Q: Regarding the Snow White Cottages on Griffith Park Blvd. in Los Feliz, designed by storybook architect Ben Sherwood, and built in 1931 near Disney’s Hyperion Studio… no doubt these nearby cottages served as visual references for the Dwarfs’ cottage in Disney’s Snow White (1937). But is it true that Walt Disney (or the Studio) leased these cottages for a time and used them as animator studios? Also, is it true that Claude and Evie Coats lived in one of the cottages? Much speculation and urban legends exist about these questions, but I’d love a definitive answer. Thank you, Dave.
Leslie, Los Angeles, California
A: The Studio never leased the cottages for offices, but some of the Disney artists—namely Ham Luske, Dick Lundy, Fred Moore, Herman Schultheis, and Lee Morehouse—rented living space there since the cottages were so close to the Hyperion Studio.
Dave Smith