1960s Tomorrowland
As far as I'm concerned, you can't have too many photos of Tomorrowland. If I had to choose between sustenance or pictures of Tomorrowland, I'd choose the latter. Food shmood!
Today's slides are undated, but the fact that we are in a rectangular Skyway gondola helps to place this to 1965 or later, and the presence of the Moonliner means that the photo was taken before September of 1966. It looks like it was a busy day, judging from the crowds below. Wouldn't it be nice to still be able to get bird's eye views of the park?
Next is this pretty nice photo of the Monsanto House of the Future (made with exciting PLASTIC), resembling the UFOs that used to come and visit me on a regular basis. (Yes, those probes were cold). I've thrown this idea out before, but imagine a whole neighborhood of these homes, each painted in a unique hue. Maybe some would even have patterns, like the Partridge Family bus (or Ken Kesey's bus!). The sky's the limit, thanks to versatile plastics.
28 comments:
Major-
Wilbur Clark's Crest Hotel opened on August 1, 1965. So, depending on the state of the 'window treatment' prior to the hotel's opening - Summer, 1965 is probably the earliest date for the 1st image. A great time there, to be certain.
Thanks, Major.
Major; in EPCOT’s HORIZONS “looking back at tomorrow” section , the FUTURE FROM THE 50’s features neighborhoods - all of Monsanto Plastic Houses of the Future…. They are multi-colored as EVERYTHING in this giant scene was done to look like neon.
Major, Tomorrowland pictures ARE sustenance!
How quaint, they named their rocket "Douglas". Most parents probably would've gone with "Rocky", or "Tom" (short for "Tomorrow"). They even wrote his name on his tighty-whities in case he got lost.
Is that tent-like dome in the background part of the Mecca Motel?
I count three trashcans, but there might be more... can't tell for sure.
Major, are you sure the HOTF is made of plastic? I would've said marshmallows. Also, I think I would make a Home Owners Association rule that all the houses in the HOTF neighborhood be white, because they look so futuristic that way. They could use different colored plastic trim around the windows to make them all unique. I've quoted this song before, but here it is again because it seems appropriate:
"Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same"
I think the photographer was taking a picture of the pine shrub out front, and the house just got in the way. Pesky house!
There is a (I think) Alaskan weeping cypress growing out of the roof of The HOTF. Strange place to plant a tree, but that's the future for ya.
Mike, I'd like to see a photo of that "Horizons" scene, if one exists.
Wonderful photos of pre- "New Tomorrowland". Thanks, Major.
I really like today's photos, Major! There is something extra-special about both of them.
I think if they ever built an entire "House of the Future" neighborhood, they shouldn't paint them different colors. Instead, they should use that "plastic wrapping" stuff, to cover them with Disney characters such as Ana, Elsa, Tiana, Jack Sparrow, and every single Star Wars and Marvel character ever created.
Nice pictures today!
There's my Moonliner! Well, not MY Moonliner. Mine is red and white, as all proper Moonliners should be. I"m not sure why, but the Douglas Moonliner looks shorter to me. Maybe it's those stripes. Should have gone with plaid.
A House of the Future neighborhood (Neighborhood of the Future?) would only work in pastels. Preferably a lot of teal and salmon...with shag carpeting. Lots and LOTS of shag carpeting.
Have a great future everybody!
I get super confused and vexed when I see square Skyway buckets with old Tomorrowland. Fritz's me out. Nice that Mr. Douglas loaned his rocket from Green Acres to be displayed in Disneyland. With that wacky series, it would completely make sense that Mr. Haney would sell Eb a rocket, while Mrs. Douglas would decorate the inside with fur, purple velvet and yes...shag carpeting and crystal chandeliers. Behind the Moon Port, you can see the go-away-green men's locker room. It looks rather shiny and new there. Beyond is the Mecca Motel...which after going down a bit of a rabbit hole this morning it may have a semblance of "still there" with the loose bones of the place (now another Best Western). When they made Anaheim "less tawdry" (?) after they started adding "RESORT" to signs... it became "more worse". BRING CHAO's BACK! Well..maybe not the horrible food...but the drinks and the sign. If you drive around this area, there are still a few of these places left....The Frontier Motel a block up on Harbor...with it's original pool...not sure I'd brave it, but nice to see a little something left (albeit with bars on the windows). The Alpine Inn as well on Katella. If you look at the satellite views, it read's "WE WON'T SELL"....as Cars Land is built around things...that piece of property is like the corner of Macy's Building in Herald Square, and I'm sure there is an Anaheim story there somewhere. Thanks Major.
Nanook, I always love little clues that help to narrow down the date of a photo! Thanks.
Mike Cozart, wow, I have never heard of that scene before, I thought I was the first person to imagine such a thing! I’d love to see an image of the scene, though I’m sure that’s next to impossible.
JB, remember, the “Douglas” name came from Mister Douglas of “Green Acres” fame. His wife Lisa loved the view from way up at the top! I know that we all dream of a house made of marshmallows, but come on JB, let’s be real. The guests would have eaten the entire house in a matter of days. “Gee fellas, I guess a house made of marshmallows wasn’t such a great idea after all *cough cough*”, said Walt, scratching his head in puzzlement. Maybe the houses could have used colored lights at night, that would have looked neat! I do love a good pine shrub, and can’t get enough of them, personally.
TokyoMagic!, I’m glad you like today’s photos! Oh yeah, wraps would be great, with lots of the latest Disney characters. I personally want them all to have Olaf the snowman, but you may feel differently.
Stu29573, hmmm, I always thought that vertical stripes were supposed to enhance the illusion of height, but maybe that doesn’t apply to moon rockets. When I was a kid I thought that shag carpeting was the best thing ever. Now, not so much.
Bu, we overlapped! Yeah, the rectangular gondolas and the old Tomorrowland existed together for about a year or so. The pix that really throw me are the ones with the New Tomorrowland with the House of the Future, the HotF was not torn down until the end of 1967, so they did coexist for a short while. Ha ha, you are on the same wavelength as I am with Mr. Haney and Eb. And Ralph and Alf Monroe! Are there other colors that would “go away”? Probably gray, but I guess I’d rather have green. Blue might work too. “Go away brown”? No thank you. As we have discussed before, I think many people now miss the many themed motels, though apparently they became quite dirty and seedy toward the end. But when I look at postcards and see them clean and new and tidy, they look so fun. I’ll have to look at the Alpine Inn on Katella, good for them for not selling!
JB, the dome is/was Melodyland in my day, sort of a church auditorium, but I don’t know if it was built for that or not.
I see the Mecca Motel (couldn’t do that now), and Chao’s sign. Let’s get some awful chop suey!
The Alpine Inn is awesome, especially the plaster icicles. We walked past on our recent visit and it is going strong. The Mouse will absorb it some day, adding it’s excellence to that of the Empire, and the very gods will weep.
Near the Moonliner, (which is a generic model name, like 737 or Vistaliner), we see the excellence of the square umbrella design, shoved together to make a veritable seamless testudo of shade protection.
Also, I’m tossing in my 0.02 for Arnold Ziffel, one of the under-recognized toilers in the shadows of Green Acres.
JB
From this angle and with these shadows, it looks like the House of the Future is mooning the Castle.
Bu, we nearly stayed at the Frontier on our last visit until I read the reviews. Apparently it's kind of hit and miss, with sometimes shady stuff going on in the parking lot. I stayed at the Alpine Inn several times during the aughts and always enjoyed a clean, well-maintained room (they were already booked up for the dates of our last visit). Too bad the Chateau Restaurant that used to be next door is now the site of some DCA backstage service buildings.
JG, thanks for drawing attention to the square umbrellas. Their color scheme would be right at home in New New Tomorrowland '98.
I would argue that Arnold was the smartest character on the show.
JG/JB-
Melodyland has come up on these pages many times before. It opened on July 2, 1963, making it Southern California's first 'theater-in-the round'. (Southern California's other 'theater-in-the-round' - The Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills, opened on July 6, 1964).
Melodyland's first production was Annie Get Your Gun while the Valley Music Theater opened with The Sound of Music. I guess "the [Woodland] hills were alive" then. Oh brother...
I remember a field trip to see a production of Romeo and Juliet at the Melodyland theater in 1967 with my high school English class. Being in-the-round made for interesting staging. The actors did a lot of turning.
HORIZONS
Narration :
FATHER : A track : “The FUTURE from 50’s!!”
MOTHER: A track : “ …. A little FAR-OUT if you ask me..”
FATHER : A track : “ … I guess so . But we always thought the future would be fun!”
FATHER: B track : “Wow! FUTURE in the 50’s!!”
MOTHER : B track : “ now THAT’s really FAR-OUT!!”
FATHER: B track : “ yeah … but we always envisioned the future to be fun”
It's nice to see that I am not the only one fascinated with OUTSIDE the berm and remember all that was there at the time, and learning a few 'originals' are still around, dwarfed by their neighbors. As a former CM, I look back behind "Moon" and see the locker room building. I wonder what became of the locker rooms now that CMs can take wardrobe home. Any comments? KS
BTW - the HORIZONS “50’s Future city” has two neighborhoods: the Monsanto style plastic homes and the NYWF 1964 Futurama shell-pod homes ….
And the voice of MOTHER in HORIZONS was the actress who played in that margarine commercial “ITS NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER-NATURE!!” And Helen Roper’s sister on Three’s Company / The Roper’s ….. I can’t think of the actress’s name off hand .
Ken : the old lockers were still being used by character entertainment … upstairs … downstairs was 1/2 custodial storage and 1/2 character costume storage up until not long ago.
I agree. Those "wraps" on the Monorails really cheapen their look. I wonder if Bob Gurr cringes when he sees those.
Bu, HAHA! "WE WON'T SELL," on the satellite view. I can only image how wealthy those motel owners are now. They can probably afford a Disneyland annual pass.
Thanks, Major, for a couple great shots!
I wonder what the HOTF was like in a storm, was it like driving though a carwash thanks to the plastic shell suspended in the air? Also, with no gutters, I'd guess you would not want to be standing under the wings either.
I’m pretty sure that Melodyland was a place where people could see theater performances, live music, and the like. The church thing came along later. I always wonder how anybody can screw up something like chop suey, which is pretty basic. Do they use rat meat? Looking at an aerial view, it’s surprising that the Candy Cane Inn and Desert Palm Hotel (and the Alamo Rent A Car) managed to avoid a Disney buyout, that is prime real estate and the owners surely could have walked away with millions. Everyone loved Arnold Ziffel, so I didn’t bother to mention him!
Chuck, hmmm, now I will never be able to unsee butt cheeks on the HotF. Thank you for that! I wonder what they could do with those corner lots since they are backstage areas now, or behind Radiator Springs Racers? I’m not sure how they could funnel guests back there for anything.
Chuck, I do like those square umbrellas (or awnings or whatever they technically are).
Nanook, I’ve always wondered about the appeal of “theater in the round”. It’s great for a few people, and not great for a lot of others. Did the stage rotate?
Hogarth, ha ha, that would be an interesting thing to see. Maybe the actors were instructed to turn slightly every five minutes or so. I’d love to know!
Mike Cozart, those tracks are so similar that I’m not sure why they needed an “A” track and a “B” track.
KS, oh trust me, I’m always interested when we can see beyond the berm in Skyway photos, particularly in the early years when there are still farms right next to the park. It’s incredible to even consider such a thing today. You’d think that they would still need locker rooms, even if the CMs can take their wardrobes home.
Mike Cozart, I remember the actress from those margarine commercials, but never knew her name. I hope she made a bundle!
Mike Cozart, did they move character costume storage off to some remote location?
Lou and Sue, I truly don’t get why anybody at the company thinks that the Monorail looks better with those wraps. Just because they can do it doesn’t mean that they should do it.
Dean Finder, unless the storm was a real doozy, I would think that it wouldn’t be that different from any house in the rain. With those curved surfaces, perhaps any rain runoff would just continue on the underside and drip down the center support?
Regarding the land...must be owned by someone else that has nothing to do with the buildings on top of it. Makes sense...kind of like Sears owning all the Mall land around them...before they started to build the malls on top. The land owners may be part of a larger conglomerate, or just families who have no interest in it...or no interest in selling off an investment that keeps on increasing in value, and provides a steady and non-ending stream of income they have to really do nothing to maintain. The land will ALWAYS have value as long as Disneyland "Resort" is alive.
The House of the Future would need a Garage of the Future. Presumably with some kind of connecting passage, since carrying groceries between them in the rain is a bit less the futuristic. And maybe even a basement in the supporting base, since the Family of the Future will need to store Stuff of the Future (National Geographic on rolls of microfilm, Christmas lights that attach with magnets, sheets of plastic and a patch kit ...).
Re the HOF roof in the rain...
There are no drip breaks in those smooth surfaces, so water would run down the faces of the glazed walls (not good for the window glazing gaskets) and down the bulging curves of the end walls, and across the underside of the projecting wings, just as you say, Major. This would result in unsightly stains over time. Windblown rain would be likely to penetrate the glazing over time as well. Gasket material and sealants were not what we have today.
Properly design (for rain shedding) would include some kind of kerf or "discontinuity" in the surface to break the water flow. Usually these can be incorporated into a traditional design without much effort, but this super-continuous surface would show up anything like this and was probably vetoed by "Design".
Of course in CA, or other dry climates, this would not be such a problem, and the Disney groundskeepers would come to scrub the plastic back to it's pristine white in a matter of hours. Owners of non-fantasy houses in non-fantasy climates, would have a job set out for them. It would be a terrible design for the most of the world.
There is a tiny bit of low-slope ("flat") roof at the penthouse which was probably a hot-mop BUR since the PVC and TPO plastic membranes didn't exist yet in the future of yesterday's tomorrow, and that would require either an internal drain, or scuppers to drain out onto the plastic shell.
I have occasionally wondered if part of the reason for the HOF removal was the (probably excessive) maintenance required to make it look desirable. That white shell roof would collect a lot of unsightly dirt and organics visible from the Skyway and Monorail, which would be bad show, and I'm certain the windows leaked.
I'm involved in a re-roofing of a major LA landmark building dating just from this HOF era, and the Brand-Name Architect ignored just about every bit of accepted roofing knowledge of the industry accumulated over literally centuries in the pursuit of "modern effect", to the long-lasting detriment of the civic project, and the HOF looks like it's right in the same groove.
DBenson, you are right about the Garage of the Future (GOF). One of the inspirations of the HOF (conscious or not) was the Villa Savoye by Corbusier, one of the first designs to consider parking and and provisions for a vehicle. It was a terrible design for cool, wet France, but it looked great and got a lot of press.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Savoye
Nanook, thanks for the Melodyland info. Maybe it wasn't a church all the time and the event that I recall was just held there among other kinds of shows.
That concrete shell roof has a good drainable slope and doesn't look like there is any kind of a coating or waterproofing on it, which could be gotten away with in So Cal with enough slope. Over time of course, something would be needed at some point, but maybe by then, it was torn down.
The similar form of the Space Mountain had (originally) a liquid polyurethane coating that produced a cured surface similar to a vinyl floor. This was one of the first big fluid-applied roofs of which I was aware. This is now a mature technology and is used on many odd shapes of roof geometry and on critical infrastructure buildings due to it's durability. I don't know if the current roof is still urethane, or one of the newer formulations.
JG
Major : probably just for variety and the spacing of the vehicles allowed it . All of Disneyland’s New Fantasyland was that way - example : PETER PAN a: “ COME ON EVERBODY : HERE WE GO!!! “ PETER PAN b : “ off to Neverland!!” ….technically there are two different soundtracks for each of the dark rides . Maybe it was done so that if guests from the next or previous car overheard the other narration it was like a repeating canned recording ??? Also that attraction allowed for 3 possible different endings ….. so it was kind of like getting 5 attractions out of one of the biggest Disney attractions ever built .
Of course the message of Horizons and the progression of the attraction needs to be consistent so naturally any dialog variations would need to be similar …. Same with the Disneyland Fantasyland Dark Rides . The new Phantom Manor in Paris also uses A and B narration.
The loading and unloading spiels and safely spiels of Haunted Mansion used alternating tracks as well … so it was something not exclusive to EPCOT CENTER …. But it was probably expensive to do….
The Walt Disney World Monorails have also used A - B narrations.
@ MIKE-
That actresses name is Dena Dietrich - who did most of her acting work in television. Dena played Ethel Armbrewster on The Ropers.
(I always wondered if she did the voice of "Mother" in Horizons. Thanks for the confirmation).
Major-
Those stages did NOT rotate.
Thanks Mike. I miss the days of coming in and leaving in street clothes. At the end of each shift, it was a short walk to Wardrobe to make an exchange for a clean costume and putting it in my locker ready for the next day. KS
JG - I guess "starchitects" are prone to pushing designs beyond the limits of what can be reliably built. Frank Lloyd Wright is famous for his leaky houses and buildings. Falingwater was largely rebuilt to deal with moisture issues. When I visited Racine a few years ago, the tour of the SC Johnson administration building spends a lot of time talking about how much work went into waterproofing the glass rod skylights, and the tour of Wingspread (the Johnson family house) mentions an incident where Mr. Johnson called Wright to complain about a leak in the roof and Wright told him to move his chair.
Mike - Horizons was really the peak of that kind of "World's Fair" style dark ride. When I visited EPCOT in 2012 for the first time since 1984, I was expecting to see the endings I didn't see back then, then was crushed when I learned the ride was gone for over a decade.
Dean, I believe that another classic FLW line to the client complaining about the leaky roof was "what are you doing leaving a work of art in the rain..."
JG
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