Leftuggies™
It's LEFTUGGIE TIME, you can feel it in the air, you can taste it with your tentacles!
This first scan (dated November, 1956) is amusing; a crusty Stagecoach driver (a fragrant cigar clamped between his teeth) and a little girl regard each other from the driver's box. "Are you ready, Little Britches?". She indicates that she's ready by spitting tobacky juice at a nearby bell (who put that there?). Notice the striped box next to her, one of the old popcorn boxes that can now fetch $100 and up in good condition. Seeing this photo really makes me wish that we could still take a stagecoach through the Rainbow Desert.
Next, a scan from December, 1966; we've got a Godzilla's-eye view of Disneyland, which I initially thought might have been taken from Wilbur Clark's Crest Hotel. But I dunno. There's Harbor Boulevard running along the bottom of the image. The Matterhorn is topped with its Christmas star, and a few other landmarks can be discerned, such as the Disneyland Hotel, the Haunted Mansion, and a Skyway tower.
Zooming in, we can also see that massive construction for the upcoming New Tomorrowland is underway, though details are hard to discern at this distance. Any idea what that red arched steel framework would be for (to the left)? As for the vantage point of this photograph, notice the sign for the Howard Johnson Hotel (about 1/3 of the way from the right), which opened on July 16, 1965!
I hope you have enjoyed today's Leftuggies.
25 comments:
Major-
I wonder if 'ol Tex is thinking... "Should a gentleman offer a Tiparillo to a lady-? (Little Britches looks as if she could handle one...)
That 'red arched steel framework' is the Carousel of Progress building.
Thanks, Major.
I concur with NANOOK : that’s the start of the Carousel Theater .
I was having a craving for some tasty Leftuggies; my tentacles were twitching in anticip___ation. You must've been reading my mind!
1) Cute photo. Little Britches looks kinda lost and confused, listening to the crusty driver. He's probably telling her about the airspeed velocity of African swallows carrying coconuts. She doesn't look like she has a safety strap. Maybe they're relying on Crusty Driver (that's his name) to catch her is she tumbles forward.
2) I was also wondering what those orange girders were on the left. I guess that's the CoP under construction in the center? We can see the Columbia's masts in the distance. (That seems to be a prerequisite for all Disneyland photos.)
Whoa! Nanook and Mike say the orange girders are the CoP... that means the structure in the center must be the PeopleMover and Rocket Jets. I have a hard time visualizing the distances between things.
Interesting Leftuggies, Major. Thanks.
....that means the structure in the center must be the PeopleMover and Rocket Jets.
JB, that structure in the middle is the Circle-Vision building!
Have we seen photos in the past, showing the Stagecoach and Pack Mule employees smoking? I don't remember. I wonder if Walt ever smoked in front of his guests, or if he waited until he got backstage to do it?
TM! Since smoking in front of people wasn’t considered rude or impolite, back then, my guess is that Walt probably smoked in front of guests, often. Just my guess. Just look at all his two-finger points, in his photos.
Major, I think you mislabeled today’s images. These are better than Leftuggies. Note: “Leftuggies” automatically pops up on my phone, before I finish spelling it out. Smart phone. Sometimes.
Tokyo!, CircleVision??? Now I'm really confused.
Sue is correct ! Walt DID smoke in front of guests at times and definitely in front of the press & publicity. Many famous pictures of Walt - such as the opening of New Orleans Square show Walt with a cigarette between his fingers … however In the last 30 years these images of smoking Walt have been pulled from printing or reproduction access …. Or they have been airbrushed or now digitaly altered. The Disney Archives had great Walt photo albums in their research room … many showed Walt snockered and many of him smoking …. In the early 90’s these images of snockered Walt were pulled from the the reference albums and replaced with a small descriptive tag like “ Walt Disney : 1966 Cafe Orleans opening , Disneyland “ - please see archives “ lol. As time went on these same tags replaced the Walt images with him smoking. However …. Walt didn’t like to be FILMED smoking …. And that is rare ….
JB: starting at the Matterhorn moving left ….:
Monorail Station - construction trailer - skyway pylon - future circle vision building - Tomorrowland entry flags - ( No PeopleMover guideway yet) - Carousel theater steel framing - Monsanto building …. And that’s pretty much what is visible as Tomorrowland 1966 slowly starts to fade away and TOMORROWLAND 1967 grows .
Nothing says "Frontier" like cigars, $100 Popcorn Boxes, and frightened untethered children. Hard facts. The stagecoach does look very freshly painted and shiny. And cowboy Bob's costume seems rather put together and pressed. Looks like he can't button his vest: so I won't go there. I concur with all the others re: identification of construction site rides and attractions. Was it rides and attractions too at one point? Or was it only adventures and attractions? Someone knows. The Crest hotel became the Grand Hotel..and from my memory it was a bit of a dump. Did they implode it or take it down piece by piece? A very interesting view: and seems that when you stay at the Disneyland Hotel you THINK you would get a close up view like this: but you just dont. HOJO's probably now has the best views INTO the park: even though most is obscured by trees and vegetation. I remember riding along Harbor Blvd. knowing that Disneyland was on the other side of the chain link fence....then the Monorail would pop out, and we would all scream. I like seeing the Christmas star on top of the Matterhorn. What a feat of engineering that must have been. I do have real memories of seeing the star: but not sure what year it was... Do we think that was planned during construction- to get in front of structural supports? No waterfalls, but you can make out the wires of the Skyway...if you look really closely. Is Hojo's really the last surviving piece of the "new" Tomorrowland ? Could be...hopefully Disney doesn't own that property or any leases...then "poof"....Thanks Major and anonymous photographer who took these great shots!
I concur with Bu in that you would think your view from the Disneyland Hotel would seem closer. Our room in the 7th floor of the Adventure Tower had a pretty good view of the Downtown Disney entrance, but not of the parks. By the way, now that DD is there, the Monorail station seems farther away too! It isn't.
Oh, and I gotta tell you guys about a mixup with a flying saucer that I had yesterday! All I can say right now is that the planet Sru-von is nice this time of year.
As long as Tex isn’t smoking “wacky tobacky”…
Agreeing with the identification comments, and enjoying the view from the Howard Johnson’s. Hadn’t thought of it as part of Tomorrowland, but it makes sense. William Pereira was a master of that style.
Bu, I think the Matterhorn Star had to be part of the program from the start for the reasons you give. I’ve seen a photo of it being placed on top, guided by Santa Claus. Getting the crane in place threaded through all the monorail tracks must have been a real job.
Good stuff today, Major! Thank you!
JG
Before the Park opened, some of Walt's train buddies who were involved in live steam would write articles about the upcoming Park in various hobby magazines. One wrote about how lots of things in the Park would be scaled down, including the stagecoaches, which (while not visible in the first pic) would also feature smaller-than-normal horses!
Nanook, Tiparillos, man, I forgot about those! Cigars for people who are only moderately interested in smoking cigars?
Mike Cozart, huh, I would not have expected the Carousel building’s skeleton to look like that.
JB, I admit that Little Britches appears kind of helpless, but that’s how she lures people in so that she can plug them full of lead! Safety strap? This is the 1950s! There was no such thing! Yes, Mike and Nanook both concur on the CoP building, I guess “what else could it be?”, and yet it still looks odd to me. I guess it did have a curved top.
TokyoMagic!, oh man, JB is not going to be happy! I think I have one or two other photos of Stagecoach drivers smoking, probably cigarettes, but still. Fairly surprising. Walt not only smoked in front of guests, he blew lungfuls of smoke into their faces. “What are ya gonna do about it, huh??”. He could be a real pip.
Lou and Sue, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen photos (unofficial) of Walt with guests, holding a cigarette in his fingers. Man, I’m glad I never took up that habit. Leftuggies aren’t like “Snoozles”, they aren’t bad, they are just not part of a larger group (usually).
JB, hey, I’m confused every day. Just give into it and enjoy it!
Mike Cozart, I wish I could find a folder of Walt photos that I have somewhere, so often his fingers are in a “holding a cigarette” position, and yet there’s nothing there. So strange! ;-) Some of them are more obvious than others. I have to say, the retouching was well done. We all know that Disney disapproves of smoking now, to the point where Pecos Bill can’t roll a cigarette any more, which makes me mad.
Mike Cozart, in this case I am happy to see the changes in Tomorrowland, they did such a great job!
Bu, I wonder if the little girl actually rode up front like that? I kind of feel like she was just placed there for a photo op. I love those stagecoaches, they really were beautifully made. I’m sure movie studios could build coaches today, but they would take shortcuts. Gorilla Glue! Pocket screws! I don’t mind seeing a Stagecoach driver looking a little rough around the edges, it is expected, in fact. Better than looking like some dude from the East with immaculate clothes. My guess is that the Crest Hotel was imploded, but I don’t really know. Hojo’s looks like a nice place to stay, but I doubt I’ll ever go there, it isn’t cheap. And I agree, that Matterhorn star is a real engineering accomplishment, I wonder if they had to shore up the mountain itself to be able to support the additional weight?
Stu29573, as I’ve seen from photos, the park seems pretty distant, even from the Disneyland Hotel - that giant parking lot is between the two. I once visited somebody who was staying in the Presidential Suite of the Disneyland Hotel, and was kind of disappointed at the view! Your flying saucer adventure sounds intense, you are lucky to still be on Earth!
JG, I assume that Hojo’s charges more for a room that is on a higher floor with a good view. It would be fun, but I’m one of those people that mostly needs a room for sleep and a shower, unlike some. Maybe if you had small children you’d enjoy being in a plush room, but for me, my needs are simple. I’ve seen that photo you mentioned, it looks like Santa is standing on a step stool with no safety cable. Yikes!
Steve DeGaetano, a lot of the horses are smaller than usual, even on Main Street, with the exception of the Belgian Draft Horses that pull the streetcars!
With Hojos being one of the last vestiges of the 60s still on Harbor Blvd, I wonder if there is a height restriction on the property which would prevent a high rise from going in and ruining the view from inside the Park. As designed, Hojos just naturally fits into the background. KS
That first one may be left, but I'm not ready to file it under uggy. It's practically postcardworthy in every way.
I also wish there was still room for the simple pleasure of a stagecoach ride. You would think the could squeeze one in somewhere in Florida, either at the Tri-Circle-D Ranch or Fort Wilderness, or in the proposed Beyond Big Thunder expansion.
Melissa : 2 of the original 3 Disneyland Yellowstone coaches and one of the three Disneyland mud wagons were sent to Florida and used to transport guests around Fort Wilderness Campground and to Pioneer Hall … but it’s unclear as to what became of them … they didn’t carry many passengers and the “hay wagons “ were favored by operations ( technically they were more like giant truck beds with rubber tires pulled by horses ) I’m not even sure those are used.
Major-
"My guess is that the Crest Hotel was imploded, but I don’t really know".
You can watch it HERE from THREE angles.
Has lil’ miss britches finished with that popcorn box? So cute they made mine ceramic many years later. The whole scene reminds me of my grandpa pulling my leg on some wild west yarn of his, me not sure I should I believe this tall tale.
MS
Hello Mike, I’m from the Tiki Community and one of my friends is looking to contact you. He remembers seeing your posts on Tiki Central. Jim Bacchi/ Tikiyaki Orchestra on Facebook. I’m going to send him this link so he can message you directly.
Mahalo, Bee Kini Mahina
Mike....Ive been trying to find you. I wanted to ask about your HO scale Aloha Lanes from 2010. If you could contact me that would be great.
Nanook, thanks for that link. It's pretty amazing how precise, and predictably, they can implode a huge building like that. I guess it doesn't always go as expected though.
Mike, I should have known if it was a good idea somebody would have already tried it!
Leftuggy #1 just strikes me as a Norman Rockwell painting in real life.
W
KS, I am guessing that there IS a height restriction on the streets near Disneyland (and maybe in the rest of Anaheim too) - I’m so glad that there isn’t a 40 story monstrosity looming over everything!
Melissa, as I said to Sue, “Leftuggie” is not a disparaging descriptor! It mostly just means that it was leftover from… well, something. A larger lot of slides, or maybe it was all by itself from the beginning.
Mike Cozart, argh I feel like anything that went to Florida probably rotted in the humidity. Just the thought of it makes me mad!
Nanook, COOL!
MS, wasn’t the ceramic version of the popcorn box courtesy of Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily? Aw, I love the idea of your grandpa telling you wild west yarns!
Bee Kini Mahina and Jim Bacchi (same person?), I hope Mike sees your comment and contacts you!
JB, I would imagine that imploding a building is nerve-wracking! They can plan and plan, but as you said, sometimes things go wrong.
Melissa, it’s like when I invented hotdog flavored ice cream. Who knew it was already a thing?
Warren Nielsen (hello!), yes, a Rockwell, or maybe an N.C. Wyeth!
Nanook: Wilbur Clark rolls in his grave every time that video gets shown!
Thank you Major as always...
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