Remodeling

... Around and about various cartoon studios.

Yesterday I went into Disney TVA Sonora and noted (I'm slow on the uptake) the newer furniture and polished cement floor space and newer built-ins ...

A lot of this stuff has been there awhile, but it crystalized how many studios around town are expanding and upgrading.

The first to do it was DreamWorks Animation, which doubled the size of its already large Lakeside Building.

Then Disney bought the building next to Disney TVA on Sonora Avenue in Glendale and turned it into baby Pixar South. (Big wide lobby; trendy eatery; deep color walls and indirect lighting.) I'm told that the designer of the Emeryville facility had a major hand at DisneyToons Studio in Glendale.

Warner Bros. Animation expanded into various structures on the Warner Ranch (originally the Columbia Ranch.) (Note that a lot of WBA's space is now partially empty, as its staff levels have fallen.)

Then there's Walt Disney Animation's Studios, soon to get a major remodel, according to sources, also from Pixar's designer. New lobby. New offices. New carpets. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

And lastly, there is Nickelodeon newer CG production facilities -- at Third and Magnolia in beautiful Burbank. Nick has taken over three floors of a fortress-like office building and extensively renovated them. New paint, new carpet, new lighting. And now that Nick is the sole tenants on the three floors elevator cards are needed to get onto each of the floors. (When they weren't the only renters on the floors, anybody could get into the hallways.)

East San Frnando Valley animation studios: Getting overhauls right and left. (Are America's fine, entertainment conglomerates planning long-term animation projects in their southern California digs.)