Tuesday, June 02, 2015

Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, November 1955

Here are two more Kodachrome slides from November, 1955; the park was only 4 months old! Just imagine. 

I guess the kids are out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday (or something), it is a busy day. You can't see it, but the Teacups are just behind all of those people. Some guests are dressed for cool weather, but it must not be too cold. It won't be long before the sun sets and all the park's lights are turned on. The Pirate Ship looks amazing!


This one was taken a bit earlier... only by minutes, though. It's definitely the magical "golden hour". The little tree seems to be placed in an unfortunate position, blocking the view of the elaborate bas-relief on the stern of the ship... I'll have to look at other photos and see if it was removed at some point.


9 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Four months old, indeed-! (No dry rot in sight, here-!) Oh, to walk those hallowed grounds back then. It's hard not to notice the essentially 'matching glasses frames' on what may just be Mother, Daughter & Aunt front and center in the first image.

Thanks, Major.

TokyoMagic! said...

The little girl that isn't wearing the glasses in the foreground of that first pic looks a tad like Shirley Temple.

K. Martinez said...

Oh look! It's the Skyway in the distance behind the Pirate Ship Restaurant. Oops! Never mind. It's just the utility/telephone poles and wires at the back of the park.

Love the candy striped lampposts of the Mad Tea Party which seems to be well hidden by the guests queuing up for a spin on the ride. Thanks, Major.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I wonder how many options people had for glasses frames back in those days? Was it like today, with scores of choices?

TokyoMagic!, I noticed her and thought the same thing.

K. Martinez, yes, I always look for those Skyway cables whenever a photo is supposed to be pre-1956!

K. Martinez said...

@Major - Absolutely! pre-1956 Skyway shots are the best. Now for some reason, I can't see Skull Rock in today's pic. Maybe the photographer should've panned a little to the right and straight on till morning.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

It is placed in an unfortunate spot, but it looks slightly mature (for the time) and somewhat citrus to me. Could this be one of the sacred orange trees from the original grove? I think it may be a good bet.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

The URL I’m providing below shows the only other shot of the tree I could find. The tree stands alone on the edge of the Pirate Ship lagoon, and is considerably taller than the rest of the landscaping in the pic.

The shot is a GIF from a site of GIFs, so if you click on it it’ll move.

http://www.gifwave.com/2RDE/disney-vintage-1950s-disneyland-50s-1959-vintage-disney-vintage-disneyland-kodak-presents-disneyland-59-fantasyland-pirate-ship-skyway-casey-jr-chicken-of-the-sea-pirate-ship-king-arthurs-carousel-gif

Unknown said...

Yeah, power lines as Skyway cables: I think we used to see Disneyland in our little kiddie minds outside the park. There used to be power lines along I-5 with weights hung from them to damp wind oscillations. We would, of course, see Skyway buckets in our minds...

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