UPDATED: Signs of protest have popped up outside the single-story Looney Tunes building that is scheduled to be razed to make way for base camp space.
Four signs were posted sometime this week on Building 131 that’s located in the far corner of the lot off of Forest Lawn Drive. The signs read “buildings have feelings, too,” “save 131, history matters a ton,” and “everyone watches Looney Tunes.”
A amateur artist even drew Bugs Bunny saying, “not cool, doc.”
As Deadline reported earlier this week, the building’s demotion has been in the works for some time so the studio can create more space for all the HBO shows that are shooting on the Burbank, CA. lot.
Some readers have correctly pointed out this isn’t the original home of Warner Bros. animation: that building, nicknamed Termite Terrace, was located on the studio’s old lot on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles (now the Sunset Studios). Infested with insects (ergo the nickname), the clapboard building was torn down in the ’40s.
Termite Terrace would end up becoming a metonym for the studio’s cartoon department. The animation staff moved to the Burbank lot in the ’50s.
Regarding Building 131, one Deadline reader named John Alton said, “I had the pleasure of walking through this building with my dears friends, Virgil Ross and Leith Adams in 1995. As we strolled down the corridor, Virgil (who had been working with Leon Schlesinger and WB since 1935, began telling Leith and I, this was Chuck’s (Jones) office. This is where Friz [Freleng] worked, on and on. The younger people sitting in these offices he no idea what magic was created in these rooms, nor did Leith who at that time, was the corporate archivist. It is very sad they are destroying 20th Century history.”
PREVIOUS: A little cartoon history is about to be history on the Warner Bros. lot: the studio is razing the single-story building where Looney Tunes was once housed.
Deadline understands that Building 131 will be torn down to create more base camp space for the myriad HBO shows that are shooting on the Burbank, CA. lot. The nondescript building, which is located in the far corner of the lot off of Forest Lawn Drive, will not be replaced.
Observers say the demolition has been in the works for some time and that staff from other shows have been discouraged from parking in the vicinity. The teardown process could begin as early as next week.
A spokesperson for the studio declined to comment.
Looney Tunes made an unexpected return to the cultural zeitgeist recently after it was revealed that the animated shorts, which ran during the golden age of animation from 1930 through 1969, had been scrubbed by Warner Bros. Discovery-owned Max. Since the streamer prioritizes adult and family programming, kiddie programming such as Looney Tunes and Sesame Street was no longer viewed as a priority.
Warner Bros. Building 131
Other spinoff versions of Looney Tunes remain on the service, including six seasons of 2020’s Looney Tunes Cartoons, two seasons of 2015’s New Looney Tunes (the third season and some episodes from Season 1 are not available), two seasons of 2002’s Baby Looney Tunes, 2021’s four-episode scripted podcast Looney Tunes Presents: Bugs and Daffy’s Thanksgiving Road Trip, two seasons of 2023’s Tiny Toons Looniversity and its corresponding 42-minute Tiny Toons Looniversity: Spring Break special (though its winter spinoff is not streaming), five seasons of 1995’s The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and two seasons of 2022’s Bugs Bunny Builders.
Warner Bros. Building 131
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
