Oswald finds a new home, at his old home?

In the previous blog I talked about the cancelled Oswald cartoon series for Disney+. This was from back in 2019. Just as the animation fans had lost all hope there was a surprise announcement from Disney. In March of 2025 the company revealed that actor / director / producer Jon Favreau was working on an Oswald series for Disney+. Aside from Mr. Favreau was the only other thing revealed was that three young leads had also been cast.

The details on the show were very tight. Audiences had no idea if the show was set in 1923 when Walt Disney first arrived in Los Angeles. Or if it was set in the present almost 60 years after his death in 1966? Or did it cover multiple points in between? Mr. Favreau was known for keeping his projects, and most important his team sworn to secrecy. He managed to keep a great portion of the Mandalorian under wraps during its production. The things he could not control however were the public stumbling across his filming locations. He was spotted on multiple occasions shooting at Disneyland. Eagle-eyed visitors also spotted a scale model for Oswald that the actors could play to. We could assume that Oswald was going to be computer generated, and not a puppet like Grogu aka Baby Yoda. Now that I think about it a puppet Oswald would have been amazing. A few lucky fans that visited the park during filming were rewarded with challenge coins from the director himself. The stories of the coin were shared on Reddit.

You could see on one side of the coin that Oswald was playing a guitar. The neck of the guitar had 2025 printed on it, and the music notes actually spelled out “JF” for the director. I begged every Disney friend that I knew to see if they could score a coin for me. Many visited the parks at least once a week, the odds that they might stumble across the shoot were pretty good. As an Oswald super fan I also begged Favreau online yet never got a response. I’m sure he was getting millions of comments for every Marvel, Star Wars, and now cartoon project that he was associated with. Chances were that he would never see my posts. Still I held out hope!

I lost hope that I would ever come across the filming of the series. Ticket prices for Disneyland had soared in the past few years. I had been priced out for some time. Then I learned that they were shooting outside of the park as well. @fairy_drawsdb on Twitter posted several pictures of the “set.” It looked like an aged strip mall called “Hyperion Plaza.” Some of the people commenting on the lot said it looked exactly like 2829 Hyperion Ave in Los Angeles. The original Disney Studios were located just down the street at 2719 Hyperion Ave. This was now the location of the Gelsons market. You could read all about the original studio location here.

The strip mall had a big Oswald mural painted on the side where it read “Home of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.” The downside was that the people that posted images of the building never gave away its location. Even the people posting in the comments section asked, but didn’t get a response. Although some people speculated that it was on Hyperion I knew that wasn’t the case. When I did a Google street view of the mall I saw that the rails and elevated platform on one side were missing. I studied the street photos from the set carefully. I saw there was a Culver City bus stop in front of the parking lot. Disney would not be allowed to remove, or rename a bus route. Sure they might digitally get rid of it in post production, but they couldn’t touch the actual stop. I also saw that the building was on Jefferson Blvd. and not on Hyperion. There was also a Chic-Fil-A fast food restaurant in the distance. With these clues I was able to find the actual address on Google Maps.

I put on some of my best Oswald gear, got up early on a Saturday, and convinced my family to join me for a road trip from North Long Beach. Some 20 minutes later we got to 11800 Jefferson Blvd, in Culver City to see if the set was still there. Since Mr. Favreau was working on a television series rather than a film I guessed that the set might be around for months. I was also hopeful that the mural would not have been removed as it was only photographed a few days earlier. It was cool, and overcast when we arrived. Thankfully it wasn’t raining. Sadly the entire lot was fenced off. A number of lights, and generators were stored behind the fence. Along with a security guard that was keeping an eye on us. I could still get close enough to snap a picture of the mural.

I don’t know why but they had the “Home of Oswald” sign covered with butcher paper. Perhaps they were going to change the message during the shoot? Was it possible that Disneyland would become the new home of Oswald by the end of the series? As I did with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra performance in 2015 I wanted to bring along a special guest. My crib toy from the 1930’s would be joining me for the picture. I wanted to show Oswald that he still had fans 98 years after his birth. Not only that but I brought the oldest piece in my collection. I had an Oswald W565 film strip card from 1928.

Film strip cards were collectables in the early 1900’s. They were photo-lithographs printed on cheap card stock, often with black backs. They were similar to early baseball cards in terms of print quality, and simplicity. What made my card unique was that Oswald was the only cartoon character in the 1928 film strip card set. The rest were actors like Charlie Chaplin, and sports stars like heavyweight boxer Young Stribling. The Lucky Rabbit was considered as big a star back then too. Unfortunately his fame would be surpassed by Mickey Mouse later that year. It would be the first, and last time that Oswald got the film strip card treatment. Little did he know that the card would end up with me 80+ years later.

I know for a fact that Oswald’s luck brought him back home. The mural may have been freshly painted, however it was a way for me to reconnect with his past. Every time a new project was announced I made it a personal mission to get a timestamp. I needed a visual record of my oldest Oswald toy to go along with the good news. I did this at the Disney Interactive booth at the LA Convention Center in 2010 for the Epic Mickey premier at the E3. I did it again in 2015 at the Ace Hotel Theater when the LA Chamber Orchestra performed an original piece for the restored Proud Papa short. In 2025 I was still keeping the tradition alive. It may sound silly but I wanted Oswald to know that he would never be forgotten.

I'm glad I went, and I might make the trip again before the end of the year. Do you have a character that you loved as much? I’d like to hear about it. Tell me in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!