Tomorrowland - March 15, 1957
Oh boy, vintage Tomorrowland! My favorite. This first picture is so colorful and clear that it's hard to believe that it was taken nearly 70 years ago. The Flag still has 48 stars, Moosylvania and West Dakota were not States yet (notice the little girl with the white sweater looking up at the banner). The plucky orange tree is loaded with fruit, I always love to see those survivors from the days before there was a Disneyland. The beautiful blue sky (the flags indicate a breeze from the south) makes this look like a perfect day to visit.
11 comments:
Major-
Oh boy - vintage Tomorrowland, in 1957. We can still visit the Dairy Bar-!
"I believe that the roof of the Space Bar is in the lower left".
(I know you meant Yacht Bar). I suspect you were a little low on milk when writing the description... for after all, as we all know: "MILK - Nature's most nearly perfect food".
Thanks, Major.
Hmm, well, the girl might be looking up at the flag. But she could also be hynotized by the awesomeness of the Moonliner. Color, color everywhere! A great big beautiful tomorrow! (I should copyright that.)
I stared at that mystery building for a good minute, waiting for it to speak to me...... I'm still waiting. ;-( Nice, bright, crisp view of the Moonliner. Interesting how they used the color yellow so much in early Tomorrowland. Seems like an un-futuristic color. I would have used blue.
Nice pics today, Major. Thanks.
That first pic looks very much like an image inside the LP, "Walt Disney Takes You On A Musical Tour of Disneyland."
I agree with Nanook on that rooftop being the Yacht Bar. This would be when it faced the Rocket to the Moon and the Space Bar......before it was rotated to face the Tomorrowland Lagoon.
I love these 1950s Tomorrowland pics! Thanks, Major!
Drat - typos in the urls I linked above and I'm not logged into Blogger on this machine to be able to delete and repost! Try this:
The building in the distance in the second photo is the Tropicana Motel at 1540 S. Harbor Blvd, "ACROSS THE STREET FROM DISNEYLAND, Opposite the Heliport" as the back of the postcard proclaims.
Oh, my goodness I am bad at this this morning. Time for another cup of decaf...
To see the back of the postcard, click CLICK HERE
Photo 1 is enticing. Using a bunch of cheap flagpoles as the entrance statement might be the value proposition of all time, yet we are powerfully drawn down the thoroughfare towards those chaotic colored whatsis’s. Really Amazing.
I see the mysteries of photo 2 are already plumbed by the GDB Research Department. I was going to guess Yacht Bar, but had forgotten it was turned around. The flagpoles coming through the roof jacks are a giveaway. The motel (great eye, Chuck) was, I think, documented by the great Lou Perry, in a later incarnation (the motel, not Lou).
I wonder if the Chao family were meeting with banks about this time for a loan to start their restaurant?
Thanks for Old Tomorrowland, Major. I want to run down now and see the Giant Squid in the 20K Leagues exhibit.
JG
Very nice postcard-perfect pictures today, thank you, Major.
Chuck, thank you for the motel postcard links. Back in the good ol’ days when motels gave everyone a “Free 21” TV” just for staying there. :o)
Nanook, when I say “Yacht Bar”, I MEAN Yacht Bar! I like being wrong! Milk - I remember when I was a kid, I drank the stuff all the time. Now I only use it in recipes.
JB, That first photo is the kind of thing that would get me so excited when learning about “old Disneyland”, before I started collecting slides myself. So great. I thought that the mystery building might be the Chart House (now the Anaheim Hotel), but it isn’t.
TokyoMagic!, I have an old copy of that LP, but, since I have the audio as an mp3, I have never looked inside my record! I didn’t even know that there were images in there. And yeah, I did mean to say Yacht Bar, but don’t tell Nanook.
Chuck, “urls I linked above”… ? Thank you for identifying the Tropicana Motel! And for the links! I would have done it, but I was too busy talking to Sidney Sweeney on the phone, she’s very needy.
Chuck, ha, I saw your corrected link, thank you!
JG, cheap flagpoles? I’ll have you know that those flagpoles were the finest that money could buy! Solid rhodium! I admit that the Yacht Bar’s roof surprises me… I know that the photographer turned to take the photo, but I still wouldn’t have expected it to be there in relation to the RTTM. The Chaos were definitely thinking about serving some chow. I’d love to see the giant squid too, my older brother claims that we saw it when we were little, but I don’t remember it at all.
Lou and Sue, it’s funny, I just watched a video for a 158” TV, 21” sounds microscopic by comparison.
Looks like my first comment (the one with the "urls I linked above") disappeared into the ether. Not my day today. Say "hi" to Sidney for me.
The Moonliner, along with the town of Rainbow Ridge, vexed me as a kid. They were always mere facades, but looked as though you'd just missed when they were actual attractions.
There was an early Disneyland-themed comic book in which Big Bad Wolf lured the pigs onto the Moonliner, disguised with a "helmet" fashioned from a paper bag with a piece of chimney pipe over his snout. They landed on a planet where eyeless tree creatures captured Big Bad and the pigs had to rescue him. If they're going to let cartoon characters climb in and actually fly it ...
DBenson, I have that comic book! I have about four different "Disneyland" comic books. Maybe I should scan one of them and post it!
Post a Comment