Why it's there: Once Upon A Time shop

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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Matt Hochberg

Many buildings and windows at the Disney-MGM Studios pay hommage to the early beginnings of Walt Disney and the Disney Company and one rather large reference can be found in a little shop at the end of Sunset Boulevard called the "Once Upon A Time shop". This peach colored building sells mostly Christmas and Hannukah themed merchandise year round but the building itself is there for a reason.

Although the shop is called the Once Upon A Time shop, the name of the building it's referencing is written above the entrance to the shop as well as vertically on the large sign, the Carthay Circle. The building is in fact an exact replica of the Carthay Circle located at 6316 San Vicente near Carillo Avenue, Los Angeles CA. The Carthay is where Disney premeired Snow White in 1938, the first ever full length animated feature, and the movie that put Disney on the map. Until that evening, the movie industry had been very negative toward a full-length animated fairy-tale. But the audience's response and Walt's emotional curtain speech surely place that event high on the list of reasons for the historic significance of the Carthay Circle.

The Carthay Circle was the site of innumerable premieres and was one of the jewels of the Fox Theatre empire. The Carthay Circle's style was mission revival, it seated around 1500 people. This theatre (and Mann's Chinese Theatre) held more premieres than any theatre around. Gone With the Wind held it's big west coast premiere here. The Carthay Circle was torn down in the early 1970s.