Disney’s Tribute to Burbank Is a Cold Comfort

Disney’s new Anaheim theme park, California Adventure, will have a shop called Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream.

Of course, Burbank might be world famous as the location of Disneyland but for the opposition of its City Council in the mid-1950s. Walt Disney originally wanted to locate the park there, but the idea was vetoed by the council, including one lawmaker who said: “We don’t want the carny atmosphere in Burbank.”

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HEAD-BODY REUNION REPORT: I suspect some readers lost faith in me last year after I declared that the Lone Ranger’s signature phrase was “Hi ho, Silver, away,” when it really was “Hi yo, Silver, away.” Or was it the other way around? Anyway, my column seems to be greeted with more skepticism these days.

After a more recent item on the plight of Chicken Boy, the 22-foot onetime restaurant symbol whose head and torso now reside at different locations, a reader contacted the complaint desk here and said of that column:

“There’s not much research with it. I saw Chicken Boy 10 years ago. He was reconstructed completely with the help of a local radio station. You should have looked more into it.”

The reader is partially correct. CB, purchased by artist Amy Inouye after the Chicken Boy eatery went out of business, was put back together as a radio promo during the holidays seven years ago. But he was then dismantled because Inouye couldn’t find a museum or merchant who wanted CB around full-time.

And he’s too tall for her studio.

So his noggin rests in Inouye’s studio and his torso is at a friend’s residence (see photos). I had my head on my shoulders after all.

Harvey’s e-mail address: [email protected].