Day 5 – 3 October 2018. Anaheim and Los Angeles
Today is our bus tour of Los Angeles and associated Disney sites. This meant an early start which was hard as I didn’t get to bed until 1am again. We got up at 6:15am and had an early breakfast. We then headed out to the Harbor Blvd bus stop and met up with all the club members going on the trip. It wasn’t long before the bus arrived and we met Tom, our guide and driver. Tom was terrific and a fountain of knowledge on Walt Disney and his life – especially his presence around the Los Angeles area. Brian and I sat together at the front, with Della and Patti behind us and Karen across the isle.
Our first stop was the Garden Grove historical society who had saved the garage from Walt Disney’s Uncle Robert’s house. The garage was used by Walt and Roy in their early days of film making and included a table and small dark room. Today it contains donated memorabilia relating to Disney from around the world. The museum also had a great old fire station and fire truck, as well as other donated buildings from the local city area. It was only 10 minutes from Disneyland but you’d never know about it. The lady in the gift shop was originally Australian but had lived in the area for over 50 years! She never lost her accent as she said it always helped in business negotiations there.
Next we got on the freeways and headed up to Hollywood. We stopped outside the Pantages Theatre where the first of Walt Disney’s two Hollywood walk of fame stars is. After a quick photo stop, we moved further up Hollywood Blvd to the Chinese Theatre and El Capitan theatre to visit the Disney shop and Ghirardelli soda fountain store. We saw a lot more Disney related stars, and we walked up to Walt’s second star just beyond the Chinese theatre.
Back on the bus, we next stopped outside the original Hollywood Tower Hotel – inspiration for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride. We got photos there and moved on the Kingswell Ave where Walt and Roy Brothers Studio was located. This was their first proper cartoon studio and the build still stands today. We were able to visit with the current owner and see the history of the building. I can always remember the photo of them standing in front of that premises, and it looked so similar today. It was amazing to stand there.
We drove further down Kingswell Ave past Walt’s Uncle’s house (where the garage in Golden Grove was moved from) and learned that the Disney family had bought the house back after a developer failed to get permission to pull it down and redevelop. The house has now been protected and will be restored by the family.
We did a quick drive by of Walt and Roy’s original homes (still privately owned today) and the location of the Hyperion Studios, which is long gone now – replaced by a mall, but there is still a plaque outside marking the site.
Next we dropped off half the group at the Tam O’Shanter pub in Glendale while the rest of us went up to the Forest Lawn cemetery. That was an amazing place and we got to see the Disney family plot. We also had a look in a mausoleum that contained many famous people including Nat King Cole and others. I’d seen it on TV before, but it was interesting to see it in person.
We returned to Tam O’Shanters for lunch while the other group headed up to the Forest Lawn cemetery. Tam O’Shanters was Walt’s favourite lunch spot, meeting with actors, artists, studio and theme park people all the time there. There were photos of him on the wall (along with many others) and his table is marked with a plaque. Della, Brian, Patti and myself sat in a booth that was John Wayne’s favourite table! The place was full of history, atmosphere and good food – we could only imagine the deals that had been done in that restaurant!
After lunch, we got back on the bus and headed to the Disney Studios – we stopped at the main gate and animation gate to get photos while not loitering too long to annoy the security guards there. We then headed on over to Griffith Park, but as we were a little early, we stopped for ten minutes at Travel Town – a railway museum I’d been to on a number of previous occasions. I first went there in 2006 with the club’s world tour and I took my Dad there in 2011 as well, so this was my third trip. We didn’t stay long though, and got back on the bus to go to Walt’s Barn which was opened especially for us. We had been here previously on the 2006 trip, but there were new items now including the original 101 carriage from the Disneyland Railroad from 1955 – it was in beautiful original condition and its story told by the guide there was great.
We then went into Walt’s Barn which originally was built on his Carolwood Drive property to house his model trains, but was moved to Griffith Park when the house was sold by his family. It has a lot of Disney artefacts there and is worth a visit.
Back on the bus and we headed up to Griffith Park Carousel. This carousel is the only surviving four abreast horse carousel in the world where all the horses, including the outside ones move. It still runs its original motor and pipe organ and is a great historical machine. It is only open on weekends, but again the owner opened it for us and told us many stories from its past. The owner left school and his first job was working on the carousel – and he’s been there ever since. When the last owner past away seven years ago, it was left to the current owner in his will! That’s payment for dedicated service. Now it is used in many movies and tv shows. It is a very fast carousel, with speeds up to 25 mph, although state law governs it at 18 mph. He let us have a go on it and it was very fast – much faster than a Disney carousel, and he told us we only went at 10 mph, so it must have been a sight to see at 25!
Our final stop of the day was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA. It was a quick stop at the main steps for a group photo but when we got back on the bus, Gerard was missing. Della had seen him heading down the street, so I figured he’d gone to see the Lillian Disney memorial fountain on the roof of the Hall. Our driver said he needed to move the bus, so we headed off and we saw Gerard heading back waving his arms! We had to keep going across the street to avoid blocking traffic and Gerard finally caught up with us and we all clapped his return.
After that, we started to head back to Anaheim, but we did get to see a major film being shot in downtown which looked interesting and involved a school bus – we might never know what it was related to but we saw it!
When we got back to Anaheim, Della and I dropped off our bags and we headed to Earl of Sandwich for dinner with Brian and Patti, before finally retiring for the night after a little bit of last minute shopping at the Wonderground Gallery. Tomorrow, we’ll start in DCA, then head to DL for a group photo in front of the castle!