And here is that same space today. I want to believe this only yucca plant on the entire street is in honor of MAMECO.

Autopia cars assembled here. (21 years earlier than this 1976 photo was taken). Source: Marty Martindale

House of Thirteen Gables.

I’m curious about that tree in the foreground, but also the one in the background that might be the corral tree relocated from Tahitian Terrace in ‘62. Add to list…

It was an Evergreen Elm, as spec’d by Ruth Shellhorn.

One of my paranoias is that I’m going to go out with an ironic ending. And this would certainly be one scenario.

Has he officially been named Walt, yet?

1st photo, from the recent (fabulous) book about X Atencio by daughter Tori McCullough, intrigued me, as I’d run across other references to a “WED house” in Palm Springs, for use by its Imagineers in the 1960s/70s and wondered where it was. Now I’ve located it (not in Smoke Tree Ranch) on the right…

A closer look at this mysterious piece of Disney archeology.

Having no relationship to DCA’s 25th or to the Super Bowl, I present a random morsel of Disney archeology I just stumbled on, again while searching for something else. It dates back to 1961, so I assumed it would be gone by now, but lo, it’s still there. I bet someone here recognizes it. I’ll wait.

In my research, I found alternate Haunted Mansion tombstone epitaphs. Since there’s no room for it in my book, I’ll share one here in honor of Marty’s Sklar’s Feb 6th B-day: “We won’t forget our good friend Marty. Hearty Marty loved a party.” Maybe install it one day?! Photo: @Jimagineering

Legs.

Another trip around the sun!

Just so y’all know, Harper Goff was known to tell a big fish story from time to time. Photo plucked off of Pinterest.

Still there!

The area just beyond the billboards later became Japanese Village and Deer Park.

Beach Boulevard splits into Grand Avenue at La Palma, doesn’t it?

One of the things I love about Disneyland Handcrafted—beyond the obvious historical park footage—are the ancillary locations seen throughout. Since I’ve already located virtually every shot in the park, I’ve started hunting some of the more curious external locations, as seen in this pan shot…

…Which I just now watched after nearly a lifetime. The little dog used to bug me, but now I’m creeped out by Edward Mulhare “peeping tom’ing” Hope Lange. Hey, but Rita Shaw, and a house designed by Jack Martin Smith!

The once home of Admiral Joe Fowler, kept in ship-shape after all these years. As a teenager, I surfed a stone’s throw from here, not knowing a legend lived on the cliffs above. No, it’s not the home in the opening titles of TV’s Ghost and Mrs. Muir, but it’s in a similar geographical location.

Yep, If I’m not mistaken, that’s almost directly under Ronto Roasters.

Maybe @jason.parkendium.com can tell me if this is one, two, or three degrees of separation from Disneyland 1955. Owner of the restaurant loves Glasspar boats, makers of the first Jungle Cruise launches and Autopia car bodies.

After viewing Disneyland Handcrafted, @jason.parkendium.com remembered seeing an article in the OC Register about the crane operators on the construction site. Some of them were pictured and at least one of them I’ve been able to identify in Handcrafted: Meet Ron Vasey! See how easy that was?!

Someone asked whether we’ll see C.V. Wood appear in the footage. Why yes, and here he is! Seen under the capable hand of Admiral Joe Fowler, whom Wood hired and first introduced to Walt.

In celebration of the release of Leslie Iwerks’ master work, Disneyland Handcrafted, I will, as time permits, post screencaps with a related comment. Sometimes it will be a “fun fact,” like this: The fella seen here with Walt is Nat Winecoff, the first “official” WED employee!

Based on your interest, here it is. A tribute to Eddie Sotto’s vision through Main Steet, USA (France) on 14 March 2026, with a guided walk using a booklet, followed by a possible Town Square gathering 🎟️ Registration required, limited spots 👉 More info www.eventbrite.fr/e/1979888702406

Flex alert! Needless to say “Disneyland Handcrafted” is an amazing bit of filmmaking that parlays 70 y/o “industrial” construction footage—from deep in Disney’s vaults—into a powerful work of cinematic poetry. I was happy to be part of the “Brain Trust” involved, but it’s all Leslie Iwerks & team!

Disneyland Handcrafted, Part II

Pilgrimage.

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

Great summation of the extraordinary life of Eddie Sotto! He was lightning in a bottle!

Words are insufficient for me to summarize the extraordinary life of the brilliant Eddie Sotto, even after a day of writing notices of varying lengths. Although I knew this day was approaching, I still don’t know where to begin. Eddie had been signaling it to me in the most paradoxical, “Eddie” way…

Randomly came across Disney artist Frans Van Lamsweerde in one of those posts that casually boasts, “My father was an artist at Disney.” And my follow up, “What was his name?” Then the unfamiliar name, followed by a Google search. And then, “Holy Cow!” Pictured here are his private Christmas cards.

Ughh… RIP Rob Reiner, one of the very best in the business.

In reference to my peanut brittle comment, this photo crop on the left was taken in 1967 approx where the Mobil Station on 535 is, near WDW’s LBV entrance, looking east. And to answer an expected followup question, the legs belong to Welton Becket. Stuckey’s was there for years.

An original Walt Disney-era concept for Project Florida finally becomes a reality!

I wonder if they found any peanut brittle.

As it appeared in my day. Too bad I didn’t know who William Pereira was at the time, I bet he would’ve showed me around! Our school bus passed it every day.

It's hard to imagine that architect Bill Pereira, who gave us the futuristic LAX icon, Transamerica Tower, CBS Television City, etc, and who masterplanned much of the Irvine Ranch incl UCI & Newport Center, maintained his last office for 20 years in this barn on a former buffalo ranch in Newport.*

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be speaking at the Walt Disney Family Museum on 02/28/26 about the origins of Walt Disney Imagineering (WED Enterprises). I'll reveal some new details & personalities involved with planning Disneyland that might surprise you! I hope to see my Bay Area friends there!

Here’s a mystery to try and date. This hung in the Golden Horseshoe from when to when? It appeared in the film Summer Magic in 1963. The artist, Jim Schaeffing, says it was painted for the Golden Horseshoe. People remember it hanging more recently there, but it’s gone now, when was it removed?

Here’s an IAAPA Fun Fact! In olden days, IAAPA (then known as NAAPPB) was almost always held in Chicago. The reason? Proximity to Riverview Park, a 72-acre amusement park run by William B Schmidt, whose industrial & safety innovations made his park worth an annual visit by his peers.

So, thanks to Chris Merritt’s incredible “Book of Marc” my memory has been jogged re this scene I haven’t thought about for 40 years. IIRC, I was asked to place this scene into an environment after the figures on the right were deleted due to budget…

I also posted this on X but does @ProgressCityUSA have the Marc Davis sketch for this scene? I barely remember doing these crude sketches and can’t remember exactly why. I’m sure I didn’t ideate any of this, but perhaps I helped lay it out. My memory of working on World of Motion is sadly piecemeal!

I’ll start:

You might be surprised to know that the Skyway Station was actually expanded along the back in the 1960s. You might also be surprised to know that Walt’s son-in-law, Bob Brown, “art directed” it. Imagine going from designing part of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to this “barn!”

“We get our ideas from anywhere, but most mostly The Andy Griffith Show.” -Walt Disney

I try to only post obscure anniversaries, so here’s one: 61 years ago, Oct 26, 1964, a curious episode of The Andy Griffith Show aired. The timing was perfect, and thus an iconic theme park sight gag was born!