GDB TENCENNIAL!

Well, I made it, homies! Gorillas Don't Blog (oy, that name) is 10 YEARS OLD today. You can call it the "Decennial", but I prefer the made-up Disney term, "Tencennial".  I haven't missed a day for the last 2,368 days, which ought to count for something.

It has occasionally been a grind, but mostly it's been fun, thanks in large part to the GDB regulars who have offered so much support over the last decade.  Those of you who take the time to comment get special thanks, since that is what often keeps me going.

I have some nice photos for you! Let's start with this neat shot taken near the Flight Circle (with the Hobbyland souvenir booths visible to the right). There's the Tomorrowland Spaceman along with two jump-suited flight attendants. It's strange to see the Spaceman in something other than his usual silver lamé. Presumably the attendants worked inside the "Rocket to the Moon" attraction.

It seems pretty clear that the Spaceman's costume was based on the space suits used in the 1950 sci-fi classic by George Pal, "Destination Moon". 

Here's a beautiful shot of the Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad's #3 locomotive, the 1894 "Fred Gurley". When this photo was taken in July of 1958, the Fred Gurley had only been operating in the park for about 4 months. It's so new and shiny, even if it was 64 years old by then. The picture was taken while the train rested at Tomorrowland Station. Howdy, fellas!

Next is this wonderful photo taken from the Skyway, probably circa 1958. Look at the color! There's just something extra lovable about those round buckets. The Viewliner makes a special appearance, as does the Space Bar, the Autopia, and Tomorrowland Station again (sporting a hard-to-read sign announcing the new Grand Canyon Diorama). This slide was in an unusual mount that cropped it to an almost wide-screen format; part of me is tempted to remove it from the mount to see if there is more image. But... I'm not going to do it.

And now for something completely different! Say, does that poor corpse in that open grave look familiar? Kind of like an Eskimo? Why, it is none other than GDB reader/contributor Steve Stuart, aka "Nanook"! There he is, looking pretty spry for a dead guy. Until Steve sent me some of his slides to scan, I had never seen this Tom Sawyer Island feature before. Have you?

I am happy to report that we will be seeing more of Nanook's photos from Disneyland (and beyond!) coming up in the not-too-distant future.

Since they were a matched set, here is Steve's childhood pal, Gary. He died with his hat on. Steve mentioned that in spite of what that tombstone says, the photos were actually taken in April of 1962.

And lastly, here's an awesome picture of a kid posing with the fabulous Viewliner.  We've seen that boy before, and as usual he looks like he is about to undergo a root canal. Cheer up, buddy, you're in 1957 Disneyland!

Thanks again to all the GDB readers who have checked in faithfully during the past 10 years!