Friday, May 08, 2009

A Trip To Disneyland, July 1958 - Part Fifteen

Today marks the last of the images from this fun lot from the summer o' fifty eight! It had to end sometime...

There's something about this great photo looking down Main Street USA that just makes me happy. I can imagine the clip-clop of horses hooves, the faint sound of music, and the smell of popcorn. Check it out, it looks like there are TWO Surreys, not to mention the Horse Drawn Streetcar and the Horseless Carriage. This photo evokes a strong sense of nostalgia for me.


And now for a rare vintage night shot, taken from a similar angle! The long exposure has turned the milling crowd into vaporous ghosts. Boo! I've always had a fantasy of exploring the park after hours... they should leave the lights on and everyone else can go home. Then I'll have the run of the place!


I can't think of a more perfect way to end this series than with this beautiful night shot of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

10 comments:

Thufer said...

very nice set and yes, that 1st shot down main street usa is a wonderful mood capture.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Great Series Major, thanks so much for sharing! Notice how people are on the sidewalk on Main Street, what happened to make people think they can walk in the street now-a-days?

Amazing Castle shot!

Daveland said...

That night-time Castle shot is a beauty (pun intended).

SundayNight said...

Wonderful series. That afternoon Main Street shot is almost perfect. The pop corn vendor really enhances the photo.

Vintage - you are so right. It seems to be regarded as more of a real street in those days.

mr wiggins said...

Thanks for the great shots major & a great series!

@VDT & SundayNight... as a kid who practically grew up at DL (first visit in 1955, age 7), the majority of adults and kids unconsciously stayed on the Main Street sidewalk. Not as a safety or rules thing, but as a "perception-of-space" thing. Main Street came across as real, and was treated as such by DL guests.

I remember it beginning to change in the 60's... around the time that I first noticed people cutting in queues.

IMO people were the same then as now... but the unconscious "social contract" that we have between ourselves other people, property and spaces was very different. Many guest behaviors you commonly see in Disneyland now were unheard of -- quite literally, unthinkable and un-thought of -- in the park's first 15 years of operation, and definitely in the first 10.

outsidetheberm said...

You just want to step right into that evening Main Street shot. So nice.

DCarson said...

Ahhh - the sounds of Main Street in 1958. Don't forget the periodic sound of hippos being shot at in the next land over. Back then the blanks put out a real gunshot sound!

Nancy said...

these are beautiful....

i love the little signs on each lamp post heralding a different thing i can see in the Park :)

Chiana said...

Fashionably late... not that it's fashionable to be late but I'm fashionable and late hehe

Agree with Nancy on the little signs and love the mood on these. :)

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