2495 Lyric Avenue, Los Feliz
Walt Disney lived, worked, and created Mickey Mouse in Los Feliz — and four of the original locations are still standing in the neighborhood today.
Before Disneyland. Before the empire. Before the animated films that shaped a century of popular culture. There was a young man named Walt Disney living in a modest neighborhood in East Los Angeles, renting space behind a real estate office and quietly changing the world from a 1,066 square foot house on a hillside street.
Los Feliz is where the Disney story began. And almost a hundred years later, most of it is still standing.
The Four Disney Locations in Los Feliz
Most people know about one or two Disney connections to Los Feliz. The full picture is richer than that. There are four distinct locations in and around the neighborhood — and you can still walk past all of them today.
1. Uncle Robert's House — 4406 Kingswell Avenue (1923)
In August 1923, a 21-year-old Walt Disney arrived in Hollywood with $40 in his pocket, a suitcase, and a dream. He moved in with his uncle Robert and aunt Charlotte at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in Los Feliz — paying $5 a week in rent, often covered by his older brother Roy.
On the left side of the house was a small wooden garage. Walt converted it into his first animation studio and began producing cartoon reels for movie theatres. This is where the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was founded.
The garage has been relocated and is now on display at the Stanley Ranch Museum and Historical Village in Garden Grove. But the house itself still stands on Kingswell Avenue and carries a designation as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
2. The First Disney Bros Studio — 4649–4651 Kingswell Avenue (1923–1926)
A few doors down from Uncle Robert's house, Walt and Roy rented a tiny office space behind Holly-Vermont Realty. This became the first formal home of the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio — the direct predecessor of The Walt Disney Company.
It was here that Walt created the Alice Comedies and met Lillian Bounds, whom he hired as an "ink and paint girl" — and who would later become his wife. The building is gone now, but the block on Kingswell is where it all took root.
3. Walt and Lillian's Home on Lyric Avenue — 2495 Lyric Avenue (1927–1932)
This is the one that matters most.
Following the success of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt and Roy bought a lot on Lyric Avenue and built matching homes next to each other. Walt and Lillian moved into 2495 Lyric Avenue. Roy and Edna moved into 2491 Lyric Avenue next door.
The homes were Pacific Ready-Cut houses — prefabricated kits popular in 1920s Southern California. Walt paid $8,000 for the house and lot. The kit arrived by rail in August 1926 and construction was finished by December. The house was small: 1,066 square feet, two bedrooms, one bath.
And it was in the garage of that small house that Mickey Mouse was born.
In 1928, Universal Studios threatened to take ownership of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Outmaneuvered and furious, Walt, Roy, and animator Ub Iwerks began working in secret on a new character — deliberately away from the studio and out of reach of Universal's lawyers. They worked in the garage on Lyric Avenue.
The character they created was originally called Mortimer Mouse. Walt's wife Lillian suggested a different name. Mickey Mouse made his debut in Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928 — the first synchronized sound cartoon ever produced.
Both Lyric Avenue homes are still standing today as private residences. Please be respectful of the current owners if you visit.
4. The Woking Way Mansion — 4053 Woking Way (1932–1950)
As Mickey Mouse became a global phenomenon, Walt and Lillian needed more space. In 1932, Walt commissioned architect Frank Crowhurst to design a 12-room English and French-style mansion on five acres on Woking Way, also in Los Feliz.
The home had a pool, a theater, and a gymnasium. It cost $50,000 to build. Walt and Lillian lived there for nearly two decades — through the creation of Snow White, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, and Cinderella.
This home too is still a private residence. It represents the full arc of Disney's Los Feliz years — from the $8,000 prefab house on Lyric Avenue to a five-acre estate, all within the same few square miles.
Why This Matters for Los Feliz Real Estate
I have been selling homes in this neighborhood for over two decades. The Disney story is one I come back to again and again — not as a tourism pitch, but because it illustrates something real about what Los Feliz is.
This is a neighborhood with roots. The houses that line these hillside streets were built during the same decade that Walt Disney was buying land and building homes here. The Spanish Colonial Revivals, the Craftsman bungalows, the modest two-bedroom houses on quiet streets — they all come from the same era, the same creative energy, the same belief that Los Feliz was the right place to build something that would last.
Whether you are looking at a hillside view home in The Oaks, a guard-gated estate in Laughlin Park, or a vintage cottage in Franklin Hills — you are buying into a neighborhood with a story that predates and outlasts any individual transaction. That is what makes Los Feliz different.
The Disney Locations Today — Quick Reference
4406 Kingswell Avenue — Uncle Robert's house. LA Historic-Cultural Monument. First Disney studio garage now at Stanley Ranch Museum. Still standing.
4649–4651 Kingswell Avenue — First Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Building gone, replaced by commercial property.
2495 Lyric Avenue — Walt and Lillian's first home. Mickey Mouse created in the garage. Still standing. Private residence.
2491 Lyric Avenue — Roy and Edna's matching home. Still standing. Private residence.
4053 Woking Way — Walt's 12-room mansion. Still standing. Private residence.
All of these are private properties. Please respect current owners and do not trespass.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Walt Disney lived at two addresses in Los Feliz: 2495 Lyric Avenue (1927–1932) and 4053 Woking Way (1932–1950). His uncle Robert's house at 4406 Kingswell Avenue was Walt's first Los Angeles address when he arrived in 1923.
-
Yes. Mickey Mouse was created in the garage of Walt Disney's home at 2495 Lyric Avenue in Los Feliz. After Universal Studios threatened to take Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1928, Walt, Roy, and animator Ub Iwerks worked secretly in the garage to develop Mickey Mouse, who debuted in Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928.
-
The first Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was in the garage of Walt's uncle Robert's house at 4406 Kingswell Avenue in Los Feliz. Walt and Roy later moved to 4649–4651 Kingswell Avenue before relocating to the Hyperion Avenue studio in Silver Lake in 1926.
-
Walt Disney's homes are private residences and are not open to the public. The original garage from Uncle Robert's house is on public display at the Stanley Ranch Museum in Garden Grove.
-
The Disney connection is one layer of a much larger story. Los Feliz's combination of architectural heritage, Griffith Park access, walkable village culture, and proximity to Hollywood has made it one of the most consistently desirable neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
-
Uncle Robert's house at 4406 Kingswell Avenue carries a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument designation. Los Feliz has over 50 Historic-Cultural Monuments throughout the neighborhood — see our complete HCM guide.
-
Los Feliz has over 50 Historic-Cultural Monuments including the Lovell Health House (Richard Neutra, 1929), the Blackburn Residence (Paul R. Williams), and the Shakespeare Bridge. See the Los Feliz Historic Homes Guide.
All Disney locations listed are private residences. Please respect current owners and do not trespass.