Randos

Going through a box of slides, I found one hand-labeled, "Disneyland, August, 1964". Eureka! Hey, wait a minute... this isn't Disneyland! It's that crazy World's Fair in New York. I'm walkin' here! Perhaps the person who wrote the label held the slide up to a nearby window, saw Alice and the White Rabbit and that was enough to make an ID. But we know that this group is in front of the UNICEF/Pepsi pavilion, where "It's a Small World" drew in millions of guests (a tiny bit of the supports for the Tower of the Four Winds can barely be seen). The Schaefer Center is to the left in the background.

Next is this nice perspective (dated "October, 1959") showing the vehicle load area for the Matterhorn, with NINE bobsled's, for a cornucopia of good luck. I love the different colors on the bobsleds. I see what appears to be a black and white-striped trashcan (oil barrel?), was that the ticket stub receptacle? 

I'll be out of town and away from my computer for the next few days. There will be new posts for you, as always, and I'll talk to you all when I get back!

 

Main Street, August 1969

Here's a pair of good Main Street views from 1969. Starting with this view looking into West Center Street, where the Flower Market used to be. It makes sense that the Carnation truck would want to be near the flowers, Walt thought of everything. It's fun to look at the people, such as the little girl riding on the back of her brother's stroller, the kids in the Carnation truck (and the other kids, perhaps waiting for their turn), and even the lady with the green shorts holding a souvenir wall map.

And here's a very nice look down Main Street on a busy (but not too busy) August day. The clock tells us that it is 2:30. It sure looks like a lot of people are already heading toward the exit! Hey, there's still plenty of time to visit the attractions that we want to do. In fact, a dedicated guest could probably hit every attraction (I think) before the park closed at 1:00 AM. The lady in the tree shadow to the right appears to be pursuing her complimentary INA guidebook. 

 

Pins From the Bag

Hey, what's in that bag? Why, it's a bunch of old PINS!

This first pin (or button) is fun, from the days when SoCal had the only Universal Studios. Most people know that there was a walk-around Frankenstein's Monster, but for a while there was a Baby Frankenstein! I'm unsure of the exact time, though I think "the 70s" would be at least partially correct (Google says BF was there into the 90s, much to my astonishment). There are a few Baby Frankenstein toys (plush dolls, at least), and I've seen souvenir slides showing Baby Frank, but so far I've haven't seen any that were taken by guests. I sure would love to have one!

Just for fun, here's a scan of a postcard with Baby Frankenstein:

Speaking of babies, in the 1950s your milk would be delivered to your doorstep by babies wearing hats. Things were screwy after the war. My dad used to talk about opening a bottle of milk and finding the layer of cream that had risen to the top, but that never happened once it was HOMOGENIZED. You get the good with the bad. 

I don't believe I ever went to a Piggly Wiggly market, even though my family moved a lot. I do remember going to the A&P in Pennsylvania! And the Rainbow Market (?) in Minnesota. Anyway, I love this employee name badge with the cheerful piggy himself, paper hat at a jaunty angle.

I've mentioned the many pins that I purchased when I would visit a particular antiques store in the midwest, from states such as Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, and so on. I love the small-town celebrations; in this case, it's Benson, Minnesota's "Kid Day", circa 1958! The little girl with the tiara looks like the ideal midwest sweetheart, the Queen of Kids, perhaps. 

I did not buy this one in that antiques store - I've had this one for decades. "Land in Cleveland Ohio In '36". Don't mind if I do! Back in the early days of the 20th Century, many cities hoped to lure folks to their fair land (via colorful pinback buttons), to start businesses, work in the local factories, and stimulate the local economy in various other ways. Find happiness and prosperity in Cleveland!

And finally, something a bit more modern. I think I bought it because I remember when McDonalds introduced Shamrock Shakes (in 1970)... going to McD's as a kid was a real treat (possibly not for my mom and dad, though). In my memory, Shamrock Shakes were just vanilla flavor with green food coloring added. My understanding is that they have been mint-flavored for many years, but I haven't had one of those shakes since I was under 10 years old.

That's it for this installment of PINS FROM THE BAG!

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - July 17 1980

Sue B. has scanned more of Lou Perry's slides (Lou is her dad, of course); these are from 1980, and they feature the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which had opened less than a year earlier (on September 2, 1979). Based on the number of photos Lou took, he was mighty interested in this new attraction!

I can almost hear the fast "chugga-chugga" sound that these runaways trains make - reminds me of a pressure cooker. And the high-pitched whistle keeps ghosts away, as has been proven by science. 

Lou was faster on the "draw" and got this locomotive as it screamed past! I can't help thinking of the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, but I really do like BTMRR - if only there had been a way that we had both. Impossible with Disneyland's limited real estate.

It's comforting to see some of the familiar old Rainbow Ridge buildings, repurposed for the new attraction (I am unclear if the buildings were completely rebuilt or not). We've seen many vintage photos of the El Dorado Hotel, and Miner's Hardware!

THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!

Mad Tea Party, March 1961

Here's a fun pair of photos featuring two sisters riding in their teacups on the Mad Tea Party attraction. For color and kinetic movement, the MTP can't be beat! I told Walt that people would enjoy riding in jars of mayonnaise, but I guess he didn't hear me, so... teacups it is. 

I'm assuming that the ride was in motion at this point, the little girl in the greenish cup is looking right at us, and it looks as if she is doing her best to turn the center wheel - it takes some arm strength to get them going! I've always loved the kooky abstract swirls and pictograms on the cups, somehow it evokes the artwork of the animated film, though I'm not sure why, exactly. Just above the girl's head, we can see the Casey Jr. ticket booth.

A second photo brings our girls closer to us. There were no doors on the teacups back then (unlike now), instead they used a thin piece of woven nylon that looks as if it wouldn't do much. Was it better than nothing? Hard to say. The swirling design of the turntable keeps guests HIP-MO-TIZED, anyway. Hello, Pirate Ship!
 

Snoozles™

I have no shortage of Snoozles lately, after scanning 40 or 50 slides - many of which turned out to be very flawed. As I mentioned before, some went right into the trash, I didn't even want to attempt to restore them (they were too dark and too discolored). But there were a few that had issues, but still had something to offer. Like this photo from January 1962, featuring two girls in a snooty caterpillar vehicle from the "Alice in Wonderland" ride. The girl closes to us is waving, but in my country that gesture means, "I wish death upon you", so I am furious!

The problem with this next one is obvious (from a slide date-stamped "June 1967") - taking a photo of anything when backlit by the Sun can be problematic, but sometimes it's the only way to capture what you want at that particular time of day. I think this photographer liked seeing the Skyway gondolas moving back and forth, emerging and vanishing into the Matterhorn's "ice caverns". A yeti in Tibet heard about these ice caverns and thought that they sounded like a pretty sweet place to settle down.

 

Craig, Colorado - 1972

I used to buy random boxes of vintage slides, and I never knew what I'd find inside. Among the usual photos of the Grand Canyon, or babies, or graduations, a photo of an unknown town would pop up, and it always piqued my interest! "Can I figure out where this place is?", and "What does it look like today?". 

There were two slides from 1972 that turned out to be from the same town, and it didn't really take that long to solve the mystery of their location. The most visible clue is the Cosgriff Motor Hotel, which places us at "the intersection of of US 40 and State Highway 789 (aka East Victory Way) in downtown Craig, Colorado" (according to the text on the back of a postcard). Craig is in the upper west corner of Colorado, about 120 miles west of Boulder (as the crow flies). 

Another landmark is the WEST Theater, which opened on April 8, 1939 with the film "Never Say Die" starring Bob Hope. It was originally a 500-seat theater, but has since been modified into a twin.

This Google Street View shows the approximate area as it looks today. As is often the case, the "today" view is lacking something, even though Craig looks like a pleasant place to live.

Here's that postcard showing the Cosgriff Motor Hotel; An attractive, well-managed 80 room air-cooled motor hotel with every convenience. Inside there was a painting of some note (apparently), “The Passing of the Old West” by Gerard Curtis Delano. I'd hoped to find an image of this painting on Google, but had no luck (I'm sure I could have dived deeper).

Continuing westward, we get a closer look at a few landmarks that you could see in the first photo, including the Conoco station (which is still there), and that building by the red Jeep with the angled roof, which is a furniture and mattress store today.  

There's the furniture store to our left... the big tree just beyond it blocks the view of the Conoco station.

Vintage postcards! We love vintage postcards.

And another...

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Craig, Colorado.

Tomorrowland, September 1977

After a few years in Pennsylvania, my family returned to California; it took another year or so before I was able to get back to Disneyland (going with friends from before our move to the east coast) - the year would have been 1977. I still remember how strange it felt walking into Town Square! It felt smaller than I remembered. The same, but different. Favorite attractions had close in the interim, replaced by new ones. The Carousel of Progress, replaced by "America Sings"; the Pack Mules (not replaced of course); Santa Fe ended its sponsorship of the Disneyland Railroad; "Mission to Mars" replaces "Flight to the Moon". "Nature's Wonderland" closed near the end of '77. And so on! 

Today's photos, from 1977, show what I must have seen on that first return trip. Tomorrowland felt pretty familiar, for the most part, with the always-wonderful Peoplemover and Rocket Jets, and the Mary Blair tile murals were still in place; and Adventure Through Inner Space was still there, one of my favorite rides ever.

However, Space Mountain was BRAND NEW, having debuted to much acclaim on May 27, 1977! I remember being blown away by the whole experience, and I remember the very long queue - nobody likes long lines, but it somehow added to the experience, ramping up our anticipation. Obviously, seeing today's scans really takes me back to a specific time in my life!
 

Da Subs, June 1967

Here's a pair of fun views of the wonderful Submarine Lagoon on a perfect June day. As always, I love the expanse of turquoise water; here at the load area, the lagoon is roiling with bubbles from undersea vents. The ramp up to the Monorail platform is to our right (looks like the ramp could use a few paint touch-ups). An R2-D2 trashcan observes the mayhem silently. Beep-boop!

The lady with the white sweater and red skirt must be related to the photographer, she smiles in our direction just before she boards the genuine new-kew-lar sub (I assume the girl next to her is her daughter, waving at us). Why wouldn't the person who took the picture be in line with the rest? Maybe they suffered from claustrophobia, or ichthyophobia, or aquaphobia. Or all of the above. 

 

1950s Views

Today's slides were from a batch that was very faded - I don't know if they were always this way, or if the emulsions diminished over the past 60+ years. But, luckily, Photoshop can help in a big way! As I said in an earlier post with slides from this batch, I wish I'd remembered to save "before" images, but I forgot to do it. Durnit!

This smiling woman reminds me of one of my 2nd grade teachers, which makes me automatically like her. I wonder if she worked with kids?? I could see a photo like this showing up in an early souvenir guidebook.

Next, she and her mom (?) smile as they gaze at the wonders within the Ruggles China and Glass Shop on Main Street. I need several ceramic figurines to put above my kitchen sink, and perhaps one or two in my den. If they have decorative salt and pepper pairs, there is no telling how much money I'll part with!