Never Built: Was there something fishy about DisneySea?

“Never Built” is a fascinating new show at the A&D Museum in mid-Wilshire featuring fabulous, sometimes visionary plans for Southern California that never happened. As part of KCRW’s Design and Architecture coverage, we produced this four part series on some of the most fascinating projects that were never built.

If you lived in Long Beach in the late 80’s, you heard a lot about Port Disney – a gigantic development slated for the downtown waterfront. The idea wasn’t the brain child of a Disney’s keen strategic planners – it sprang from the imagination of a few creative people who loved the idea of a theme park centered around the sea. It would have been a boon to the financially uncertain city… but after three years and $10 million in development, maybe it was better that Disney didn’t come to town. Here’s the story behind DisneySea. (For more pictures, check out this Progress City post or go to the A&D exhibit, of course.)

Thanks to Caitlin Borzi for production assistance.