That would be 2719 Hyperion Avenue.Birthplace of Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. Home of the Silly Symphonies. The place where the art of animation was taken from the almost crude drawings of Plane Crazy to the elaborate and unquestioned beauty of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in just ten years. Its now famous sign has become an iconic representation of the golden age of Hollywood cartoon entertainment.
Today, 2719 Hyperion Avenue is the location of a grocery store. A small historical marker is the only indicator of Walt Disney’s one time occupation of the site. Reader Bob Cazzell was kind enough to send me a photo of Gelson’s Market, and the surrounding commercial development. Bob noted that it's very difficult to get a shot from the same perspective as the 1930s era photos of the studio. He also sent a snapshot of the marker sign that’s attached to a lamppost near the front of the lot.
Then:
Now:
And a rough approximation of how they relate to each other:
Hallowed ground amidst the produce, canned goods, shopping carts and cigarettes.Special thanks to Bob for taking the pictures and sending them on. And thanks to reader Wayne White who also lives nearby to 2719 Hyperion, and lives close to Walt‘s and Roy‘s former homes on Lyric Avenue as well. He just recently contacted me with kind words for the blog, and shared some nostalgia for these largely overlooked landmarks of Disney history.
3 comments:
For those who dream of a visit to Hyperion, an excellent time machine is the Walt Disney Treasures DVD, "Behind the Scenes at The Walt Disney Studio."
"Leonard Maltin's Studio Tour" is an overview of all the Disney Studio locations over the years, and a subtitled version of "A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studios" (1937) illuminates the people and productions shown in the film.
one of the original buildings (if not the original building) was moved from the site (not sure of the year) to the disney studio in burbank and now serves as two meeting rooms.
Two Hyperion buildings were moved and combined to create the Shorts Building on the Burbank Lot.
The Personnel Building that now houses the Studio Store and Employee Center was likewise moved from Hyperion to Burbank.
The Publicity and Comic Strips Building, which was actually a small wood frame bungalow, was moved to Burbank where it was long the Studio Mail Room, and has since been moved again and renovated as two conference/meeting spaces, known as the Hyperion Bungalow and the Silver Lake Room (Silverlake is the neighborhood where the Hyperion Studio was located).
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