Sunday, May 08, 2016

View From a Streetcar, September 1972

Oof. While today's photos are unusual, having been taken from aboard a crunchy Horse Drawn Streetcar, they aren't that great. Guess what? There are two more that I'm saving for some future Sunday. Wheee!

We're looking over the driver's shoulder toward the Fire House and Walt's apartment. Is the bell in mid-swing? I am always surprised at how small that apartment must be (I've never been inside). You'd think that Walt Disney would want some roomy digs! After all, he had grandkids. I wonder if there were other places considered besides the top floor of the Fire House?


Next, a look up Main Street past the flag pole; The Omnibus is heading toward the castle, and chairs and music stands await the Disneyland Band.


10 comments:

  1. Major-

    In the second shot we get a great view of the base of the Town Square flagpole. And as has been pointed out in a previous comment, that base was 're-purposed' from the lower portion of an inverted six-globe street lighting post originally used in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, beginning in 1903. Oh, those Imagineers-!

    Thanks, Major.

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  2. Whoops...

    Sorry, HERE's link to the original style lamp post.

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  3. Major, if you zoom in on that second pic, are you able to tell what movie was being depicted in the windows of the Emporium? I miss the days when a new movie release or even a re-release would get multiple windows dedicated to it's retelling in miniatures. I'm still trying to figure out which movie was the last one to use multiple windows. I know Ratatouille got just one window back in 2007.

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  4. Nanook, thanks for the link to that photo… you had kindly sent it to me before, but I think it will be interesting to the other GDB readers. Just think how tempting those light globes probably were to snotty boys with rocks.

    TokyoMagic!, unfortunately the quality of these photos is too crummy (which is why these are being shared on a Sunday); zooming in just gets blurrier. The Emporium windows used to be one of my favorite things; I’ve seen videos of some fancy new ones that they’ve put in, they’re pretty neat. Have you seen them in person?

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  5. Those Town Square trees are full and big! Makes Main Street look a tad bit smaller. Thanks, Major.

    Nanook, wonderful photo in the link you provided. Thanks!

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  6. I've come to really like some of these Sunday Shots, Major. One gets to see unusual POVs like these. Thanks, Nanook, for the info re the lamp base. Disney geeks always have room for tid-bits about the Park's details even at the expense of some other bit of information. After gazing at the first pic for an hour, or so, I'm curious when the tradition of leaving a lighted lamp in the apartment window started. A tour of the apartment is now on my bucket list, I guess...

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  7. K. Martinez, the trees look great, but they must have made fireworks viewings tricky. They definitely need to have pleasant greenery while leaving it open to view parades and other stuff.

    Patrick Devlin, I’m glad you like the Sunday posts; originally I was thinking I would just take Sundays off, but then decided that I might as well do something with those less perfect photos. And now that you mention it, when DID they start leaving the light on in honor of Walt? Something tells me that the tradition didn’t start until at least the 1980’s, but I don’t really know.

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  8. Major, I agree with you on the apartment "tradition" time frame. While some would like us to think it started in December 1966, I don't think this "tradition" is as traditional as others would like us to think.

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  9. Major, I have seen the new windows in person and they are nice. There is one scene each for about six different movies. Prior to that they had scenes from different movies mixed together. Those were older figures and sets that had previously been displayed in the windows over the years. They in the windows pretty much unchanged from 2005 through 2015 with the exception of that one Ratatouille window being added in 2007. That was a long ten years of the same figures and sets in the windows. Like you, the Emporium windows used to be one of my favorite things and my brother and I would both rush over there to check out the new scenes for the latest movie release. I miss those days when they were changed on a regular basis. I am guessing that these current displays will remain for another 10 long years.

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  10. Anonymous3:12 PM

    The photographer for the second shot was using the wrong ASA speed, so he purposely photographed a reminder to "push" the exposure when he developed the film.

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