Friday, January 08, 2010

Cheap Camera Blues, January 1963

Today's photos are from a photographer who either had a cheap camera, or else suffered from the whim-whams. You know, the jitters, the shakes, the quakes! Whatever the cause, there were about a dozen photos with various degrees of blurring. I decided to choose the best of the lot and post them all at once. Incidentally, they are from January 1963, so... 47 years ago, give or take a few days!

Town Square is bustling with guests, as we enter Disneyland through the western tunnel. I don't really like crowds when I'm in the park, but they add a touch of life and energy to these photos.


Here's another busy shot in Adventureland, kind of an unusual view. The fading sunlight is just touching the tops of the buildings for just a little while longer. Notice that the boys in the lower left all have their souvenir pinback buttons from the Golden Horseshoe Revue (with the Pepsi logo).


Yet another unsual shot (WHY did it have to be blurry?) as this couple approaches the tunnel that leads to the Indian Village. You can just make out some crude pictograms that have been carved into the rock. That poor woman was caught in an unflattering moment, but hey, that's how I look in most photos.


And here they are in the Indian Village itself. I like the Northwest Indian additions, even though I also miss the more traditional "TV western" village that was there before.


And finally, one last fuzzy look at a Horse Drawn Streecar. Man, those horses can draw!

13 comments:

Pegleg Pete said...

Great pics today! That's the best photo of the tunnel leading to the Indian Village that I've ever seen. Shame about the blurriness!

Anonymous said...

Though it may be true that the woman was caught in an unflattering moment, it may also be true that that is her normal expression, something which could account for the nervous shaking of the photographer and thus the blurry pictures. Just a theory.

Nancy said...

lol with Anonymous....an interesting thought indeed!

these are great, blurry or not, because most pics we see are of the Dance Circle (as tho its the only thing worth taking a picture of). i have never seen the tunnel before.

as well, a relatively rare pic of Adventureland, which there are definitely not enough of, and i love the horses at DL so you have made this fan very happy today!

thanks for posting them :D

Thufer said...

Really good stuff today. I am with Pegleg, never seen that shot before.

Steve Tanner at Magical Trash said...

Being a Midwesterner, didn't even know that the Indian Village had a tunnel. I learned something today! :)

SundayNight said...

I think our photographer had the shutter speed set just a little too long. I don't recall seeing the cave entrance to the Indian village. Blurry but still worth seeing.

Katella Gate said...

I learned a few things about Disneyland today, like the secret tunnel to the Indian Village, the Northwest Indian Village area, and the Death Ray mounted on the roof of the emporium. I think it was remotely operated from Walt's apartment next door.

Also loved the Adventureland pic with the three kids with the Pepsi buttons .. "We're the Pepsi Generation... coming at ya, goin' strong."

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Hey, 1/2 my photos come out just like these, I feel right at home.

That Indian village tunnel pic is the sleeper hit in this batch, doesn't even look like Disneyland its so rare. And the lady's face is priceless.

Anonymous said...

The tunnel is an item that most have no recollection of. And that Adventureland picture is priceless. That land didn't change much in appearance for years to come and looks very much like when I worked there. Now if anyone could find a picture of the Big Game Shooting Gallery, that would be quite a prize. I did a summer's stint at that location. To think we used lead pellets shot from an air gun. Those days are long gone. And so are the returning fragments hitting the guests and yours truly (this before eye protection became important--I wore my own glasses).

Anna Chi said...

Why do the adults in #2 have such poor eyesight?

TokyoMagic! said...

Okay, I have to agree with everyone about the tunnel...never seen a shot of it like that before. I appears on the old DL wall maps and you did post a photo of it under construction back on Feb. 20th of 2009, but this shot is rare, indeed! Thanks Major!

Anonymous said...

There were TWO side-by-side tunnels leading into/out of Indian Village. It's hard to believe photos of the tunnels are rare because we shot a picture or three in or near the tunnels most every time we visited the west side of Disneyland. I guess I need to dig a few of those up! ;)

Major Pepperidge said...

Anonymous, are you sure about the two tunnels? There was a tunnel for the Disneyland RR right next to the one for the Indian Village, could that be the other one you are thinking of?

Of course, if you have photos showing otherwise, I would love to see them for sure, that would be a fascinating new bit of information for me!