The Disneyland-related benefits of living in Los Angeles do not stop
with proximity to the resort itself. Because the park has remained
primarily of interest to locals (as opposed to tourists like its
Orlando counterpart), the hardcore fan community is pretty
centralized to Southern California. As well, this city being a major
hub—maybe the major hub—for the entertainment industry as
a whole means that, to put it delicately, there are quite a few
stinking rich people in this area. And that all means
that, on those rare occasions when Disneyland just up and gets rid of
something, it tends to end up in the possession of someone who lives
nearby...and in the fullness of time, many of these things come
back to the fan community in some way.
One of those ways is by being loaned for display to the Van
Eaton Galleries, an art distributor and auction house
headquartered in Sherman Oaks, CA, perhaps a 45-minute drive from
Disneyland...and about five miles away from the residence of Yours
Truly. I manage to drop in whenever they have a Disneyland
memorabilia collection on the premises. The subsequent auctions are
invariably too rich for my blood, but they let you take as many
photos in the meantime as you like.
For the most recent exhibit, still (barely) ongoing, they've ramped
things up. This time, the feature is the collection of Disneyland
megafan Richard Kraft, including everything from concept art to
decommissioned ride vehicles, and there weren't no way that was going
to fit into their regular exhibition rooms or even the overflow space
next door. So they've leased a two-story retail location* for a
full-on, museum-style pop-up exhibit and gift shop, freely open to
the public. The name of the exhibit? That's
From Disneyland!
That name says it all, doesn't it? They certainly know who their
audience is—people who know Disneyland's iconography by sight and
need no other reason to love it.
What? Of course I've been there. What kind of question is that? Here
are just a few of the nice photos I got...
