Tom's Treehouse, April 1959
Many of us miss the simple pleasures that could be found on Tom Sawyer Island, in the days before pirates took over back in 2007.
For instance... who doesn't love a treehouse? Even grown men and women are drawn to the idea of having a home high up in the branches of a sturdy tree. Tom's treehouse wasn't as advanced as the one that the Robinson family built (there's no plumbing), but it's still an impressive accomplishment. You didn't have to climb up a rickety ladder of splintery planks nailed to the trunk... there was an actual staircase. Now that's luxury.
There's something yellow up in the branches, it's either a venomous queen snake, ready to pounce, or maybe it's a lei, purchased in nearby Adventureland?
In case you were wondering what the view looked like from the treehouse, wonder no more! It might not be a "million dollar view", but it's very nice. The "frontier" manages to look pretty vast, though nearby Anaheim can be seen. I love seeing the Mark Twain coming around the bend. Notice what appears to be an antenna in the foreground - or is it something else?
16 comments:
Major-
I'm voting for a lovely plastic lei. As for the "antenna", well, let's hope not...
Thanks, Major.
Major, after many seconds of close-up inspection I have concluded that the yellow thing is indeed a lei. When you get your time machine up and running (are you still waiting for that flux capacitor?), go back to 1959 and wait around for whoever tosses the lei into the tree and find out WHY! I wanna know... if it's not too much trouble.
The same person who tossed the lei into the tree also wedged this golf club (a #9 niblick) into the upper branches of Tom's tree.
A real prankster, this person also deposited a churro onto one of the dinner plates on the Swiss Family Robinson's dining room table. It went unnoticed for 3 years until someone saw a crow swoop in and carry it away. The crow settled atop the Matterhorn where it commenced to peck at the petrified churro. One of the Disney animators saw it on top of the Mountain and used it as the inspiration for Chernabog in Fantasia. Ignore the time discrepancies; it's just one of those things.
Nanook, I see you concur with the lei theory. Which adds credence to my niblick and churro theories. It's good when others can verify one's theories!
Thanks for the Treehouse photos, Major.
That second photo threw me for more than a minute without any of the usual landmarks. For a moment I even thought that the negative might be flipped (“the Mark Twain doesn’t circle Tom Sawyer Island anti-clockwise!”) before I realized that that trail along the bank is for the stagecoaches, mud wagons, and Conestoga wagons, not a walking trail on the island. We are looking at Cascade Peak before the mysterious forces of Nature thrust it skyward and let loose the torrent from the bowels of the Earth.
I wonder if that pipe was originally a flagpole, dating from the earliest year or two of TSI’s operations before the treehouse was built and the place was called “Point Lookout?” Purely speculation on my part but it kind of makes sense.
O’Reilly Auto Parts catalogs flux capacitors, but every time I have tried to buy one they have been listed as “out of stock.” The listing has changed slightly as of this morning, so you may need to look for a new part source for that.
I'm pretty sure it's actually an evil QUEEN SNAKE!!!
It makes sense that the Peanuts gang chose to hang out at Knotts rather than DL. They couldn't even get Linus out of the car.
The metal thing is obviously the dorsal sensor probe of an X-243 Mysterion Spy Saucer, which is hiding in the foliage. The attack was prevented after said saucer was eaten by ducks.
Pretty sure the pipe has a sprinkler on the end, one of those “machine-gun” type for wide area irrigation.
Also a plastic lei, probably from Adventureland.
The Treehouse was awkward to climb into, the ladder is partly inside the tree trunk and there was no clear entry/ exit direction so traffic control was nonexistent. But great fun awaited, lookouts, guns, all kinds of wonderment.
One of my best Disneyland memories was climbing up there with my Dad, and years later, doing again with my son. On my last solo visit, my back was so stiff I could barely make it up the ladder. And now, the Treehouse is closed permanently.
JG
And in the far distance, the row of palms on the neighboring street is clearly visible.
JG
Nanook, so… what IS that “antenna” anyway?
JB, I’m trying to imagine some kid (it had to be a kid, I suppose) just flinging their lei into the tree branches for some reason. Or maybe it belonged to their sister, who they loved to pester. Something tells me that dropped food won’t last long at Disneyland, thanks to the vermin (and I am including ducks in that category!). My friend says that he saw a big rat dragging a french fry around in Frontierland once, though I’ve never seen those buggers around there. But it makes sense, all that dropped popcorn is going to attract ‘em. I think I remember reading about the churro/Chernabog connection in one of my Disney books. History is so interesting!
Chuck, yes, Cascade Peak was not hatched until 1960, I’m always glad to have photos from before it was there. Do you think that’s a pipe? I thought about a flagpole, but it looks awfully thin to be a flagpole. Lou and Sue have a couple of great photos, pre-Tom’s Treehouse, where you can clearly see people standing up in that area, which has a fence around it to keep guests from falling to their deaths. I’ve watched videos of people building “flux capacitors”, but they never look exactly right.
Stu29573, I like to go hiking, but one of my greatest fears is that I might someday find a queen snake on the trail. Those things are deadly! Hmm, a dorsal sensor probe, I think I want to avoid those too. Why are they always so cold?
JG, you might be right, though I’ve personally never seen a 10-foot high sprinkler! Disneyland has some unique situations though, so who knows. In a weird way I feel like the lack of traffic control was part of the experience. You don’t want things to feel too “managed” on the frontier! I’m sad that I never went up to that treehouse, though I did climb Castle Rock not long before it closed.
JG, those are frontier palm trees!
All hail Churronabog!
That is an amazing angle on the good old Mark Twain. Those OG Imagineers really knew how to set up a panorama.
Chuck, is that a real page on the O'Reilly site? If so, good for them!
Stu, Yay for the ducks! I knew we could put their blood-thirsty savagery to good use somehow.
Melissa, love your mash-up!
Melissa, I swear on a stack of trashy paperbacks that I almost made the same pun! Makes me feel good that (for once) I was on your wavelength.
JB, it sure looks real to me. And when I "view page source", everything looks kosher. Love it. And I'm glad that we've been shining a spotlight on the "duck problem" that has been plaguing the nation.
JG, I think you've identified the mystery pipe's function. Thanks!
JB, the website's legit. When a friend of mine showed it to me about five years ago, the listing was set up like it was an out of stock item. There was no mention of it being not available for purchase or for entertainment purposes only. I was a little disappointed at the changes when I looked this morning.
Treehouses are awesome and I often think about building them up my very gigantical maple trees...then I think that it would be work...then I think "I'll hire people"...then I think...oh...that's money...then I think if you get the treehouse built how would you get up the tree...and why...and then I stop dreaming. It was fun while it lasted! All 3 minutes of it! As a kid I loved treehouses, and I love this one too. I was always very impressed that it was a "mini Swiss Family Robinson" tree...kind of looks the same construction and quite sturdy. I had no problem negotiating stairs at what not...however that was about 160 pounds ago...and I was also impressed that it had an "in" and an "out" to control the crowd. I was impressed by odd things back then. I also liked that it was very high up...and the view in the photo totally confused me. I had to stare at it thinking...well...the Disneyland Hotel was basically a low rise building...but that other stuff doesn't make sense...and did the Mark Twain ever go clockwise? Maybe. Then I figured it out. Sad to hear that the treehouse went to Yesterland. What a shame. Tom Sawyers Island was the perfect experience without the hub bub of lines, et. al. And you could stay as long as you like. So that D ticket went pretty far. Was it a D? Thanks Major.
Chuck, I have been mulling that sprinkler pipe all day and I have a weird vague memory of seeing it, or another like it, on TSI on one of my recent trips (that is since 2008). But I can't be sure.
As seen in the photos, I think it was a "quick and dirty" way to get wide area irrigation on the island easily and early, no need to run drip lines to every possible tree and bush.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are counterparts in the Jungle Cruise. They would be easier to hide there.
I'm bummed that I can't buy the O'Reilly gadget. I'm going to my local shop and complain. They really should sell them at the Gamble House gift shop in Pasadena.
JG
I've visited the Gamble House a couple of times. Everything in and outside that house is beautiful.
Oh, that poor Bazaar hostess. She obviously didn’t realize that climbing a tree to escape the ducks would be futile, as those voracious fowl can, and will, fly.
Hey, Bu, do you have the type of maples that have those helicopter seeds?? Our neighbor has a huge one and we get thousands of those things dropping everywhere in our yard...especially clogging up our gutter.
That second picture really had me going too. First because the slide is dated "4-59". The Tree House opened in November 1962. And second, that there was the appearance of the MT running counterclockwise. But upon closer inspection, off in the distance I see the old brick fruit packing warehouse which was aligned alongside the Santa Ana Freeway (as it was called then). KS
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