Lots of thought went into the buildings and names of shops around the Disney-MGM Studios by Disney Imagineers to help re-create a look of Hollywood from it's golden age. Rather than come up with building looks on their own, Disney Imagineers referenced photos of Hollywood and incorporated elements from older buildings in some while totally re-creating buildings as a whole for others. The similiarities between the Hollywood Boulevard of the Disney-MGM Studios to real life buildings, gone or still here, is very much not a coincicedence.
Sid Caheunga's One-of-a-Kind
Sid's is based on a real life story of a man named Sid Caheunga who moved to Hollywood in the early 1900's before Hollywood was glamorous for being Hollywood. The built their house but with the boom of Hollywood, new buildings were going up quickly and Sid's property became very popuilar; so much so that movie studios wanted to buy his land numerous times but Sid refused. As a result, movie studios popped up all around Sid's house and Sid got the idea to sell movie memorabilia from his house
Crossroads of the World
Crossroads of the World is a copy of entry of the shopping centre located at the 6671 Sunset Boulevard which is one of the first commercial places of its kind in the United States. This unusual little collection of shops has been called "L.A.'s first modern shopping mall." Built in 1936, Crossroads of the World is perhaps most notable for its unique architecture. The centerpiece building of the project resembles a miniature ocean liner, an Art Deco facade complete with portholes, railings, life preservers, and decks,. An outdoor village of small, European-style bungalows surrounds the "ship" (Italian, Mexican, Turkish, New England, French - there's even a lighthouse!), and rising above it all is a central 30'-foot Streamline Moderne tower, topped by an 8-foot, revolving globe of planet Earth.
Crossroads of the World as seen today
The Disney-MGM Studios version
The Dark Room
The photo store at the Studios today references the architectual style of the 1920's-40's when buildings were shaped like the item they were selling (hot dogs, donuts, etc). The Dark Room, a store to sell photo related merchandise, features a larger than life camera in the front facade of the building which is similiar to a building at 5370 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, Ca. The store's facade is recognized as a rare example of Programmatic architecture and was designated as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #451 in 1989. It was designed by Marcus Miller to resemble a nine-foot-high Argus 35mm camera in 1938.
The original Darkoom building from Los Angeles
The Dark Room today in the Disney-MGM Studios
Mickey's of Hollywood
Mickey's of Hollywood has a distinctive look to it which references the the Max Factor building at 1660 North Highland Avenue which in the 1930's and 1940's was the home of Max Factor makeup studios where women would go to get their makeup done for them. The building was originally built in 1913 by C. E. Toberman and was known as the Hollywood Fire & Safe Building. In 1928, Max Factor purchased the four-story building and began manufacturing his world famous make up on the upper floors while transforming the ground floor into a grand salon where fashionable women and celebrities of the day came to see and purchase the nation's latest racy trend: make up for ladies of society.
In 1935, Max Factor reopened his famous make up salon in the "modern" Art Deco Hollywood Regency style of architecture.
The old Max Factor building
Mickey's of Hollywood
Keystone Clothiers
One of the finest examples of Art Deco/Streamline Moderne architecture in the historic district of Los Angeles located at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard with the angle of Cahuenga Avenue.This building became the reference for Keystone Clothiers at the Disney-MGM Studios. The ground floor was originally a drug store, with medical offices above.
