Disney Puts Retired Honcho in Window

Disneyland has bestowed its top honor, a Main Street window, on Richard A. Nunis, who helped open the park in 1955 and became its director of operations before he took on “Project X”--developing Walt Disney World in Florida.

Nunis, who eventually became chairman of Walt Disney Co.’s entire attractions division, retired in May after 44 years with Disney.

Nunis has his place of honor above the “hotel” in the Main Street section at the front of the park, on a window describing him as proprietor of “Coast to Coast Peoplemoving, World Leader in Leisure Management.” Former Disneyland bosses (and previous window honorees) Jack Lindquist and Ron Dominguez were on hand recently for the ceremony, along with the current top executive, Cynthia Harriss.

Nunis praised Disneyland and the new Disney theme park under construction next to it, quoting Walt Disney as saying “We can’t live on our laurels.” Urging Harriss not to forget those words, he needled her that the park “needed a little bit of paint here and there,” quickly adding that “the landscaping is unbelievable.”

Nunis, 67, who lives in Florida, looked back with fondness on his many years in Laguna Beach “before they built the houses up on top of the hills.” In an interview after the window ceremony, he recalled catching huge white sea bass off the rocks at Laguna’s Crescent Bay and heading to Dana Point, before the harbor was built, to surf the breaks that gave the spot the nickname “Killer Dana.”

In addition to stepping down as head of Walt Disney Attractions, Nunis resigned as a Disney director, pressured by investors who complained the board had too many insiders. “That’s the world we live in today,” he said. “Do I agree with it? No. But that’s the way it is.”