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  #23021  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 5:53 PM
Tourmaline Tourmaline is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull View Post
Has anybody heard about this place before? I've just come across these photos in a article about the restaurant - Walt's - that Disney opened on Hollywood Blvd in 1935.

To paraphrase this article
http://www.harrymccracken.com/stuffby/eats/eats1.htm

Walt’s, the restaurant he opened in 1935 on Hollywood Boulevard (next door to Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater) was, as far as anyone knows, the first eating establishment to be operated by an animation studio. A projector played Mickey Mouse cartoons in a continuous loop, with a two-cent earphone charge. Disney himself manned the counter while artists, waylaid from other projects, did the cooking. The fare was simple but hearty: grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit, omelets, poached eggs, pancakes prepared with maple-syrup batter, steak, and fruitcake. It was an immediate smash. Success quickly led to expansion. A ninth stool was added in January, 1936, and a tenth in April. In June, the original restaurant was razed and replaced by a vastly more elaborate three-story establishment that sat almost 725 and offered live entertainment, a billiard room, and a rooftop biergarden that became an institution in its own right. Closed in 1951.





Quote:
Although evidence suggests that Disney had originally expected his clientele to consist mainly of workingmen who required a quick lunch or an early dinner, Walt’s quickly became a fashionable watering hole for Hollywood’s top stars. Mary Pickford was so smitten with Walt’s that she ate every meal there for weeks at a time and became combative at closing time. W.C. Fields, Janet Gaynor, Pola Negri, and a young Bob Hope were all regulars, as was Shirley Temple, who often tap-danced down the counter to provide entertainment. And it was at Walt’s that Cary Grant and Edward Everett Horton became engaged in an altercation over Hedy Lamarr that remains one of Tinseltown’s most legendary fistfights.

Seating for 725?

Have to wonder about "Walt's" exterior depicted above. Could the image be an artist's rendering rather than the real thing? Not that Disney wasn't forward thinking but restaurant pictured and its angularity smacks of a era later than '35 or possibly even later than '45. Googies before Googies? (Of course that doesn't mean Googies or McDs or Burger King couldn't have adapted a good idea.)

Could "Walt's" have been known by another name? A cursory look through a few directories has not been productive. One might imagine there are photographs and souvenirs from this three-story establishment on popular Hollywood Blvd. I can't recall seeing any unless it was in the Mueller Bros.' customer waiting room. Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater is another unknown. (Not clear that Graubstein has a listing either. )


Maybe it was more than just the food and ambiance that kept "Walt's" popular. There was another novelty. One source claims Walt's had the distinction of being the "first" establishment to install a pay toilet in the U.S. (1936) http://www.todayifoundout.com/index....ay-as-you-use/






http://also.kottke.org/misc/images/o...ds-menu-02.jpg

http://www.rockying.com/art/Picture/...ger%20king.jpg


http://static5.businessinsider.com/i...zen-yogurt.jpg

Last edited by Tourmaline; Aug 7, 2014 at 8:32 PM.
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  #23022  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 7:26 PM
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MichaelRyerson MichaelRyerson is offline
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With a nod to NLA stalwart HossC and our recent conversation about the 4th Street cut...


Looking west from the Goodyear blimp 'Paegel' at Grand Avenue and 3rd Street, 1954

Looking west from the Goodyear blimp 'Paegel' from about Grand Avenue and 3rd Street in late 1954. Really a great view showing
the scourge of the 4th Street cut being applied across the southern slope of Bunker Hill. Many important structures are gone by now
(although many remain and are captured in this great image).

First the obvious: on the left, on this side of the Harbor Freeway, we have a wing of the Statler, (unfortunately no view of the
Richfield), the Rex Arms and the Jonathan Club. Still moving to the right, we find the Architects Building on the SE corner of
5th Street and Figueroa and the Monarch Hotel catty-corner on the NW corner.

Following 5th Street back to the left edge we find the back of the Sunkist and just a bitty corner of the Central Library,
then behind the Sunkist (to the right) we find the Touraine is still in business, the little Sons of the Revolution Library,
the dark and rather nondescript Santa Barbara, the Wentworth (Rubiyat), a parking lot and then the bright Barbara Worth (the Briggs).

And now a great expanse of open ground wherein we are missing the single-family residence which used to sit in the shadow
of the Barbara Worth on the SW corner of 4th and Hope Streets and the Castle Tower Apartments which had clung to the
hillside above Flower Street behind the Barbara Worth (and the now missing single family residence) are gone as well. Then the
roadbed for the 4th Street stub which overlooked Flower Street and on the north side of 4th street the now missing Hildreth Mansion
and the carriage house studio of Margrethe Mather (who had died two years earlier on Christmas Day, 1952) on the NW corner of 4th
and Hope Streets.

We have a view of the roof of the oddly contemporary Stuart K. Oliver house which will succeed in being the absolute last private
residence to go under on this side of Bunker Hill.

The 4th Street roadbed has not yet been lowered in this image but by January of 1955 they will begin dropping the grade in this
area by thirty feet or more.

Following the 4th Street right-of-way to the east (left toward the bottom of the image) across Hope Street, we find every
street-side structure missing. Across Hope Street from the Barbara Worth (south side of 4th) we have the LaBelle,
the Bronx and the Gordon all gone and at Grand Avenue all that's left of the Zelda is a surprisingly small basement cavity
(next door is a parking lot and then the Grenada).

Across Grand Avenue we can see that the Leonard Rose Mansion is finally gone, it being little more than a pilfered shell
for a decade or more.

On the north side of 4th Street, across Hope Street from the Stuart K. Oliver house we find the Gibson, the Kiernan and
the Crestholme all asunder.

The missing Crestholme brings us to Bunker Hill Avenue (which runs north from 4th Street), that storied lane of early
prominence and at what appears to be its summit we find 'The Castle', whiter than her neighbors, and awaiting a distant and fiery
end (with the Salt Box), in ignoble circumstances, having been designated for preservation, suffering the indignity of being
uprooted from this long-time perch, to be stored briefly behind chain-link only to be torched by Christine Sterling or Norris
Poulson or the Ghost of Otis Chandler or somebody.

But that's in the future, for now, with devastation all around, we go a bit further to the north (right) on Bunker Hill Avenue
and find the enormous Alta Vista (and we're looking at her short side!) standing watch over the west portal of the
3rd Street tunnel (and I'd be remiss if I didn't make the nearly de ri-guer observation that the Alta Vista was, of course,
at one time, the residence of diminutive, Los Angeles novelist John Fante. And yes, he used it in Ask the Dust, renamed
in the novel as the Alta Loma).

USC digital archive/Los Angeles Examiner Collection, 1920-1961


Bunker Hill, going away piece by piece, 1954

Archived caption material perpetuates long-standing error concerning Hildreth house. First the caption: "Time is catching up with Bunker
Hill--it's going away piece by piece. This is the west end of Fourth Street cut, newest inroad into the Hill. Arrow points to Stuart K. Oliver
home, site of Dr. Ed(win) Hildreth's old "House of Sorrows." Photograph dated December 7, 1954." The problem with the caption is Stuart
Oliver's house was not built on the Hildreth property (357 S. Hope Street), it was built next door (at 351-53 S. Hope Street), one property
to the north of the Hildreth house. The Hildreth house would have stood just about where this steam-shovel's cab is now sitting albeit
perhaps fifteen or twenty feet straight up, as much of the Hildreth lot has been excavated. Margrethe Mather's beloved studio, in the
Hildreth carriage house, would have been about sixty or eighty feet to the left of the steam shovel. A slight variation on this pernicious
rumor is that the Oliver house was built next door on the site of the Hildreth carriage house! But, of course, we all know the Hildreth
carriage house was on 4th Street (715 W. 4th Street), due west of the house NOT on Hope Street north of the house. The Hildreth
carriage house was leased to Margrethe Mather in about 1916-17 and that lease remained in effect until her death in 1952 (property was
demolished in 1954). In those later years, Mather's health failing, it served primarily to store her belongings. She lived over in Glendale
with George Lipton.

LAPL


4th Street cut from Bunker Hill, January 16, 1955

Steam shovel is parked approximately on the corner of 4th and Hope Streets. Looking west across the Flower/Figueroa draw,
a corner of the Stuart K. Oliver house can be seen at the right edge behind the shovel. The Hildreth Mansion (or more properly in 1955,
Hopecrest) is gone, it's last resting place the pile of rubble in the shadow. Fitting. Adieu Margrethe.

Huntington Digital Library,Palmer Conner Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles, 1950 - 1970


4th Street cut at Grand Avenue, 1955

Looking generally south on Grand Avenue across the excavation of 4th Street. North side of the Sherwood Apartments and beyond it the
Edison Building at 5th and Grand and the white Engstrum Apartments on upper 5th Street peeking over the shoulder of the Sherwood. Pile
of rubble in the right foreground is all that's left of the Grenada and the Zelda (which would be nearer the camera) has been carted away.
They're breakin' up that old gang of mine.

Huntington Digital Library, Palmer Conner Collection of Color Slides of Los Angeles, 1950 - 1970


Looking south from 4th and Grand Avenue, 1960

Looking south across the 4th Street cut at the exposed back of the Edison Building, Grand Avenue running south on the left. The 4th
Street roadbed is perhaps fifty feet below the original grade, so that we would be looking pretty much directly into the side of the Zelda
whose entrance would be twenty or thirty feet above those parked cars. The photographer has his back to the 4th Street garage which is
situated on the site of the Brunson, all those years ago.

USC digital archive/Automobile Club of Southern California collection, 1892-1963


Looking north on Grand Avenue from the south side of the 4th Street cut, 1956

Looking across the 4th Street cut from the approximate location of the Zelda. 4th Street Garage on the site of the Brunson Mansion,
Biltmore Apartments dark building directly above the Ford station wagon, the bright white Judd Apartments on the right and far up the
street, the white Lovejoy Apartments at Grand Avenue and 3rd Street.

LAPL


Extension of 4th Street through Bunker Hill, 1956

Looking west over 4th Street where half a mile extension will carry it from Hill Street under Grand Avenue (middle distance) and Hope
Street (Hildreth house is gone, only shrubs appear to remain) and over Figueroa and Flower (which cannot be seen) to the Harbor
Freeway, part of which can be seen in the background. Camera appears to be situated on the south east corner of Olive and 4th Streets
probably on the upper floors or roof of the Subway Building. Lovely curved staircase at center/bottom is from the now demolished Fremont
Hotel. The $1,256,085 project is scheduled to be finished Jan. 1st, 1956. 135,400 cubic yards of dirt are in the process of being moved
and work can be seen from the Harbor Freeway.

Last edited by MichaelRyerson; Aug 8, 2014 at 10:56 AM.
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  #23023  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 9:09 PM
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ethereal_reality ethereal_reality is offline
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--excellent post MR.


We've visited Venice many times, but I don't think we've looked closely at the Hotel Antler across the lagoon at the end of Windward.

Here are two snapshots I came across on ebay last week. The seller had one dated 1915 and the other 1923. To me they look like they could have been taken
the same year (actually, the same day...same shadow angles..same trash on the sidewalk).
Anyway, here are three tourists (one woman appears twice) posing in front of the Hotel Antler (where I presume they were staying at the time)










Here's an even earlier view of the Hotel Antler. (no roof-top sign yet)






virtualvenice.info.

(perhaps it had one of the rum-runner tunnels HossC mentioned back in June.



Here's a very interesting view with an elaborate roof-top billboard. I can't quite make out what it says..something KING. (date unknown)


old file photo






I was looking at the site today, and I believe the Hotel Antler could possibly still be standing, albeit beneath an extreme makeover.


GSV

The dimensions appear the same. (compare it with this sepia postcard)





So what do you think? Is this post-modern poster child the old Hotel Antler?


GSV


__

Last edited by ethereal_reality; Aug 7, 2014 at 10:08 PM.
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  #23024  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 9:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC View Post

Original image from the California State Library
I LOVE this so much HossC! I'm going to print it out and frame it.

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  #23025  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 10:45 PM
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MartinTurnbull MartinTurnbull is offline
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Walt Disney's restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard

[QUOTE=Tourmaline;6683700]Seating for 725?

Have to wonder about "Walt's" exterior depicted above. Could the image be an artist's rendering rather than the real thing? Not that Disney wasn't forward thinking but restaurant pictured and its angularity smacks of a era later than '35 or possibly even later than '45. Googies before Googies? (Of course that doesn't mean Googies or McDs or Burger King couldn't have adapted a good idea.)

Could "Walt's" have been known by another name? A cursory look through a few directories has not been productive. One might imagine there are photographs and souvenirs from this three-story establishment on popular Hollywood Blvd. I can't recall seeing any unless it was in the Mueller Bros.' customer waiting room. Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater is another unknown. (Not clear that Graubstein has a listing either. )


That's what struck me about that article. I thought, "How could Walt Disney have had a popular diner on Hollywood Blvd for 16 years and I've never heard of it, nor seen any evidence of it (ashtrays, menus, photos)???" I suspect your theory that there was a name change somewhere along the line is quite possible.

The photo of the place does look like it could have been photoshopped, but the article did include a link to the place's menu



But now that I look at the original article again, the photos seem to look more and more fake. Plus, I can't imagine NOT having heard of a Walt Disney diner that stood on Hollywood Blvd for 16 years.

Conclusion: It's a fake.
Unanswered question: Why bother???

Last edited by MartinTurnbull; Aug 8, 2014 at 4:42 AM.
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  #23026  
Old Posted Aug 7, 2014, 11:22 PM
Tourmaline Tourmaline is offline
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[QUOTE=MartinTurnbull;6684127]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourmaline View Post
Seating for 725?

Have to wonder about "Walt's" exterior depicted above. Could the image be an artist's rendering rather than the real thing? Not that Disney wasn't forward thinking but restaurant pictured and its angularity smacks of a era later than '35 or possibly even later than '45. Googies before Googies? (Of course that doesn't mean Googies or McDs or Burger King couldn't have adapted a good idea.)

Could "Walt's" have been known by another name? A cursory look through a few directories has not been productive. One might imagine there are photographs and souvenirs from this three-story establishment on popular Hollywood Blvd. I can't recall seeing any unless it was in the Mueller Bros.' customer waiting room. Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater is another unknown. (Not clear that Graubstein has a listing either. )


That's what struck me about that article. I thought, "How could Walt Disney have had a popular diner on Hollywood Blvd for 16 years and I've never heard of it, nor seen any evidence of it (ashtrays, menus, photos)???" I suspect your theory that there was a name change somewhere along the line is quite possible.

The photo of the place does look like it could have been photoshopped, but the article did include a link to the place's menu



Thanks for posting the menu.
Interesting facts? Disney operated a slaughterhouse in a "meat building"? (Third floor Burbank.); Place mats were artwork; and you could buy the dishes in the gift shop.

Mystery shake?

Brewmaster Mickey's beer. Was any alcohol involved?



Is there a street number?
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  #23027  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 12:07 AM
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Could the menu be from the Disney Studio Commissary? (just a guess)
__





Here's an early noirish view of Broadway, showing what looks like a popcorn wagon at the northeast corner of 1st Street.


ebay


reverse/ postmark 1906!


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  #23028  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 12:12 AM
CityBoyDoug CityBoyDoug is offline
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Historic Aerials

Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
--excellent post MR.


We've visited Venice many times, but I don't think we've looked closely at the Hotel Antler across the lagoon at the end of Windward.

Here are two snapshots I came across on ebay last week. The seller had one dated 1915 and the other 1923. To me they look like they could have been taken
the same year (actually, the same day...same shadow angles..same trash on the sidewalk).
Anyway, here are three tourists (one woman appears twice) posing in front of the Hotel Antler (where I presume they were staying at the time)
Here's an even earlier view of the Hotel Antler. (no roof-top sign yet)






virtualvenice.info.

(perhaps it had one of the rum-runner tunnels HossC mentioned back in June.



Here's a very interesting view with an elaborate roof-top billboard. I can't quite make out what it says..something KING. (date unknown)


old file photo






I was looking at the site today, and I believe the Hotel Antler could possibly still be standing, albeit beneath an extreme makeover.


GSV

The dimensions appear the same. (compare it with this sepia postcard)





So what do you think? Is this post-modern poster child the old Hotel Antler?


GSV


__
ER:....I looked at the Historic Aerials for 1980 and it appears there was no building on that site in 1980. All I can see is a vacant lot.




HAerials
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  #23029  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 12:49 AM
Gastorical Gastorical is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
This is an amazing photograph, especially if the date is correct.


old cd of mine/ possibly ebay

Is the long one-story building(s) in the distance the origins of Calle de los Negros?




1894 Sanborn

http://ladailymirror.com/2011/10/13/...shed-landmark/
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This is NOT 1860. The Los Angeles Gas Company who erected the gas holder in the foreground did not exist before 1867.
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  #23030  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 1:37 AM
ProphetM ProphetM is offline
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[QUOTE=MartinTurnbull;6684127]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourmaline View Post
Seating for 725?

Have to wonder about "Walt's" exterior depicted above. Could the image be an artist's rendering rather than the real thing? Not that Disney wasn't forward thinking but restaurant pictured and its angularity smacks of a era later than '35 or possibly even later than '45. Googies before Googies? (Of course that doesn't mean Googies or McDs or Burger King couldn't have adapted a good idea.)

Could "Walt's" have been known by another name? A cursory look through a few directories has not been productive. One might imagine there are photographs and souvenirs from this three-story establishment on popular Hollywood Blvd. I can't recall seeing any unless it was in the Mueller Bros.' customer waiting room. Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater is another unknown. (Not clear that Graubstein has a listing either. )


That's what struck me about that article. I thought, "How could Walt Disney have had a popular diner on Hollywood Blvd for 16 years and I've never heard of it, nor seen any evidence of it (ashtrays, menus, photos)???" I suspect your theory that there was a name change somewhere along the line is quite possible.

The photo of the place does look like it could have been photoshopped, but the article did include a link to the place's menu

I have to assume the entire thing is a spoof.

The Photoshoppery in the pics is really obvious - the words on the building are improperly skewed. Walt's head is pasted on pictures of other people. And c'mon - seating for over 700; "Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater"? And the Minnie on the menu is not what Minnie Mouse looked like in the 1930s.

I'm a little embarrassed to feel the need to point this out as fake. Unless you were all just playing along, in which case the joke is on me!
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  #23031  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 2:17 AM
Tourmaline Tourmaline is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality View Post
Could the menu be from the Disney Studio Commissary? (just a guess)
__


__

ProphetM, are you saying Pinocchio's nose is getting longer? There was no Peruvian theater on Hollywood Blvd? Adding a stool and then another? I suppose anything is possible, but this scenario on Hollywood Blvd is highly unlikely. Pretty sure we've discussed Walt's interest at eating at the Tam O'Shanter and I'm sure he frequented many, if not all of the well known restaurants in Hollywood, Wilshire and Beverly Hills. I also suspect he got behind the grill or the soda fountain at home or at one of his theme restaurants in Orange County, but the photo of him doling out the ice cream is dubious.


Hadn't scrutinized the source which is why I missed the menu link. Notice it alleges Walt ballooned to 300lbs because he taste tested everything on the menu.

The one thing that made me laugh is the site discussing pay toilets.
Quote:
Fast-forward to the United States in 1935, Walt Disney opened “Walt’s”, a popular cafe on Hollywood Blvd., and the first restaurant ever run by an animation studio. In 1936, “Walt’s” also became the first establishment in North America to install pay toilets. Pay toilets spread across America and were soon common sights in almost all the major cities.http://www.todayifoundout.com/index....ay-as-you-use/
Economically challenged patrons who did without the headsets probably spent some of their time at the Peruvian theater.



1940s
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q41HVtQoIk...inside+640.jpg


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6DeC72w2Lt...utside+640.jpg



1958
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oyqpODRjvl...inside+640.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...yMenusmall.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...nsidesmall.jpg

Last edited by Tourmaline; Aug 8, 2014 at 3:32 AM.
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  #23032  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 2:19 AM
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Read through the menu in post #23027.

"We deeply regret we are out of the following: . . ." including coffee, is my favorite, after "Duck a la Donald" in its take-home sailor suit.

Considering how corny some of the jokes are, I can guess this is vintage (bad photoshoppery) and even possibly put together by Disney staff as an internal joke. Because Disney lawyers.
EDIT: Going back to the source, it's clear it's all humorously fake and the menu was created for it.

Those of you who went to Disneyland in the earlier years: do you recall how mediocre the food was? The place was thrilling, but the food . . .

Last edited by loyalton; Aug 8, 2014 at 2:48 AM.
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  #23033  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 2:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull View Post


A Bambi Alexander for me, please. With extra cream.

Bottom's up!
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  #23034  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 4:16 AM
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Walt Disney's restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard

[QUOTE=Tourmaline;6684170]
Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull View Post



Thanks for posting the menu.
Interesting facts? Disney operated a slaughterhouse in a "meat building"? (Third floor Burbank.); Place mats were artwork; and you could buy the dishes in the gift shop.

Mystery shake?

Brewmaster Mickey's beer. Was any alcohol involved?

Is there a street number?
That (1946) menu sure has some strange things - Pig Snouts, Mock Currant Pie (what's wrong with real currants?), Guava Soup. I don't have a street number - nor have I heard of Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater (which, in itself, sounds odd, doesn't it...?) so I've emailed the author of that article to see if there's anything further he can tell us.
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  #23035  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 5:03 AM
ProphetM ProphetM is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loyalton View Post
Read through the menu in post #23027.

"We deeply regret we are out of the following: . . ." including coffee, is my favorite, after "Duck a la Donald" in its take-home sailor suit.

Considering how corny some of the jokes are, I can guess this is vintage (bad photoshoppery) and even possibly put together by Disney staff as an internal joke. Because Disney lawyers.
EDIT: Going back to the source, it's clear it's all humorously fake and the menu was created for it.

Those of you who went to Disneyland in the earlier years: do you recall how mediocre the food was? The place was thrilling, but the food . . .
Not the earlier years, but in the 80s the food was average unless you were eating at a sit down place. And why would you waste your limited time eating at one of those? I normally searched for whatever had the shortest line. The fast food place near Space Mountain was a good bet if it was open, and you went in for an early or late lunch.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinTurnbull View Post

That (1946) menu sure has some strange things - Pig Snouts, Mock Currant Pie (what's wrong with real currants?), Guava Soup. I don't have a street number - nor have I heard of Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater (which, in itself, sounds odd, doesn't it...?) so I've emailed the author of that article to see if there's anything further he can tell us.
There is no way that it's not a joke of some sort.
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  #23036  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 3:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CityBoyDoug View Post
ER:....I looked at the Historic Aerials for 1980 and it appears there was no building on that site in 1980. All I can see is a vacant lot.




HAerials

It's actually a homage to the earlier building by Venice architect Steven Ehrlich.


virtualvenice.info.


-from an article dated March 28, 1991

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-03-...rcle-in-venice

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Last edited by ethereal_reality; Jul 24, 2022 at 6:26 PM.
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  #23037  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 5:22 PM
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Forced Labor?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonny☼LA View Post
Thanks Sady! All good fun.

Here's some more.

The Police Academy Rock Garden in Elysian Park is not particularly noirish nor is it horribly obscure as it is a known wedding location (no extra charge for background gunfire) - but it's a beautiful place to visit and we had an amazing impromptu hour-long tour and history lesson from the officer on duty at the gate.

Aside from the view of downtown, there are trails all around and through the rock garden, itself with a thoroughly Hollywood-set vibe to it. Appropriate, as it's been said it was the location for many films and TV series, including Tarzan. I assumed it would be the later Johnny Weissmuller Tarzans, as the rock garden was built in 1937, but I couldn't find any screenshots or specific location listings.

Here's a Memorial Day celebration from 1958:

USC

And the garden today, larger and more multi-tiered than it looks:

My Flickr


My Flickr

The view:

My Flickr

The Police Academy itself has not been covered too many times on the thread, I don't think, though the eminent Mr. Bariscale did a great writeup on his Big Orange Landmarks blog here.

The non-Hollywood history is what really interests me, though - starting with the front gates which are built from granite paving stones pulled from the streets of Los Angeles somewhere. There's a story on Roadside America that says stonework was done by men arrested one night for drunkenness - make of that what you will. The LAPRAAC website states the rock garden was built by officers and trustees so the Roadside story might refer to the construction of the gates or earlier structures. I'd like to think it's true. On the right is our human encyclopedia and gracious host for the afternoon...I hadn't read the forced labor story until after we visited so I couldn't ask him.


My Flickr

It seems the Revolver and Athletic Club was founded in the 1920's, with the complex expanding after the 1932 Olympics. The shooting range was used for the Games and after their conclusion the department received several buildings from the Olympic Village. The LAPD officially took residence in 1936, with the construction of the rock garden shortly thereafter.

Some past posts regarding the Olympic Village - Flyingwedge did a great writeup of the 1932 Olympic Games and the construction of the village housing...
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=19441

...and Tovangar mentioned another recipient of Olympic Village housing, University High School:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=10851

According to this interesting article from the '84 Games era (from the Toledo Blade but I believe it's an LA Times story), Olympic housing went to the Police Academy, a shop on Olvera Street, out to the PCH in Malibu, across state lines and out of the country. Also that police cadets eat in one of the original Olympic dining halls.


Toledo Blade, July 16, 1984

So here's the main hall of the village in '32...

-Getty Images

...certainly similar to today's Gates Lounge & Dining Center:

My Flickr

An undated postcard of the swimming pool:

-eBay

At sunset today, with a trainee in the middle lane.

My Flickr

Chief Parker with his command staff in the Gymnasium, 1948

USC

The same gym today:

My Flickr


The sign under which all graduating classes pass:

My Flickr


And, for the hell of it - a brief search for the Olympic cottage on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. I forget how or why I narrowed the location down to this collection of small cottages at 19355 E Pacific Coast Hwy - nonetheless, here they are. Possibly the old Malibu Lodge connection mentioned in the article. Inconclusive. But another nice place to visit. Too nice. Not noirish enough.




My Flickr
The City of Los Angeles ran a larger jail system than L.A. County for many years. This included prisoners kept in cells and tanks at Lincoln Heights Jail, trustees who worked on the prison farm in Saugus and trustees kept at LHJ. The farm was a God Send for drunks who were sentenced to 30, 60 or 90 days to dry out. Many did dry out and once again were able to live a normal life. Others were of course bound to come back. The labor was not forced as in terms of doing something against their will but it gave them a chance to shorten their sentence or learn a trade or occupy their time instead of doing nothing. Counseling was also available in an effort to thwart the effects of drunkenness.
Eventually the city jail system was abandoned and left to the county, only detention prior to arraignment or release from custody were now city jail purposes. The city continued arresting drunks but they served no time and had no chance to dry out. They were instead released upon sobering up and return to the bars and liquor stores to start the process over again. Lot of drunks died because of the loss of this system.
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  #23038  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 8:22 PM
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MartinTurnbull MartinTurnbull is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ProphetM View Post
Not the earlier years, but in the 80s the food was average unless you were eating at a sit down place. And why would you waste your limited time eating at one of those? I normally searched for whatever had the shortest line. The fast food place near Space Mountain was a good bet if it was open, and you went in for an early or late lunch.

There is no way that it's not a joke of some sort.
Mea Noirish Culpa!
Mea Noirish Culpa!
Mea Noirish Culpa!

I should have dug a little deeper before posting this nonsense on this thread but I was focused more on the (alleged) building itself than the fake photos of Walt serving Grandma from behind the counter. I was so caught up in "HOW HAVE I NOT HEARD OF THIS?" to notice the other glaringly obvious indications. I have no idea why someone would go to the bother of creating FOUR PAGES of this, including an entire menu, but I guess some people have way more time on their hands than I do...
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  #23039  
Old Posted Aug 8, 2014, 9:15 PM
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HossC HossC is offline
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Following MichaelRyerson's very detailed and informative post about the 4th Street cut, here are a couple of extra images.

This one is simply titled "4th Street cut." The camera was somewhere near to Grand Avenue, looking roughly west along 4th Street towards the Harbor Freeway. Just behind the "Smith's" sign on the white wall is the southern end of Bunker Hill Avenue, and the large building on the left is the Barbara Worth on Hope Street. The picture is dated 10/15/54.


Huntinton Digital Library

Fast forward to 3/1/70, and we have a picture showing the elevated part of 4th Street as seen from just south of the intersection of 5th and Flower Streets. The end of the Sunkist building is on the right.


Huntinton Digital Library

To bring things up to date, I've positioned the Googlemobile in the middle of Flower Street, just north of 5th Street, roughly where the blue truck is in the picture above. The Westin Bonaventure is now on the left, and the City National Plaza parking garage is on the right. Bunker Hills Tower/Towers and the Water and Power Building in the distance appear in both pictures.


GSV
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  #23040  
Old Posted Aug 9, 2014, 12:15 AM
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MartinTurnbull MartinTurnbull is offline
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Ciro's bandstand, circa 1940s

Courtesy of "Playground to the Stars" Facebook page, this is Ciro's bandstand, circa 1940s. Oh, to have seen the headliners who have stood on that stage!

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