Cartoon Fans Draw a Bead on Glendale

Supporters of a plan to build an animation center and museum in a landmark Glendale building saw it as a good omen. At a meeting this week of backers, Tinker Bell sat in the front row, showing her support.

“Fifty years ago in this city, Margaret Kerry-Willcox was the model for Tinker Bell [in Disney’s 1953 “Peter Pan”], and she’s right here,” said Frank Gladstone, a leader of Animation Initiative Glendale who works at nearby DreamWorks SKG. “Margaret, we’re going to dip you in wax and put you in the lobby.”

Project supporters say the animation center and museum belong in Glendale, which has long been a home for animators and animation studios. The city could also use a distinctive cultural attraction to draw tourists.

Last month, the city’s redevelopment agency gave Animation Initiative Glendale six months to develop a viable plan for adapting the historic Fidelity Savings and Loan building on Broadway for use as an animation center.

The agency also asked to see a plan for raising the $3 million to $4 million needed to build the center and a plan for running it.

If a proposal is accepted in May, the redevelopment agency is expected to turn the building over to the group, on terms that are still to be negotiated.

Used until recently as office space, the bank was designed in the mid-1950s by architect W. A. Sarmiento. Bought by the city last year for $1.3 million, the now-empty 65,000-square-foot structure has a retro look.

About 60 people attended this week’s meeting in the building, first signing waivers absolving the city of responsibility for their safety.

“When we arrived, it was crummier than it is now,” said architect Michael Pinto, of the Glendale firm Osborn, explaining that he and others had vacuumed and spruced up the place.

As Betty Boop and Superman cartoons flickered on the walls, Pinto described different schemes for using the structure’s four levels, including a roof deck. All included a museum, archives and library, screening facilities, classrooms, offices, retail shops and a cafe or restaurant.

Pinto said that the animation theme had piqued the imagination of the architects. As a result, they dreamed up such amenities as an elevator with a window that moves past a sequence of images. As passengers move by, the images would also appear to move. Another idea -- replacing some of the bricks on the outside wall with small television monitors to intrigue passersby.

Gladstone said that a group of eight has been meeting weekly to make sure the proposal is completed by the May deadline. He put the cost of the project’s first phase at $80,000 to $100,000.

At this week’s meeting, Gladstone asked everyone to share ideas with the planning group. “Nothing is off the table,” he said.

In addition to the museum, the project would include a school to train and retrain animators, perhaps in conjunction with the California Institute of the Arts and other area colleges.

“We now live in a world of ones and zeros instead of pencil leads, and I think that’s going to continue,” Gladstone said, alluding to the explosion of computer animation. Having the building will greatly reduce the cost of the project, but the current economy will complicate fund-raising, supporters agreed.

To raise money, the group expects to tap Disney, DreamWorks and the other major animation studios, industry-related businesses, arts and education funding agencies and private donors. The center’s shops and restaurant or cafe could also make money.

Animators have long talked about having their own place to meet and socialize. They also hope to see something that attracts tourists but isn’t a tourist trap.

“The vision is that everything we do here will be first class,” said Gladstone. “I want this to be something that lives on after all of us.”