Disney�s New Buena Vista Street: Looking Forward by Looking Back
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Continuing down the street at 2628 is Los Feliz Five and Dime. Los Feliz is the name of a street and a district in Los Angeles. Walt and brother Roy Disney built their first homes in California in the Los Feliz district, side by side on Lyric Avenue, within walking distance of the original Hyperion Street studio.
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House built by Walt Disney on Lyric Avenue
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Next is Big Top Toys at 2642 Buena Vista Street. One of the more popular entries in the Mickey Mouse series was Mickey�s Circus, released in 1936. The ad for Big Top Toys notes �We�re under the bridge.� That bridge, carrying the monorail tracks, is based on the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct (1928), which carried traffic over the Los Angeles River and past the original Disney Studio. It can also be seen in the 1988 release Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
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Early photo of the Glendale-Hyperion Viaduct
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Across the street, at 2701 are Julius Katz Shoe and Watch Repair and Julius Katz & Sons Appliances and More. While there may not be a Julius Katz in Disney history, there was a cat named Julius. In the silent comedy Alice�s Spooky Adventure (1924), Alice cavorts with an unnamed animated black cat. Distributor Margaret Winkler urged Disney to emphasize the new character. Uncomfortably aware that Felix the Cat was already a well established animated star, Disney nonetheless complied, and Julius (as the cat would be named) eventually became well known as Alice�s animated sidekick.
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Julius the Cat, center, smokes a pipe as Alice reads
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