In the back of a small office rented by Holly-Vermont Realty, the Walt and Roy officially started the Disney Brothers Studio (renamed shortly after to the Walt Disney Studios at Roy’s suggestion) on October 16,1923. In those early years, they moved through a series of storefront buildings before finally purchasing a location on Hyperion Avenue on 1925. The Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure is named after this significant location in Disney’s history.
From these humble beginnings, big things grew, but they were pretty significant in their own right. Among other things, the Alice Comedies (a series of animated cartoons starring a live action girl and an animated cat having adventures in an animated world) were first created for distribution on Kingswell Ave, and this is where Walt met his wife-to-be, Lillian. While in the Hyperion studio, Mickey Mouse was born and the first feature-length animated film was created–a little film you may have heard of called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Based on the success of Snow White, and using the proceeds from that film, Disney needed to expand. They purchased a lot in Burbank, CA and began their relocation the day after Christmas in 1939. They didn’t leave everything behind, though. There is a bungalow on the new lot–which is still there to this day–that came from the Hyperion studio. It’s housed many of the support services (like Payroll, Publicity Support, Traffic, and the Post Office) over the years, and stands as the last remaining example of “California Bungalow” style architecture.
Virtually every significant achievement in animation that has taken place over the last 70+ years happened at this place. And with good reason–it was designed from the ground up with animators in mind. The building layout, the design of the desks and chairs, even the connection of many of the buildings by underground tunnels so the production process stayed on track even in bad weather, were all created to make it the most ideal location possible for animation magic to happen.
The Studio expanded over the next two decades, especially with the introduction of live-action film making that began in the late 1940’s. This included multiple soundstages as well as outdoor “backlot” locations. The history of the productions in these areas is a subject all on its own!
Of course, the more the public saw the magic happen, the more they wanted to see where it happened. Walt Disney knew that watching animators, ink-and-paint girls, editors, and others involved in the actual production of an animated feature wouldn’t really interest that many people, so he conceived the idea of a “Mickey Mouse Park” to be built on eight of the 16 acres across Riverside Drive from the main Studio location. Of course, Walt’s dream far outgrew that available space (as often happened with him), and he contracted with Stanford Research Institute to find a more suitable location–a couple hundred acres of orange groves in Anaheim, California, as it turns out.
In the place where the Mickey Mouse Park was going to be built now stands the new Animation Building, constructed in
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| The Sorcerer Hat is directed based on new and upcoming projects. |
1995, along with additional support facilities. (Between the original building and the current one, Walt Disney Feature Animation was housed for a while in an Air Way warehouse in Glendale.) If you drive along the 134 Freeway westbound, you may spot this building off to your right and its sorcerer hat above the entrance. That building is now known as the Roy E. Disney Animation Building, re-named after Walt’s nephew after he (Roy) passed away in 2009.
Another iconic building is the Team Disney – Michael D. Eisner Building. It’s important administrative building, but it’s iconic for what is out front. First, the roof is being “held up” by nearly 20-foot tall statues of the Seven Dwarfs. In the shadow of this building stands Disney Legends Plaza, which features the “Partners Statue” of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse (as seen in the Central Plaza Hub at Disneyland) and the “Sharing the Magic” statue of Roy O. Disney and Minnie Mouse (as seen in Town Square at the Magic Kingdom park in Walt Disney World), and plaques honoring the people who have been named Disney Legends. Click here to see photos of the Legends Plaza.
If you’d like to see these historic locations, you can drive by the Studio (guests are not allowed on the property without an invitation)…or you can join D23: The Official Disney Fan Club. A few times a year D23 offers tours of the Studio to members, including a visit to the Walt Disney Archives, as well as movie screenings (I’ve seen Tangled and The Parent Trap there). And for a first-hand look at what it means to be a Disney Legend, attend this year’s D23 Expo, which will include the induction ceremony for a new group of Legends. Click here to read all about Lisa’s adventures at the Disney Archives.
For you to discover: There was a film produced in 1941 that was essentially a tour of the new Burbank Studios. The signpost showing Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive that I’m standing in front of in the photo above was created specifically for this film. What is the name of that film?
