But this is LaughingPlace.com, so something needs to be addresses before I go any further.

Why “Walt Disney�??
No, it isn't owned by The Walt Disney Company or the Disney family. In fact, it is owned by the County of Los Angeles. Walt Disney Imagineering didn't design it.

So why is the Walt Disney Concert Hall called the “Walt Disney�? Concert Hall?

Projects like the new Concert Hall take a lot of money to bring to reality - hundreds of millions of dollars, in fact. Walt Disney was a founding board member of the Music Center, of which the Hall is an expansion. In 1987, Walt's late widow, Lillian Disney, continued her family's involvement by making a donation of $50 million in Walt's name towards building the new performance venue. The Disney family has since made other large gifts towards the project.

Besides Lillian Bounds Disney and The Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation, some of the other contributors listed as donating "$5 million and above" include: Roy Edward Disney (son of Walt's brother and business partner Roy Oliver Disney) and his wife, Patty; Diane and Ron Miller (Walt's daughter and her husband, who is a former Walt Disney Productions executive); and The Walt Disney Company.

Another "Disney" connection with the project is REDCAT, which is the acronym for the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater. It is a 266-seat theater located at the southwest corner of the complex, at Second and Hope Streets, and it will be accessible through a separate main entrance. Walt Disney had considered building the California Institute for the Arts at the Music Center, but instead "CalArts" found a home in Valencia. Gifts from Roy Edward Disney and The Walt Disney Company are finally bringing CalArts to downtown Los Angeles in sense, as the school will operate and program REDCAT.

Who Did Design It?
Earlier I mentioned that Walt Disney Imagineering was NOT behind the design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. No, Frank O. Gehry gets credit for that.

That's another Disney connection. Walt Disney Company properties around the world feature designs by such present-day architectural legends as Michael Graves and Frank Gehry. Gehry designed the Team Disney Anaheim administration building. That's the building at the northern end of the Disneyland Resort that has a blue/green side along the I-5 Santa Ana Freeway and is yellow on the other side. He is Design Principal for the firm of Frank O. Gehry and Associates, Inc. Actually, a lot of people have collaborated on the project, and you can get a breakdown at one of the official web sites, listed at the end of this column.

In fact, there is plenty of great information at those sites that I'm not going to waste time rewriting here, so check them out if you are truly interested.

"Speaking" of architecture, this is as good of a place as any to mention that the original Music Center that opened in December of 1964 was designed by Welton Becket. Becket did some work with Walt, designed the Polynesian and Contemporary Resorts at Walt Disney World Resort, and has designed some of the signature Los Angeles-area buildings.

What Is the Walt Disney Concert Hall?
REDCAT is just one of the elements of the Hall, a relatively small element.

The Hall will soon be home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale.

The main auditorium has over 2,200 seats. The stage faces the intersection of First Street and Grand Avenue.

Auditorium from the Fifth Level, the organ is being installed. The stage is constructed of Alaskan Yellow Cedar, each panel hand-picked. A 'cloud-like hardwood ceiling' drifts overhead, designed to turn a giant box into a more natural-feeling space with the proper acoustics.
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The highly-touted organ under construction.
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