Richard Woods at Perry Rubenstein is very Todd Oldham.

Yayoi Kusama’s big pumpkins at Gagosian. Her infinity reflection candle chamber was in the back but NO PHOTOS PLEASE.

Mary Boone’s ceiling was most impressive.

Comme des Garcons’ runway portal to the high-priced fashion dimension.

The lawyers that used to occupy what is now Todd Oldham’s studio are still on the door.

When it opened in the middle of the French countryside in 1990 it looked like this:

It contained a theater, a restaurant, and lots of displays of what would become Disneyland Paris.

The Robert A. M. Stern monograph Buildings says, “…when the building was new it literally stopped traffic. Once the theme park was opened, the facade was painted over and the [prefabricated buildings] were used for other purposes.”

Ah yes. I’d say so. Here it is in 2008:

More pictures of its abandoned state here.

And how the interior looked in 1990.

Being I adore abandoned sites, Disney parks, and graffiti – finding this was like early Christmas for me. Thanks to Le Parc-o-rama blog for the tip.

There’s also an unfinished/abandoned Disney resort in Florida. There’s great video of it here.

The iconic facade and sets of Disneyland’s It’s a Small World attraction were designed in the late 1960′s and bear the unmistakable markings of that time (and the couple proceeding decades). But I wanted specifics. What had Mary Blair, the attraction’s main designer, been exposed to that may have inspired the famous styling of that ride? Here’s a sampling of what I found:

Top image below: Mary Blair, Small World concept art, 1965. And below, two pieces by Auguste Herbin, 1951 and 1950, that are undeniably similar to Blair’s work.Below is a collage by Ray Eames in 1949. Besides a similar styling to Blair, the collage technique and use of transparent layers was something Blair would later use in many of her Small World collages.Below is another Blair illustration, and below that, a Paul Klee painting, Burg und Sonne, 1928I saw many similarities between Klee and Blair, like the three images below. The first image, Klee’s Landscape with Yellow Birds, 1932, uses leaf shapes seen in the Blair piece below it. The third piece is also a Klee and has some subtle similarities to the work above it.The Small World attraction debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair with a an enormous kinetic sculpture at the entrance called the Tower of the Four Winds (second image below). Designed by Rolly Crump but I see inspiration in an unproduced Do Nothing solar-powered kinetic toy designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1957 (first image below).And lastly it seems It’s a Small World continues to inspire others, like perhaps Rex Ray (second image below) whose work possesses the same sense of retro-whimsy seen in Blair’s art for the finale scene in the attraction (below).SEE ALSO MY: Patty Wickman Paints Women Wrestling and I’m All Hey that’s from Epcot

I found it on the way back to LA from San Francisco, I took the scenic coastal route (10 hours), and drove by this Halloweeny fantasy while getting lost in Santa Cruz. It’s called the Weeks House and was built in 1886. There’d recently been a fire (links to atricle) in the back and I thought the place was abandoned but I wanted to see the inside so I shot photos through the windows until I got around to the side and realized there was someone still living in part of it. See more of the house, and the trip, on my Flickr pages – including my sporadic, semi-live, phonecam feed.

First, Muse performs Invincible in a It’s a Small World-style attraction I’d so love to see built. (I’ve tried to track down the designer but emails to the production company have gone unanswered.) Below is the YouTube link, but a higher-res version is here.

Second, Goldfrapp’s Twist