In this excerpt, from "The Famous Garage Auction", Art Adler remembers what it was like to walk into Walt's garage for the first time—and then realize he couldn't afford the opening auction bid.

After I heard on local television in Laguna Hills, California, about Walt’s garage going up on the chopping block, I decided that I had to be at the auction, if only just to see and maybe touch the garage. I wanted to discover why this historic American landmark was sitting there next to a house in Los Angeles rotting away and not on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. for the world to see what one man could accomplish from such humble beginnings.

I arrived deliberately early and, as it turned out, I was the first one to sign the attendance register that day. I wrote my name big. People would know that I had been there. I didn’t have $10,000, but I felt I needed to be there just the same.

Before talking to anyone, I darted to the old garage on the side of the house at the back end of the driveway. It was sitting there quietly and humbly. There was nothing to attract any special attention.

I know some people looked and just saw an old garage, even if it were historically significant.

I looked and I saw where Walt began his meteoric rise to making magic for so many people. This was where it all began…where the dreams became a reality.

Physically, the garage looked like a big, plain box measuring twelve feet by eighteen feet by eight feet high. It had a pitched roof with tar paper shingles and a large double front door. It seemed timeless in the sense that it represented no particular architectural period or design.

Inside is what I really wanted to see and touch with the hope that some of Walt’s good karma would rub off on me. And, to my surprise, the inside of the garage had never been painted. The karma was intact, as far as I was concerned.

These were the walls that Walt touched and his every breath was captured in the wood. I imagined Walt standing there, looking at those walls, his mind racing as to how to convert it into an animation studio.

I went inside the house and looked over the other items to be auctioned off. There were television and radio reporters all over the place. The publicity had worked and they all hoped for a great story.

One of them even interviewed me when he saw me wearing my Disney name tag. He obviously thought I was there in some official capacity to bid on the garage and was disappointed to find out that I was just an interested fan. There was no representative there from the Disney Company.

I gave several other interviews that day before the auction of the garage, and that night I saw one of them on television.

I talked with Paul Maher, trying to make some sense out of why he would auction off such an important part of Disney history. To this day, I don’t think he ever fully understood why the garage was so important.

Finally, near the end of the day, Jay Stewart, the announcer for the television game show Let’s Make a Deal, assumed the role of auctioneer and enthusiastically tried to get the crowd of about a hundred people excited about bidding on the garage.

The opening bid was set at $10,000.

No one bid. No one offered a counter bid. I could see the light of expectation go out of Maher’s eyes.

The television and radio crews packed up almost immediately and left. There was no story here.

A few remaining people milled about the area. I stood there thinking to myself about what would happen now.

Would the garage be used for firewood or made into a coffee table top? At best, it would be ripped apart so that the landlord could continue with her renovations by putting in a new garage.

I knew I had to do something.

To find out what Art did, and so much more, including details of his "suit-and-tie" career with Disney, pick up a copy of his book.

In this excerpt, from "Walt Disney and Me", Art Adler wonders what Walt would have made of his efforts to save that old garage.

Even though I never met Walt Disney, he was always an inspiration.

I certainly felt his presence when I first set foot into Uncle Robert’s garage. The inside had never been painted or coated with anything. It was raw wood. I stared at that bare wood and very hesitantly and gently touched it. Had Walt touched that very same spot?

When I relocated to Disneyland, I immediately knew that it was different from the more spectacular Disney World because I could sense Walt Disney’s karma. I could feel his presence.

If I were to come up with one word that describes Walter Elias Disney, it would be “dreamer”. I have been a dreamer, too, for most of my adult life, so I can understand and appreciate the process of dreaming. Being a dreamer is much like being in love, in that there is always a chance it will not work out and you must be prepared for that.

Fortunately, for both Walt and I, most of the things we dreamed did become a happy reality. We both had a dream standing in that little old garage.

He was an American icon and a force for good and happiness in this world. Even though he is gone, he remains alive in our hearts and mind. He will never be forgotten.

Walt was not perfect and certainly had the same human shortcomings that we all do. He could be a hard task-master or, as my father used to say, “a tough man to shave”.

Yet, even though he has been physically gone for half a century, he continues to inspire and bring great joy through his many creations to both children and adults. His final legacy was giving us the gift to dream of a better world. He certainly reflected God’s will that we should all have hope and should strive to be the best we can.

I hope that if Walt Disney had known me, he would have liked me and the way I got things done, even with all my imperfections.

When I picture Walt, I always see him smiling.

In Art's book, you'll read all about the history of the "garage of dreams", and why it's such an important though overlooked piece of Disney history.