Over the last few weeks, I talked about where Walt lived and worked in the Hollywood area. Today, I am going to concentrate on places in Hollywood that had some connection with Walt, including places where he ate, where he visited, and where his cremated ashes were interred.
There are many other locations that I could have included, but I tried to restrict myself to the primary ones that I thought would be of interest.
First, let’s start with a few of the places were Walt loved to eat.
Tam O’Shanter, 2980 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles’ oldest restaurant that has remained in the same location under the same ownership and management since 1922 was located very close to Walt’s Hyperion Studio when it opened.
Since Disney’s studio did not have a commissary, Walt and his staff often went to this restaurant for lunch with such frequency that it was jokingly referred to as the “studio commissary.”
Walt’s favorite table was No. 31 near the fireplace. Actor John Wayne’s favorite table was No. 15.
Walt often used the location for meetings, as well. In 1934, Walt had lunch with a former McKinley High School and Chicago Art Institute classmate at the Tam O’Shanter. That classmate was Bianca Majolie, and Walt was so impressed with her artistic talents and story skills, that he hired her as his story department’s first female employee.
The restaurant opened under the name Montgomery Inn in 1922. In 1925, it was renamed The Tam O’Shanter and was re-themed as a Scottish Inn. It was one of the first themed restaurants with tartans and other artifacts decorating the interior.
Scottish writer Robert Burns introduced the character of Tam O'Shanter in a poem in 1790, and the term has since come to be associated with a voluminous Scottish-style wool hat worn by men.
The Tam-O, the nickname for the restaurant, was co-owned by Lawrence L. Frank (later the founder of Lawry’s Prime Rib Restaurants) and his father-in-law Walter Van de Kamp (famous for Van de Kamp bakeries).
It became a hang out for the stars of the silent film era, like Tom Mix, Fatty Arbuckle and Mary Pickford, and would continue to be popular with Hollywood celebrities through the 1960s. It was known for its prime rib.
In 1968, it underwent a name change to The Great Scot, but found its way back to the original namesake in 1982 on its 60th anniversary.
On one wall is a colored sketch (drawn by Disney Legend John Hench but signed by Walt thanking Frank) of Lawrence Frank in tam and tartan surrounded by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald and Pluto also dressed in similar garb.
Another drawing, done after Walt’s passing, is a color sketch of Mr. Richard Frank Sr. (Lawrence’s son) at the head of table of food. Seated on either side of the table are images of Mickey Mouse as he appeared over the decades.
Another wall has various photos of Disney legends Marc Davis, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnson on one of their last visits together to the Tam-O.
Walt's favorite table at Tam O'Shanter was No. 31 near the fireplace.
The “Storybook Style” architecture styled restaurant was designed by Harry Oliver, a movie art director in the 1920s and 1930s, who used movie studio carpenters to help build it.
Oliver remained a friend of Walt’s until Walt’s death. Walt publicly stated that it was Oliver who coined the word “litter bug.” In fact, Walt had the artists at his studio draw up a caricature of Oliver riding a donkey for a trashbag as part of the “Keep the Desert Beautiful” campaign.
While there have been some cosmetic and structural changes over the years, the integrity of the original concept and design theme is much the same as it was when Walt dined there.
Hollywood Brown Derby, 1628 North Vine Street, Hollywood, California
There were four Brown Derby restaurants in the Los Angeles area (Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Los Feliz and Wilshire Boulevard), but only the one on Wilshire Boulevard was in the shape of a derby hat.
The one most frequented by Walt Disney was the one on Vine Street, a half block south of Hollywood Boulevard that opened in 1929 and was operated by Bob Cobb.
It was in the center of broadcasting studios, theaters and movie studios so it became a popular location for celebrities and for making deals.
The architect was Carl Jules Weyl who later became a Warner Brothers art director after the Depression. He designed the iconic Rick’s Café in the classic film Casablanca where Rick (Humphrey Bogart) had an office above the restaurant (just like one that Weyl designed for owner Bob Cobb above the Hollywood Brown Derby).
It was at this Brown Derby that both the Cobb salad and the infamous grapefruit cake were created. Movie stars often received fan mail addressed simply to their name c/o The Brown Derby, Hollywood and Vine.
Besides dining there often with his wife, Walt and Cobb were friends who also shared a love of baseball. They served together on the board of directors of the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars.
A drawing of the famous Brown Derby on Vine, where Walt could be found having meals, was such a hangout for celebrities, some would even have their mail sent there.
“Mother and Dad had a box at Gilmore Field [located near Fairfax and Third Street], which was the home of the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League,” said Diane Disney Miller, Walt’s oldest daughter. “This was during the 1940s and 1950s. The box was right behind the Stars’ dugout, between first base and home plate. They attended most of the home games, and when I was in my early teens, I went with them to night games during the week and double headers on Sunday afternoons.”
“When Walter O’Malley moved the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles, the Hollywood Stars ceased to exist,” she said.
Walt and Cobb were on the advisory board of Gene Autry’s California Angels baseball team, as well.
“When Gene Autry formed the Los Angeles Angels, he offered to let Dad and Cobb purchase some stock and credited them as ‘advisers’. When I noticed this on the game program once, I was really impressed. Dad acknowledged it, and said, with mock ruefulness, ‘But he hasn’t asked me for any advice yet,’” Diane said.
In the Disney 1947 film Fun and Fancy Free at the end of the “Mickey and the Beanstalk” segment, Willie the Giant stomps through Hollywood looking for Mickey Mouse. The giant sees the Wilshire Brown Derby resturant shaped like a derby all lit up in the evening and picks it up and puts it on his head.
The Hollywood Brown Derby was closed in 1985 from earthquake damage. The Hollywood Brown Derby began its licensing program in 1987 with an agreement with the Disney Company for a re-creation of restaurant at Disney's Hollywood Studios (then the Disney MGM Studios) at Walt DIsney World.
In 1990, Walt Disney Company entered into three additional agreements for Euro-Disney, Tokyo Disney and Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Patys, 1001 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake, California
Opened in 1960, the restaurant was known for diner favorites and home baked goods. It was a popular location of many locals including stars like Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and James Garner. Today it is a well known “retro diner” and many current celebrities like Steve Carell, Zack Efron and Hilary Duff go to the eatery.
Disney Legend and composer Buddy Baker once owned the restaurant and remembered that Walt would linger with a cup of coffee at the counter to watch the baker make mini loaves of bread. According to Baker, Walt found this so fascinating that he considered including the process at Disneyland where guests could watch through a plate glass window and then purchase the results.
Walt Disney would hang out around Hollywood and enjoy meals with friends Lawrence Frank and Harry Oliver.
Biff’s, Burbank
“[Walt] liked to eat at Biff’s [a little coffee house on a nearby corner near the Burbank studio]. He felt they did their potatoes ‘right’ by pan-frying them,” said Diane Disney Miller who also revealed that their cook Thelma went to check and the potatoes were just hash browned.
Restaurant chain owner W.W. “Tiny” Naylor (the nickname “Tiny” came from him being 6-foot-4 and weighing 320 pounds) started Biff's (his son's name) in 1948. He also started the Tiny Naylor “googie style” coffee shops in 1957.
There were Biff’s locations in Burbank, Santa Monica, Reseda, Northridge, Encino, Long Beach, Hollywood, and elsewhere.
The chain offered typical diner food like hamburgers, hot roast beef sandwich, tuna melt, steak sandwich, fish and chips, chili, etc.
The cover of the Biff’s menu was drawn by famous cartoonist George McManus (Bringing Up Father) and featured an overweight cook stepping forward carrying high above his head with his left hand a steaming pot with a smiling duck’s head and neck sticking out.
The North Hollywood location at Magnolia Boulevard and Lankershim Boulevard was often used in the television series Adam-12 (for example, Season 1, Episode 6 and Episode 25) as a hangout for the police officers since it was close to the studio where the series was being filmed. The interior and exterior shots look pretty much like the Biff’s that Walt would have visited.
Now we have the locations that have a place in Disney history.
St. Joseph’s Hospital (Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center), 501 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California
The hospital was founded in 1943 by the Catholic nuns the Sisters of Providence. Walt was a strong supporter of the hospital. It was located directly across the street from the Disney Studio and is still there today
On November 30, 1966, Walt collapsed and was admitted to the hospital under the pseudonym “John Smith” to not alert the press. Walt died at 9:35 am on December 15, 1966 in Room 529 at the age of 65.
Cause of death according to Walt’s official death certificate was cardiac arrest due to Bronchogenic ca(rcinoma) or more commonly, “lung cancer.” The certificate also shows that Walt was cremated on December 17 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale.
Walt’s older brother Roy collapsed in December 1971 and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was in room 421. He had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and was put on life sustaining apparatus. His wife, Edna, consented to have him removed from the equipment and he died at the age of 78 on December 20, 1971.
Unfortunately, Roy’s grandson, Roy Patrick Disney, had taken a bad fall from a tree a couple of days earlier and suffered severe head injuries. He was in room 321, just one floor below his grandfather. It was touch and go for awhile but Roy Patrick recovered.
Edna Disney died at St. Joseph’s on December 19,1984.
Other celebrities, like animation legend Tex Avery and voice of Donald Duck Clarence Nash died at St. Joseph’s, as well.
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale, 1712 S. Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California
A small private memorial service was held at 5 p.m. on December 16, 1966 at the Little Church of the Flowers for Walt Disney.
Only his wife, Lillian; his daughters, Diane and Sharon (and their husbands); his brother, Roy (and his wife Edna); and his nephew, Roy Edward (and his wife Patty) attended. Walt’s younger sister Ruth did not attend for fear that she would be hounded by the press if she left Oregon where she was living.
Walt had been insistent that he did not want a public funeral. The studio gave out no information other than the service was private and that the family requested instead of flowers that contributions be made to the California Institute of the Arts.
According to the official death certificate, Walt’s body was cremated the following day, December 17.
For nearly a year after the cremation, Walt Disney’s ashes remained un-interred. When Sharon’s husband Bob Brown died less than a year later in September 1967, Sharon made the arrangements for her father and her husband to be interred together so that neither would be alone. She and her older sister Diane chose a remote plot outside the Freedom Mausoleum.
A modest bronze rectangular tablet on a wall lists the name of Walter Elias Disney, his wife Lillian, his son-in-law Robert Brown and a mention that daughter Sharon’s ashes were “scattered in paradise.”
To locate the site, drive through the entrance to reach a road called Cathedral Drive. Stay on the road to the eastern edge of the park where Cathedral Drive intersects with the road Freedom Way. At that intersection, turn right onto Freedom Way. On your left will be trees, fountains and statues and this area is called Freedom Court.
At the far end of Freedom Court is a large mausoleum. Pull over and park on the right hand side of the street. There should be a “33” painted on the curb opposite your car, indicating 33 Freedom Way. Standing at the base of the steps leading to the main entrance of the Freedom Mausoleum, turn to your left and walk to the far edge of the steps.
There is a small private low gated courtyard garden near the brick wall. Inside this area guarded by a hedge of orange olivias, red azaleas and a holly tree, on the wall is the plaque. You will see a small statue of Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid sitting on a rock.
The cause of death according to Walt’s official death certificate was cardiac arrest due to Bronchogenic ca(rcinoma) or more commonly, “lung cancer.”
Walt Disney was not cryogenically frozen.
Walt’s father Elias is at the Great Mausoleum, Memorial Terrace, Sanctuary of Truth, Crypt 5499 right next to his wife, Walt’s mother Flora.
Walt’s brother Raymond is at the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Prayer, Crypt 20400.
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California
Roy Disney was not cremated but buried at the Forest Lawn that overlooks the Disney Studio.
Across the park, near the main gate in the Sheltering Hills section is the grave of Roy O. Disney.
Drive southeast a short distance until you see a white statue of two small children (on the right side of the road). Starting from that same white statue of the two children, walk up (west) seven rows, then go left about 10 spaces to grave No. 125. (Or use the directions: seven rows up from Memorial Drive and nine markers in from Evergreen Drive).
His grave marker reads: “A great and humble man He left the world a better place.”
His wife, Edna, is also buried at this Forest Lawn next to him. Her marker reads “Loving wife, devoted mother and a gallant lady.”
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The first stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame were installed in the Spring of 1956 and now include almost 2,500 stars embedded in the 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
While several stars are dedicated to Disney characters, three stars acknowledge the Disney brothers.
- Walt Disney – 7021 Hollywood Boulevard (February 8, 1960, star for Movies)
- Walt Disney – 6747 Hollywood Boulevard (February 8, 1960, star for Television)
- Roy O. Disney – 6833 Hollywood Boulevard (July 24, 1998, star for Movies)
Walt’s Bust, 5220 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, California
Walt Disney was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1986. His widow, Lillian, accepted the award. A bust of Walt Disney sculpted by Disney Legend Blaine Gibson is in the courtyard. A duplicate is in the re-creation of the courtyard at Disney Hollywood Studios near the former American Idol attraction.
Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round and Walt's Barn, 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California 90027
Located in Park Center between the Los Angeles Zoo and the Los Feliz entrance, the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round was built in 1926 by Spillman Engineering Company. It was brought to Griffith Park in 1937. Walt took his two daughters to ride this attraction while he sat on a bench and was inspired to build Disneyland.
Adjacent to the Travel Town Museum, at 5202 Zoo Drive, is the section operated by the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum. Part of the facility includes the barn workshop that was in the backyard of Walt’s Holmby Hills home on Carolwood Drive.
Walt’s Garage, The Stanley Ranch Museum (Heritage Park), 12174 Euclid Street, Garden Grove, California
On October 20, 1984, the garage from Uncle Robert Disney’s house where Walt set up his first animation workshop in Hollywood was officially opened at this museum for tourists to visit.
