Its but one in a row of beautiful three story period red brick barracks lined up like uniformed soldiers along the Presidio's parade ground. The only way to know what resides inside this building is to read the humble army post sign outside which simply reads, "Building 104, The Walt Disney Family Museum." Its understated, and elegant.

Inside, the story of Disney's extraordinary life gently unfolds chronologically. The first gallery includes three creatively presented puppet shows relating Disney's childhood and early interest in art.

Proceeding through the gallery, you will see the sequential stepping

If one were to ask, "Why did they build the museum here?" a walk along this stunning windowed view would suffice as a plausible answer.

But the real answer is a bit more lengthy. Originally, sites in Disney's native Kansas City and Los Angeles were considered along with the San Francisco Presidio. In the end, the beauty of the Presidio site with its available period buildings, its location near members of the Disney family, and its proximity to LucasFilm and Pixar, current centers of the art of animation brought the museum to its current location.

After the view of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, the museum visitor returns to the first floor via a spiral walkway which passes some of Disney's model trains and a wonderful model of Disneyland as it appeared in 1959. Visitors lean over the railing of the spiral ramp, pointing with recollecting eagerness at different Disneyland attractions amid a flood of memories, exclamations, and smiles. At the bottom of the spiral walkway is a display of old 1950's era television screens, displaying Disney on television: the The Mickey Mouse Club, and Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. For older visitors, it is a comforting sight to see Walt as we saw him growing up, speaking to us through a floor model 1950's television cabinet.

The museum ends with a wall of tribute, exhibiting editorial cartoons drawn on the occasion of Walt Disney's death in 1966. In the center is a large print of a mouse-eared globe, shedding tears.

Quiet, gentle and elegant. This museum tells the tale of a man who had a passion to do the best job he could. His medium was animation, and his tools were his love of art, his drive for innovation, for story, for character, and his ability to recruit and build an immensely talented, creative and collaborative team to share and pursue his dream.

We've all been touched by Walt Disney, and this loving tribute provided by his family allows us all to visit with Walt Disney again. Walt's daughter Diane Disney Miller says that while growing up, Walt was "Daddy" for his family, not the famed center of Disney Studios. But through his studio, he was a bit of a father to us all. We felt we knew him too, when we attended his films, when we loyally watched him on Sunday evening television, or made that first wonderful trip to Disneyland. He was there, smiling, teaching, expressing wonder, and always entertaining.

Set aside some time soon, visit the Presidio and enjoy this extraordinary and loving tribute to Walt Disney.

He has attended exhibitions, and written of his father's accomplishments. Most recently, he attended the opening of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco's Presidio, and graciously attended a reception at Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery.

In October, he will visit his father's hometown of Columbus, Mississippi. The city is honoring Joshua Meador as a favorite son. As a boy, young Josh made some drawings on the walls of his family's garage. Now the city of Columbus is going to honor Josh by turning that garage into a small museum of animation. They are moving the structure to the backyard of the birthplace of another of Columbus' favorite sons, playwright Tennessee Williams. Philip and his wife Hildur will be attending the festivities and will make a presentation about his father's career.

Maurice was born in Brooklyn of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in 1928. His earliest memories recall his parents' pain and the losses of family members during the holocaust. This pain was woven into his emotional fabric early on. His memories of his family and childhood friends all have become part of the underlying story.

This exhibit explores the undercurrents of Sendak's life, and how they speak through his work. Maurice Sendak, now 81, is the visitor's guide for this exhibit. On touch-screens throughout the exhibit, he elaborates how experiences of his childhood have enriched his writings.

In his career of sixty years, he has illustrated more than one-hundred picture books. Some of his more well-known titles such as Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, and Chicken Soup with Rice have been favorites for generations of young readers.

The exhibition includes original watercolors, sketches, drawings and dummy books from more than forty of Sendak's works. They are from the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia.

Exhibition Page: San Francisco's Jewish Contemporary Museum
Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia | Back to top

In Memoriam, SF Philanthropist
and Art Enthusiast Donald Fisher Dies

Donald Fisher, founder of "The Gap," died of cancer on Sunday, September 27.

In business circles, he was known for his success as founder of The Gap and its spin off businesses Banana Republic and Old Navy. But what endeared him to many throughout the art world was his passion for modern art. Over his lifetime, he acquired many artists' works, and his collection grew to become one of the world's best. Towards the end of his life, he wanted his collection to be seen and appreciated. He had a dream of building a modern art museum in San Francisco's Presidio. But his plan drew opposition from a number of historical preservationists and roadblocks from others.

With the addition of the Doris and Don Fisher collection, SFMOMA promises to be in league with the Museum of Modern Art New York and the Tate Modern in London. The planned revamping of the museum would triple its existing size and extend the current site south to Howard Street, adding an additional 100,000 square feet. The Fisher collection will be managed by a trust, and will work in partnership with SFMOMA.

The Fisher Collection includes works by Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn and Chuck Close.

For months, Don Fisher had offered the city to build a museum to house his collection at the Presidio. His proposed plans foresaw a museum structure on the Presidio's main parade ground, located just down from the newly opened Walt Disney Family Museum.

Claude Monet, photographed about
three months prior to his passing in 1926.

Walt Disney strove to bring classical music and animation together. For both children and adults, he saw animation as a powerful way to present classical music to new audiences, and at the same time, advance the art of animation.

In Disney's early masterpiece Fantasia, the film opens with silhouetted musicians carrying instruments to their chairs where they begin tuning. Here, Disney skillfully uses his animation to teach. Even small children begin to associate instruments with their sound. Then Leopold Stokowski climbs onto the podium, and with baton in hand, interrupted briefly by Mickey Mouse tugging at his tuxedo tails, Stokowski begins an unforgettable orchestration of J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

The Last Symphony by Disney artist Joshua Meador, oil on canvas 24 x 34
Joshua Meador, one of the art directors for Fantasia,
did this surrealist style painting in honor of Salvador Dali's participation at the Disney Studios in 1947.

On Friday, October 16, the San Francisco Symphony offers an honorary nod of recognition back toward Walt Disney, thanking him for his blending of classical music and animation. In celebration of the opening of the new Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, the San Francisco Symphony offers a program featuring selections from Disney films Fantasia, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Pinocchio, and other classics. Former San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor Edwin Outwater will lead the orchestra.

Visit the San Francisco Symphony's website for ticket information.

The program
Rossini / Overture to William Tell,
Tchaikovsky / Waltz, from Sleeping Beauty Suite, Opus 66a
David/Hoffman/Livingston / “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” from Cinderella
Morey/Churchill, arr. Bishop / “Some Day My Prince Will Come,” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Beethoven / Symphony No. 6 in F major, Opus 68
Mussorgsky / Night on Bald Mountain
Grieg / March of the Dwarfs, from Lyric Suite, Opus 54
Washington/Harline, arr. Bishop / “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from Pinocchio
Dukas / The Sorcerer’s Apprentice