Chapter 19 - Hollywood Studios - Grand Avenue
Changes were underway for Grand Avenue, and its open fall of 2017.


Muppets Courtyard and a portion of the former Streets of America was re-imagined into Grand Avenue. Muppets Courtyard is becoming Grand Park, an urban square off the main Grand Avenue.
The it is surrounded by shops and restaurants, like PizzeRizzo and Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano. The Muppets Theatre has already been renamed the Grand Arts Theatre and has a new marquee, but Muppet Vision 3D will continue to run despite the changes.
PizzeRizzo Restaurant
Mama Melrose's Restaurant
For a current map of Hollywood Studios:
https://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/disney-hollywood-studios-map.htm
Grand Avenue was inspired by present-day Los Angeles with facades for loft apartments, music shops and more. One highlight of Grand Avenue is the Baseline Tap House, a corner pub featuring California beer and wine.
   At 728 Grand Avenue, Angeleno Alterations 
              stitches up garments for the ladies and gents     
The Spring Flower Market has been “Blooming
Happiness since 1978
           For Luxury Living, you may want to consider the
           Grand Lofts.
Imagineers have put some cool details in the windows of the Harmony Music shop.

Among the sheet music hanging in the window are the Star Wars opening crawl music and the Raiders March from Indiana Jones!
 The Garcia Sisters have been serving Fine Foods
 since 1933.
Research:
View of Grand Avenue from Grand Park.
View of Grand Park from Grand Avenue at night
Note: The Walt Disney Concert Hall is at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California.
Background:
Grand Park

Grand Avenue is themed as a historic district inspired by the real location of the same name in downtown Los Angeles.
Across the street is the former named Muppet Courtyard (now known as Grand Park). The area includes most of the previous attraction and restaurants of the Muppet Courtyard. Such as, Muppet*Vision 3D, starring the Muppets from Jim Henson's The Muppet Show, that is presented at the Grand Arts Theatre (a name change from Muppet Theater) within the avenue's Grand Park.
Grand Park is also home to PizzeRizzo, a Brooklyn-style pizza restaurant owned by Rizzo the Rat, and Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano.
Grand Park was originally planned as a themed area called Muppet Studios, following Disney's acquisition of the Jim Henson Company. In addition to Muppet*Vision 3D, this area was to include a themed restaurant and a Muppet dark ride parody of The Great Movie Ride. The deal fell through after Henson's death, and only Muppet*Vision 3D was developed.  (More about this in Hollywood Studios Chapter 17 – Muppet Courtyard – Part 1)

The final attained Muppet-themed section became a part of the park's former Streets of America area, which encompassed several attractions, including an urban street amalgamation of New York City and San Francisco.
Streets of New York
Hills of San Francisco
The area's namesake street facades were formerly the park's working backlot set, which was originally a component of the park's inaugural Studio Backlot Tour It opened to pedestrian park traffic in the mid-1990s; this area closed on April 2, 2016. (This area will be over in an upcoming Chapter – Street of America)
The Muppet-themed areas and a single remaining block of the Streets of America facades were reincorporated into Muppets Courtyard, which served as a placeholder designation until Grand Avenue was completed in September 2017.
Grand Avenue
Streets of New York (note the Subway Entrance)
Source:
Baseline Tap House
Baseline Tap House is part of the Grand Avenue expansion of the park and utilizes spaces that once were home to the Writer’s Stop and the Streets of America. (More about these extinct attraction in a later Chapter)
In this incarnation, the area took on the atmosphere of a corner of California that has been revitalized and is once again welcoming in locals and visitors alike.
In Baseline Tap House’s case, this means transforming the former warehouse that housed a one-family print shop, Figueroa Printing Company, into an exposed brick and beam bar with a number of taps and small plates to quench the thirst of patrons. Between type set letters, machinery, crates, and artwork on the walls, it is easy to determine what the corner shop used to be utilized for.
Note: BaseLine Tap House pays homage to the Figueroa Printing Company, a mom-and-pop print house that had ties to the Disney Studio in nearby Burbank. 
The Writer's Stop, one of the favorite shops in Hollywood Studios, has been replaced by the Tap House,
but the Writer's Stop lives on in a simple detail found upon the shelves.
The BaseLine Tap House is meant to represent a converted printing press shop.
The Tavern retains many of its cool architectural and mechanical details with exposed walls and old printing equipment and artifacts, blending the past and present in an inviting space.
 
On the shelves are a total of ten letters scattered around revealing a nice referral to the former Writer’s Shop.
If you read all the letters from left to right you can see that it reads Writer's Stop. The letters are the actual letters from the sign from the old shop.
Just as you get to Grand Avenue at the corner is The Baseline Taphouse. Its menu is limited, but the bites at Baseline are good enough for guests to make a meal of them.
Outside is a charming tree-shaded terrace. There is limited seating inside and more outside.
The bar is cozy, with great theming. Because of the menu and limited seating, this is not a great option for families with children. No reservation is required at the BaseLine.
The small bites are crowd pleaser, and the drink selection is excellent. Look for California brews on tap and a blood orange cider.
Nighttime at the BaseLine Tap Tavern
Just as you get to Grand Avenue at the corner is The Baseline Taphouse. Its menu is limited, but the bites at Baseline are good enough for guests to make a meal of them.
Outside is a charming tree-shaded terrace. There is limited seating inside and more outside.
The bar is cozy, with great theming. Because of the menu and limited seating, this is not a great option for families with children. No reservation is required at the BaseLine.

The small bites are crowd pleaser, and the drink selection is excellent. Look for California brews on tap and a blood orange cider.
                                                           At the Baseline Tap Tavern, check out the wall.
 
There is a reference to the Pacific Electric Tolley Lane that was featured in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.
On the brickwork at back of the Baseline Tap House Terrace is an advertisement mural for the Pacific Electric Railway, depicting Red Car Trolleys outside of the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Also referring to the Pacific Electric Tolley and Power Station on Hollywood Boulevard (Chapter 4 - Hollywood Studios - Hollywood Boulevard - Part 3) and Sunset Boulevard (Chapter 8 – Sunset Boulevard – Part 1)
Resource:
Grand Avenue Leading to Galaxy’s Edge
Picture
A replica of the Figueroa Street Tunnels is used as the gateway from the Grand Avenue area to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.

The Figueroa Street Tunnels were designed by municipal engineer Merrill Butler, the tunnels bore the aesthetic flourishes that distinguished Butler's more-celebrated Los Angeles River bridges.

Art Deco patterns and ornamental street lamps adorned the concrete faces of the portals and retaining walls. Inside, reflective tiles reinforced a sense of motion. And above each of the eight portals, a stylized version of the Los Angeles city seal was cast in concrete.
Gateway to Galaxy's Edge opened in 2019
Link:
Dining on Grand Avenue and in Grand Park
BaseLine Tap House (Bar or Lounge)
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano (Table Service)
 Muppets Courtyard Ice Cream Cart
Muppets Joffrey's Coffee Stand)  Closed





In previous Chapters, details on each of the restaurants can be found.
 
Find:
Before we enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge part of Hollywood Studios, we will first go back in history and pay homage to the lost parts of Hollywood Studios that have been replaced.

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Afterword:
WDWMousing.com is designed to be a tour of Walt Disney World through photos. We have been to Walt Disney World countless times over the past 25 years and accumulated a magnitude of photos in that time. This website is an intention to combine two of our favorite pastimes, Walt Disney World and photography, and provide an insightful pictorial tour.
While doing so, we've done an extensive research of the internet and literary sources for background information on each area and attraction. The information is available, but most bits and pieces are scattered all over. WDWMousing doesn't intend to rewrite the stories, legends or data, but to try and collect it into one location with reference and links to the original articles and authors. And giving rightful credit. We've stumbled through quite a bit of mis-information, most of which came to life by fans because the origins were lost, forgotten or no one seems to remember. Over the past 25 years we've also lost most of the great Imagineers that helped develop, design and build the original concepts of Walt Disney World. So we believe it's extremely important to make sure that their efforts, intentions, details and creativity in making this Happiest Place on Earth isn't lost.
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