Beautiful Town Square (1955?)
I have two beautiful, early photos of Town Square. A nice little place! While the slides are undated, I believe that they are from 1955, mostly based on... well, you'll see.
Let's start with this bustling view, it appears to be a summer day, though it's hard to say for certain. The Streetcar is popular, the one in closest to us is loading up fast, while the other one heading away from us (near the Main Street Cinema) is jam-packed. There's a crane looming over Fantasyland, I'm trying to imagine what would need lifting in that general area. All the trees in Town Square are so little and scrawny at this point, too!
Panning east, we see the Maxwell House restaurant, and what I believe is the Mod Hatter shop ) just above the white glass globe to the right).
Zooming in, there's the Site of International Street (along with the partially-blocked "Grand Opening 1956"). Notice the open door with the truck visible backstage. I also love the popcorn cart, and the detail of the one vendor's hat resting on the roof of the cart. In the distance, against the blue sky, we can see some balloons, resembling barrage balloons of WWII.
In some of the earliest Tomorrowland postcards, these balloons can be seen, presumably adding a bit of visual interest to what was still very much a work in progress.
Another early postcard.
"Site of Future Sights - Take a Peek" - guests could look at some sort of displays showing what International Street would be like. I've read that guests looked at stereo views - possibly photos of models? I'd sure love to see what those were!
18 comments:
Major-
A bustling Main Street to be certain. [Maybe] that crane has something to do with the Mickey Mouse Club Circus Tent...
Thanks, Major.
Wow, busy! That's a beautiful photo of Main Street. A lot of excitement! There's a lot of bunting and banners everywhere. Could this be from around July 4th? The Park first opened in July 1955 (I forget which day); perhaps this is from that month, mere days after the grand opening! Or maybe from one year later.
Those 'barrage' balloons are new to me. I don't think I've seen them before. The composition of the Moonliner postcard looks a little odd, or random. Not particularly the view you would expect to see in a postcard. For one thing, the Moonliner is about to be attacked by that giant Martian jellyfish! (Hey, if Mars can have wooly mammoths, they can have jellyfish, too.)
Thanks for the beautifully clear photos of Main Street, Major.
The INTERNATIONAL STREET model that was used to create the stereo images still exists and it’s been on exhibit in Florida and at a D23 convention. The model is charming … but was quick and simple … and a bit underwhelming…. Which is probably why LIBERTY SQUARE took over the plans for this area. I’ve never seen any of the stereo images … and to my understanding none exist .. specialty film and things like that were usually handled over at the Studios in the old days and not at WED. By the 70’s that changed. Years ago the area of the studios that did that cleared out the building and sent WDI anything they had that was specifically park related … I remember the late imagineer David Mumford saying they were sent stacks of the large glass projection slides for all the unused changing portraits in the haunted mansion. … nobody knew at the time any of them existed ….but there they were … stacks of them having sat in storage since 1969. Some duplicates even showed up at an auction house a few years ago …. The Disney Studios became a treasure trove of “lost” Disneyland items . When the studios cleared out their old property pop storage they quickly went thru to save a few things for the archives but didn’t look very close … they hired a outside liquidation company to clear it out - on the employee and public days people purchased 1960’s jungle cruise maquettes labeled “animal figurines” ….for 25.00 each … these later sold at large auction houses for thousands of dollars …
That's a pretty pointy rocket to have around all those balloons.
I think the crane was probably in place for the “Castle Denting Ceremony.” It’s not a well-documented event, and the only known photos - some high-quality stereo pairs shot by a Studio photographer - were thrown out during a massive Spring Cleaning years later. I’m sure Mike has more details.
If you ask me, I think the world needs more tethered balloons. And artichokes. Lots and lots of artichokes.
Mike, so much history is lost due to deadlines to “get this old junk cleared out of here.” Makes me sad. And constipated. Not a good combination.
Early Main Street seems so real in these pictures, with people having conversations on the benches, scraggly wire fencing, and horses pretty much running everywhere (three streetcars). I wonder what paper the guy in front of the flagpole is clutching. Either it's a souvenir map, or he just snagged the blueprints to International Street.
Could that crane have been installing Skyway support posts? I realize that would date the picture later than suspected. How long did the "International Street" preview remain in place? I wonder if International Street had been built, would it still be standing, today? Perhaps it would now be Tiana's International Street? Or Ana and Elsa's Frozenville? Maybe Ewok Alley? Whatever the name, we know that it would be covered with a lot of hot pink and electric blue paint, and maybe even have a separate entrance fee of $50.
Andrew, I also noticed that man and the large object in his hands. I believe at some point, they did sell the large park maps "rolled up." Didn't they?
Too early for Matterhorn or monorail construction I guess?
I like these busy streets and architectural models are always a draw. People are fascinated by the little things.
That popcorn vendor is going to be scolded for not wearing his hat.
Too bad the Opening Date sign is perfectly obscured, that might have helped somewhat.
Two fancy trash cans too!
Thanks Major, nice start to Friday!
JG
Nanook, I am probably wrong, but I thought that the Mickey Mouse Club Circus was off to the right? What the heck do I know?
JB, yeah, I really like both of these pretty shots of Main Street. The park didn’t open to the public until July 18th, but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of red, white, and blue on display. As for the barrage balloons, unless you are a collector of vintage Disneyland postcards, it’s not surprising that you haven’t seen them before. The postcards are the place where I first saw them. Mars definitely has giant jellyfish, though I can hear my niece correcting me: “SEA JELLIES, not jelly fish!”. She was a stickler.
Mike Cozart, I’d love to see the International Street Model - in fact now that I am really thinking about it, maybe I’ve seen at least one photo of it. I kind of love the fact that the concept seemed like an embryonic version of WORLD SHOWCASE at EPCOT. I think I’ve seen some of those glass slides, but in my memory many of them had turned magenta. Maybe I’m thinking of something else? It kills me to think of the company “liquidating” all of those amazing treasures - and it kills me even more that I wasn’t there to buy any of them!
Melissa, space travel is dangerous!
Chuck, hmmm, I like the idea of a castle-denting ceremony. “Release the white doves!”. “No, I love them”. Walt had Ethel Merman yell at the castle turret, and that dented it. Impressive when you think about it. Also: what about tethered balloons with artichokes on them? Genius! My mom threw out an entire box of “Action Comics #1” issues because she needed to make room for the newer Richie Rich comics.
Andrew, if these are really from 1955, then it is from before the big souvenir maps were available (the first one was sold in 1958). But what the heck is that thing that the man is holding??. It could be a copy of the Disneyland newspaper, sold on newsstands around the park. Early issues in good condition can fetch a ton of money (I have a few, but not the first one).
TokyoMagic!, I would think that this would be a bit early for Skyway construction, but I can’t say for sure. I believe that the International Street display was there for at least two years, they changed the date on the sign from “Grand Opening 1956” to “Grand Opening 1957”. After that it changed to the Liberty Street display I believe. Hot pink and electric blue? Both were Leonardo Da Vinci’s favorite colors! Yes they did sell some maps rolled rather than folded, but this was before the maps were available.
JG, yeah, way too early for either of those features to be underway. Perhaps Nanook is right about the Mickey Mouse Club Circus tent. I thought of Bu when I saw that popcorn vendor’s hat on the roof of the cart. That poor vendor wouldn’t stand a chance. See my comment to TokyoMagic!, they changed the date at least once, but I would bet a dozen donuts that it said “Grand Opening 1956”.
Major-
I actually agree with you about the location of the MMCC being 'more to the right', but this did seem like the only thing that made sense - to me at least.
Nanook, looking at a vintage aerial photo didn't help at all, so for now I'm going with the MMCC!
The scourge of strollers begins, with just one, soon to become a cancer clogging all arteries.
Drats, I was hoping those balloons were for International Street sight lines, and thus tangible evidence that it was ever to be. A coffee shop was the perfect welcome to Town Square. I loved the patio they would put here in later years. You could relax and fortify before even starting down Main Street. It enhanced that leisurely pace the place was designed for, while getting you buzzed for the rest of your day.
If it’s 1955, the crane should be for Skyway. A bit early for Alice, as the company didn’t take years to build things like these days, but location looks right, maybe it’s Mr. Toads Skyway tower being installed.
MS
The actual reason International Street did not go forward is that the concept outgrew the location. It evolved into the much larger “INTERNATIONAL LAND” …. To be located between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. At various points of its concept it featured a internationalland railway … a mini steamboat line based on Swiss , german and British prototypes … and then a Swiss toboggan ride . And what does a Swiss Toboggan ride need??? ( besides Toboggans ) at first located near the Swiss village portion of International Land the toboggan ride featured a small snow capped hill the sleds would start their decent down the hill … passing miniature alpine villages , rural bay sheds , stone bridges and mostly pastoral scenery ..but that little snow hill and toboggan ride became its whole new thing The Matterhorn and overtook the space intended for International Land. There were plans to still add the Swiss Village section near the entrance after the attraction’s opening but after the BIG MASSIVE and EXPENSIVE 1959 expansion … other projects quickly took priority.
It’s interesting that for many years it was thought that there was no surviving concept art for INTERNATIONAL STREET …. Just the surviving model. Even in the Disneyland Nickel Tour this is emphasized. But in recent years concept art and architectural elevations have been discovered .. they had just been filed incorrectly and miss identified. About a year ago some vintage blueprint concept designs came up for auction Thru HERITAGE or HAKES … making it the first time the concepts had been seen by the public .
LIBERTY STREET at Disneyland was also placed on the back burner …. Way back . But when the idea was being revived for Florida it was also revised for Disneyland . By 1972 there were three locations proposed for a LIBERTY SQUARE at Disneyland …the one that almost went foward was a location between Frontierland & Fantasyland. In fact the Rolly Crump art directed concept of WDW’s “legend of sleeping hallow” dark ride first proposed for fantasyland was re-proposed for Disneyland’s 1972 LIBERTY SQUARE .
INTERNATIONAL LAND resurfaced as WORLD SHOWCASE at Epcot Center … but in the early 80’s the space behind Adventureland thru Bear Country was also proposed to become a WORLD SHOWCASE “land” with elements from EPCOT … this was when the first ideas of reusing epcots World Showcase molds for a New Fantayland started.
@ MS-
If the image is from 1955, all my sources indicate that's too early for the Skyway. Construction commenced in early 1956 with the opening on June 26, 1956 - as crazy a schedule as that sounds.
To the far right of the INTERNATIONAL STREET construction wall is an open door to backstage and you can see a man in the cab of a pick up truck!! 1955 or not : that’s “ BAD SHOW!!”
I see the horse is branded...I never noticed that on any of the other Main Street horses. I reckon there was horse thieves in them thar parts, huh?!
Great early pictures, Major — thank you.
Sue
Sue : I’ve never seen a branded horse at Disneyland before either …but in 1955 a full grow draft horse had to come from sone where … so I suspect the brand was from the horse’s original owner ….
And now that I think about it I thought only cattle livestock is branded ?? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse with a brand on it .
Mike, horse branding is a thing, but not as common in the US as it once was. Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico maintains two brands, a horse brand and a cattle brand. Back when everyone wore leather hiking boots, it was a tradition at certain trail camps that had cowboy-themed activity programs to brand your boots with both brands (my 1980s boots are thus marked). Now that most boots are synthetic, people brand other things like hats, belts, and Nalgene water bottles.
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