Saturday, June 23, 2012

Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1940's

Welcome to Cheyenne, podner! This Kodachrome image is undated, but thanks to the interwebs we (me an Queen Elizabeth) can be sure that it is from no later than 1943. Which is pretty cool! I wonder if any worldwide event of note was happening in 1943? Nope, nothing that I can think of.

Anyway, I realize that this is not the most exciting picture in the world, but I get a kick out of pictures of cities and towns from way back when; in lieu of a time machine, a nice color photo will have to do. Check out the cool cars (was that trip really necessary?). Patriotic bunting is evident, as well as a sign touting "Frontier Days". That's when I want to be there! I also like the sign for the Trailways bus depot (sort of hard to see, but you can do it - I believe in you). 


Using Google Map's "street view", this is as close as I could get to replicating the angle; the image quality is pretty crummy, or else I would have cropped in for a more accurate recreation.


The Normandy Hotel, visible in my photo, is now blood red and called "The Wrangler", a huge store that sells all manner of clothing and western wear. Need one of those hats with the little dangling pom-pons? Well, they might not have those. But there are lots of other hats, so stop being so picky. The sign atop The Wrangler tells us that it has been there since 1943, which was very helpful to me. Thanks, sign guys!


I hope today's "Anything Goes" installment has not lulled you to sleep!

12 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

The Brady Bunch sang a song about Cheyenne. Really. It's on their "Best Of" album.

K. Martinez said...

Nice pic! I've been through this street in the late 70s. I remember the drive there was desolate.

I just got back from my 3-day Disneyland trip. The crowds in Disneyland Park were not bad at all. DCA seemed to have the bigger crowds and longer wait times.

The new Matterhorn Bobsleds were a big disappointment. At 6'4 I didn't fit very well in the bobsled. I felt like a contortionist and the ride was miserable all the way down. After nearly 50 years of bobsled riding, it will probably be my last. It's not worth the painful ride.

I went on Radiator Springs Racer right at park opening in single rider line (max wait 15 minutes). For the rest of the day average wait time was 4 hours and FastPass ran out before 10:00 a.m. It was crazy! Anyway it was an AWESOME ride.

I waited 75 minutes for Luigi's Flying Tires. I loved the look and theme of the ride, the queue building and the background music, but I thought the actual ride experience was a dud! It was easy to operate, but too slow for my taste.

Cars Land was great overall, though I think my favorite was Buena Vista Street. I thought the Carthay Circle Theater building was beautiful! It surpassed my expectations as no online images matched seeing it in person. I had a GREAT time, but glad to be home.

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, when you think about it, The Brady Bunch was the greatest rock band of all time. "Sunshine Day" is way better than any Beatles song! I can only imagine how awesome "Cheyenne" must be.

K. Martinez, thanks for the trip report! I am so bummed to hear about the new bobsleds. The two or three accounts I've read have said pretty much the same thing. I just don't get why they design a new ride vehicle and ignore the fact that there really are people over 5', 6" tall. Wow, lucky that you got to ride Radiator Springs Racers after only a 15 minute wait. Luigi's Flying Tires… I knew that one was going to be a problem! Supposedly Mater's Junkyard Jamboree was pretty fun, did you ride that? And Daveland has been sharing photos of Buena Vista Street that show how nice it is… I want to go when the crowds die down.

Anonymous said...

Johnny Bravo rocks!!

K. Martinez said...

Major, The only reason I had a 15 minute wait time for RSR is because I waited for over an hour at DCA's front gate entrance early morning. Unless you arrive before opening and go single rider, kiss a decent wait time good-bye. Even to get FastPass took over an hour wait and that ran out quickly.

Yes, I rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree which was lots fun, but it had a long wait too. The problem with Cars Land is because it's new all queues filled up immediately with over 1 hour waits for the two minor attractions, in addition to a 4 hour wait for RSR. I may have waited 15 minutes for RSR, but Luigi's and Mater's I had a combined wait time of 2.5 hours. I also had breakfast at Flo’s V8 CafĂ© which I enjoyed that very much. Great atmostphere.

Again, the one that surprised me was Buena Vista Street. For some reason, it really blew me away. It’s definitely the “Main Street” for DCA.

On the plus side, Disneyland Park had light crowds compared to DCA and this was on a weekday. I was able to log in 60+ attractions there since there were short waits for nearly everything. I'm sure weekends will be different.

Major Pepperidge said...

Anon... Johnny Bravo, the Cartoon Network character?!?!?

K. Martinez, I am sure I won't be even attempting to visit the new improved DCA until autumn, and maybe even after that. At least you got light crowds at Disneyland. 60+ attractions, that is impressive! You must have gone nonstop without taking a rest or eating.

K. Martinez said...

All 3 days I went opening to closing and actually ate quite a bit. Full dinners at Plaza Inn and French Market as well as Breakfast at the River Belle Terrace, etc. I didn't wait more than 5 minutes in line at each restaurant. Very light.

The wait times were extremely short for attractions, so I was lucky.

Examples:
Pirates of the Caribbean - 20 mins.
Jungle Cruise - 5 mins.
Big Thunder Mountain - 20 mins.
Splash Mountain single rider - 5 mins.
Space Mountain - 40 mins.
Peter Pan - 30 mins.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride 10 mins.
etc.

I did every single listed attraction at Disneyland unless it was child exclusive. I only did the new stuff (5 attractions) at DCA.

It was great timing to go to Disneyland Park while crowds went to DCA, but you are right. I went non-stop with no rest and now I'm dead tired. It was worth it though.

Chiana_Chat said...

Didn't a pepper and Chevy Blazer trim packages come from there?

walterworld said...

Enjoyed the Cheyenne pics; didn't 'On The Road' go thru this town? Been a few years since I read it. Buffalo is another cool Wyoming small town. Went through these parts back in 2006.

Thanks Major!

iowa said...

Do you have the old photo in a higher resolution version? I live in Cheyenne and will try to get you an updated shot from the same vantage with similar cropping.

Major Pepperidge said...

Hi Jonathan, I do have a high-res scan - somewhere. My "archives" aren't very well organized though. If you click on the thumbnail you see a larger version of the photo, is that big enough? I'd love to see a nice clear picture of the same view today if you could do it. Thanks!

iowa said...

Sent you an updated photo via your profile email address. Please let me know if you receive it. Thanks