Walt's Barn

Walt and his trains

As we were leaving Anaheim on Thursday (see below), I turned to my sister and said I’d had enough of Disney for a while. After all, Tim and I had been to the parks four times over the past two months! How much more could one person stand?

My sister just laughed, knowing my tolerance level for all things Disney is actually quite high. In fact, Tim and I had already purchased tickets for a Disney event Saturday night: a barbecue to raise funds to help preserve Walt’s old barn, sponsored by the Carolwood Foundation.

Walt's barn

We had never heard of Carolwood until our friends mentioned it when we were in Arroyo Grande last month. Turns out there’s a local group, called L.A. Live Steamers, that maintains a museum and 8 miles of narrow-gauge model railroad tracks in nearby Griffith Park. Included on this property is the barn Walt Disney owned when he and his family lived on Carolwood Dr. in the Holmby Hills. According to Disney lore, this is where Walt and his colleagues developed many of their creative ideas, including plans for a future amusement park called Disneyland. Today the barn is considered the birthplace of Disney’s Imagineering. It is open to the public, 11AM-3PM, the third Sunday of every month.

A "combine car" from Disneyland

While Tim was researching the model train group, he noticed that the Carolwood Foundation, which spearheaded the relocation of the barn to Griffith Park in the late 1990s, was having a fund-raising barbecue. I don’t subscribe to what I call “the cult of Walt Disney.” Still, I am interested in the history of Disneyland, so was vaguely aware of the barn, though didn’t exactly know its significance. Regardless, we do love barbecue and learning about historical places in L.A. and so registered for the event.

Disney fans come in all shapes, colors and ages and usually wear their various allegiances proudly. Fans of certain movies or theme park rides, for instance, tend to wear t-shirts or jewelry depicting their favorites. Not so much with the Carolwood crowd.

“Oh oh,” I whispered to Tim, while we were waiting on line to get in. “I think these folks might be more into trains than they are Disney.”

But I was wrong. As we soon found out, everyone there was totally into Disney and Walt Disney, in particular. Guest speakers included Alice Davis, the “Disney Legend” who not only designed the dress that Sleeping Beauty wore in the cartoon movie, she also designed the costumes for the “It’s a Small World” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” rides. When asked during the audience Q&A what job she’d like to do if Walt were still alive today, she answered, “Whatever Walt asked!”

Also speaking was John Kimball, whose father Ward Kimball was a “Disney Legend,” too, and master illustrator. Ward operated a full-sized train engine in his backyard and was the one who first introduced Walt to the world of model railroads. Both speakers were fascinating.

The barn, which features photos and many artifacts of Walt’s love of railroads, was open. Several trains were also running, so we rode around the grounds twice. I daresay we are now hooked on 1/8^th-scale model railroads!

Fun stuff in the barn

And, oh yeah, last night we went to the Pixar concert at the Hollywood Bowl. It was wonderful. I guess I'm not quite done with Disney yet.

Ridin' the rails

Dress Like Walt Day

Yesterday would have been Walt Disney’s 111^th birthday. To celebrate, fans around the country decided to “Dress Like Walt” in honor of their patron saint. We chose to spend Walt’s birthday at Disneyland’s exclusive restaurant, Club 33, with fellow members of the Carolwood Foundation. 

Because Club 33 is so exclusive, we were asked to arrive a half-hour early so we could all enter together en mass. There was no way I could drive in rush hour traffic wearing a 1950s-style crinoline petticoat, so we cashed in some of our Starwood points and reserved a room at the Sheraton, where we changed into our retro clothes before heading to the park. We were the last couple on a very long line of some 100 Disney fans, all dressed in early- to mid-20^th-century apparel. Quite a sight!

Tim in his titki shirt and 

me in my 1950s strappy party dress

We sat at a table with three other Carolwood members, one of whom had never been to Club 33. (This was our third time.) After everyone was settled and had ordered drinks, the hostess stopped by each table, directing us to a small room where an extensive buffet awaited. We helped ourselves to several varieties of salad, roast pork, chicken (me), vegetables, and various types of seafood (Tim). We returned later for dessert—mostly cookies, pie and an extremely popular chocolate fountain.

Everyone was encouraged to bring a small Disney-related gift that was then raffled off after dinner. We, along with several other people, brought nice trading pins, but there were also fabulous gifts, like free tours of Disneyland, tickets to the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, books, Disneyland maps, and one-of-a-kind artwork. We didn’t win a thing!

But we did get to talk to the guest of honor, Bob Gurr, who worked for Walt and designed the monorail, submarine and Autopia rides, among other things. I had been quite smitten by Bob at the Smoke Tree Ranch in January, so it was fun seeing him again.

Me and Bob

Plus Timmy

The holiday fireworks show started at 8:30PM, prompting us all to run out onto the balcony to watch. Amazingly, I didn't knock anyone over the balcony with my dress. I swear, I don’t know how women used to walk around in petticoats!

Sleeping Beauty's castle

After birthday cake, we bid our new friends adieu and joined a group that was leaving. The park was already closed for two hours, so we had to be escorted to the exit. Sleeping Beauty’s castle was still blazing in all its holiday glory, while music continued to play. And yet there we were, the only people in all of Disneyland! “This is eerie!” someone in the group whispered, and it was. But before we knew it, our escort was unlocking the front gate as we all (sadly) passed back into reality.

Christmas on Main St.

Happy birthday, Walt! Thanks for giving us the happiest place on earth!

Walt Disney's Trains

Exhibit poster

Many people believe Disneyland would not exist if not for Walt Disney’s passion for trains. Some cite the influence of animator Ward Kimball, who owned and ran a full-sized locomotive in his backyard, and Ollie Johnston, one of Disney’s “nine old men,” who introduced Walt to narrow gauge model trains. Walt himself said he always loved trains and insisted, from its earliest conception, that whatever shape Disneyland ultimately took, it had to have a train running around its perimeter.

The Walt Disney FamilyMuseum is currently featuring a temporary exhibit--“All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt’s Trains”--that chronicles Disney’s lifelong interest in all things locomotive. Special programs are also occasionally presented at the museum in conjunction with the exhibit. Yesterday, for instance, was “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad:Building and Running Walt’s Trains,” a highly anticipated program about the trains at Disneyland. This was such a big deal that the Carolwood Foundation, the organization dedicated to preserving Walt’s railroad legacy, offered members the opportunity to take a 12-hour vintage railcar ride, Friday, from L.A. to the Bay, to see the exhibit and attend the presentation. We joined 20 other people, including folks from St. Louis and Orlando, on the trip.

Our train car, the Silver Splendor

Tim and I boarded the train at Union Station well before departure. Our car, the Silver Splendor, was built in 1956 and has a lounge, dining area, and galley downstairs. Upstairs is the glass-enclosed Vista Dome and table seating for about 24 people. We were early enough to claim one of the prime tables at the front of the dome, where, except for meals, we rode the entire trip. Fellow passengers cycled in and out of the dome area, depending on the view. As one member of the group pointed out, everyone was either a Disney employee, a former Disney employee, and/or a Disney fan, so our ears were constantly perked for insider Disney stories being shared around the tables.

Luggage and dining area downstairs

Downstairs hallway

Looking up the stairs to the Vista Dome

Looking down the stairs. Silent auction on the left.

I won a cup full of brass Disneyland conductor buttons!

View north of Santa Barbara. Note the Channel Islands

in the background.

Our car was attached to Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, the rail that apparently travels the longest stretch of coastline in the U.S. The weather was absolutely perfect: I don’t remember the last time the Channel Islands were so clear off the Santa Barbara coast. But for me, the best part was getting a rare glimpse of the Vandenberg airbase, the site of countless westcoast rocket launches. Tim and I still remember seeing mysterious contrails streaking across the skies when we were kids. “They must be launching rockets again out of Vandenberg,” my dad would always say, as if this was the most natural thing on earth. What a thrill to actually see one of the base’s still-in-use launch pads.

Launch pad, Vanderberg airbase

California coast

Rounding a bend: looking toward the front of the train

Standing on the back "porch," watching the world

speed by. Yee haw!

We spent the night in Oakland’s Jack London Square and so took BART the next morning to get to San Francisco and the museum. En route, we stopped at the old Ferry Building, which was renovated into a public marketplace over 10 years ago. Lots of tasty temptations—a real destination spot the next time we’re in town. 

Looking up at the Ferry Building roof

At the museum, we went through the special train exhibit, which was wonderful, then waited on line for the program. I kept looking for Disney “legends," who might also be there for the event, but didn’t see anyone other than Carolwood and D23 members. We then entered the theater.

Walt and his narrow-gauge train

Walt's actual train

Three speakers were introduced: Bill Colley and Craig Ludwick, both of whom worked on the Disneyland railroad, and Sean Bautista, president of Hillcrest Shops that rebuild and maintain many Disney-related trains. I, of course, know nothing about the mechanical workings of locomotives, but even I was fascinated by all the talk of preserving steam engines and stripping cars down to the frames. Ludwick’s story about saving the Lilly Belle, the presidential train car Walt named after his wife Lillian, was an especially heart-tugging high point of the program. That is, until a surprise speaker was announced: none other than John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar and huge train buff! He told a moving story about buying and refurbishing his mentor Ollie Johnston’s former Porter steam locomotive, the Marie E., as a way to help celebrate Disneyland’s 50^th anniversary in 2005. He then showed a short, but highly emotional film of 92-year-old Ollie driving the train around Disneyland—to this day, the only privately-owned train to ever ride around the park. (You can see the film at http://frankanollie.com/Movies/MarieE.mov.) By the time Lasseter finished, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. What a wonderful day for Disney and railroad fans alike.

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P.S. It’s now Sunday and Tim is aboard the Silver Splendor, heading back to L.A., while I spend the night in Sacramento. I have an early meeting here tomorrow morning, so took Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor line directly to Sac, instead of going home. The ride was scenic enough, but Amtrak is certainly nothing like traveling in a restored 1956 domed Pullman. I miss the Silver Splendor. . .

Silver Splendor, heading home

Tim, bidding me adieu

Sun setting over the California coast