Next Door to Mickey Mouse Fess up. If you could quit your job, pull your kids out of school, sell your house, and say goodbye to your friends, you'd move to the doorstep of Walt Disney World, in a heartbeat. But who can do that? Scott and Michele Atwood did. And in doing so they built a Disney business. Here's how! From cold, snowy Michigan, Michele Atwood tried to run her popular Disney site, The Main Street Mouse. It wasn't easy. All the action was many hundreds of miles away, in Orlando. Her dream--her Disney dream--was to earn enough money from The Main Street Mouse to support her family. But from Michigan? No way. So she shut down the site and got a real job. Except ... she didn't! If Disney couldn't come to her, she'd go to it. She persuaded her husband, Scott, that it made perfect sense to pull up stakes and rent a house near Disney World, a house they'd never seen, and count on the website to pay the bills. After some difficult times, Florida began to feel like home, and The Main Street Mouse became one of the biggest, most successful Disney fan sites in the world. And they blogged happily ever after! The Atwood's story is a real Disney dream come true.

As an archetype for an entire class of places, Main Street has become one of America's most popular and idealized images. In Main Street Revisited, the first book to place the design of small downtowns in spatial and chronological context, Richard Francaviglia finds the sources of romanticized images of this archetype, including Walt Disney's Main Street USA, in towns as diverse as Marceline, Missouri, and Fort Collins, Colorado. Francaviglia interprets Main Street both as a real place and as an expression of collective assumptions, designs, and myths; his Main Streets are treasure troves of historic patterns. Using many historical and contemporary photographs and maps for his extensive fieldwork and research, he reveals a rich regional pattern of small-town development that serves as the basis for American community design. He underscores the significance of time in the development of Main Street's distinctive personality, focuses on the importance of space in the creation of place, and concentrates on popular images that have enshrined Main Street in the collective American consciousness.

"Traces the transformation of commercial development as it has moved from centralized main streets, out along the street car lines, to form the "miracle miles" and shopping malls of today ... Also explores the evolution of roadside buildings."--Back cover.

Carol Milford dreams of living in a small, rural town. But Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, isn't the paradise she'd imagined. First published in 1920, this unabridged edition of the Sinclair Lewis novel is an American classic, considered by many to be his most noteworthy and lasting work. As a work of social satire, this complex and compelling look at small-town America in the early 20th century has earned its place among the classics.

Mindy Thompson Fullilove traverses the central thoroughfares of our cities to uncover the ways they bring together our communities After an 11-year study of Main Streets in 178 cities and 14 countries, Fullilove discovered the power of city centers to “help us name and solve our problems.” In an era of compounding crises including racial injustice, climate change, and COVID-19, the ability to rely on the power of community is more important than ever. However, Fullilove describes how a pattern of disinvestment in inner-city neighborhoods has left Main Streets across the U.S. in disrepair, weakening our cities and leaving us vulnerable to catastrophe. In the face of urban renewal programs built in response to a supposed lack of “personal responsibility,” Fullilove offers “a different story, that of a series of forced displacements that had devastating effects on inner-city communities. Through that lens, we can appreciate the strength of segregated communities that managed to temper the ravages of racism through the Jim Crow era, and build political power and many kinds of wealth. . . . Only a very well-integrated, powerful community—one with deep spiritual principles—could have accomplished such a feat.” This is the power she hopes we will find again. Throughout Main Street, readers glimpse strong, vibrant communities who have conquered a variety of disasters, from the near loss of a beloved local business to the devastation of a hurricane. Using case studies to illustrate her findings, Fullilove turns our eyes to the cracks in city centers, the parts of the city that tend to be avoided or ignored. Providing a framework for those who wish to see their communities revitalized, Fullilove’s Main Street encourages us all to look both inward and outward to find the assets that already exist to create meaningful change.

Look out for visual field guide like no other, and meet the people behind the names on the windows of Main Street, U.S.A. at the Disney parks! When you first enter Disneyland, in California, or the Magic Kingdom in Florida, a charming train station is set elevated before you, like a stage-show curtain. Walk through one of its tunnels to find vibrant posters displayed like "coming attractions" at a theater. Then arrive at Main Street, U.S.A., an idealized Victorian-era town of bright colors, upbeat melodies, and delicious smells. Here, your eyes finally meet the grand view ahead: a stunning castle, filled with the promise of adventures beyond. Keen observers will notice intricate details throughout the Disney parks, including names emblazoned on the building windows lining Main Street, U.S.A. Designed as calling cards for fictionalized shopkeepers, these names belong to the real life "all-stars" who helped make Disney's theme parks a reality. They are the opening credits to a show like no other. The people listed on these windows are skilled actors, artists, business leaders, Imagineers, songwriters, and more. With their imagination and sharp skills, each person has made an important contribution to The Walt Disney Company. In fact, many have also received the impressive Disney Legends award. Through short biographies and key imagery and a foreword by Disney Legend Marty Sklar, this expertly researched volume is sure to intrigue and inspire. As Walt famously said, "You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world . . . but it requires people to make the dream a reality."

Lessons from the Man Who Created Disney University. Van Arsdale France, the founder of Disney University and author of its world-class "cast member" training programs, takes you inside the "berm" for a first-hand look at how Disney makes the magic that keeps its guests coming back for more.