Main Street Scenes, 1955-ish
I have a pair of very early Main Street views for you today - maybe from 1955? We’ll start with this photo taken right at the intersection of Main Street and East & West Center Streets, with the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor dead ahead. It's a little early in the morning for ice cream. OR IS IT? Looks like a couple is posing in the Carnation truck, with a lady taking their picture. Presumably the Horse Drawn Streetcar is in motion at this point, I wonder what the cast member is doing, to the right? Maybe some darn kid put a penny on the tracks. You know how kids are. Also notice the Sunny View Farms "Jellies and Jams" shop, only there until October 12, 1957.
A female cast member in full Gibson Girl clothing is headed... somewhere. I guess she could have worked at almost any shop on Main Street. To the right of the Jellies and Jams shop is the Puffin Bake Shop (you'll just have to take my word for it), another relatively short-lived business, it closed on July 31, 1960.
Town Square somehow looks much smaller than usual, the young trees are still a bit spindly. But I love it!
Zooming in, we have all kinds of transportation options, from the Horse Drawn Streetcar to the Chemical Fire Wagon, and even a Surrey. Oh how I'd love to see what was offered at that little souvenir/information booth to the right. And at the extreme right of this image, the Police Station.
16 comments:
Major-
These images certainly look to be very early-on. Easily could be from 1955. Thanks for the shout-out for the Puffin Bake Shop. (Who doesn't love a bakery with that charming name-?)
Thanks, Major.
Nanook, the Bake Shop also sold pies, with four and twenty puffins baked into each and every one!
Major, I think the streetcar is temporarily stopped, and that cast member is picking up a baby that rolled off of the seat.
I think I prefer West Center street without a restaurant set up in the middle of it. But the Flower Market looked nice when it was there!
These are great early DL pics, Major! Thanks for sharing!
Major, the CM on the right is cranking up the spring on the animatronic horse. This is when animatronic figures were still in their infancy. (Pay no attention to TM!; he doesn't know what he's talking about. Falling babies, indeed! ;-)) This photo must have been taken before trashcans were invented. Is that the mortar and pestle hanging in front of the Pharmacy? I thought it was white??
Everyone seems to be looking at the couple in the Carnation truck. Was it really that amusing and interesting? Maybe something else was going on.
The little girl to the left of the cannon has a pinwheel... or maybe it's a weenie on a stick, and she's looking for a campfire to roast it. Her best bet is somewhere in Frontierland, although the burning settler's cabin wouldn't be there yet. Good luck, little girl! The guy on the extreme right is carrying something. Could this be the Hatbox Ghost... before he became a ghost? Ancient alien theorists say, "yes".
Nice clear photos from so long ago. Thanks, Major.
What’s interesting during this period of time was that the vendors along Main Street provided their own costumes……. So the owners or operators of say Yale Towne Lock & Key ….. or Hollywood Maxwell’s or Puffin Bakery were in charge of provided costumes for their employees …. They had to be approved by Walt and Disneyland’s Head wardrobe seamstress Lulu Miller. Over time this policy changed and Disneyland provided costumes. Lulu Miller stayed in costuming until she retired in the 1970’s…. She was a master seamstress and actually created the master patterns for some of Disneyland’s most iconic costumes …. And she did them directly from the designers sketches. And they were perfect every time. John Hench said one if the reasons they stopped vendors from providing their own costumes was that they were just that - Themed costumes like you’d wear in a play or for a TV show …. The problem is that those costumes were never done with the idea that you were gonna have to work in them
All day ! And a perfect example is that lady in her - probably a be a vendor provided authentic costume …. And wearing that day while selling bathing suits or candles was probably uncomfortable and not practical. It actually looks very nice …. My only nitpic would have been it’s probably too early for Main Street USA’s 1890 -1910 period … and looks more late 1870’s early 1880’s : but at any rate : Walt or Lulu Miller approved it!!
Note that in addition to the coatless guy in streetcar crew livery bending to the right of the streetcar, there’s another one in the street on the opposite side of the streetcar, looking towards the castle. Really curious as to what’s going on there but have no idea.
The woman sitting in the Carnation truck is wearing a fairly short skirt for 1955. I can see her knees. I’ll be scandalized for the rest of the day.
Absolutely love the adorable little girls near the entrance of the ice cream parlor. There’s also a mostly-obscured early double-stroller to the right of the ice cream parlor entrance.
That Town Square photo gives off a “Freedomland” vibe. I think that Town Square looks huge because of the wide angle lens, the relative lack of people and vegetation, and the unusually large expanse of pavement in the composition. The photographer either wasn’t familiar with the Rule of Thirds or was using a rangefinder camera with an awful viewfinder. It happens. The sky almost looks like a backdrop, as if the world ends just beyond the Berm. For some obsessed fans, it does.
TM!, I think I prefer most streets without restaurants set up in the middle of them. Much better for traffic flow.
Mike, interesting info on early DL costuming. Thanks!
Interesting couple of shots, Major. Thank you!
Great photos this am! Photo one: Costume: very elaborate, interesting Lulu history, thanks Mike. Seems among other things all those layers would be "hot" in SoCal. Wasn't that mortar/pestle stained glass (?). The arch leaning into "Ice Cream Parlor" I have never notice before. I like the little sidewalk cafe ambience, but it kind of feels (now) like "Covid Outside Temporary Dining"...I think the street is actually more interesting and perhaps a COUPLE of outdoor tables on the sidewalk would be natural and pretty. There are those two front windows of which one turned into a speaker/etc. etc. from a previous post. People LOVE that wagon. Fill it with plush and bubble makers and they will love it even more. Jellies and Jams. I would like to order up a couple jars of marmalade made with authentic Disneyland oranges please. Town Square looks VERY early...perhaps earlier than the other photos (?) The little wire fencing, and small trees look very charming and authentically "home town" rather than "Theme Park do not walk on the grass". Authenticity used to be so primary to the Disneyland experience which is why people paid money to see it and experience it. Some lessons to be revisited. Love the little souvenir/information stands. They are slightly out of character, but they are fanciful and I will allow it. Filled with goodies. I do like a shady Town Square and Hub, but this is nice too and reminds me of my own garden before it became mature and grown up. I have trees that started as tiny sticks that are now climbing to 25 feet...nice to see, but an immature garden has it's own merit too. Thanks for the morning dose Major!
Interesting views, and definitely very early. Thank you Major!
I noticed one thing right off, usually Main Street is a Happy Hunting Ground for trash cans, and here are two expansive views with only a single one in either, one lonely can up on the Station platform. And it’s a green-yellow fancy can. Major, if this is reliably dated pre-57, this is the earliest date for a fancy can, and certainly the fewest I’ve ever seen on Main Street.
Chuck, there are no less than five guys looking down West Center Street at “something” fascinating. Possibly the young lady’s knees? Later, after this life-changing experience, all of them went into business founding a chain of hamburger restaurants.
I refuse to believe in a World Beyond the Berm, at least pre-1957.
JG
Thanks for the detailed costume information, Mike C!
Ah, Main Street Station with buttercup yellow dormers and forest green doors! Mmmm! Those were indeed the days.
And what would Town Square be without its 3" Hotchkiss mountain guns?
Nanook, I love a baked puffin - golden brown, crispy on the outside… delicious!
TokyoMagic! puffins are so cute, but they have to die to satisfy my culinary tastes. Sorry, nature! I thought that maybe the streetcar CM was twerking. In fact that’s my new “best theory”. I’m with you, I prefer West Center Street without the restaurant, even though I got to eat right there with some familiar faces last year.
JB, I thought animatronic horses were nucular (not nuclear, “new-kew-lar”!). Falling babies - happens all the time, which is why I put a cowcatcher on the front of my Honda. Yes, I love that mortar and pestle stained glass lamp, and was pleased to learn that Disney still has it - it was on display at a D-23 exhibit years ago! And yeah, why are SO many people fascinated by what’s going on at the Carnation Truck? I wonder if that little girl is carrying one of the glow in the dark Tinker Bell wands that they used to sell? Not sure if those go back to 1955-ish though.
Mike Cozart, amazing, I just assumed that Walt would have had the costumes made, since he was a control freak. Maybe the money just wasn’t there at that time. I love the days when they could get a “master seamstress” to do costumes, they knew their craft so well they could do it in their sleep. Amazing. Interesting that some vendors did not consider the fact that people actually had to work in their outfits, hard to believe. I have to say, in the late 1980s I visited a woman friend who worked on Main Street, and to my eyes, her long dress did not look very comfy on that hot summer day. But she did look pretty! As for that lady’s dress (the one in the first picture), I think that, as was often the case, that they went for what feels right more than what was historically accurate. The “Hollywood Version” of a Main Street.
Chuck, I’m telling you, it was a penny on the tracks! Or was it a whiffle-tree problem?? Those knees you are seeing belong to the man. ;-) Yes, those little girls are so cute, makes me think of my niece when we had so much fun. You hit the nail on the head with the Freedomland comparison, although Main Street matured and got beautiful, while Freedomland didn’t, really. Maybe it just wasn’t around long enough, and couldn’t benefit from SoCal’s year-round (comparatively) mild weather. I use the Rule of Thirds every night at dinner.
Bu, I’ll bet Walt got Lulu from Fox Studios or Paramount - back when the studios were letting their talent go, thanks to TV. Just like he benefitted from the Great Depression, Walt benefitted from the studio purges. I love a bubble maker, and wish I had one going right now. It’s the little things! My bed is also covered in 50 plush animals, I copied my 8 year-old niece. The Disneyland Orange thing is real, it still blows my mind that they never thought to save cuttings grafted on to sturdy root stock. Sell them for $100 a pop, I’ll bet they’d sell like crazy. But… no such luck. Yes, those souvenir stands are too “Fantasyland”, but I love them. I’m torn about the trees, if they get too big they hide too much of the Main Street details, and yet… who doesn’t love a big tree with plenty of shade?
JG, I still don’t have an eye for trash cans, and now I think it’s interesting that there are so few visible. WHY? Had they not learned the “one hotdog” spacing theory, yet? I am reasonably sure that these are pre-1957, but they are undated, so it’s more of an educated guess. Please check out my chain of burger restaurants; the gimmick? Each burger is covered in maple syrup.
Steve DeGaetano, it’s interesting to think that the 3” Hotchkiss Mountain guns were likely authentic relics, bought for a pittance. I wonder if they had to block the bore as a technicality?
The pictures remind me of how I found WDW so "squeaky clean" and fresh during my first visit in 1972. KS
@ MIKE-
Thanks for sharing the info about Lulu Miller. (The following info is taken from David Koenig's book: The 55ers - The Pioneers Who Settled Disneyland). Originally from Ogden, Utah, in 1939 her family relocated to So. Cal., eventually ending up in Garden Grove in 1954, "... just as Disneyland was breaking ground a few miles away. She heard they needed people who could sew, so she became the first employee of the Wardrobe Department. She retired in 1975.
"...For a fitting room, wardrobe created a makeshift box by leaning three sheets of plywood against the side of the Roundhouse, back near the warehouse. Eventually the fitting room became Lulu's counseling office, where she would listen to the young cast members' troubles and offer advice as she stuck pins in their garments. Many of the kids would call her "Mama".
Della Carr, who started as a ticket seller at the Main Street Train Station, remembered Lulu as motherly to all, but particularly doting on the young females. "We had no mirrors in our dressing room. She finally took the one off of her bedroom wall and brought it in. I told Lulu I wanted a long dress, so she made me one. The girls on Rocket to the Moon hated their outfits, so Lulu ripped up their costumes and used the material to make new ones."
"... Unfortunately the tin barn that passed for a wardrobe building had no insulation, making it unbearably hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. It took a couple of years before Wardrobe was given a proper space".
There's an image of Lulu standing outside of the door to her upgraded alterations office. At the bottom of the glass window is a hand-lettered sign stating:
MADAME LULU MILLER
and associates
Exclusive tailors for
ladies & gentlemen
SINCE 1955
Major-
"I’ll bet Walt got Lulu from Fox Studios or Paramount - back when the studios were letting their talent go, thanks to TV".
See my comment, above. Actually... "One year before the park opened, before a single onstage employee had been hired, Walt hired Renié Conley, Hollywood studio dress designer, to dream up the costumes. Conley had just finished creating outfits for the Ice Follies of 1955, but had been working in Hollywood since the 1930's, as a designer for Fox and RKO, most-notably for Ginger Rogers on Kitty Foyle (1940)".
KS, I wish I’d seen WDW in those very early years!
Nanook, so much for my theory that Lulu came from a studio! Obviously her mom taught her to be so skilled. The description of the “fitting room” sounds like cruel and unusual punishment. And no AC on hot days, or heat on cold ones? Come on, Walt! So cool that somebody could actually go to Lulu and request a custom costume! I’m glad that Lulu is still remembered today.
Nanook, yes, I saw your comment! My hypothesis was not a crazy one, but it was still wrong. There is a Golden Horseshoe Revue item that says “Costumes By Renie”, they were obviously proud of that connection. Baking brownies using Kitty Foyle makes cleanup a breeze.
Actually all Golden Horseshoe & Diamond Horseshoe costumes after 1968 were designed by Jack Muhs - he was brought to Disney from western costuming and also did all the costumes for THE WILD WILD WEST show …. Jack was hired by a friend of his at western costuming : Tom Peirce … Tom was Renie Conley’s assistant designer …. For the opening of Disneyland’s first and few costumes . He was hired as a directing designer in 1968 by Bob Phelps of Disneyland wardrobe …. Tom was first brought in to gear up for WDW and professionalize the old wardrobe department that was just a small dept of special services before 1968. Tom and Jack designed probably every park costume and uniform you ever saw between 1969 and 1995. Including the AA Costumes … Tom created the “Bear” minimum costumes for Bear band based on Marc Davis rendering …
Tom said Rene didn’t like working for Disneyland very much …she was creating very elaborate costume designs at first as if MGM was backing her costumes that would be worn for short scenes or acts ….. and while Walt wanted quality … there wasn’t a lot of time , staff or money …. To construct the kinds of things she was first presenting …… Tom was use to film and theater costume design … but also had lots of TV experience … so he was able to help
Revise the elaborate designs and simplify them. And for the time being standardizing some until there was more time and money . That’s why much of early tomorrow costumes look more like 1955 high school science teachers ..
When Tom was hiring designers for WDW he culled several people from Western Costuming …. Who had experience with major studios …. One designer however was hired out of a fashion school … she was getting divorced and really needed a job …. She was in it for the long haul as she recently retired but still does some consulting for Disney .
When tom called up designers at western costuming he had worked with he would ask them “ how would you like to design the WORLD??”
Mike Cozart, the Golden Horseshoe item I was referring to is very early - pre Betty Taylor, who I think came to Disneyland in 1956? It’s funny, when I think of the Golden Horseshoe costumes, they basically look just like the outfits in The Wild Wild West! (By the way, I loved that show back in the day - it was on after school every day). It’s a bummer that Renie was unhappy designing for Walt, but there’s also the concept of designing for a particular use - theme park use is not the same as a few scenes in “Annie Get Your Gun” (or whatever). Which you said, Mike! Imagine getting a lifelong career right out of fashion school. Talk about lucky.
"The guy on the extreme right is carrying something. Could this be the Hatbox Ghost... before he became a ghost?"
JB, it has to be. This discovery is 'right up there' with Fudgie, and The Dent!
I enjoyed today's pictures and comments - thank you!
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