Beautiful Tomorrowland, August 1964
Here is an orphan slide from August, 1964. Say, look at that wonderful view of Tomorrowland! My favorite. There's plenty of concrete, but the Imagineers have made the land look more inviting with little islands of landscaping. "Bird of paradise" plants looked suitably Venusian for a land where space travel is a regular thing.
It's a hazy day, and that haze gives everything a distant, soft blue tone. Small splashes of yellow and bright red or orange keep things from getting too monochromatic. The area with the benches (to the right, located under those strange umbrella-like shades) resembles some sort of airport (spaceport). What time does our flying saucer leave?
I wanted to zoom in on the Hat Bar... you can see stacks of those hats with the ostrich feathers. Fun fact: Steven Spielberg originally wanted Indiana Jones to wear one of those. Unfortunately, aerodynamic considerations forced him to change it to a fedora, but we can still dream, can't we?
I see cutouts of Mickey's face, presumably that was where the mouse ears were stacked. To the right are postcard racks - the most prominent one holds those foldout "portfolios" of cards. You can get one for each land, or just get one that covers the whole park. Or buy one of each, if you want to be cool like me.
Love that Tom Sawyer Island poster too.
And just because, here's a final crop showing the magnificent Douglas Moonliner!
12 comments:
Major-
Tomorrowland... the land of olive and toothpick light poles-! (Perhaps there's a connection between the olives, toothpicks and the Hat "Bar"...) And I was so certain we'd see some fez and dunce caps. That's a big disappointment.
I know it's a fool's errand to challenge the dating, but the folks in the images do appear to be dressed just a tad warmly for August in Anaheim. But I'd never deny So. Cal residents the opportunity to sport their long coats, jackets and ascots when the weather goes sour, and the temps drop below, say... 68°. Brrrrr-!
Thanks, Major.
I never thought about it before, but I guess The Mod Hatter stand in front of the Tomorrowland Skyway station was pretty much just the relocated Hat Bar in the 1967 version of Tomorrowland. Sort of like how the Mad Hatter shop in Fantasyland was relocated during the 1983 remodeling of that land.
you never know, Nanook.....one time here in Pgh, where we get very hot weather in August, it went into the 40s on the day we went to our "Disneyland", and Kennywood Park ran out of sweatshirts!!
I love the dreamy quality of these beauties.....dreaming of being at Disneyland again!! the colors are so nice. Love the poster in the second picture and how all the colors of the hats and surrounding plants and the counters under the hats match. :-)
Look at all that open space! I love the seemingly random flowerbeds and bird of paradise. Wonder what happened to those plants? It's interesting to see the open horizon before the Carousel of Progress building and Rocket Jets tower filled it in.
TokyoMagic, I always liked that name of the Tomorrowland hat shop "Mod Hatter". "Hatmosphere" which it was later named wasn't too shabby a name either. It would've been cool if they themed the Mad Hatter shop on Main Street to Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet from the animated feature "Make Mine Music". Or maybe they did and I didn't notice it.
Wait - birds of paradise are actually native to THIS planet? What the...?
Is that the famous Senegal date palm in the center left of frame?
I love all the mid-century futuristic goodness in this image, particularly in the first close-up of the Hat Bar.
And I stand corrected on the Douglas Moonliner scheme. This may be the first hi-res closeup I've ever seen of it, and I'd never noticed the red pinstripes to offset the broad blue bands. It's suddenly a lost its blandness to me.
I also like the multicolored "Douglas Aircraft" logo level with the top of the landing gear. I knew that logo had survived the 1997 Boeing buyout of McDonnell Douglas but had no idea that it predated the 1967 McDonnell merger.
For a one-shot orphan slide, there's a lot of punch in today's post. Thanks, Major!
So empty. I can't help but fantasize about time travel every time I see pictures like this. Some people wanna kill baby Hitler; I just want to ride Adventure Through Inner Space and the old Carousel of Progress.
...and in 1964, I'd only have a three-year wait for ATIS. I'd while away the meantime investing IBM, meeting Walt, and seeing The Beatles live.
Ken, I always like those two names as well. I'm not sure what it is called now and unfortunately, I can't look on the DL guide map to find out since they no longer list the names of the shops on those. Maybe the website would list it. I like your idea for the Mad Hatter shop on Main St. I wonder if they ever did have prop hats of Johnny and Alice in there? It seems like a natural fit.
Chuck, that isn't the Senegal date palm. I was under the impression that the multi-trunk Senegal date palm was added in the 1967 redo, but I'm not completely sure of that. I just haven't seen it turn up in any photos of the pre-1967 Tomorrowland.
Nice bit of nostalgia here today Major! You’re right, that haze does add something to the photo, but it sure puts a big damper on my desire for time traveling. I can almost feel a dull pain in my lungs just looking at it, but then I suppose that’s nostalgic also.
Nice stuff Major.
Nanook, I don’t like olives, but I like those lights! As is usually the case, the date that I put in the header is the one stamped on the slide (or, if lucky, hand-written). But you’re right, there is no way that this is actually August, with all of those sweaters!
TokyoMagic!, I mostly love the use of the word “Mod”, which is so indicative of the time this photo was taken!
Nancy, somehow I would be less surprised at a big shift in the weather when in Pittsburgh! Mild SoCal rarely has anything so drastic. If I had to guess, I’ll bet this photo was taken in the early Spring.
K. Martinez, all that space is a waste of money! We need stroller parking, ODV carts, fastpass machines, and hopefully more places for people to spend their money! I hate space!
Chuck, I don’t recall saying that those plants were native to the Planet Urf! I do love the Douglas logo, there was another one above the entrance to the Rocket to the Moon attraction. I’ll bet it was trashed! I can’t help thinking of stuff that I wish was in my collection.
Mark H. Besotted, why limit yourself? Kill baby Hitler, and then go ride some rides at Disneyland! You can have it all. You’re right, Adventure Thru Inner Space wouldn’t be around for a while, but it will be worth the wait.
TokyoMagic!, I’m sure you recall that the horses that pulled the streetcars wore hats for a short while… I always thought that was a tribute to Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet. I could be wrong!
Monkey Cage Kurt, I’m not 100% sure that is smog this time - you know how I love to point out smog! If this is early in the year, say March or April, it might just be a good old fashioned marine layer. With some smog mixed in for flavor.
Nicely done, Major. I got a kick out my quick recollection of the big pink postcard folder. I really liked that one.
@ Nancy-
Oh you lucky gal - living in the shadows of Kennywood-!
I have to agree with the Major on this one - a sudden change or unseasonable weather would hardly be an oddity 'back east'. But in So. Cal., even a slightly cooler day in the summer months would be highly unlikely.
But... just for grins, I looked at the weather in Anaheim for August, 1964. The average temperature range (as you might expect, back then) was between 64-82°. However, on the 16th, 22nd & 23rd, the low was around 54-55°. So perhaps on those mornings (it's hard to get any clues from shadows) it was just "blustery-enough" for the weather-wimpy residents of So. Cal., to haul-out their "cold weather gear" so they can better brace themselves for that onslaught of "frigid" temperatures...
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