The Walt Disney home in Los Feliz

Recently I had the opportunity to tour the Walt Disney home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Even the driveway had a sense of Walt’s showmanship, as I anxiously walked up and around the corner of the brick wall for the big reveal. And it did not disappoint! Behind me was one of those most magnificent views of downtown Los Angeles. You could see the city, but still feel that you were tucked away in a serene spot where people and nature could cohabitate.



Walt and his wife Lillian moved into this F. Scott Crowhurst designed home in 1932, just as Walt was feeling the commercial success from Mickey Mouse. Daughters Diane and Sharon grew up there until 1950 when Walt moved to Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood. Below is an ad from the Architectural Record, December 1933, which Shirley Temple expert supreme Rita Dubas alerted me to. “Ma Bell” gushed over the recently completed Disney home and included the floor plans for readers to see.



The obligatory selfie after I arrived.



A panoramic view of the exterior:



The tour guide turned out to be Dusty Sage. To say that his “Disney Resume” is impressive is truly an understatment:

The founder and CEO of MiceChat.com. When he's not visiting theme parks and writing, editing or speaking about Disney and theme parks worldwide, Dusty is involved in multiple Disney related projects and charities. He helped save and restore the charming Walt Disney Birthplace in Chicago, launched the Dick Van Dyke Foundation, and is the curator of Walt Disney's historic 1930's estate in Los Feliz.

 

I was most impressed that for the most part, this storybook-style mansion appeared untouched. Original front door, light fixtures, and hardware!



The foyer is the type that could take your breath away, and I’m not just talking about the low railings on the staircase or the wide circles that kids could easily fall through…I’m talking about the aesthetics! As Dusty so perfectly put it: “Today, if a kid fell over the railing, the parents would sue. If a kid fell over the railing back in Walt’s day, they’d be laughed at.”



The forced perspective of the second floor ceiling placement makes the foyer tower look much bigger than it actually is.



The current owner of the home has done an incredible job of furnishing the home to look as if you had stepped back into the 1930s.



The living room; oh, the stories that could be told here.



Projection rooms in Hollywood homes were not all that uncommon, so it’s not too surprising that Walt, the head of a film studio, had a pretty room one here on Woking Way.



You can see the hole in the wall for the projector:



The outside metal door was for the room where the films and the projection equipment were kept. Because of the flammability of nitrate film, lead-lined doors were a necessity.



This beautiful pool is one of the few things not original to the house. The original five acres that Walt owned was eventually sub-divided. Walt’s original pool still exists, but at the house next door. The one shown below is a more recent addition.



However, this little Storybook Playhouse IS original. It was built on Christmas Eve, 1937, while the Disney girls were sleeping. Studio craftsman built, plumbed, and electrified this structure all in one night so that Diane and Sharon could be surprised by it when they woke up Christmas morning. There was even a phone inside, which first greeted the sisters with a call from Santa himself!



A vintage shot of Walt (sans shoes!) with his daughters, from the Walt Disney Family Museum collection:



The backyard gave definite Disneyland Haunted Mansion garden vibes!



Original light fixtures; I was in geek heaven.



I don’t have any photos of the actual bedrooms where Diane and Sharon grew up, but I did get to tour them. To walk through the rooms where Walt read to his daughters (Pinocchio in this particular photo) was mind-blowing. The Disney movies “Mary Poppins” and “Winnie the Pooh” were basically begun here, as they were the favorite stories of the girls and the reason why Walt had his studio make them.



While this is a private home and rarely available for tours, when they happen you can find them listed on the Walt Disney’s Storybook Mansion Facebook page.

See more vintage and contemporary Los Angeles photos at my main website.