An Imagineer's Second Life

For most of you a WDI Imagineer is somebody who creates a theme park - or at least attractions for Disney. Whether he is show designer, show producer, sculptor, model specialist, architect,etc... But what happens when a former Imagineer - decides to leave WDI? What do they create if its not an attraction? This is what I will talk about today.

Eddie Sotto is a former WDI imagineer who began as a Main Street show designer/producer on DLP. It is my favorite Main Street. While he was at WDI, he also worked on the development of Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure, and eventually ran his own concept studio within WDI, where his team could explore new ideas. That period yielded many new projects for TDL including "Pooh's Hunny Hunt" or Tomorrowland concepts like "Sci-Fi City", as well as "outside the berm" projects like "Encounter" Restaurant at LAX, or New York's ABC "Times Square Studios" and many others.

In late 1999, Eddie was hired away from WDI to be the creative director of an internet media company, then got involved creating television pilots for Mtv, Current, ABC, and Showtime networks, and eventually in 2004 founded SottoStudios, his own "think tank" where they have been busy designing everything from the Ferrari experience within Steve Wynn's Las Vegas resort to ClubAston, a "Bond-esque" Aston Martin dealership where you design your DB9 at a Martini bar and it is presented to you inside a bank vault.

On January 16, Eddie's latest project "Rivera", a modern latin Restaurant opened in Downtown Los Angeles, just a block from Staples Center (Laker's home) and the Nokia Theater. Rivera is the middle name of the chef, John Rivera Sedlar. A man noted for his gourmet latin cuisine. They met as a result of Sotto bringing in chefs to lecture at WDI on how to better marry the dining experience to the attractions. they later worked on Encounter together and it was a hit.





So, I called Eddie in L.A - who also gently provided me his artwork and some CGI renderings - and had a little interview with him about the Rivera. He explained it this way:

E.S: Form follows food. That was the takeaway from the WDI lectures John gave and it really impressed me. John is amazing at presentation and thinking about the design and food in the same breath. It's all one experience to the guest. He is so into the details that he has flower petals pressed onto each handmade tortilla so they become art in themselves. It's like John Hench said, "it's about the longshot and the closeup". Everything matters to him and every course is an an attraction. This made sense to me. Why at EPCOT do we serve heavy Lasagna for lunch, then eject the bloated guest into the Florida heat, only to put them piping hot on a spinning thrill ride? It's out of sync. How do we rethink places as complimentary experiences, not just rides and restaurants? Experiences are systems. Ever since then I was looking for a chance to work with a Chef. Rivera was there to bring it all together because this Chef sees the room as just a bigger plate".







A.L : So did it materialize as an experience?

E.S: It's a Pan-latin menu (tamales to tapas and more) with a heavy emphasis on Tequila. John wanted to serve "flights" of tequilas, meaning several tastes in small glasses that are custom mixed for each guest. This "flight" notion became the inspiration for the design of our own ultimate First Class seat, of polished bronze with a stainless tray table. The chair stays on the ground, you do the flying. They became the heart of our Samba lounge. To help your mind become airborne, kaleidoscopic "hallucinations" of agave plants, aztec masks, and spanish art, randomly appear and vanish across a 40' video wall.

Below, from the first sketches to CGI renderings to the final result, the "ultimate First Class seat".










A.L : As long as you don't land in the Hudson River...

E.S: "Now that's an experience! See, the one thing chain Restaurants seem to be lacking is "special". What we mean is being truly memorable with a sense of ceremony. What happened to salads tossed at our table, flaming drinks, or special dishes you just could not eat elsewhere? That's why we have the custom tasting chairs. Each chair was designed to fit a plate that John had ordered from Dubai. That's the whole idea of experiential design. It's working the food and the design out in lockstep. Start with the "wow" and work backwards to achieve that. We all opted to be the "anti-chain" restaurant and just make it special.





A.L : What about the design itself, what inspired that?

E.S: "One of the things Sedlar said is that he didn't want a cliche'd mexican restaurant. No Sombreros on the walls. He wanted the food to be the latin flavor. Clean, modern and minimal. Very hard to do and still make it inviting. We had to make it authentically L.A too. One of the inspirations was the concrete blocks of a Lloyd Wright Neo-Mayan Sowden house here in Los Feliz.

Here is a picture of the Lloyd Wright's Sowden House.



So I too landed on abstracting the order and texture of "blocks" with "carvings" as on Mayan pyramids. So that was the inspiration for our exterior grillwork, the R logo, and the wall of 400 crystal Tequila "blocks" that form the walls of our Sangre dining room.






E.S: Each bottle represents a "block" of John's own extra anejo Tequila, each features a member's name while locked into the wall as part of a private reserve. A turn of their key allows the member to remove the walnut brick and "drink the architecture" at their table. If you look closely at the walls you may find the names of some famous Imagineers too. Start with the half consumed bottles!"
The whole experiment was meant to blur the lines between the interior and the food in a way that the story can be consumed by all the senses. When they all play together the result is richer and you tap into emotions and create an experience. (I bet you think I've been having tequila right now!)








E.S: All these elements are very unique (Conquistador Helmet lamps are a nod to LA's Brown Derby hat lamps) and I often get asked who made all these things. In fact, Scenario Design, the same company that has been building many of your favorite Disney attractions (Nemo,Toy Story Mania, DLP TOT and more) built the tasting chairs, bottle shelves, lamps, grillwork and so much more. Without them (and help from Imagineer Deb Gregory) we would not have been able to pull this place off."

Below, a picture of the hat lamp from Brown Derby, 1926 Hollywood...



...And a Conquistador Helmet lamp at the Rivera.






So I guess the things that never change once you leave WDI, is that you never get tired of creating memorable experiences for your guests and doing whatever it takes to wow them."

Thanks Eddie...More coincidental is the WDI address in Glendale is Flower Street, and Rivera is located in downtown L.A in a street called...Flower Street! (The Walt's restaurant in DLP does this too) Could the Rivera be the next Imagineer's hangout? I thought that since so many aspects of this touch WDI and Disney you might be interested.

If you're a Disney fan living in Southern California, you should make a dinner reservation at the Rivera. Not only you will eat great food in a sumptuous decor, but you might meet some Disney imagineers as well. And just keep an ear open, just in case at the fifth tequila they begin to talk about WDI secret projects!

www.riverarestaurant.com
www.sottostudios.com



Eddie Sotto's Artwork: copyright Eddie Sotto

Pictures: copyright Rivera - Eddie Sotto

The Theme Building Encounter Restaurant - A WDI wonder outside disney theme parks

For most of us, Walt Disney Imagineering is a Disney company creating wonders for Disney theme parks all around the world. And, at 99% that's right. But sometime, it happens that WDI Imagineers create other wonders, and not for a Disney theme park. The Theme Building Encounter restaurant at Los Angeles airport is one of them.



The Theme Building was part of an overall $50 million " Los Angeles Jet Age Terminal " project which began in 1960, the building itself was completed in August 1961. with giant 135 foot high parabolic arches, the Theme Building was at that time the first structure in the U.S to utilize supporting steel arches of this design. And what a design, it looks like a space ship - or a flying saucer - that just lands on Earth! On December 18, 1992, the los angeles City Council designated the Theme Building a city cultural and historical monument. A Los Angeles icon with a kind of Tomorrowland architecture, may be this is why Walt Disney Imagineers agreed with enthusiasm when they were asked to redesign the Theme Building back in 1995.



And who were the WDI Imagineers who did it? Eddie Sotto - the great Imagineer who was Main Street show producer at Disneyland Paris - the best Main Street of all Magic Kingdoms - led the design team. Ellen Guevara, another WDI Imagineer also worked with Eddie on the Encounter Restaurant interior design. And the gorgeous lighting of the exterior was done by WDI lighting specialist - i should say "wizard" - Michael Valentino.

So, let's have a closer look at this Encounter Restaurant with original Eddie Sotto sketches, model pictures and photos of the real thing. Here is a photo of Eddie Sotto doing the concept sketch of the Encounter "red room" in his office at WDI in Glendale. Below, the "red room" sketch.





With the futuristic exterior of the building, WDI Imagineers must have felt that the best choice was to go space-age design with the interior, and, as you will see, they were right.








The intergalactic theme of the interior creates an out-of-this world "experience". Eddie and his team designed flowing walls sculpted to appear as stone quarried from the moon - here are Eddie's sketches.




Eddie also designed furniture and decor elements of the Encounter.





But one of Eddie's favorite creations were these "lava lamps" that guests can find all over the place whether the lava is "red" or "blue"!



The amoeba-shaped lighting structures embedded in the ceilings - visible from the outside - cast soft shadows on the restaurant. And the customized lava lights add a "lounge" feel to the futuristic and stratospheric atmosphere.



And there is this unique crater-shaped bar - above and below - complete with bar guns that emit lasers lights and futuristic sound effects when bartenders pour a drink!



Los Angeles designer Lisa Krohn created the bar stools and the pod-like chairs that appear to float in the air. The carpeting was designed by Sotto and Guevara and also features flowing lines. No patterns are repeated on the entire floor!



" Encounter transforms LAX into an intergalactic gateway accomodating space flights to and from other worlds " said Eddie Sotto. " the sophisticated sci-fi feel of the interior provides the perfect backdrop for what i call " jet set " dining in a space age atmosphere ". And the space-age experience even starts at the entrance downstairs where a hostess in silver costume directs you to the elevator, saying "Have a nice encounter!". By the way, the elevator was also redesigned and features galactic graphics and sound effects!

The stunning exterior lighting by Michael Valentino - a crowning touch to the space age themed restaurant - play an integral part in setting the unearthly tone. Michael's lighting program bathe the building with constantly changing shades such as magenta and electric blue, in addition to traditional white lights.







The Imagineers also designed special atmosphere music for the restaurant - the sound effects will remind you classic sci-fi movies of the 50's. Click below on the embedded 360 degree picture link. The 360 degree effect won't work probably, but you'll hear the music.

Right now the Theme building structure is under renovation, but the Encounter restaurant is still open. So, next time you come to Los Angeles to visit Disneyland, on your way back home, remember to keep one hour or two before you check-in at LAX airport, and come to have dinner at the fabulous Encounter restaurant. Not only the food is excellent, but it will be your last "shoot" of WDI magic before you go back home!





Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

Artwork and model pictures: copyright Walt Disney Company

Encounter Photos: copyright WDC, Encounter restaurant and Eric Sander