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Disney announced a $1.1 billion makeover of California Adventure to make it, well, more like Disneyland. They also plan to add a replica of the old Carthay Circle Theater, where Disney classics such as Snow White and Fantasia had their premieres. The Carthay vanished in the late 1960s after a return engagement of Gone With the Wind, which also premiered in L.A. there. The theater, built in 1926 at what is now San Vicente (then Eulalia Boulevard) and McCarthy Vista, hosted many big red carpet opening nights in its day. The Carthay Circle neighborhood took its name from the theater — the home tract there was originally called Carthay Center. The whole development came with a California history theme, thus the statue of a gold panner and streets named for figures from history. The theater was famed partly for its lobby displays of Californiana art. Disney includes small likenesses of the Carthay Circle in its other parts, and you can also the old movie palace depicted in the illuminated mural inside the Crest theatre in Westwood.
Photo: Los Angeles Public Library