Waikiki Motel Postcard
It's "souvenir day" today! I have oodles of Disneyland postcards, ranging from the early artwork-only "concept cards" to the beautiful Panorama cards and the fun Art Corner cards. Some folks have expanded their parameters to include the many hotels and motels that surrounded the park over the years. I haven't gotten into those really, but today's card is an exception.
The Waikiki Motel looks like your typical Southern California motel...two storys of rooms (clean and modern, maybe even with color televisions!) surrounding a rectangular parking lot that includes a small pool. I personally appreciate the separate pool for the kids to pee in. A few gently-swaying palm trees add a bit of tropical beauty. It actually looks like a pretty nice place! Notice the people goose-stepping down the sidewalk.
The real reason I like this card is the artist's depiction of Disneyland in the (very walkable) distance! It's a fairly nice illustration, although the castle looks a bit weird and the Matterhorn looks like it's in the wrong place. Still, there's Main Street Station and the Rocket to the Moon, and you can even see a tram in the parking lot. A little artistic license was taken with the mountains on the horizon (there are mountains, but not quite that close - or is it just the clear Anaheim air that makes them feel close?).
I found this next postcard on the internets, and as you can see, the Waikiki Motel was faithfully rendered on the other postcard. Little details differ, but still; I love the sign! The Waikiki Motel is gone, and as far as I can tell the "Desert Palms" and/or the Candy Cane Inn now stand where it used to be.
14 comments:
Beautiful artwork, Major. Thanks for sharing this!
Ah this will do nicely. Soon as I get that time machine (Kevin clue me in if you find one) and a '56 Thunderbird, I'll be pulling in there. :)
What is not cool about these postcards. Fantastic and my favorite collectible of all time.
Love that artwork, and the goose-stepping pedestrians are too much! Thanks for the neat treat...
There's a little scene in front (from out pov) of the pool. A babe in a bikini is standing sans towel, facing two guys who walked into the driveway; one guy is glad he came and the other has his hands up praising the Lord. But there seems to be a little dot - a kid? - between to make everything ok. ;)
The Waikiki Motel just happened to be near the California Department of Silly Walks so pedestrianism isn't all so odd. hehe.
What? Y'all didn't get that little thrill as you marched smartly up to the front gate singing:
Disnieländer über alles!
glücklichste Königreich in der Welt!
I know after I got thru visiting Disneyland, I was ready to conquer the world.
Katella ^ lol!
I never thought to "march" smartly up to the front gate, was probably busy being a smart arse hehe
Nice! Especially like the leaning TWA rocket - must have been when they launched to avoid the Van Allen belt.
these are so cool...i would stay there, tho we did stay at the Candy Cane Inn ou our second visit, so perhaps we did (sorta)
i wish we could get a closer look at the pretty cars in the parking lot :)
I remember when the Van Allen belt caught fire.
I was pretty little when that stuff happened with the Van Allen belts, but Admiral Nelson took care of it. Damn UN! Still good for nothing.
"Goose stepping" (or, as we used to call it, "high walkin'") was all the rage for a while back in the '60s. We used to do it to tick the old people off (who'd been through WW2, after all). Like all fads, it came and went pretty quick. By the time a few "hip" grown-ups had started doing it, we kids had moved on to something else. If memory serves, Jan and Dean did a song based on it, but it was never a hit.
What a fun post!
The Waikiki was located at 631 Katella, in between the still existing Alpine Inn and the Sir Ru Dimar Motel.
On the site today is the modern Desert Palms Hotel & Suites (sorry, the Candy Cane is around the corner on Harbor!)
Take care!
wow, i remember this place, and the Sir Ru Dimar... dont think we stayed there, but i remember the names and the signs...
also, the postcard looks like an example from a book of architectural drawings from that era.
i still have my book...
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