A little bit of Classic Disney 40 miles from Disneyland

[MK-fan]

In 1966, Walt Disney assigned Mary Blair to create a Ceramic Tile Mural themed to It’s a Small World and presented it as a gift to his friends Jules and Doris Stein to be placed in the pediatric unit at their Eye Institute in UCLA. Walt was so impressed with the mural that he had Mary design the Corridor of Murals for Tomorrowland 67. This was followed by her large mural placed inside the contemporary resort hotel.
The Eye institute mural is beautiful And I could spend hours looking at it.

 

[Sailor310]

In 1965, Walt Disney assigned Mary Blair to create a Ceramic Tile Mural themed to It’s a Small World and presented it as a gift to his friends Jules and Doris Stein to be placed in the pediatric unit at their Eye Institute in UCLA. Walt was so impressed with the mural that he had Mary design the Corridor of Murals for Tomorrowland 67. This was followed by her large mural placed inside the contemporary resort hotel.
The Eye institute mural is beautiful And I could spend hours looking at it.

Beautiful. As always, though, Walt's name on the dedication is a lot bigger than Mary Blair's.

 

[MK-fan]

I really hope that one day soon they’ll restore the Mari Blair Mural that resides under the buzz lightyear Astro blasters wallpaper mural

 

[CaptinEO]

I really hope that one day soon they’ll restore the Mari Blair Mural that resides under the buzz lightyear Astro blasters wallpaper mural

They destroyed it. There's videos of a crew destroying it in front of guests in the 80s.

 

[CaptinEO]

Found It

 

[MK-fan]

That was the Star Tours side, the circle-vision/buzz Lightyear side lasted for another 11 years and many believe is still sitting behind the current mural.

 

[SuddenStorm]

That was the Star Tours side, the circle-vision/buzz Lightyear side lasted for another 11 years and many believe is still sitting behind the current mural.

There's been tons of "extinct Disneyland piece is still there just hidden/backstage" rumors over the years. A few of the ones I've heard-

The Winnie the Pooh ride only takes up half the space so there's still a Country Bear Theater in existence- this has been proven false.
The Space Place Restaurant kitchen still exists behind the boarded up wall (behind the old Space Mountain FP distribution). This one isn't discussed much.
The Mary Blair Tomorrowland murals still exist but are just covered up. This one gets brought up often.
The old Town Square Cafe kitchen still exists. This one doesn't get brought up much.

My guess? The murals are destroyed and I doubt the abandoned kitchens have sat backstage for 20 years.

 

[Bullseye1967]

In 1966, Walt Disney assigned Mary Blair to create a Ceramic Tile Mural themed to It’s a Small World and presented it as a gift to his friends Jules and Doris Stein to be placed in the pediatric unit at their Eye Institute in UCLA. Walt was so impressed with the mural that he had Mary design the Corridor of Murals for Tomorrowland 67. This was followed by her large mural placed inside the contemporary resort hotel.
The Eye institute mural is beautiful And I could spend hours looking at it.

Thank you for posting this!

 

[Robbiem]

There's been tons of "extinct Disneyland piece is still there just hidden/backstage" rumors over the years. A few of the ones I've heard-

The Winnie the Pooh ride only takes up half the space so there's still a Country Bear Theater in existence- this has been proven false.
The Space Place Restaurant kitchen still exists behind the boarded up wall (behind the old Space Mountain FP distribution). This one isn't discussed much.
The Mary Blair Tomorrowland murals still exist but are just covered up. This one gets brought up often.
The old Town Square Cafe kitchen still exists. This one doesn't get brought up much.

My guess? The murals are destroyed and I doubt the abandoned kitchens have sat backstage for 20 years.

This is interesting- I’d love to know what bits of old parks are just covered up and left. I remember reading that the western river model was left like this in Florida. From experience I’d guess that if it doesn’t need to be removed it will left where it is to save on cost

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Here's a video showcasing how they made the mural (with a corny ending mixed in for good measure!):

 

[TP2000]

In 1966, Walt Disney assigned Mary Blair to create a Ceramic Tile Mural themed to It’s a Small World and presented it as a gift to his friends Jules and Doris Stein to be placed in the pediatric unit at their Eye Institute in UCLA. Walt was so impressed with the mural that he had Mary design the Corridor of Murals for Tomorrowland 67. This was followed by her large mural placed inside the contemporary resort hotel.
The Eye institute mural is beautiful And I could spend hours looking at it.

Who knew?! Thank you so much for sharing this forgotten piece of history here in SoCal.

 

[truecoat]

Found It

You might as well have someone torching a Picasso.

 

[smooch]

There's been tons of "extinct Disneyland piece is still there just hidden/backstage" rumors over the years. A few of the ones I've heard-

The Winnie the Pooh ride only takes up half the space so there's still a Country Bear Theater in existence- this has been proven false.
The Space Place Restaurant kitchen still exists behind the boarded up wall (behind the old Space Mountain FP distribution). This one isn't discussed much.
The Mary Blair Tomorrowland murals still exist but are just covered up. This one gets brought up often.
The old Town Square Cafe kitchen still exists. This one doesn't get brought up much.

My guess? The murals are destroyed and I doubt the abandoned kitchens have sat backstage for 20 years.

As annoying as it can get hearing rumors like these brought up as fact I always enjoy hearing Disneyland urban myths even though I know to take them with a grain of salt. I don't believe those kitchens are sitting backstage, Disneyland is so pressed for space I can imagine they try to use every space backstage that they have possible. I don't necessarily believe they have all been replaced with something else but there's no way there's empty kitchens just sitting there. These were all very interesting to hear about though, thank you for sharing these!