were being decorated and they're everywhere.  In fact, the walls are themed after their space episode.  Believe it or not, still to this day the walls are like this.  Essentially, the second floor of Nickelodeon Studios is completely unchanged.

Right outside of the control room on the second floor of Nickelodeon Studios.

Even the copy machine area is Nickelodeon Studios themed, still to this day!

The second floor is essentially for production and post-production.  Editing suites, audio rooms, sweetening rooms, tape libraries and a viewing room are what are found on the second floor.  SunSports occupies these areas today. 

Video Control area of Nickelodeon Studios' second floor.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the second floor is the giant Nickelodeon Studios mural that takes up an entire wall.  As you can see by my My Family's Got GUTS shirt, it's still there today and in perfect condition.  It's perhaps the greatest original piece of Nickelodeon Studios' history that still exists.  If you're curious for bearings, a left turn at the end of the hallway behind me will put the control room on your left.  The room in the above photo is behind the door behind me to the left.  Directly in front of me down the hall is the tape library.

Original Nickelodeon Studios mural on the second floor of the main building.

Alright, we've covered the second floor.  Now time for a quick mention of the third and top floor of the main building. 

This floor is only offices and cubicles.  It is occupied by SunSports and Blue Man Group today.  Nickelodeon stickers still decorate the filing cabinets.  There's also a kitchen area, which can be seen in the far right window of the studios from the outside.  Often times we see pictures looking at Nickelodeon Studios, but never from inside Nickelodeon Studios looking out.  Here's a photo from the kitchen area of the third floor, looking out over the roof where the sign used to hang.

Looking out from Nickelodeon Studios' third floor.

There you have the three floors of the main building.  Nickelodeon Studios had two soundstages, stage 19 (on the left) and stage 18 (on the right).  They housed most of the programming that came out of the facility.  Occasionally, when larger spaces were needed, the Universal Studios soundstages were rented out as well, which were directly behind Nickelodeon Studios in the back lot. 

Let's take a look at what the soundstages looked like when Nickelodeon Studios was still around, starting off with Soundstage 18.