Walt's Garage

Benson Myers pulls into Walt's Garage for a nametag tune-up

- Benson Myers, February 3, 2011

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For today's column, I bring you a small bit of little-known Disney history.

Working in the Garage

Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles in the early 1920's eager to work in the motion picture industry. He found little success, and soon began working on animation projects.

Walt was living with his uncle in North Hollywood at the time, and the uncle's small one-car garage became home to Walt's efforts. Using orange crates and salvaged lumber, Walt cobbled together a drawing desk to begin producing his projects.

click an image to expand and read notes:

Walt's Garage

The Alice Comedies

An Iconic Disney Sign Post

The Friends of Walt Disney Nametag

Some demo animation, and a small sample of the very first Disney series, the Alice Comedies (which featured a live girl interacting with animated characters), were created in the garage and sent to New York for review by prospective buyers.

The Alice Comedies were innovative, and a New York distributor soon signed on for a series. With this new success, and the financial resources that came with it, Walt and his brother Roy moved their fledgling studio to larger offices in Los Angeles.

The silent Alice Comedies were followed by sound cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse and the rest of the familiar Disney characters. Once a shaky dream by a young man with only $40 in his pocket, the Disney legacy expanded to hundreds of films, both live action and animated.

Walt and his company moved offices several times over the years, eventually settling at the now famous studios in Burbank, California.

Sadly, with all Walt's new-found success, the garage that stood witness to the earliest days of Disney magic was soon forgotten.

Saving the Garage

Fast forward to 1981.

An animation fan named Paul Maher was looking through some historical slides and wondered what had become of Walt Disney's first studio. He did some searching and found that the garage, long unused and in bad condition, was in danger of being demolished by its owner.

In an attempt to save the garage, Maher and a group of seven other men, all fans of the Walt Disney legacy, formed an association they called Friends of Walt Disney, and had a special nametag made to identify themselves and their cause.

The group spread word of their cause and soon their number increased to 18 members, including some influential Disneyland Cast Members, who together raised $8500, enough to purchase the garage which they then carefully dismantled and put into storage.

Eventually, the garage was given a permanent home at the Garden Grove Historical Society. The Society also preserves many other historic homes and structures dating back over 100 years.

Visiting the Garage

Although the exterior of Walt's Garage was completely rebuilt and restored, the interior was kept just as Walt had left it. In 1984, a grand dedication ceremony was held, attended by many fans of Walt Disney. Even Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse from Disneyland were there. Memorabilia from Walt's era was donated for display inside the garage.

And now the garage, so lovingly preserved by the Friends of Walt Disney, is open to the public at the Garden Grove Historical Society, 12174 Euclid St., Garden Grove, CA.

If you're ever in the area, make sure to visit Walt's Garage.

Next week: the nametags of Disney's Club 55!

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