Two From August, 1966
Here's a pair on uninspiring slide scans, both date-stamped "August 1966", although they are from different photographers. Life, she is funny.
There's the elegant Plaza Inn, formerly the Red Wagon Inn. Walt Disney spared no expense in updating this restaurant, adding crystal chandeliers, stained glass, and a new kitchen with an updated menu. How about tenderloin of beef, or lobster en brochette on a bed of rice? What I really want is barely-warm pizza or maybe some chewy chicken strips with ranch dressing that tastes a little bit like Mr. Clean, but such is life.
As is often the case on Snoozer Sunday, this next photo is actually quite nice, but its the eleven-zillionth picture of the Castle that we've seen (I double-checked the numbers). I wonder if the park had just opened? Nearly everybody is making a beeline toward the castle (never mind the two ladies heading toward Frontierland).
20 comments:
The Dent! ...always makes for a great picture.
Thanks, Major!
Major-
SBC (x 1-zillion views) when it looks like this [dent, and all] still remains lovely.
Thanks, Major.
Ooops, crazy cellphone. Nanook, I didn’t do that on purpose—I wasn’t trying to sandwich you between my comments.
@ Sue-
I know there's a joke in there somewhere-!
In the first photo, I think that droopy evergreen tree above the yellow umbrella is a weeping Alaskan cedar. Part of the Alpine area around the Matterhorn.... which apparently has stepped out of frame for a smoke.
I had chicken pot pie at the Plaza Inn once, in the mid '70s. The server (a young lass) asked me if there were too many potatoes in the pie. I told her, "No. It's just right". And it was. Tasty, too.
#2: A really nice view of The Dent here. (Edit: As Sue noted... more than once!)
It looks like our photographer told everyone, "Guys with red shirts, you go to the right. Guys with white shirts, to the left. Ladies in yellow, straight down the middle. People in blue, you just mingle around near the archway."
A joke: Nanook walks into Merlin's Magic Shop, mistaking it for the Plaza Inn. "Make me a sandwich," he says. Steve Martin waves his magic wand [Poof!], "There, you're a sandwich."
Thanks for the pleasant Sunday pics, Major.
I didn't say it was a good joke.
I’m laughing.
Major, you forgot the word “overpriced” when referring to your preferred menu options, a crucial component of the experience that adds that certain phrase française aléatoire qui vous fait paraître cultivé to any Disneyland meal.
JB, sending the men in red off to the right, towards Tomorrowland, may have seemed like a good idea in August of 1966. It would be a full month before the world would learn that men in red shirts won’t fare well in the World of Tomorrow.
JB, I think they got rid of that cedar tree, quite a while back. But the elm tree growing in the dining patio of the Plaza Inn is still standing:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8114689,-117.9188269,3a,57.9y,45.12h,94.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1ku1jpK00jaRYzctomoYiQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Dent. Those people racing through the castle look like they were held back at rope drop and are all running in there together...is it just me? Kind of like that opening day photo of all of the children running through. Just saying out loud: painting the castle definitely falls into "they ruin everything"...I think it's more the gold stuff than anything...and then the added filigree banister or something...guests don't go up there...why was it needed? Who knows. I suppose we should be grateful that the castle is still there and not replaced by some gigantic thing with Dream Suites and churro factories. I like seeing the Plaza olive trees in the foreground. We made a big stink that they were sprayed with some chemical so they didn't bear fruit. Wonder what that chemical was?....The "PI" (as we called it.) So very pretty inside. The solarium on this side of the building served as a table service restaurant at times: either for VIP-P's or sometimes I think during special periods. They called it something else though: a restaurant inside of the restaurant. "Plaza Terrace" perhaps? I'm sure someone on here knows. I'm not sure why theme park food is equated with the most horrible of dried out and tasteless things...there has to be a way to do finer cuisine in bulk, right? Although the masses probably do prefer their chicken fingers and ranch dressing. I do too for that matter, but I remember eating carved roast turkey at the PI- or carved prime rib. The cheesecake was the same served in the "Inn Between" directly behind...which had a very specific Disneyland taste- it was the sweet sour cream topping. Do they still have the "Gibson Girl" standing outside with her parasol? She was a very photographed lady, but I often heard lamenting backstage from the ladies put into that position for a shift. Don't know if it was the costume or being a "face character" for the day when they were ultimately hired to serve food at the PI. Lovely trees here too...I remember them being very messy...job security for sweepers.
Any SBC pic is fine with me, but the best ones show the Dent.
I have great memories of the Plaza Inn. We had dinner here one night when I was a little kid, we sat in the wing opposite the side in the picture. There was a violinist walking up and down in the dining room. Dad called him over to our table and tipped him to play “My Little Alice Blue Gown”. He stood right behind Mom and Dad and they held hands while he played. I wanted to hide under the table.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrXx3D7yDPA
I remember the food was pretty good, similar at the French Market, but different menu. I had spaghetti and felt bad because I couldn’t eat it all.
Suppressing fruit on olive trees to prevent messy fruit drop is pretty common, here’s the method:
“ To completely eliminate a crop, apply an olive tree growth regulator called naphthalene acetic acid, or NAA, at a solution of 150 parts per million in two sprays: Apply the first spray two to three days before full bloom and the second spray a week later.
Olive tree spraying may be done in a single spray applied at full bloom, but fruit may still develop. If your tree is quite large, use a power sprayer. A large tree may require five to 10 gallons of solution.”
There are also now non-fruiting varieties.
I’m not sure but I think the odd filigree on the battlements was a fall protection device required by OSHA. I notice it was taken down again, probably after a cable & harness system was implemented. All speculation on my part.
JG
Lou and Sue, I have not yet been programmed to notice the dent every time. But I’m working on it!
Nanook, I hope they dented at least one tower at all of the Disney “castle parks” as a tribute to the original.
Lou and Sue, you can say that again!
Lou and Sue, Nanook never forgives, and he never forgets.
Nanook, a sandwich joke? We need Melissa to come up with something.
JB, gosh, I have never heard of a Weeping Alaskan Cedar, and I am famous for knowing every tree on Urf. Why is the tree so sad? Now I’m picturing the Matterhorn suddenly standing up on two cartoony legs and lumbering off to the backstage area for a healthful and soothing cigarette. Funny that the server was worried that there were too many potatoes in your pot pie, I wonder if they’d gotten an earlier complaint from a potato hater? It’s interesting the way those colored shirts just happened to arrange themselves in some sort of pattern. It’s a conspiracy! You can’t end that joke after Steve Martin turned Nanook into a sandwich. THEN what happened? And did he have Miracle Whip (yuck) or mayonnaise?
JB, your joke is worthy of a Dixie Riddle Cup.
Lou and Sue, :-)
Chuck, I’m not good with money, are you saying that $12 is too much to pay for a hot dog? “And be sure to serve it barely warm, my good sir!”. I wouldn’t even balk (much) at high prices if it was at a nice restaurant like the Blue Bayou, because you’d be getting a whole dining “experience”. All of those men with red shirts were zapped by phasers mere moments after this photo was taken. They have nobody to blame but themselves (or their mothers, who laid out their clothing every morning).
TokyoMagic!, that cedar tree was a freeloader! I’m glad it’s gone! And I’m not happy about that elm tree either!
Bu, yes, in the morning all guests are pretty much headed north (with those weirdos going left or right, but we don’t talk about them). It doesn’t look like “first thing in the morning”, but I might have just blown it with the color adjustment. I agree, I hate the added gold junk added to the Castle, so tacky. And you are right, it is kind of amazing that they haven’t decided to enlarge or enhance the Castle in other ways. “It needs to be taller!”. I don’t know if olive trees are dioecious or not, but if they are, why didn’t they just plant male trees that would not produce fruit? Supposedly cities do that all the time, which is why pollen is such an issue for those with allergies. I’ve had decent meals at Disneyland, but I’ve also had some that left much to be desired. My expectations are always so low that I don’t get that upset. I’ve seen at least one photo of the “carving station” at the old Plaza Inn, where you could indeed get actual carved turkey. Hard to imagine. I don’t think they’ve had those girls (I heard that they were called “Golden Girls” - no kidding - due to their gold/yellow gowns… this was decades before the TV series existed).
JB, I remember having a Chicken Alfredo meal at the Plaza Inn that was better than I might have expected, it might be the only time I ever ate there. I hoped that your linked video showed a violinist at the Plaza Inn! That’s a detail I don’t remember hearing about before. My mom and dad used to have their olive tree out front sprayed every year so that it wouldn’t drop olives on the two cars that were parked under it. It really was a messy process. I hoped that your linked video showed a violinist at the Plaza Inn! That’s a detail I don’t remember hearing about before.
Looking at the first picture, I have a bit of a Deja-Vu experience as the number of times I would find myself walking backstage by the Plaza Inn from Adventureland. For the first couple of years while I was in food service at Hill Bros, if we worked 6 hours or more we would get a 'meal ticket' which was good for what I recall was a maximum of $2. This was sufficient to get most items on the menu...any overage we would pay the difference. That cheesecake did have a particular taste...and was always popular. However, since it was served at Hills, we would find ourselves 'accidentally' tipping over a piece which would not make it presentable to guests. So we'd eat it while on break at no cost. KS
I’m not sure if the Plaza Inn had a hostess girl prior to 1973 but that is when the two tone gold “buffateria hostess” dress was designed for The Crystal Palace and Plaza Inn. The dress was the same color as the sunbrellas used at the time surrounding both restaurants. The dress was slightly re-designed but kept Its basic look in 1978. The hostess “character” seems to have disappeared at Disneyland around the mid 80’s when the Plaza Inn changed its costumes to a mauve-pink color ( female mauve-pink dress and a black and white horizontal stripped vest ( similar to Haunted Mansion and Club 33 stripped vest ) with a mauve pink collar and pocket trim. If fact all of the food service vests for the males by 1978 were the same design just in different colors : stripped mauve : Plaza Inn stripped yellow: Town Square Cafe , solid green : Plaza Pavilion. Stripped red ( later solid ) Coke Corner , solid red : Carnation ice cream. Sunkist Citrus House had a wide vertical stripped vest for male cast members .... but the design may not have been used as there doesn’t seem to have been make castmembers used at the Sunkist Citrus house .... or at least the costume was never documented.
Anyway .... the Plaza Inn gold hostess was extremely popular with guests and the company itself ; she appears is tons of in house publications Disney News, Vacationland , Disney Look , and on EBay about once a month you can find slides and photographs regularly of guests posing with the gold dressed parasol girl.
Plaza Terrace was set up for table service during holidays and busy seasons ... it also allowed guests to purchase steaks cooked to order without backing up the buffateria lines.
Does anyone remember the Plaza Inn fake display of cooking hams and chickens on the rotating rotisserie and the glowing coals?? When the Plaza Inn was converted to the College Commissary by Pressler , the moving and themed lit cooking scene was removed .... and was kept for a long time inside the vacant Mission to Mars building. The two elegant Rotating tiered ice-chilled “exotic” salad bowls were also removed when Plaza Inn went low-brow. They had to revise the limited options because sooo many guests complained of the 3 choices of pig slop dumped on pasta . Paul Pressler’s people termed “ kettle favorites”
On the Tomorrowland facing porch of the Plaza Inn - visible near the restrooms ... is a stain glass windowed door. This once lead to a private dinning area used to host vips and executives ... prior to club 33. It was then the VIP lounge for GOODYEAR. The specialty designed wallpaper featured alternating images of the goodyear diamond logo and illustrated PeopleMover cars! This wall paper remained well into the early 1990’s!
Sue, you laugh too easily. ;-)
Chuck, I had to look up the translation of your phancy Phrench phrase. It reminds me of Steve Martin's skit where he's ordering at a French restaurant. He ends up getting a shoe with cheese on it.
I actually did think of the Star Trek connection when I wrote my comment but decided to let others (vous) make it into a joke. And you did!
Tokyo, TRE. Actually, it was kind of a sad-looking tree anyway.
Bu, thanks for more of your reminiscenceseses.
JG, thank you so much for that olive tree de-fruiter info. I'll use it on all of my olive trees (none). ;-)
Major, I think the server was probably 'following orders' when she asked that. You know, to make it sound like Disney really cares about its guests.
"JB, your joke is worthy of a Dixie Riddle Cup." That bad? I actually tried to add to the joke but I couldn't come up with anything. Maybe Steve Martin will see this and chime in?!
Mike, yay for more cool Disney facts that you can only get here!
Delicious & Delightful.
Sunday best this week, thanks Maj.
MS
I came very late to the party, but The Dent made it worth it.
All is well.
KS, every time I hear about your time as a cast member, I envy you! It just sounds like the best place to work, with plenty of mischief to get into, and plenty of other people your own age to have as friends. And thanks, now I really want a piece of cheesecake!
Mike Cozart, I think I have at least one photo of one of those “Golden Girls” (or whatever they’re called” from the late 1960s. It’s so funny, my friend Mr. X referred to the revamped Plaza Inn as a “college cafeteria” just hours ago, and you called it a “college commissary”. Coincidence?!? I think I remember the costumes that you mentioned, the ones that resembled the Haunted Mansion outfits. Interesting that there seems to have been a “theme” for the Main Street food service CMs. Gosh I don’t see photos of those gold hostesses very often, I guess I’m not looking in the right places! I’d love to have more. Steaks cooked to order, hard to imagine today. “You’ll get chowder in a bread bowl, and you’ll LIKE IT!”. I don’t remember those food displays that you mentioned, sadly. But I can picture them in my head as if I’d seen them! I think I remember reading about how the Red Wagon Inn had a private “club” before Club 33 existed, I’d love to see that stained glass window/door! Thanks Mike.
JB, I think that if you are going to eat a shoe, you might as well have cheese on it. How bad can it be? And it seems like we are all Star Trek fans to a degree, so a red shirt is going to mean something to us! I love the idea of a server being told to ask a customer if the pot pie was OK. I don’t know, in a way it’s silly, but it also shows a level of care that is not there today. Plus I’m sure it make you appreciate your pot pie just that much more! Hey, I love Dixie Riddle Cups!
MS (Melissa?), thanks!
Stu29573, I hope that someday they will make official dented-Castle merchandise. Then I know our work is done.
At first I read that as “barley-worm pizza,” and I was all, wow, they really do eat some strange stuff in California! Some really pretty summer dresses and hats in the Castle picture; it must have been a sunny day for all those Men in Black to take their jackets off.
JG, what a sweet memory of your Mom & Dad! We don’t really appreciate that sort of thing when we’re easily-embarrassed kids, do we?
M and S are my initials, but MS isn’t me!
Thanks for the scanning, JG. I read the post too quickly and forgot to thank you in my original comment.
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