Friday, November 04, 2011

Skyway Station, August 28 1965

Check out this fantastic photo of the old Tomorrowland Skyway station, circa 1965! It's a beauty. The candy-yellow Skyway vehicle gleams in the sunlight as it ferries its full load (mom, dad, and two kids) on to Fantasyland. While I am hoping we get our Peoplemover back, it would be amazing to have our Skyway up and running too! (Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath).


Here's a look at the Monsanto House of the Future (from the same day as the first image). The HOF would survive until December 1967; later photos such as this one are striking because of the mature foliage surrounding it. All that greenery makes it look much less sterile and a lot more friendly.

20 comments:

Chiana_Chat said...

Huh. Neat how well the HOF goes in that setting and how settled in it looks. I'd have liked to live in that odd house and see that Matterhorn out my windows, but I heard there was a lot of foot traffic in the neighborhood.

As for the Skyway pic... I got the change, let's get a ticket and get in that line!

TokyoMagic! said...

Those square Skyway buckets must have been brand spanking new! Two real beauties today, Major!

Chuck said...

I'm suddenly struck this morning by the sheer number of things that struck the fancy of photographers who visited the Park enough to inspire them to expend a frame of film on it. Granted, film and processing were relatively cheaper then than they are today, but film frames were still a finite resource. I've recently returned to shooting a lot more film, and it's forced me back into the mindset of having to pre-edit my exposures and really think about what I want to shoot.

So, with that in mind, I'm thinking of just how many things were documented for posterity because something struck the fancy of a visiting photographer. For every five (or maybe fifteen or fifty) shots of Sleeping Beauty Castle, we get something like today's Tomorrowland Skyway Station.

What jumped out at them to take this shot? Was it the lighting? The composition and the pleasing series of angles? The action? The foreground tree? The need to take one more shot to finish up the roll?

Whatever the reason, thanks to the Major's diligent collecting, editing, cataloging, scanning, and posting, the entire population of the Interwebs now has access to an historical record that documents architecture, landscaping, clothing styles, ride vehicle evolution, and ticket prices for the summer of 1965. We also have a nostalgic memory-jogger for those of us who remember the Park in 1965 (and for those of us who remember the same equipment at a later date) and an eye-pleasing compostion for the desktop.

All because somebody took a picture...

Thufer said...

Those are both very beautiful looks into the past. As a fan of the Skyway, I really appreciate that look back at the Tomorrowland terminus.
With a nod to the future that never was; I always felt that this 'turn-around' station just maybe could have used a little plus-ing. While it was exciting, I personally would have liked just a smudge of ambiance to have been added. (Yes, I understand the pure mechanical aspects.)
I also share Chuck's comment..well stated.

Debbie V. said...

I agree with Chuck - these images do so much for all of us in so many ways.
Love both of these - the train in the background of the monorail station - says a lot.

Chiana_Chat said...

Yea Chuck, they were...

Makin' memories / Takin' pictures is Makin' memories / Catchin' precious moments in time / Makin' 'em yours and makin' 'em mine...

*wonders how many people know that EPCOT Center tune and don't think I'm nuttier than I am as I happily Charleston off screen...

Katella Gate said...

Yes Chiana, I know that song, plus the dirty version I made up when I was a kid...

Orange Co Native said...

It is kind of interesting to see what people in the 1950's and 1960's thought the world would look like in the 1980's, 90's and 21st century. I think when Tomorrowland opened in 1955, it was suppose to be set in the year 1987.

Why it is interesting is because I don't see any houses like HOF being built on a mass production basis. Our cars were also suppose to be flying by now from what I remember back in the 1960's.

Major Pepperidge said...

Chiana, I've often wondered if the Monsanto design had ever caught on... would there be neighborhoods full of these houses, all painted different colors?

TokyoMagic!, I didn't think about it but you are correct... those buckets can't have been there for very long. I wish I knew the exact date that the new ones were installed. Maybe a certain book will have that info!

Chuck, wow, what a fantastic comment! In a relatively short time we have become so used to taking as many photos as we want, which is great. But I remember my mom giving me my first camera (a Kodak Instamatic) and cautioning me to use my precious 24 frames wisely. And there was the week (or so) of waiting to see what your pictures looked like, and the excitement of getting that envelope? Ha, and the disappointment of discovering that my flash cube (also expensive) would NOT light up the entire sub lagoon at night! Anyway, thank you for your thoughtful comment and the kind words about GDB.

Thufer, the Tomorrowland Skyway station was a bit utilitarian, but it did the job I guess. They did attempt to make it look "modern", but not really futuristic.

Debbie V., somehow I didn't even notice the train, thanks for pointing that out!

Chiana, that song sounds sort of familiar, was that from Horizons? From now on I'm goin' to drop my g's whenever a word ends in "ing"!

Katella, I must hear the dirty version!!

TokyoMagic! said...

Chiana, I recognized those lyrics from World of Motion even though I never got the chance to see that attraction! I love my Epcot soundtrack CD, but it makes me kick myself for not getting over there to see it before they began destroying it.

Major, yes maybe a certain book will have that info. I used to assume that they debuted with the new Tomorrowland of 1967, but I have learned from past posts of yours that that is not the case. It must have been nice when the capacity of the ride was increased and families could finally all ride together in one car.

Chuck's comment made me start to wonder....where was that Skyway shot taken from anyway? The photographer appears to have been slightly elevated above the crowd and the ticket booth. The exit stairs were on the other side of the building facing the train. Hmmmmmm.

Nancy said...

pass me a napkin....these are GORGEOUS!!!!!

my favorite yellow Skyway car, Matterhorn, the awesome, nearly indestructible House of the Future all on a sunny day a Disneyland...IT DOES NOT GET BETTER THAN THIS!!!!

oh, and what Chuck said so well...my eternal thanks, too, David!!

SundayNight said...

With all the photos of the HOF you could do a Photoshop montage of homes all next to each other in a kind of futuristic neighborhood and color them all different colors. April 1 is closer than you think!
Great photos today.

Chuck said...

TM - great question...where the heck WAS the photographer standing? I never saw the Old Old Tomorrowland (pre-'67) and can't find my '58 map at present (which might not have been any help anyway). Did the line slide to the right before snaking back and up to the left towards the loading platform?

Chiana_Chat said...

Thanks Katella! TM!, it was in a pre-show for the Magic Journeys film, Journey Into Imagination area, wasn't it?

Major Pepperidge said...

For those of you who wondered where the photographer was standing, I can tell you that a vintage map doesn't help much! Too stylized. We need a nice detailed aerial photo of Tomorrowland! I can't explain why the view is slightly elevated, as the '65 map shows nothing nearby except for the "Tomorrowland Jets" and the Space Bar.

Chuck said...

I consulted a zoomable (is that even a real word?) photo from 1962 that I'd remembered seeing some time ago at Yesterland (http://www.yesterland.com/1962aerial.html), but that doesn't help much. That photo doesn't seem to show any place that the shutterbug could have been standing to take the shot at that angle.

I suppose it could have been taken by Gort on a subsequent visit to Earth (even alien peacekeeping robots want to visit Disneyland), but I'm thinking there's probably a more plausible explanation. Looks like more sleepless nights researching GDB archives. PLEASE don't throw me in that thar Briar Patch...

JG said...

Whoa. Very cool. Love them both, esp. skyway.

The tech for the HOF was so expensive, no one could afford a house built this way, and they were too weird looking.

Be honest, can you imagine Mr & Mrs Yesterday living in a House of Tomorrow?

Americans will buy futuristic cars, as long as they are modernized only a year at time, but people's image of "home" is too conservative to change so dramatically in such a short time.

The only chance that super-modern style like this has to penetrate the wider market is in temporary housing like hotel/motel/resort where you don't have to commit to owning it...and even that isn't successful. Look at the Contemporary Resort vs the Grand FLoridian for example.

JG

Mark Hickson said...

Looks like the Skyway queue is in it's 3rd configuration since opening. It used to go straight up to the sign, then it was kinked towards the Space Bar, and this shows it crossing under the buckets. Good one!

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, I'm glad you liked these? I agree, the House of the Future is not for everyone, and would be a drastic change of habit. But think how many people have NO house... wouldn't they rather have one of these? Presumably if they were made in large quantities, much would be pre-fab and the costs would come down, too. I suppose!

Mark, thank you for your comment, I didn't know that the Skyway actually changed the way you indicated.

Connie Moreno said...

Maybe, just maybe, someone in a Skyway bucket that just left before the yellow one took the photo using a zoom lens??? It's a stretch, I know. LOVE these photos, Major.