{"id":268881,"date":"2026-04-15T10:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268881\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T10:27:15","slug":"he-created-an-outrageous-home-from-disneyland-and-pop-culture-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268881\/","title":{"rendered":"He created an outrageous home from Disneyland and pop-culture moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brandon Shahniani is obsessed with the 1980s sitcom \u201cThe Golden Girls,\u201d so much so that he decorated his breezy bedroom in pastel tones that would make Blanche Devereaux, the show\u2019s famously flirtatious character, green with envy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to live in 1980s Miami Beach,\u201d says the 28-year-old who\u2019s the co-owner of the Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain<\/a> in South Pasadena, a Disney adult,<\/a> and occasionally, the drag persona known as \u2019Naynay<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I ask myself, \u2018Where would I want to wake up?,\u2019 the answer is right here,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I sleep really well here.\u201d<\/p>\n

His bedroom, which he calls \u2019Naynay\u2019s Expo Beach Resort, looks and feels like a hotel, with a soothing scent reminiscent of Coppertone sunscreen coming from a specialized scent-delivery machine, a resort activity schedule on the dresser and an emergency evacuation map on the back of the door.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt \u2019Naynay\u2019s Expo Beach Resort, there is a light sunscreen scent that, along with the music and the visual queues, makes you actually feel like you\u2019re on vacation in Miami Beach in 1987,\u201d says Shahniani.<\/p>\n

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A hotel room sign welcomes you to the Expo Beach Resort.<\/p>\n

Welcome to \u2019Naynay\u2019s World Expo, Shahniani\u2019s three-bedroom, three-bathroom 1982 townhome in Montrose, composed of 11 carefully curated immersive moments, each filled with the pop-culture sights, sounds and smells of his youth that make him \u201cfeel safe, expressed, playful and happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhimsy is very important to my generation,\u201d the zillennial says as he offers a tour. \u201cThe future is bleak for us,\u201d he adds, even though his upbeat attitude and warm energy make you feel like you\u2019ve known him for years.<\/p>\n

To push back against generational anxiety<\/a>, Shahniani has covered every wall in his house with sentimental items \u2014 hundreds in total \u2014 many of them from periods he is too young to have experienced. There\u2019s a vintage Disneyland ticket book, a Rubik\u2019s Cube and an old aluminum speaker from a drive-in theater. Some things, including a signed birthday greeting from Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde<\/a>, are framed. Others, including an Egg McMuffin carton, lunchboxes and food-themed Barbies, are simply mounted on the wall.<\/p>\n

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Shahniani enjoys screening movies on the wall in his 1950s-style diner and serving TV dinners. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Route 66 Cookbook\u201d is within reach of the sparkling vinyl dinette. <\/p>\n

When you first walk in the front door, you\u2019ll see \u2019Naynay\u2019s Drag-In Dine-In Theater centered around a custom-made shiny red-and-white vinyl booth. Across from the booth and above the bar, a pink-and-white television made from an iPad inside a plastic foam cooler plays old cereal commercials and clips from \u201cI Love Lucy\u201d and \u201cBewitched\u201d on repeat. <\/p>\n

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Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

\u201cI love a diner and a drive-in theater,\u201d he says about his movie nights, where he screens films and serves TV dinners. But don\u2019t expect him to sit still for long. \u201cI\u2019m not a big movie person,\u201d he says. \u201cI play movies for ambience.\u201d<\/p>\n

His home is visually overwhelming \u2014 as colorful, whimsical and jam-packed as Disneyland\u2019s Enchanted Tiki Room (which he prefers over theme park rides such as Space Mountain) \u2014 with license plates and custom-made signs by artists Reimi Mosses<\/a> and Dan Rocky<\/a> as big as movie posters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that he, like me, was educated at theme parks,\u201d says friend Charles Phoenix<\/a>, a midcentury pop-culture and design expert. His home \u201cfeels like we are in some sort of exquisite divine design reality. It touches a nerve in me that everybody has their own version of nostalgia. And what Brandon has created is his own nostalgia.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn \u2019Naynay\u2019s Kitchen of Progress, my kitchen monitor plays a loop of the Carousel of Progress attraction preshow while still managing to set up all my kitchen timers and fetch recipes for me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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A Pizza Hut pendant illuminates McDonald\u2019s collectibles in the \u201980s & \u201990s Food Culture Hall of Fame dining room. <\/p>\n

Using sensory theme park tricks he picked up during his time as a storyteller at Disneyland, Shahniani, who grew up in South Pasadena<\/a>, has filled his town house with sound effects from hidden speakers he controls with his iPhone. In the diner, for example, the speakers play outdoor sounds including crickets to create a real drive-in movie atmosphere. Upstairs in his bedroom, tropical sounds and steelpan music add to the feeling of sleeping in a seaside resort. <\/p>\n

Other rooms downstairs include the B-Movie Bathroom, \u2019Naynay\u2019s Kitchen of Progress and the \u201980s & \u201990s Food Culture Hall of Fame dining room, which is illuminated by a Pizza Hut pendant. In the \u201980s Palm Common Room, a vintage keyboard, a computer mouse and touch-tone phone hang on the walls. <\/p>\n

This spring, just outside the dining room, Shahniani will add the Expoterrace, a relaxing patio with a fountain, waterfalls and lush plants inspired by Living with the Land at Epcot in Florida.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Naynay, Brandon Shahniani\u2019s drag alter ego, uses the powder room for dressing and makeup. <\/p>\n

Upstairs, in the bubble gum-pink Powder Room, Shahniani keeps his drag costumes, made by his favorite dressmaker, Kelsey Swarthout<\/a>, who uses upcycled Disney sheets in her designs. He stores his makeup, wigs, earrings, eyelashes and purses in sleek cabinets and organizes them in a digital closet he built from an iPad and a plastic foam cooler. <\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not getting ready as \u2019Naynay, he likes to watch \u201cchick flicks\u201d such as \u201cClueless,\u201d \u201cEarth Girls are Easy\u201d and \u201cPretty in Pink.\u201d Shahniani doesn\u2019t perform as a drag queen, but he enjoys dressing up as \u2019Naynay for different events and theme park visits. \u201cI treat drag the way other people treat cosplay,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Says Phoenix: \u201cHe\u2019s so original. I\u2019ve never known anyone who self-presents like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brandon <\/p>\n

Shahniani\u2019s drag alter ego \u2019Naynay is celebrated in illustrations by artist Brittney Sides, hanging in his hallway.<\/p>\n

Past the 1970s-themed mint chocolate chip bathroom, where you can lather up with Native Girl Scouts Cookies Thin Mint Body Wash, and through the Hall of \u2019Naynay, which displays seven retro portraits of Shahniani in his favorite drag outfits by illustrator Brittney Sides<\/a>, you\u2019ll find the Disneyland-themed Archive Room. Shahniani calls it a \u201cteenage boy\u2019s dream.\u201d Which tracks for someone who has visited every Disney theme park in the world \u2014 Tokyo is his favorite \u2014 and was recently featured in AJ Wolfe\u2019s book \u201cDisney Adults: Exploring (And Falling in Love With) A Magical Subculture.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The Archive Room is painted blue and filled with Disney parks memorabilia he\u2019s collected over the years including his ticket stubs, which are safely stored in a fillable glass lamp. \u201cFrom scouring through antique malls and online auctions to personal items from my childhood at the parks or things gifted by previous cast members and Imagineers, it\u2019s a holy grail collection of all of my personal hyperfixations from the park,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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The guest bedroom is Disney-themed. <\/p>\n

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A bedside lamp is filled with Disney ticket stubs next to a Mickey Mouse telephone.<\/p>\n

Shahniani says his home feels special because so many friends helped with the design, the art on the walls and even his clothing. <\/p>\n

His friend, theme park journalist Carlye Wisel, noticed these details too<\/a>. \u201cVisiting Brandon is glee-inducing not just because of the decor, but also the company,\u201d she says in an email. \u201cAt our annual holiday party, he sets up gingerbread houses for us to decorate, puts presents on the steps, and even bakes enough of his signature cookies that we can bring a box home to our families. Spending time at Brandon\u2019s house during the holidays is the closest I\u2019ll ever feel to being inside a Christmas movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shahniani agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s so fun to be here. There\u2019s something so youthful about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feeling of being transported by youthful energy motivates Shahniani every morning when he starts his day by playing Pinar Toprak\u2019s uplifting Epcot theme<\/a> on the speakers downstairs. <\/p>\n

As he puts it, \u201cI believe that my default way of thinking, feeling and seeing the world is being dictated by the way I was programmed as a young child. When the youngest, most innocent version of you is healed and well, then it\u2019s easy to go out and do amazing things. And when little Brandon feels great inside, then big Brandon can go out and change the world for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brandon \"Cassette \"Brandon <\/p>\n

The \u201980s-inspired living room is filled with vintage technology, including chunky phones, old keyboards and portable TVs. <\/p>\n

Now he hopes to help others build the dream life they\u2019ve always imagined. \u201cI\u2019m currently working on an accessible life-coaching resource in the style of an \u201880s TV show, using YouTube videos, to show others they can defy the societal norm of being miserable,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019ll be funny, effective, kitschy, nostalgic and change the way we use self-help for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people may see it as whimsy, he says, adding: \u201cOthers call it prioritizing your mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

The B movie-themed bathroom. <\/p>\n