The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (143 page)

As
Buena Vista Street
’s key
Imagineers
explained at 2011’s
D23 Expo
, part of
Buena Vista Street
’s fantasy is the fanciful concept that places
Walt
might have frequented as a young man–like a watch and repair shop–and the characters he met there, might have inspired some of his animation.  Certainly it’s been documented that that was the case with early
Mickey
shorts, like
Traffic Troubles
(1931), where
Walt
’s own adventures fueled plots for
Mickey
cartoons.

Maybe you don’t need a
Disney
dishcloth, or
Oswald
figure, or
Mickey
pizza plate, or
Minnie
apron.  But if you don’t drop in for the merchandise, at least drop into the
Katz
shops for the old-fashioned ambiance, and the cartoon memories. 
Did You Know?
  The original
Alice
of the comedies was actress
Virginia Davis
.
Walt
convinced her parents to move her from
Kansas City
to Hollywood to pursue her career. 
Alice
was later portrayed by
Margie Gay
,
Dawn O’Day
, and
Lois Hardwick
. 
Davis
, who passed away in 1990, was a performer long after the
Alice
series ended, appearing in Hollywood musicals before becoming a wife, mother, and real estate agent.  She is a
Disney Legend
. 
Gay
’s acting career seems to have begun and ended with the
Alice
films. 
Hardwick
appeared in the “Buster Brown” series after
Alice
, then apparently retired from acting. 
O’Day
was a prolific actress whom we know best under her stage name,
Anne Shirley
; she was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting work in “Stella Dallas” (1937).
Did You Also Know?
  The
Alice
series introduced villain
Pete
, who still appears in
Disney
cartoons to this day.  Resembling different animals in different eras,
Pete
has always been big, menacing palooka.  He has softened over the decades, from a brute to merely irritating, but let it never be forgotten that this big, bad guy hassled
Julius
, and
Oswald
, and
Mickey
. 
Pete
is the longest-running
Disney
character. 
Did You Also Know?
  Many of us are familiar with Felix’s trusty Magic Bag of Tricks.  But did you know that was a later invention?  Felix didn’t get his magic bag until the 1950’s. 
Hidden Mickeys:
  Peer into the display windows to “unlock” some
Hidden Mickeys
, and look for a TV test pattern with a familiar shape.

Kingswell Camera
Shop

[
FastView:
 
Film, digital flashcards, and
PhotoPass
prints—all the photo supplies you could need for your park visit.
]

Between the
Buena Vista Street Lockers
and the
Julius Katz
stores sits the handsome little
Kingswell Camera Shop
.  The name is a tribute to early
Disney
history.  Most serious
Disney
fans can tell you that
Walt
and
Roy
’s original studios were on
Kingswell Avenue
in
Los Feliz
.  From 1923 to 1926, the
Disney
brothers and their animation team worked in cramped quarters, turning out
Alice Comedies
.

They started at
4651 Kingswell
in 1923, then relocated next door to
4649 Kingswell
in 1924.  It was also in 1924 that
Walt
hired a young Ink & Paint worker,
Lillian Bounds
.  Inkers & Painters were always women.  Walt would drive
Lillian
home from work sometimes; they courted for about a year, and married in the summer of 1925.

By late 1925, the
Disney
boys had put a downpayment on a larger property at
2719 Hyperion
, in
Silver Lake
.  That site would serve as the
Disney
studio from 1926 to 1940–the
Oswald
years, the
Mickey
years, the years of
Silly Symphonies
and
Snow White
. 
2719 Hyperion
was where an empire was forged.  But
Walt
and
Roy
never forgot their early
Kingswell
days.  That was where bonds were formed, techniques developed, and the seeds of an empire were sown.

That’s the
Kingswell
history.  From a practical standpoint,
Kingswell Camera Shop
is where you can purchase film, and cameras, and camera supplies, and where you can view and buy prints of your
Disney PhotoPass
pictures.  Throughout
DCA
,
Disney Photographers
are stationed and can snap your photo at iconic sites–in front of the
Storytellers Statue
, for example.  Stop at
Kingswell Camera
when you’re ready to have those images printed, or when you need a new battery or flash memory card.

Service is friendly and prompt, well up to
Disney
standards.

This small shop is worth prowling for the beautiful décor, and the vintage props and artifacts.  Animation is a photographic and cinematic art. 
(One of the first things
Walt
did when he moved to L.A. was to buy a camera.)  Look for period photos and camera equipment here.  The overhead lamp fixtures resemble camera lenses.  Check out the framed photo of an original “big red car” in the nearby atrium.  This is the first shop in the
Elysian Arcade
(a reference to L.A.’s Elysian Park), and it wonderfully sets the 1920’s mood that is sustained as you procede through the
Julius Katz
shops,
Atwater Ink & Paint
, and
Trolley Treats
. 
Did You Know?
  Technically, the first
Disney
studio was
Uncle Robert Disney
’s garage, but that was on
Kingswell
, too–
4406 Kingswell
, to be precise.  When his nephew arrived in Los Angeles in the summer of 1923,
Robert Disney
let the lad use his garage as a studio.

Los Feliz Five & Dime

[
FastView:
 
Classic surroundings, lots of selection, and modest prices, all in keeping with the tradition of the five-and-dime store.
]

South of
Oswald’s
, the
Los Feliz Five & Dime
anchors the corner north of
Big Top Toys
and
Elias & Co
.  I was quickly drawn to this store when I first visited
Buena Vista Street
, in part because my sister lives in the
Los Feliz
area, in part because the storefront is so compelling. The large plate glass windows (originally filled with displays of vintage story books and baseball uniforms), the big green sign with gold lettering, the white stucco walls, and dark red roof tiles, and neat trim–it’s all so cheery and quintessentially “Southern California in the 1920’s”.

Elias & Co.
anchors the other end of the block. 
Elias & Co.
is luxe; the
Los Feliz Five & Dime
is quality, but homey.  The wide, warmly lit space at the
Los Feliz Five & Dime
is lined with tall wooden shelves topped by collections of reassuringly ordinary objects–hats, globes, telephones, radios, clarinets, sheet music, toy propeller planes, toy carousels–from an earlier era, and while the
Los Feliz Five & Dime
’s merchandise is neatly arranged, and the store spic-and-span, these are more modest wares in a less glamorous surrounding than one finds at
Elias & Co.
  The timbered ceilings and amber lamps remind one of a cottage.  Relax.  Browse.  Chat with one of the helpful Cast Members, who are clad in down-to-earth costumes with polka-dotted blouses reminiscent of
Minnie
.

Five-and-dime stores originated as places where the average person,
and people of limited circumstances, could find a variety of goods without breaking the bank. 
Walt
and
Roy
and their employees undoubtedly frequented five-and-dimes stores during the lean years, when they were filming the
Alice Comedies
in the
Los Feliz
area.

For
Disney
pins
, for caps, for
Ear Hats
of every description–you can even get your name embroidered on them here!–for keychains, and
Red Car Trolley
T-shirts and
Conductor Hats
, and sketch pads, and photo frames and albums, and autograph books, and cell phone cases, and notecards, and tiny plush dolls–for just about any
Disney
sundry you can imagine, the
Los Feliz Five & Dime
is the place.

Crowded during the summer and holidays, beautifully deserted during the off-season, this five-and-dime features friendly, chatty, knowledgeable Cast Members.  Don’t expect the fastest service, but expect service-with-a-smile–and a story. 
Did You Know?
 
DCA
’s
Los Feliz Five & Dime
is located at 2628 Buena Vista Street; “28” is a tribute to 1928, the year
Mickey
was born. 
Did You Also Know?
  The storybooks once displayed in the front window, and the objects that accompanied them–e.g., a toy train–alluded to
Disney
animated features. 
Did You Also Know?
If you looked closely at the baseball uniforms originally displayed in this window, you saw that they were uniforms for the local team, the
Buena Vista Stars
.  This was a reference to the
Hollywood Stars
–yes, Hollywood once had a baseball team, and
Walt
was a member of the board of directors. 
Did You Also Know?
  L.A. had a large J.J. Newberry five-and-dime variety store at 5
th
and Broadway; it supposedly boasted a counter that was a mile long.  The store, which opened in 1939, survived into the 1990’s.  Its pretty terrazzo entrance floor still exists, a relic of bygone days.  J.J. Newberry was replaced by a modern “five-and-dime” store called Fallas Parades.

Oswald’s

[
FastView:
 
Hats, T shirts, souvenirs, sunglasses, and sunscreen.  Pose by the Packard for a memorable photo.  Look for a
Snow White
tribute on the license plate.
]

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
has returned to
Disney
like a prodigal son–well, a prodigal rabbit. 
Walt
and
Ub Iwerks
created
Oswald
in 1927.  Unlike the
Alice Comedies
, which combined animation with live action, the
Oswald
shorts were fully animated. 
Oswald
, a black-and-white cartoon rabbit, was like a taller, thinner version of
Julius the Cat
, with more personality and longer ears.

When
Disney
broke with business associate
Charles Mintz
in 1928, canny
Mintz
retained the rights to
Oswald
, along with a large pool of
Disney
animators. 
Walt
and loyal
Ub
, essentially thrown on their own devices, were forced to come up with a new star, fast.  As the world now knows, they created
Mickey Mouse
.