Sunday, February 27, 2011

Town Square, May 1960

Today's photos have it all. Action! Suspense! Romance! Betrayal! Well, OK, they have none of those things. But I wanted them to, I really did.


Here's the Opera House, where you could go watch the entire Wagner "Ring Cycle" from beginning to end (about 15 hours, folks) - performed by an animatronic Abraham Lincoln. And before you ask, YES, he wore one of those hats with the horns. Frankly, I pity all of you who never had the chance to experience it. (Water fountain alert)


The Imagineers used something called "forced perspective" to make Main Street look bigger than it really was. It's tricky, but you can sort of tell in this photo that the castle is only about 12 feet high, which makes it seem further away.


9 comments:

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Where's a sack of sugar when you need it!

Love that 2nd shot, WOW!

Connie Moreno said...

These shots are incredible. Love 'em!

Orange Co Native said...

In my humble opinion, I think Walt Disney made a mistake by moving the band gazebo from Main St Square and putting in a flag pole instead. I think the flag pole detracts from the view.

The gazebo would have obscured the view down Main St to the castle (If you are looking from Main St Train Station, but it would have added to the ambience and feel for Main St in the 1890's -1910.

Thufer said...

Hehehe even without the sack of sugar, the water fountain in two shots is exceptional and the top one of the Oprah House is just amazing.

Nancy said...

i like those fabric awnings...we always had them on our porch in the summers when i was growing up

i also agree with Orange Co Native about the gazebo. it was the perfect accessory for the period.

love these sunny shots of Main Street :D

Anonymous said...

Indeed, when I have a chance to sit in the gazebo, now at Newport Beach, I think how great it would be back in Disneyland...with me in it!

Katella Gate said...

It looks so naked and lonely without a sack of sugar.

Jason Schultz said...

I had a chance to sit in Town Square on Friday night in the rain (while everybody else kept in motion for some reason...). It would be nice to find it this empty in the middle of the day sometime!

JG said...

I have been using a form of forced perspective to fit into my trousers. If you focus on something far away in the distance, like the castle in that shot, you can inhale hard enough to button your britches.

The forced formalism of a flagpole is hard to get away from, the bandstand should have been in the center of a square somewhere, and the flagpole should have been somewhere in front of City Hall. There just wasn't enough space to do both.

I'm hoping that someday, the once-upon-a-time restaurant-bandstand west of the castle will be restored to use and so some kind of bandstand will be around. It seems like there is enough room in Disneyland for all kinds of music, one in each land.

JG