14 places in L.A. that every Disney lover must visit at least once
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Walt Disney history is closely intertwined with Los Angeles. There is a reason, after all, that the entrance area of Disney California Adventure is modeled after the Los Feliz neighborhood.
Disney relocated here from Kansas City, Mo., in the early 1920s, and would go on to create an empire that helped define American pop culture. It was while living in Los Feliz and working on the nearby Kingswell Avenue that he laid the groundwork for what would become a giant of entertainment. And there’s evidence that he loved the area, frequenting its restaurants and Griffith Park.
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Today, while millions travel yearly to the Disneyland Resort, there are bits of Disney history — and Disney magic — scattered throughout Los Angeles. They can be found, for instance, in a skate shop, at a prime rib destination or even a small bakery and places of nature. Some give us a glimpse into who the man was; others are lasting remnants of the ways in which Disney and its artists have touched our city.
We skipped private residences and movie locations on this list in favor of more public locales, but note that some spots may require making arrangements in advance.
Showing Places
(Solomon O. Smith / For The Times)
Discover Disney's love of trains inside Walt's Barn
Griffith Park L.A. History
It’s well-known that Walt Disney’s appreciation of trains predates his desire to create a theme park. Yet the reason so many Disney fans explore Disney’s train obsession is that it’s closely tied to the development of the park. The Carolwood Society maintains and explores this connection.
In 1950, Disney built a miniature railroad in the backyard of his home in the Holmby Hills area of L.A. He and those he hosted were able to ride the train throughout the grounds, which famously included a tunnel under his wife’s flower bed. The barn that was the center of so much of Disney’s train operations now lives in Griffith Park, and is lovingly preserved by the Carolwood Society.
Consider it a small museum dedicated to Disney’s love of trains. You’ll see an original Disneyland passenger car, now outfitted with historic toys, photographs and early Disneyland train paraphernalia, including re-creations of what Disney’s backyard train — the Carolwood Pacific Railroad — looked and felt like. There’s usually a short wait to get inside the 832-square-foot barn, home to a host of ephemera, including a phone Disney used to communicate from the barn to the home and the train’s track controls.
Yet the star of the show today is a heavily detailed model train of one of Disneyland’s early attractions, the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland.
The Mine Train moved out to make way for Big Thunder Mountain in the 1970s, so Walt’s Barn is really the only way today to experience a taste of the ride. The original attraction featured more than 200 animatronics and took guests on a journey through, under and around rainbow caverns and towering peaks. The Mine Train closed in 1977, but its mining town of “Rainbow Ride” lives on in Big Thunder Mountain.
Walt’s Barn is open the third Sunday of each month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s free, but a small donation is appreciated.
In 1950, Disney built a miniature railroad in the backyard of his home in the Holmby Hills area of L.A. He and those he hosted were able to ride the train throughout the grounds, which famously included a tunnel under his wife’s flower bed. The barn that was the center of so much of Disney’s train operations now lives in Griffith Park, and is lovingly preserved by the Carolwood Society.
Consider it a small museum dedicated to Disney’s love of trains. You’ll see an original Disneyland passenger car, now outfitted with historic toys, photographs and early Disneyland train paraphernalia, including re-creations of what Disney’s backyard train — the Carolwood Pacific Railroad — looked and felt like. There’s usually a short wait to get inside the 832-square-foot barn, home to a host of ephemera, including a phone Disney used to communicate from the barn to the home and the train’s track controls.
Yet the star of the show today is a heavily detailed model train of one of Disneyland’s early attractions, the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland.
The Mine Train moved out to make way for Big Thunder Mountain in the 1970s, so Walt’s Barn is really the only way today to experience a taste of the ride. The original attraction featured more than 200 animatronics and took guests on a journey through, under and around rainbow caverns and towering peaks. The Mine Train closed in 1977, but its mining town of “Rainbow Ride” lives on in Big Thunder Mountain.
Walt’s Barn is open the third Sunday of each month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s free, but a small donation is appreciated.
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(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
Walk in Walt's footsteps at the original Disney Bros. Studio location
Los Feliz Historic landmark
Walt Disney launched his animation career in Kansas City, Mo., in 1920. But when his Laugh-O-gram Studio failed after only about two years, he decided to move west. Here in Los Angeles, Walt and his brother Roy would in 1923 rent a small studio space on Kingswell Avenue in Los Feliz, near where he was staying with his uncle.
They called their operation the Disney Bros. Studio, and it was officially the formation of what would become the Walt Disney Co. At the Kingswell space, Disney pursued his passion for animation with his “Alice Comedies” film series, shorts that followed a young live-action girl performing in “Cartoonland.” A total of 56 “Alice Comedies” were made between 1924 and 1927.
In September 2024, a small strip on the corner of Kingswell and Vermont avenues was officially designated the Disney Bros. Cartoon Studio Square. Come for photos in front of the placard, but don’t leave before visiting the Kingswell skate shop, owned by retired pro skateboarder D.J. Chavez.
The space, says Chavez, is regularly visited by tour buses, and he welcomes all Disney fans, whether they skate or not. A portion of the shop’s wall, pictured above, has been dedicated to the history of the Disney Bros. Studio, and he even sells some Kingswell-branded gear that nods to the space’s Disney roots.
Chavez says he finds it motivating to be in the same spot were Disney got his L.A. start. “It’s inspiring in every way, shape or form,” Chavez says.
“It’s just sick to be in this teeny little space that created this mega-monster,” Chavez says. “If he can do it, then it inspires me to try everyday, especially living and breathing in the same air that he did at one time.”
The success of the “Alice Comedies” allowed Walt and Roy in 1926 to move to a larger spot on nearby Hyperion Boulevard, although that location has long since been torn down. Disney moved to Burbank in 1940.
They called their operation the Disney Bros. Studio, and it was officially the formation of what would become the Walt Disney Co. At the Kingswell space, Disney pursued his passion for animation with his “Alice Comedies” film series, shorts that followed a young live-action girl performing in “Cartoonland.” A total of 56 “Alice Comedies” were made between 1924 and 1927.
In September 2024, a small strip on the corner of Kingswell and Vermont avenues was officially designated the Disney Bros. Cartoon Studio Square. Come for photos in front of the placard, but don’t leave before visiting the Kingswell skate shop, owned by retired pro skateboarder D.J. Chavez.
The space, says Chavez, is regularly visited by tour buses, and he welcomes all Disney fans, whether they skate or not. A portion of the shop’s wall, pictured above, has been dedicated to the history of the Disney Bros. Studio, and he even sells some Kingswell-branded gear that nods to the space’s Disney roots.
Chavez says he finds it motivating to be in the same spot were Disney got his L.A. start. “It’s inspiring in every way, shape or form,” Chavez says.
“It’s just sick to be in this teeny little space that created this mega-monster,” Chavez says. “If he can do it, then it inspires me to try everyday, especially living and breathing in the same air that he did at one time.”
The success of the “Alice Comedies” allowed Walt and Roy in 1926 to move to a larger spot on nearby Hyperion Boulevard, although that location has long since been torn down. Disney moved to Burbank in 1940.
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(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
These pastries at the Original Martino's Bakery were once a Disney studio staple
Burbank Bakery and desserts
Have afternoon tea — or just a decadent breakfast — like a Walt Disney animator, albeit one in the 1940s.
Burbank’s the Original Martino’s Bakery, which dates to 1926, has long been serving the community and its bounty of nearby studios. Yet in the 1940s, as documented in the book “Eat Like Walt” from historian Marcy Carriker Smothers, Martino’s was a supplier for the Inking & Painting Tea Lounge at the Walt Disney Studios.
Martino’s tea cakes, little square buttermilk cupcakes, with just a hint of vanilla and a soft sugary glaze, were a signature item at the lounge. The cafeteria catered to the largely female team of “inkers” and “painters,” who traced and painted finished animating drawings on transparent cels. Smothers notes it was tea rather than coffee that was served at the lounge for fear that the high caffeine content of the latter could make a hand shake.
The lounge is long gone, but Martino’s tea cakes remain a Burbank delicacy forever associated with the Disney Studios.
Burbank’s the Original Martino’s Bakery, which dates to 1926, has long been serving the community and its bounty of nearby studios. Yet in the 1940s, as documented in the book “Eat Like Walt” from historian Marcy Carriker Smothers, Martino’s was a supplier for the Inking & Painting Tea Lounge at the Walt Disney Studios.
Martino’s tea cakes, little square buttermilk cupcakes, with just a hint of vanilla and a soft sugary glaze, were a signature item at the lounge. The cafeteria catered to the largely female team of “inkers” and “painters,” who traced and painted finished animating drawings on transparent cels. Smothers notes it was tea rather than coffee that was served at the lounge for fear that the high caffeine content of the latter could make a hand shake.
The lounge is long gone, but Martino’s tea cakes remain a Burbank delicacy forever associated with the Disney Studios.
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(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
Visit the real tree that inspired the lush Adventureland Treehouse
Anaheim Historic Park
One of Disneyland’s most striking trees is the fictional one that is currently home to the lush Adventureland Treehouse Inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson. And, as the story goes, that tree was styled after a very real Moreton Bay fig tree located about two miles from the resort, which, according to the city, was imported and planted sometime before 1876.
Passed-down lore persists that one day Walt Disney stopped by the fig tree and asked permission to photograph it. While what is myth and what is fact is sometimes hard to discern when it comes to the creation of Disneyland, historic Disney site Yesterland has attempted to untangle the roots of the story, even posting pictures of the very real tree side-by-side with the resort’s fictional one. According to Yesterland, park designers created molds of knots from Anaheim’s Moreton Bay fig, and today the park in which it resides, Founders’ Park, also home to various historic Anaheim houses, boasts a plaque proudly proclaiming the tree’s connection to Disneyland.
Founders’ Park is a short 10-minute drive from Disneyland, so it’s an easy visit if the Adventureland Treehouse is on your list of must-do Disneyland attractions. And it should be, as the treehouse was updated in 2023 with an original tale full of cute mechanical animals and clever, abstract storytelling that invites exploration.
Passed-down lore persists that one day Walt Disney stopped by the fig tree and asked permission to photograph it. While what is myth and what is fact is sometimes hard to discern when it comes to the creation of Disneyland, historic Disney site Yesterland has attempted to untangle the roots of the story, even posting pictures of the very real tree side-by-side with the resort’s fictional one. According to Yesterland, park designers created molds of knots from Anaheim’s Moreton Bay fig, and today the park in which it resides, Founders’ Park, also home to various historic Anaheim houses, boasts a plaque proudly proclaiming the tree’s connection to Disneyland.
Founders’ Park is a short 10-minute drive from Disneyland, so it’s an easy visit if the Adventureland Treehouse is on your list of must-do Disneyland attractions. And it should be, as the treehouse was updated in 2023 with an original tale full of cute mechanical animals and clever, abstract storytelling that invites exploration.
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(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)
Take a tour of the Walt Disney Studios
Burbank L.A. History
If Disneyland idealizes American stories and Western takes on classic fairy tales, then a trip to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank grounds them in a bit more reality. But it is still Disney, so expect a little bit of folkloric mythologizing, especially when it comes to company founder Walt Disney.
A centerpiece of the 2½-hour tour — open only to members of the Disney fan club D23, including those with a free membership — is the meticulous restoration of Disney’s five-room office suite. It’s a treasure trove of items belonging to Disney — or re-creations of them, such as a reproduction of the special Oscar he won for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” with a normal-sized statuette and seven smaller ones. Marvel, too, at the Disneyland master plan, with nods to what were then recently completed projects such as It’s a Small World. The office is preserved as it would have looked at the time of Disney’s death in 1966.
Additionally, no other tour is as dedicated to the art of animation as this one. No real surprise, of course, but guests will visit the original animation building — where “Cinderella” and “Lady and the Tramp,” among many others, were created — and learn about Disney’s many advancements to the medium.
The tour is offered on a rolling basis throughout the year. Ticket costs vary by membership but start at $99.
A centerpiece of the 2½-hour tour — open only to members of the Disney fan club D23, including those with a free membership — is the meticulous restoration of Disney’s five-room office suite. It’s a treasure trove of items belonging to Disney — or re-creations of them, such as a reproduction of the special Oscar he won for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” with a normal-sized statuette and seven smaller ones. Marvel, too, at the Disneyland master plan, with nods to what were then recently completed projects such as It’s a Small World. The office is preserved as it would have looked at the time of Disney’s death in 1966.
Additionally, no other tour is as dedicated to the art of animation as this one. No real surprise, of course, but guests will visit the original animation building — where “Cinderella” and “Lady and the Tramp,” among many others, were created — and learn about Disney’s many advancements to the medium.
The tour is offered on a rolling basis throughout the year. Ticket costs vary by membership but start at $99.
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(Solomon O. Smith / For The Times)
Dine at Tam O’Shanter, one of Walt's favorite restaurants
Atwater Village L.A. History
The long-standing Tam O’Shanter, one of L.A.’s first and most stable themed restaurants, was designed by Harry Oliver, an artisan trained in Hollywood art direction, storybook houses and corporate whimsy. In turn, it has a hand-built, bedtime-story charm that wouldn’t feel out of place at Disneyland.
It was also one of Walt Disney’s favorite restaurants, in part due to its proximity to the studio. The look of the Tam O’Shanter has changed slightly over the years — it’s said to have been a bit more fairy tale-leaning in the Walt Disney-era — but much of what makes it an L.A. original is still in place.
And Eddie Sotto, a creative executive and former Walt Disney Imagineer, considers the Tam O’Shanter a Disneyland influence.
“I would argue that Harry Oliver, who also designed the western town of the 1935 [World’s Fair] exposition in San Diego that Walter Knott visited, was the bridge between Walter Knott theming Knott’s Berry Farm and Walt Disney theming Disneyland,” Sotto once told The Times. “Walt Disney was eating in a themed environment at the Tam O’Shanter, which was far more Expressionist back then. It was more fantasy-oriented.”
The Tam O’Shanter isn’t shy about its Disney connection. The lobby is home to paintings from Disney artisans, and the restaurant has set aside a table — it’s Table No. 31 — that it claims was one of Disney’s favorites. It’s said, as detailed in Marcy Carriker Smothers’ book “Eat Like Walt,” that Disney and his staff in the 1930s ate lunch so often at the Tam O’Shanter that it was colloquially referred to as the “Disney Commissary.”
As for Table No. 31, today it is outfitted with carvings by Walt Disney Imagineers that pay tribute to the park’s reto-futurism of Tomorrowland (fun fact: the sketches were originally part of an alternate reality game designed to promote the 2015 film “Tomorrowland”). Now, was that actually Disney’s favorite table? That depends on whom you ask. Historian Smothers notes in her book that it was actually Table No. 35, which offered a bit more privacy, including a curtain if need be.
It was also one of Walt Disney’s favorite restaurants, in part due to its proximity to the studio. The look of the Tam O’Shanter has changed slightly over the years — it’s said to have been a bit more fairy tale-leaning in the Walt Disney-era — but much of what makes it an L.A. original is still in place.
And Eddie Sotto, a creative executive and former Walt Disney Imagineer, considers the Tam O’Shanter a Disneyland influence.
“I would argue that Harry Oliver, who also designed the western town of the 1935 [World’s Fair] exposition in San Diego that Walter Knott visited, was the bridge between Walter Knott theming Knott’s Berry Farm and Walt Disney theming Disneyland,” Sotto once told The Times. “Walt Disney was eating in a themed environment at the Tam O’Shanter, which was far more Expressionist back then. It was more fantasy-oriented.”
The Tam O’Shanter isn’t shy about its Disney connection. The lobby is home to paintings from Disney artisans, and the restaurant has set aside a table — it’s Table No. 31 — that it claims was one of Disney’s favorites. It’s said, as detailed in Marcy Carriker Smothers’ book “Eat Like Walt,” that Disney and his staff in the 1930s ate lunch so often at the Tam O’Shanter that it was colloquially referred to as the “Disney Commissary.”
As for Table No. 31, today it is outfitted with carvings by Walt Disney Imagineers that pay tribute to the park’s reto-futurism of Tomorrowland (fun fact: the sketches were originally part of an alternate reality game designed to promote the 2015 film “Tomorrowland”). Now, was that actually Disney’s favorite table? That depends on whom you ask. Historian Smothers notes in her book that it was actually Table No. 35, which offered a bit more privacy, including a curtain if need be.
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(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Cruise past the original proposed Disneyland site
Burbank L.A. History
Four years before Disneyland would open in 1955, Walt Disney began drawing up plans for an amusement park directly across the street from the Walt Disney Studios. In 1952, he presented the proposal to the Burbank City Council, pitching a $1.5 million endeavor that would in its early conceptions encompass much of what would later make its way to Disneyland — a train, a steamboat, and less detailed versions of Main Street and a Frontierland.
“Disneyland will be something of a fair, an exhibition, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts, and a showplace of beauty and magic,” Disney told the Burbank Daily Review as documented in the book “Never Built Los Angeles” by Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell.
Disney’s fan club D23 has posted online a selection of images for the Burbank Disneyland, including an early rendering of a potential “Pinocchio” attraction. a vision of Monstro the whale that would ultimately find its way to Disneyland via the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The city of Burbank, however, wasn’t interested in the park and shot down the Disney proposal, fearing, according to Goldin and Lubell, a “carny” atmosphere.
Disney went back to the drawing board, and today the site is occupied by the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the West Coast headquarters of ABC.
“Disneyland will be something of a fair, an exhibition, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts, and a showplace of beauty and magic,” Disney told the Burbank Daily Review as documented in the book “Never Built Los Angeles” by Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell.
Disney’s fan club D23 has posted online a selection of images for the Burbank Disneyland, including an early rendering of a potential “Pinocchio” attraction. a vision of Monstro the whale that would ultimately find its way to Disneyland via the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The city of Burbank, however, wasn’t interested in the park and shot down the Disney proposal, fearing, according to Goldin and Lubell, a “carny” atmosphere.
Disney went back to the drawing board, and today the site is occupied by the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the West Coast headquarters of ABC.
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(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Dream of what could have been an aquatic-themed Disney park at the Queen Mary
Long Beach L.A. History
The Queen Mary was once the anchor of what could have been a large-scale Disney makeover of the Long Beach coastline. Disney in 1988 took over operations of the docked ocean liner, which first sailed in 1936. The company’s plans were ambitious. Then CEO of the Walt Disney Co. Michael Eisner promised in 1990 a “Disney decade,” an era in which he boasted the company would significantly expand its theme park operations.
Disney during its lease of the Queen Mary sunk about $8 million into the ship, sprucing up the lobby gift shop area, its restaurants and rooms in the process. If all had gone as planned, Disney would have built an aquatic-focused theme park near the ship, initially dubbed Port Disney but then modified to be named DisneySea.
The company promised to spend $3 billion in building the park, six hotels and a cruise ship terminal, but faced stiff community and environmental opposition, so much so that Disney abandoned the project — and the Queen Mary — in 1992. Some of the concepts envisioned for the park found their way into Tokyo’s DisneySea, while here in Southern California, Disney decided to primarily focus on expanding its Anaheim property with what would become Disney California Adventure.
Disney sort of backed in to becoming Queen Mary operators. In 1998, the company did not yet own the Disneyland Hotel, and purchased the property — as well as an interest in the Queen Mary — from the Wrather Corp. But the company’s ties to the ship go back further: in its sailing days, none other than Walt Disney was one of the Queen Mary’s patrons. Today, there’s a photo of Disney near the ship’s Observation Bar, and one can then step into the watering hole and attempt to re-create the image in the exact place it was taken.
Disney during its lease of the Queen Mary sunk about $8 million into the ship, sprucing up the lobby gift shop area, its restaurants and rooms in the process. If all had gone as planned, Disney would have built an aquatic-focused theme park near the ship, initially dubbed Port Disney but then modified to be named DisneySea.
The company promised to spend $3 billion in building the park, six hotels and a cruise ship terminal, but faced stiff community and environmental opposition, so much so that Disney abandoned the project — and the Queen Mary — in 1992. Some of the concepts envisioned for the park found their way into Tokyo’s DisneySea, while here in Southern California, Disney decided to primarily focus on expanding its Anaheim property with what would become Disney California Adventure.
Disney sort of backed in to becoming Queen Mary operators. In 1998, the company did not yet own the Disneyland Hotel, and purchased the property — as well as an interest in the Queen Mary — from the Wrather Corp. But the company’s ties to the ship go back further: in its sailing days, none other than Walt Disney was one of the Queen Mary’s patrons. Today, there’s a photo of Disney near the ship’s Observation Bar, and one can then step into the watering hole and attempt to re-create the image in the exact place it was taken.
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(Solomon O. Smith / For The Times)
Revel in the Disneyland creation myth at the Griffith Park merry-go-round
Griffith Park L.A. History
The Griffith Park carousel is a must-visit for any Disneyland fan in L.A. There’s only one problem: At the time of writing, the merry-go-round has been closed since 2022. The attraction is said to be down for much-needed repairs, although there have been reports of legal delays as well.
And yet the ride is so integral to Disneyland that the resort actually has in its collection one of the original benches that flanked the carousel, which can be found near the Main Street Opera House.
The story goes that Walt Disney would on weekends visit the merry-go-round with his daughters, lamenting the fact that there wasn’t a place with attractions that could entertain kids and adults alike. Enter his vision for Disneyland.
When operational, the Griffith Park merry-go-round is a thing of aging beauty. Built in 1926 and brought to Griffith Park in 1937, the carousel features 68 jumping horses and a Stinson 165 Military Band Organ that is said to be able to play more than 1,500 selections of waltzes and march music.
And yet the ride is so integral to Disneyland that the resort actually has in its collection one of the original benches that flanked the carousel, which can be found near the Main Street Opera House.
The story goes that Walt Disney would on weekends visit the merry-go-round with his daughters, lamenting the fact that there wasn’t a place with attractions that could entertain kids and adults alike. Enter his vision for Disneyland.
When operational, the Griffith Park merry-go-round is a thing of aging beauty. Built in 1926 and brought to Griffith Park in 1937, the carousel features 68 jumping horses and a Stinson 165 Military Band Organ that is said to be able to play more than 1,500 selections of waltzes and march music.
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(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
Take a tour with Bob Gurr, one of Walt Disney's most famed creatives
Griffith Park Tour
One can spend an afternoon visiting many of the important L.A.-associated Disney related sites on their own, or one can do so in the company of one of those who worked with and learned from Walt Disney himself. Bob Gurr at 93 is still fiery, charming, outgoing and full of colorful stories that detail his time at Walt Disney Imagineering, then known as WED Enterprises (for Walter Elias Disney).
Gurr is a legend, known best as the mechanical creative who helped define the look of the Disneyland monorail as well as the Matterhorn bobsleds and the Haunted Mansion “doombuggies.” He’s also a charmer, full of personal anecdotes that help create an image of what it was like to work for and with Disney. His “Waltland” tours have been running for a few years now, and typically occur on the third Sunday of the month.
Expect to drive by Disney’s early L.A. home and to stop at places such as Walt Disney’s Barn in Griffith Park, but the reason to take the tour is for extensive rides and chats around the Disney Studios and the offices of Walt Disney Imagineering. Here, Gurr will share tales and answer questions, often with a sense of humor and relatively blunt honesty.
The tour starts at $195 per person and includes a box lunch.
Gurr is a legend, known best as the mechanical creative who helped define the look of the Disneyland monorail as well as the Matterhorn bobsleds and the Haunted Mansion “doombuggies.” He’s also a charmer, full of personal anecdotes that help create an image of what it was like to work for and with Disney. His “Waltland” tours have been running for a few years now, and typically occur on the third Sunday of the month.
Expect to drive by Disney’s early L.A. home and to stop at places such as Walt Disney’s Barn in Griffith Park, but the reason to take the tour is for extensive rides and chats around the Disney Studios and the offices of Walt Disney Imagineering. Here, Gurr will share tales and answer questions, often with a sense of humor and relatively blunt honesty.
The tour starts at $195 per person and includes a box lunch.
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(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
See a movie at El Capitan, the venue for many Walt Disney Pictures premieres
Hollywood Movie Theater
The El Capitan is an L.A. rite of passage. Maybe you saw your first Disney movie here. Or you took your kids to see “Toy Story” or “Moana” at this grand old movie palace, which opened as a playhouse on Hollywood Boulevard in 1926, four years after the Egyptian and a year before the Chinese. Disney and Pacific Theaters painstakingly restored the El Cap in the late ’80s, reopening it in 1991 with the world premiere of “The Rocketeer.” It’s still the site for many Disney premieres, as well as first-run showings of the studio’s various Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm movies. Seeing those films at the El Capitan feels like an event, with a jaunty preshow Wurlitzer pipe organ program that ends with the grand instrument descending into the theater’s floor. Look over at your kid’s face as the organ disappears. Wasn’t the drive worth it?
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A photograph of Walt Disney and Shirley Temple at the Academy Awards hangs inside the Biltmore.
(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
Visit the Biltmore Hotel, where Walt Disney was given a historic Academy Award
Downtown L.A. L.A. History
The Biltmore Hotel arrived in the 1920s as a palace of not just elegance but of optimism, viewing the downtown Los Angeles of the Jazz Age as a global mecca and a center for opulence. So it’s no surprise, perhaps, that throughout the 1930s the Biltmore became one of the primary hosts of the Academy Awards. Los Angeles legend even states that it was during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ founding banquet at the hotel where the Oscar statuette was first drawn on a napkin.
One of the more historic Oscar ceremonies, especially for Disney fans, occurred in 1939. It was at this February gala — the 11th overall Academy Awards — that Disney was presented with an honorary award for 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Drawfs.” But this was no ordinary award, as it contained one full-size statuette and seven smaller ones and was presented by a young Shirley Temple. Though the actual Oscar location of the Crystal Ballroom may not always be open to guests, just off the lobby the Biltmore has a collection of photographs from the ceremonies, including this moment between Disney and Temple. Spend some time with the exhibit, which includes a seating chart of the 1939 awards.
While you’re there, pop in to the Gallery Bar and Cognac Room for a cocktail, small plates and complimentary popcorn or peanuts. It’s a place to catch a Dodgers game, or just marvel at the carved angels that surround the granite bar.
One of the more historic Oscar ceremonies, especially for Disney fans, occurred in 1939. It was at this February gala — the 11th overall Academy Awards — that Disney was presented with an honorary award for 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Drawfs.” But this was no ordinary award, as it contained one full-size statuette and seven smaller ones and was presented by a young Shirley Temple. Though the actual Oscar location of the Crystal Ballroom may not always be open to guests, just off the lobby the Biltmore has a collection of photographs from the ceremonies, including this moment between Disney and Temple. Spend some time with the exhibit, which includes a seating chart of the 1939 awards.
While you’re there, pop in to the Gallery Bar and Cognac Room for a cocktail, small plates and complimentary popcorn or peanuts. It’s a place to catch a Dodgers game, or just marvel at the carved angels that surround the granite bar.
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(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Gaze, from afar, at a lost Disney-designed space age restaurant
Westchester L.A. History
Next time you find yourself at the Los Angeles International Airport — or if your Disneyland vacation essentially starts at LAX — take a moment to find a window with a view of the historic Theme Building. The Pereira & Luckman Associates-designed retro-futurist space opened in 1961 and was designated a historic landmark in 1992. For a brief time, its alien-like circular centerpiece had a distinctly Disney touch.
That elevated main event was once known as Encounter, and it was a restaurant that felt full of movement, with spacey lighting and winding paths that called attention to its ring-like shape. It was a vision of the past that never was, boasting lava lamp-inspired pillars and the soft glow of ambient lighting. Encounter, according to LAX, lasted only from 1997 to 2013, but the space was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences. If you’re flying or landing in the evening, you may still catch a glimpse of that Disney-infused lighting, a soft luminescence that makes the building feel ready for liftoff.
That elevated main event was once known as Encounter, and it was a restaurant that felt full of movement, with spacey lighting and winding paths that called attention to its ring-like shape. It was a vision of the past that never was, boasting lava lamp-inspired pillars and the soft glow of ambient lighting. Encounter, according to LAX, lasted only from 1997 to 2013, but the space was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences. If you’re flying or landing in the evening, you may still catch a glimpse of that Disney-infused lighting, a soft luminescence that makes the building feel ready for liftoff.
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