Matt meets the Imagineers, Tour of Walt's LA, and some Phoenix History.

[whoever]

We wanted to get to the tour location early as I had a feeling there would probably be a benefit to doing so based upon past experience. We got up, got ready, packed up, grabbed some coffees, a yogurt, and a bagel from the complimentary breakfast, and we were off by 8:00.

Here's what I have to say about the room. It was spacious, but it didn't feel clean at all. The carpet had stains, there were smudges/stuff on the walls here/there, and it smelled heavily of disinfectant. Not a comforting feeling. No way in heck we were going near the garden tub in the main living area of the room... The view was less than great as well. Oh well, what does one expect I guess for $155 after parking and taxes for a night in LA. I certainly wouldn't stay there again... we were glad to be gone..

We pulled into the LA Zoo's parkinglot at 8:30, and quickly found our way over to the 'S' parking area. I saw the easy up canopy immediately and we parked one row over. There were a few cars already there, so depsite our best efforts, we had been bested.

Being a SOLD OUT tour, I wasn't happy at not being the first to arrive.

We got out of the car, went over and checked in. Imagine my dismay to find out were were #5 and #6. We had been bested by two couples who had beat us there. The numbers we were given would be our boarding order on the bus, so you would be up front closer to Bob with a lower number.


They had tons of swag there, a Walt mega-pin, Legacy of a Dream pin set, framed versions of the tour logo, Mickey and Minnie Statuettes, Carmel Corn with the tour logo on the bag, some tour postcard-sized brochure cards, and later, signed Bob Gurr Turning Dreams into Reality DVDs.

After checking in, we checked out the swag, and I made an executive decision to get the statuettes, the legacy pin set, and grabbed a brochure card for Bob to sign later. I was informed they could hold the statuettes for me and have Bob sign them when he arrived, which I opted for. We hadn't had a chance to eat our food yet, so we went back to the car and sat and ate while we waited until a vehicle pulled up.. which I caught a glimpse of white hair from the driver... could it be???

Yep... It was Bob!!

Bob loved the pin set I had purchased, and he signed it, the brochure card, and had already signed our statuettes before we went over.

First time meeting Disney royalty.. It was like an out of body experience as to whether it was happening or not... yet he was such a down-to-earth guy.

Bob Signing our Mickey and Minnie Statuettes

At some point, Bob brought out the DVDs so I was quick to snatch up one of those as well. Here was the haul..

Bob telling stories... such a wealth of knowledge.

We hung around, met some fellow DisBoards gals we knew were coming, and eventually it was time to get in line over by the bus.


Are we #56?

Bob looked to be super fit, he had mentioned riding his bike every day on the path which went by the parkinglot we were standing in, and sure enough, he never leaves home without his bike!

All lined up and ready to board!!

 

[whoever]

The bus left at 10:00 sharp. This tour was on a schedule and would stick to it no matter what. We ended up on the right side of the bus (passenger side) with two seats behind where Bob was sitting. The way they had it set up, the seat behind Bob was reserved for Ernie and his assistant, the people running the tour. The other two couples took the two rows on the driver's side.

Bob started telling stories almost immediately. He started out with a story about how when he was 18 he ended up moving in with his grandmother who lived two blocks down Woking Way from Walt's house, shortly before he would move to the Holmby Hills property. Bob lived in Los Feliz for a while before he moved to Glendale. He recounted stories of how he used to chase Dianne and Sharon at the Griffith Park Carousel and how if he had only known who that grumpy old guy on the bench was..

Bob told us about how Ernie offered him a job being a tour guide with a bunch for a bunch of tourists. Ernie made sure Bob knew that it was a bunch of Disney fans, not just tourists. Bob directed the bus. We turned on Mineral King Street, going past the new zoo. He recounted how he used to go to the OLD zoo buried back in the hills. We had a little AV issues queuing up the videos.

The video described a town built on dreams, with one of its greatest dreamers being Walt Disney. Walt believed any height could be scaled if you knew the secret of making dreams coming true, and Walt knew that secret as he touched the heart of millions of people around the world.

Walt's father worked as a carpenter in the World's fair buildings. He eventually ended up as a contractor in Chicago. It was then 12/5/1901 that Walt was born. After Walt's father had saved up enough money, he wanted to get back to farming so he packed up the family and moved to Marceline, Missouri. It was a beautiful farm, but not the kind of farm they could make a living off of.

Desperate for a new start, he then moved the family to Kansas where he purchased the Kansas City Star Route. Walt was about 9 years old when his father gave him his first job delivering papers. Walt would often leave the house at 3am in winter months often in rough weather or blizzard conditions. Walt would do that for 6 years.

It seemed that everywhere that Walt's father went he found failure and the constant struggle took its toll on the family. One by one the children began to leave home. Then one day, he woke to found his best friend, his brother Roy had gone as well. His brother had joined the navy and naturally Walt wanted to join as well, but he was too young. So He joined the Red Cross and traveled to Europe where he developed an appreciation for other cultures. It was not long after that Walt became home-sick and put in for a discharge.

When he returned to Kansas City he worked for a time as a cartoonist then decided he wanted to make animated shorts. He rounded up local investors and created Laugh-O-Gram studios. The studios produced 12 animated shorts. Though the films were popular locally, Walt had trouble managing money. He ended up living in the office, showering once a week. And the studio soon went bankrupt. After the collapse of laugh o gram, Walt sold his camera, packed all his worldly goods in a cardboard suitcase and moved to Hollywood arriving with just $40 in his pocket from his Kansas City Ventures. His brother Roy was already living in Los Angeles both were unemployed so they solved the problem by going into business for themselves and that's where the story picks up and the trail continues.

Bob then described more history of the area. We were just passing the Golf Course. Bob told us of the history of the golf course, which was the very first air plane aerodrome established in the United States by the City of Los Angeles. Aircraft were just starting out in 1905-1906. People were building hand-built aircraft. One gentleman name of Glenn Martin who later formed Martin Aviation had a young draftsman by the name of Donald C Douglas. A lot of people never realized that beside Walt Disney and his daughters enjoying the park that the aviation industry in America started right here!! Years later, there was a National Guard Airfield just north of the parking lot where we started the tour. There was also another terminal, Grand Central Air Terminal which would be another stop later on the tour. The entire area is full of Aviation history in addition to Disney History. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to visit Walt’s uncle Robert’s house on Kingswell due to size of the bus, or the Woking way house, but Amy and I had already covered those the day before. I was on it, despite missing the house which Walt and Roy had rented a room at across Uncle Robert’s in a boarding house at 4409 Kingswell.

A lot of people don’t realize is that the distance from the Hyperion Studios to the Burbank Studios is only 5-6 miles so there’s a lot of history in this area. Bob said he’d tell a few more stories, most of which he’d make up along the way. Since he was sitting in front of the bus but in behind the driver he should be referred to as a crotchety old back-seat driver, which was good because we were approaching a stop sign which he would encourage him to slow down for because there were issues with that on previous tours. Our driver made a complete stop, which amazed Bob because most people do a Hollywood stop which was slowing under 10mph. In this area, Bob grew up here. Bob’s parents had their first child, which was Bob, when the depression was just starting to really roll. Bob appreciated the look on his father’s face when he lost his job and would have to move in with his mother-in-law. Thankfully, they moved in with Bob’s Grandmother vs. having a father move in with the mother-in-law . They lived on Richland and Cromwell in the Los Feliz district, and Walt was now in his second house on Woking Way just up the hill. Walt was successful early in his career and never felt the need to move up immediately in his residences.

Our first stop was going to be Walt’s first house.. His dad was a home-builder and his wife was a draftsman who could draw houses. Bob described the route to the driver and Ernie queued up another video…
In 1928, Walt and his brother Roy bought adjoining lots on Lyric Avenue where they would build their first homes. The homes had been ordered from Pacific-Ready Cut Homes, a kit company based in Los Angles. The homes were true kit homes, ordered from a mail-order catalog, shipped to site via train or truck, typically arriving in 12,000 pieces. The kits came with a 75-page instruction book which told you how those 12,000 pieces and parts went together. Now not only did Walt have his own successful studio, but was also a homeowner as well. It was there in that small garage, that Walt, his brother Roy, and his old pal, Ub Iwerks sketched out the first plans for the Mickey Mouse Cartoons.

We neared our location. We would stop in front of John Marshall High School located at 3939 Tracy Street and designed by George M. Lindsey in the Collegiate Gothic style which is rare for Southern California, and constructed in 1930. Shots of Marshall have been used for a variety of movies and television series, most notably, the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer , The Wonder Years TV series, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Raiders of the Lost Ark (As Henry Jones Jr’s teaching establishment, Marshall College). Bob lived in this area for 25 years and his youngest daughter graduated from John Marshall in the 1970s.

The house would only be about a quarter of a block South East, cross an intersection, and then head up the hill another block South West and there we would find the homes. Bob reminded us that this was Sunday morning and this was a residential neighborhood and a lot of people go to church, sleep late due the various Saturday night entertainment and we didn’t want to wake anybody up so we should be mindful.

After disembarking from the bus, we looked down the hillside, which was where Mark and Alice Davis lived. Bob used to live at the top of the hill for 25 years. We marveled at the architecture and made our way for the signal to cross St George Street, which we didn’t do in a single signal phase and had to wait for the rest of the group. We made our way South West toward Lyric avenue and passed several houses under renovation…. A quick Zillow told us they were well at the top of our potential price range at $800k to over a million dollars for a postage-stamp sized lot and 1200-1500 square feet. Welcome to California!!

We paused while Bob did some photo ops in front of Walt and Roy’s first homes…

Walt purchased the 2875 square foot lot on the corner and Roy purchased the lot next door. The lots cost about $1000 each. The kits featured knotless Douglas Fir framing (an impossibility in today’s world of garbage new-growth lumber), cabinets, nails, doors, windows, screens, hardware, paint, sinks and the aforementioned 75-page instruction manual.

Walt's home was 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and 1066 square feet. Roy's home was the mirror image of Walt's. The homes arrived at the Disney's lots in 12,000 pieces via boxcar in August 1926. By the time construction was done in December, the two homes cost the brothers about $8000 each, including the lots.

Here's the floorplan for Walt's home, but being Southern California, he opted out of having a fireplace.

On the way back to the bus, we again stopped to admire the architecture of the School…There a few questions around who owned the homes, which Bob told the group they were currently privately owned.

 

[whoever]

Once we had all loaded back on the bus, Bob announced we had gotten an "A" score because nobody had raise their voices as we traversed the neighborhood and in front of the two houses. He thanked us for being able to keep this tour going.

He described the rest of the stops. We would watch a 40-foot bus turn around in a 20' street. We made a U-turn at the corner of Tracy and Monon Street. It was a bit of a 3-point turn instead of a U-turn, but nobody was judging given how adept our driver moved that big bus around. We retraced our path, passing by Marshall High School now on the driver's side of the bus and headed up a couple blocks, made a right turn, and would stop in front of the old Hyperion Studios. We stopped in a red-zone.

In addition to Bob's daughter graduating from Marshall High, Card Walker (Esmond Cardon Walker who would later become CEO of Disney and oversee the opening of Tokyo Disneyland) graduated from John Marshall High, left this school, walked up a block and a half to the Hyperion Studios, knocked on the door, said he wanted to meet Walt Disney and wanted to work there. They gave him a smallish job (mailroom clerk in 1938), and after time he moved up and up and later became president.

We then went into another video; The roaring 20s, a time when the economy and technology were booming in America. Automobiles, radios, and the telephone would become part of our everyday life. In 1923 alone we would see the birth of Time Magazine, the opening of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, and the construction of the original Hollywood sign. Just a couple miles away, brothers Walt and Roy Disney would form a small film company joining Southern California's expanding movie industry. After he had first outgrown his uncle's garage and then his first studio building on Kingswell Avenue, Walt and Roy Disney moved their Disney Brother's studios to area known as Silver Lake on the corner of Hyperion and Griffith Park Avenue in February of 1926. It was then that Walt changed the name to Walt Disney Studios and built the first-ever large-scale studio dedicated to the production of animated films. Birthplace of Oswald the Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, the Silly Symphonies and Walt's greatest achievement at the time, the world's first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
We made a right turn on Hyperion. Bob went on to tell us that the word Hyperion is a Greek proper-name (In Greek mythology, Hyperion was one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus). When Walt put the studios on Hyperion Studio despite being Walt Disney Productions. The names have changed over the years but everybody knew it as the Hyperion Studios.

We pulled over and disembarked the bus, walked about 40 feet North and observed the Historic Site marker on the utility pole while Bob told us about the area and how you could see the top of John Marshall and how the homes across the street on Griffith Park Blvd could be seen in historic photos of the site. Just to the South was a high mountain area where Bob lived for 25 years up the hill from Marc and Alice Davis on top of the hill. Alice still lives there today in the place she’s called home since the late 1950s. She’s an example of people who loved to work with Walt, started at the Hyperion Studios and still lives in the area today.

Some period shots of the studio. You can see Marshall High School in the background which illustrates just how close everything really was:

The Studio started in a small building and then they started adding things. It seemed like a couple times a year they were adding on. Pretty soon it got up the corner of Hyperion and Monon where they had a small baseball field. Walt liked to go out at lunch time and you may see some old movies where he liked to go out and chase a baseball around. There was a lot of camaraderie which started at the Hyperion location. The big thing of note her is that a lot of people don’t realize that this is the birthplace of Snow White. Bob used to buy his groceries here and his laundry done on the corner. Every time he came into the store, he couldn’t help but think that Snow White was born there. This was hallowed ground for fans of Disney history. It was a big, fancy, store in there and Ernie had to run in to grab a corkscrew as he’d forgotten to bring one for the tour’s libations. Bob thought it was vodka on the bus, but apparently it was wine (Bob is a huge vodka martini fan). Once we got our photographs, we loaded up back on the bus. We would go around the corner onto Griffith Park Ave to view some cottages from the bus.

These cottages were duplexes in an English style. We couldn’t stop, but we could pause and take pictures from the bus. Bob told us about if you had been to the 1901, and looked at the pictures on the wall that there is one of Walt having a music meeting, which you would know because there is a metronome on the desk. If you look carefully at the curtain rods, the windows, and the architectural details, they are repeated in the 1901 club and that was the decorations in these little cottages. So that art direction got started here and it was very authentic. There’s always a reason Disney does something it’s all related together. Walt eventually rented all the little bungalows because the studio kept expanding. He got some money with Snow White and immediately bought Burbank property and started building the studio in 1938 and was completely moved by 1940. The little bungalows still stay, there’s people who live there, not knowing that there was music and storytelling in those little bungalows. There was much lamenting seat choice when we finally rolled up as the view was only available from the right side of the bus. I had chosen… wisely

The Cottages;

We moved on momentarily and we started heading towards our next stop.

I looked through my pictures from when a VERY gracious C33 member(you know who you are) took a chance on me and took me into the club, but I couldn’t find the picture in question. TR on that one is here:
https://discuss.micechat.com/forum/...olo-trip-report-dubbed-the-club-tour?t=197202

 

[Disneyluvr2]

I finally got a chance to sit down and read your trip report, Matt! Awesome, as usual! Isn't Bob a hoot?!! I just love that guy! Keep going....I know you're not done yet!

 

[whoever]

Bob came back on and described the hillside to the left side of the bus which was known as the Los Feliz district in the 1910-1920s and known as a pretty spiffy neighborhood who anybody who was in the business industry would go up and build a beautiful home. Bob's grandmother who was a very good looking lady who married her first boyfriend after the first husband died and he brought all his money because he ran the water district in Solana Kansas, so luckily Bob chose his parents well and he got some good DNA and started life up on the hillside. They stayed there until 1934 when they moved to Glendale. Bob had a lot of vivid memories up there and was always interested in mechanical details. He always was interested in the speed of gravity. So he took one of his father's bowling balls and the street was very steep and his grandmother didn't stop him in time because he was wondering how fast does a bowling ball go across Los Feliz Avenue if it starts from Cromwell? Obviously, Bob was a troublemaker and part of it was solved by around the third grade when he was sent away to a Military academy in Burbank at the end of the runway at Lockheed Air Terminal where they were building B17s and P38s and of course he was thrilled to death where they actually had assignments to do where it was more than just tests. He thought being encouragable was a great pay-off. He learned so much there because the instructors there wore uniforms and ties and he had to pay attention.

We passed a fountain on the right side of the bus. Bob asked how many of us knew the history of the fountain. A few hands rose. It was Mulholland Fountain. Just past it was a polo field on the east side of Riverside Drive where Walt started learning how to play polo where he played with a lot of movie friends. Apparently in the mid-30s, polo was the great big sport amongst the movie industry. and of course all these areas are right here in the neighborhood. If we were to go east about a mile we would come to Tam O Shanter Inn, and the Tam was where Walt and Lilly always ate. Bob remembers going to his father's store in Glendale and sitting on the right side of the car and he saw this strange building and he always looked for it. He learned later in life that it was called "Themed Architecture" not knowing that he was going to get into it, sort of the theme business which had architecture and ride vehicles and all. So... the same building which Walt was having dinner with Lilly was the one building in this area which had intrigued him so much.

There is another little mystery. He asked how many people remembered the Viewliner train? It was only there for barely two years and when they had taken it out to build the monorail, submarines, and Matterhorn, well there was a little park on the right side of the bus which had a little train, pony ride and such. Walt was trying to sell the Viewliner to the city of Los Angeles and they never did reach an agreement. Unfortunately, they just simply took it to the dump and cut it up and that was before anybody knew you should have saved that stuff. So.. off the right was the Almost-Viewliner-Railroad in 1959.

On to the next movie..

Perhaps one of the most iconic stops on our tour was the Griffith Park Carousel. Built in 1926, originally constructed by the Spillman Engineering Company (formerly the Armitage Herschell Company founded in 1873) for the San Diego Expo from 1933-1935, it was later moved into its current building in 1937. It was brought to the LA park by the Davis Family in 1937 after operating in Mission Beach, San Diego. When it was placed in its new building in 1937, it was just down the road from The Griffith Park Zoo. It was the Davis Family who brought the 1926 Spillman carousel to Griffith Park. They built the beautiful building niched into the side of the hill as well. It is the only Spillman engineering Carousel of its kind still running. It features two chariots an elaborate ceiling kit, and 68 hand-carved horses, four abreast, and every one of them a jumper. The carving is extremely fine and the details are rich. Jewel encrusted bridles and draped blankets ornamented with sunflowers and lions heads. Its Stinson 165 band organ is the largest carousel band organ on the west coast. With more than 1500 marches and waltzes in its repertoire. It’s no wonder that here, the first thoughts of Disneyland were conceived. As Walt sat on a park bench watching his daughters play on Saturday afternoons. In 2014, Disney legends Tony Baxter, and Bob Gurr were invited by the owners of the Griffith Park Merry Go Round with Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge to be part of a unique event honoring the late Dianne Disney Miller and the dedication of a bench in her honor at the merry-go-round.

Bob informed us that we would be here about 45 minutes, so we wouldn't be rushed. We could get off the bus and Ernie and Karina would take drink orders as we departed the bus. Drinks were favorably priced at $4 for beer or wine. We would get our drinks after we re-boarded the bus and there would be another opportunity after the Disney barn later.

The guy who runs it is good friends with Bob and we were assured he would have the band organ playing. Sometimes they'll have a musical festival here or parties and sometimes the organ is too loud, but they would have it playing for us. Bob's mother would bring Bob and his sister over here about once a week and they just loved riding the merry go round in 1936-38. It had a brass ring dispenser and a lot of people hear about the brass ring, but a lot of younger people haven't heard of trying to catch a brass ring. It’s a little slot that you put your hand out and you had to put your finger through the ring. They had steel rings and about every 20th one is a brass ring. Now if you did it wrong you would smash your knuckles very seriously so these things were dangerous and they finally took them out. That was the excitement kids could do a long time ago.

Walt liked to bring the girls here because it was the first, closest thing you could actually do in this area. The driver maneuvered the bus through the parking lot extremely skillfully, but all the skill in the world couldn't raise the low-hanging branches of a nearby tree, which gave the fingernails on a chalkboard screech as the limbs raked the roof. We were to be back at the bus at 11:45 sharp so we could leave on time.

After disembarking from the bus, Amy went on ahead while I bought us some drinks for when we were to return. I wandered down the hill while Amy was getting us tickets for the carousel.

Bob was posing for pictures on one of the horses so I snapped a few pics.

Tickets were $2 for a ride, and our ride was to be an extended, double go.

Afterwards, I checked out the band organ and Walt's bench. Such great Disney history.

 

[whoever]

I finally got a chance to sit down and read your trip report, Matt! Awesome, as usual! Isn't Bob a hoot?!! I just love that guy! Keep going....I know you're not done yet!

Thanks Nancy, glad you are liking it! Today's updates will be the last until either Friday or Saturday as I'm flying to Florida in a few hours for the week. Back Thursday night and hellish meeting schedule in the office on Friday, so no chance to jump over to Disney World on this trip.

 

[whoever]

The carousel was remarkable, and the building itself was a piece of art as well. Just look at these painted panels!!

And these!!

Not quite sure what is happening with this chariot...

The detail on the horses was amazing.

Loved just soaking it all in..

Serious Business!!..Especially after what we learned later about a girl having an scare on the carousel..

Even the building was beautiful... just look at this interlaced framing!!

I found some pics of the construction too.. to my eye, it’s a work of art..

While we were waiting for the second half of our tour group to ride, I got a churro for Amy and I to split. Imagine my wonder when instead of the $4.25 Disneyland charges that it was a mere $1 after tax. So good.

A little internet scrounging and I came up with a few pics of those Brass Ring machines which Bob had described. Can you imagine the liability of these things in this litigious society?

Our time at the carousel done, we headed back up the hill to the bus and grabbed our drinks.

 

[scrappydew]

I'm enjoying your report!

As an aside, you can still grab for the brass ring at Knoebel's Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA. Lots of fun!

 

[Disneyluvr2]

I always love your pics, Matt, but that one of Bob riding the carousel made me squeal!!! That's just awesome!! I hope you sent that one to him!

 

[whoever]

OK, this took a while to happen. I was in FL for business and got stuck by Hurricane Hermine... I dislike FL... Now onto the rest of the show.

Once on our way, we were headed towards a luncheon area adjacent to the Walt Disney Barn. We had pre-ordered box-lunches to be ready when we arrived. We were informed that we could take as much time eating lunch as we wished, but the more time we spent eating our lunch, the less time we would have to go into the Walt Disney Barn area. We were to be dropped off at the picnic area and would have a half-mile walk to the barn area and the bus would come get us afterwards.

Bob explained how he had been on over 300 bus tours in his life and that there was a standard rule. You are supposed to memorize the stranger sitting next to you so that when you get back on the bus you are missing the person you don’t even know. He recounted a store when he was in Greece and re-boarded the bus after having a few adult beverages and all agreed everybody was there. They were 50 miles away and almost back to the ship by the time they realized they were missing someone. Nobody knows if he ever made it back.

Another story came out. It was about a friend of Bob’s, Mary Anne who owns this operation (I can only assume he’s talking about Rosemary West). He made a comment about Julio working for her, but Rosemary and Julio Gosdinski both have a 50-50 stake in the Merry-go-round. He handles the day-to-day operations, while Rosemary handles paperwork, contracts, dealing with the local bureaucracy, and arranging TV and movie shoots.

At any rate, many years ago, she gave him a call, said “Bob I’ve got a problem. A horse fell off with a little girl on it and her father’s a lawyer.” She asked him to come down. Bob had wanted to sneak a peek at the mechanicals of the merry-go-round but nobody is allowed in the machine room. He was finally invited to go seen the mechanical guts of the machine. He immediately saw what had happened. Over time mechanical parts tend to wear and get modified over time so not everything is the same and the threaded pipe used had worn over time and the threads which connected the rod to the crank arm had come loose and the horse dropped down onto the deck. The horse hadn’t actually fallen off, but scared the daylights out of everybody, especially the girl who was riding it. While Bob was checking things out, Mary Anne was working the family, being as sweet and nice as possible offering them to come back any time (Just please don’t sue me).

Bob told her there was nothing wrong, just some things which needed to be looked at. Bob knew a licensed engineer, because he actually is not but he acts like one (more on that later). He’ll assess anything that is broken and give them a story of why it broke. He called his friend, Kent Bingham who was Chief Structural Engineer for the EPCOT project and also responsible for Spaceship Earth specifically. He came over, took a look it for Bob. It ended up being a small fix. Mary Anne was so happy she gave him a plastic case with an engraved brass lifetime free ticket to ride. Anytime Julio sees him show up, he just opens the exit gate and invites him to pick any horse he wants. Pretty neat to have such a connection with the merry-go-round. He said that each time he rides it and listens to the Stinson band organ that he’s 7-years old again and he never get tired of being 7-years old. He commented on his antics with the horses and that’s just how he rides horses…except real horses, you have to treat them a little different.

As a tour-guide, Bob thought it was so great to be able to share personally what it was like back in Walt Disney’s day and era with his family here. Every time he looks at Disneyland he says to himself he knows right where it all started. Just as you go through the gate to the merry-go-round, off to the left, there was a bench (there was no fence back then, it was all wide open). Back in that little corner is where Walt would sit, shelling his bag of roasted peanuts while the girls would go for rides. If you talk to Dianne’s family or Ron and he loved it just as much as she did when she was a little girl. He was thrilled to death to come down last year when they had the dedication for the bench. It’s such a connection to it all and so unique.

We headed on our way to the barn. Bob barked out directions to the bus driver as we went and wasn’t afraid to comment on it. He pointed out a Griffith park sign which stuck out into the roadway and tall vehicles hit it all the time. With Bob’s warning, our bus driver was narrowly able to avoid it. Thank heavens we had Bob backseat driving.

He pointed out that off to the right was where the Los Angeles Parks Department Aerodrome was where early experimental aero planes were built and engineered. Bob is an airplane guy and Grand Central Air Terminal which we would look at later during the day was instrumental in shaping his life. He has a long term connection with the building. In 1938 there was an air show with gliders doing aerobatic maneuvers and as a little kid he got hopelessly hooked on gliders. It wasn’t until he was in his late 20s that he was able to go to a glider club and he was a glider pilot for 50 years. He goes on to say how they you are powerless to keep it up and can fly all day with no motor up with the birds and by the time you tell people that they walk away and don’t believe any of it. He spent 50 years in the air up as high as 21,000 feet with no motor. The atmosphere has so much energy it’s another one of his passions. And it all started at the Grand Central Air Terminal.

On this map you can see how close it all is..

And some vintage maps of the area.

And lastly, looking towards the zoo/old Aerodrome across the Los Angeles River. Grand Central Air Terminal is in the foreground.

Another movie was queued. Steam trains had been a large part of Disneyland, but they were also a large part of Walt Disney’s life. In 1950, Walt build an eighth scale railroad at his residence in Holmby Hills. He operated the Carolwood Pacific Railroad for family and friends until 1953, when he shifted his energies into creating a magical place where families could have fun together. Often referred to as the birthplace of Imagineering, the Carolwood Pacific’s center of operations was a quaint red barn Walt built as a replica of one from the Disney farm in Marceline, Missouri. The Carolwood barn served as his workshop and he spent many hours here building miniatures and model trains. In 1999, Walt Disney’s family moved the barn called his “Happy Place” from his home to the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum, of which Walt was a founding member. Today, Walt’s Barn is a living showcase of Walt’s passion for railroading. Operated by the non-profit, Carolwood foundation, Walt’s barn is filled with trains of all scales. Many of which were donated to the foundation by his animators and friends which shared his hobby. Many of Walt’s personal items and tools are on display and he even hand-made all of the work benches.

Sadly, a developer bought the property at the turn of the century and demolished the home to put a 20,000+ sqft monstrosity. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big personal property rights person, but there were plenty of other properties to buy instead of one with so much history. Why some people have such lack of appreciation for history is beyond me.
Here’s how she originally looked though.

Bob made another pitch for his DVD, “Bob Gurr, Turning Dreams into Reality” ($10 from Bob or $12 plus tax at the barn). In case you wanted to know how the imagineers did things. They have Marty Sklar and Chris Cump and Garner Holt and a number of other people who worked with Bob over the years who were called in by the director to testify as to how Bob did stuff because he didn’t know he did stuff different, but the DVD will answer that.

We passed the barn on the left. Marty was on-site and was signing books. Bob made a comment about how much more popular Marty was. Next, we passed the Live Steamers, the picnic area, Travel Town, and pulled a U-turn at Griffith Park Drive at the entry to Travel Town, forcing a car to back up as we swung the bus around.

Bob commented on how we should experience Travel Town. It’s free through the Los Angeles park systems. He often comes here and parks his car in the parking lot because he likes to do his mountain biking here and heads up the trails towards the observatory and have his lunch up there. The live steamers have an agreement with the Los Angeles Parks department and the people who are steam freaks can come in here and play steam all day long the only thing they have to do is give free rides to everybody who shows up. They have a beautiful operation with a station and everything. They do accept donations to pay for the coal to make the steam to make the railroad run. We were reminded to be careful at the barn because there were railroad tracks which crisscrossed the barn area and you’ll have to cross tracks to get to the barn from the parking lot.

We followed Ernie to the tent and Sergio handed out our meals based upon our pre-orders. Additional drinks were available for purchase, and we were reminded that we could purchase alcoholic drinks upon our return to the bus. We were given instructions to the barn from where we sat, and instructed to be back at the bus no later than 1:35. After making our way to the tent, I was handed a Chicken Caesar wrap for myself, and a Caprese Sandwich for Amy both provided by the Gene Autry Commissary. I had sent Amy ahead to grab a spot in the shade at one of the park’s picnic tables. Our table mates had some interesting tales. The two gals across the table from us are members of a local Disneyanna club and were both sporting the new C33 Donneys. One of the ladies at the end of the table was a founding member of D23 and regaled us with tales of the special events, screenings, and meet and greets she gets invited to. We discussed our relative Disney fandom. One of them recognized my voice from my Jungle Cruise podcast on the DisUnplugged, so I got instant Disney-cred..

Our lunch done, it was time for the long walk down to Walt’s barn. As we approached, there were folks taking pics in front of the sign, and we made our way around the gate and got out entrance stickers. We sweet talked the guy giving them out and got an extra as a souvenir. I was really digging their shirts.

The stickers were GREAT!

We waited for a train to pass and made our way into the barn area. There was a line for Marty, and I sent Amy to wait in while I grabbed a few copies of his book. One for myself, one for Lindsey who was watching the girls for us so we could take this trip. I also grabbed a signed copy of Walt Disney’s Railroad Story. I had meant to grab a print of the Barn done in stylized manner, but plain old forgot. What felt like eternity in line over, I had my books and moved over to the line to meet Marty. I JUST MISSED getting a pic of Bob and Marty together. Doh!!! As the seconds and minutes ticked by, I was more and more excited. TWO of Walt’s most influential imagineers… in one day! As I walked up, Marty commented on my Haunted Mansion Shirt. He wasn’t the first to do so as both Bob and the Barn volunteers all loved it. He spun off a quick recollection of his involvement on the project and then asked about the books. One for me, one for Lindsey, and he took a long look at the Railroad book as well. They had a camera man for the signing, and he snapped a shot or two with me and Marty. Amy even got to jump in for one.

A second too late!!!

Even though it was only a few minutes, it was a great conversation. I'm still taking it all in.

We thanked him, said our good byes, and it was time to check out the barn.

 

[Nonsuch]

...As an aside, you can still grab for the brass ring at Knoebel's Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA. Lots of fun!

There is still a Ring Machine at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
This fun fact from the Boardwalk website:

There are less than 20 working carousel ring machines left in the U.S.

 

[whoever]

And now a look inside the barn..


Immediately after you enter, to your right was a table with some examples of the books they sell, magazine articles, brochures, and general information about the foundation and exhibits.

In the middle of the barn are two of Walt's 1/8th scale locomotives. On the left, the Lilly Belle, on the right, the King George V locomotive. The King George was never run at Walt's railroad. He purchased it in 1951, but it was damaged by seawater on it's trip across the Atlantic and by then, Walt was too busy with plans for Disneyland to get it back into working order. The Foundation has plans to restore it to working order.

There was some great ephemera about Walt's backyard train system

And to be able to touch items which Walt himself not only touched, but created with his own hands.

There was even a piece of Disneyland Rail..

Some Disneyland attraction posters.. can't wait to get my copies framed and up.

This plat is awesome. That is another piece soon to be hanging in my house.

And yet another thing which Walt himself created.

When they reopen the Railroad, they should hand out some replicas of these tickets.

 

[whoever]

Some vintage merchandising

There were even some ties to Ward Kimball memorabilia. He was just as huge a fan as Walt.

Elevation layout for Walt's Lilly Belle Locomotive

The Lilly Belle on the property

The original layout of the Holmby Hills 5-acre property. A 20,000+ sqft monstrosity of a house now resides there... again... lack of respect for history.

My wife would have my hide if I tried this at home

And all that's left...

There was even an homage to the original Storybook Land miniatures which the Foundation is restoring.

This piece of the Viewliner is so great!!

I may have to have some replicas of these made up.

 

[minnieralyks]

Haven't gotten through it all yet, but just wanted to say that your descriptions and pictures are so vivid and detailed, I almost feel as though I'm on the tour with you! I really enjoy history and loved the details that you added into this. The picture of you sketching the grave made me smile, because we've tried to do that too with relatives' gravestones in Iowa which are now too hard to read because they are so old. With the writing on the table, did Walt draw on the table or was that added by someone else (I might have read over it somewhere)? Do you get to visit Disney pretty often then or live pretty close in SoCal to be able to take this tour?

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report on this tour. It must take quite a while!

 

[whoever]

Haven't gotten through it all yet, but just wanted to say that your descriptions and pictures are so vivid and detailed, I almost feel as though I'm on the tour with you! I really enjoy history and loved the details that you added into this. The picture of you sketching the grave made me smile, because we've tried to do that too with relatives' gravestones in Iowa which are now too hard to read because they are so old.

Glad you are enjoying it. Much more to come.

With the writing on the table, did Walt draw on the table or was that added by someone else (I might have read over it somewhere)?

They were placed there by the Imagineers as part of The Optimist alternate reality game which was a well-executed promotion for Tomorrowland the movie. They were much more vivid in 2013 when they were placed there.

Do you get to visit Disney pretty often then or live pretty close in SoCal to be able to take this tour?

I used to visit quite a bit as I was in San Diego rather frequently for work and had an annual pass (still do until June of next year). My wife and I flew in from Phoenix for this tour.

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report on this tour. It must take quite a while!

It certainly does. I'm a full two trip reports behind... life is busy these days.

 

[whoever]

After making our way through the barn, we checked out the Retlaw 1 Combine. In railroad parlance, a combine is a car used for the transport of both humans and freight. This one had the freight compartment up front followed by the passenger compartment. Back when Disneyland opened, there were only two trains rolling around the perimeter. The Retlaw 1, which had four coaches, this combine, and an observation car named the Grand Canyon which would later be refurbished in 1975 into the Lilly Belle you can still ride today on a circuit around Disneyland. The Retlaw 2 had stock cars, gondolas, and a red caboose and still rolls the rails of Disneyland, albeit without the stock cars and gondolas.

Here you can see the stock cars and gondolas of Retlaw 2 on opening day.

As you can see, these fully-enclosed coaches are much different than the open-sided cars which exist today forcing the passenger's perspective toward the park's interior. One of the things which spurred this was the Primeval World diorama which opened on July 1, 1966 (two years after it wowed viewers at the 1964 World's Fair). The school bus windows and forward-facing green Naugahyde bench configurations on these cars simply did not lend themselves to optimal viewing of the dioramas. The train was soon pulled from service only seeing occasional use when infrequent for Southern California inclement weather presented itself.

In the early 1990s, Disney decided to pull the locomotive out of mothballs from the back of the Roundhouse and sold off the combine and coaches to Bill Norred, a rail enthusiast in 1992. After Bill's passing in 1998, the family sold the four coaches to Rob Rossi from San Luis Obispo. In 1999, Rob transported No.102 Navajo Chief, No. 103 Colorado Rockies, No. 104 Land of Pueblos, and No. 105 Painted Desert to his ranch in Santa Margarita, CA. The Norred family kept the combine, No. 101, the Wells Fargo Express. In 2010, the Norred family, concerned about the long term survival of the car, sold it to the Carolwood Foundation on July 10th of that year. The foundation has since restored it and constructed a shelter for it where it resides next to Walt's Barn.

Here you can see how visitors in the 1950s and early 1960s viewed Disneyland from the railroad.

Some nice versions of the attraction posters.

And here we have Ollie Johnston's Train Station. This occupied Ollie's eight scale backyard railroad. Ollie Johnston and Ward Kimball, two of Walt's 9 old men, got Walt hooked on the hobby of large-scale model railroads which led to Walt's own backyard railroad, "The Carolwood Pacific." It has often been said that Disneyland was born out of Walt's desire to own a bigger and better train set. At least in the early planning stages, the rest of the park was more or less secondary in importance to the train that ran around it all.

I took a quick walk around the barn to visualize how Walt must have seen it as he rolled around on the 2,615 feet of rail at his home.

Alas, it was time to leave. Stopped to take one look back on our way out.

Just look for the sign.. The barn area is tucked back in a corner and easy to miss.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

My dad was a train guy - drove steam locomotives up where we live on Vancouver Island. When he passed, I inheirited his photos from the building in 1964 until he left in the '80's. He would have loved Walt's railroad, but I don't think he ever rode it (I have no photos to show he did). My dad was also a model railroader, so lots of G, O, and N scale models throughout his life (and now my cabinets!).

I love this TR! So informative!

 

[whoever]

My dad was a train guy - drove steam locomotives up where we live on Vancouver Island. When he passed, I inheirited his photos from the building in 1964 until he left in the '80's. He would have loved Walt's railroad, but I don't think he ever rode it (I have no photos to show he did). My dad was also a model railroader, so lots of G, O, and N scale models throughout his life (and now my cabinets!).

I love this TR! So informative!

Sounds like a great experience of a career and life! If you are looking for a Day 6 experience, I'd go up and experience it. Such a great place. Glad you are enjoying the TR.


Up next... some MORE aviation and Imagineering history.