Thursday, May 01, 2014

Entry and Exit, 1956

Here are two semi-interesting pictures from 1956 - one taken at the entrance to Disneyland, the other taken at the nearby exit. It's a theme, dammit!

You can't miss those cheerful yellow passenger cars in front of Main Street Station; and why would you want to? They're awesome. Things look a little barren without any attraction posters on display. A few throw pillows and some curtains would really perk the place up. Notice the little souvenir booth (information booth?) to the right - wonder why that was there. Walt was nice enough to place drinking fountains outside the gates to his park, and the man in the white shirt is partaking. He probably showed up just to drink the water and never bought an admission. What a scam!


Now it's later in the day, and it looks like more folks are leaving than arriving. The mysterious dark blur in the foreground is, I believe, part of the leather camera case (it shows up in a few other pictures from this lot - unfortunately). There's another drinking fountain, complete with wooden box for kids to stand on. And we can't forget about the C.K. Holliday and the wonderful freight cars!


8 comments:

MRaymond said...

I love the chain link fencing. So photogenic.

Chuck said...

I was thinking the same thing.

Major, I'm glad you clarified that there were drinking fountains outside the park. Otherwise, I'd have sworn that guy was clearing his nostrils or re-inventorying his breakfast.

Glad to see both the freight AND the passenger trainsets this morning. Gonna be a GREAT day!

K. Martinez said...

It's so cool to see the Retlaw 2 (Frontierland freight) passing the Retlaw 1 (Main Street passenger) at the Main Street Station in the second image. How often does one see photos of both trains in one photo? I'd love to see a photo of the passenger train passing the freight train at the Frontierland station. Thanks, Major.

Chuck - I was thinking the exact thing about Mr. Bendover.

Tom said...

Now I wanna ride in the freight car! And see the desert, the way it was in 1956.

The chain link, though, no so much.

Anonymous said...

That chainlink fence sure looks crass compared to today's elegant and expensive barriers.

Interesting to see how inexpensive and off-the-shelf products were such a part of the original Park.

Everything now is so customized and no expense appears to be spared, it's almost too nice.

Not that I'm advocating a return to the Pressler era when the interiors of queues were lined with plywood.

JG

Melissa said...

OK, OK, OK, guys. I've finally found my true calling; the Major has designed my dream job. I can only hope I can convince Disney will pay me to do it, because otherwise I'll have to just go and do it for free.

My duties will consist of:

A. Dressing in some kind of official-looking uniform (perhaps including a logo babushka) that blends with my surroundings enough that guests won't really notice me too much at first glance (Legal notice: this does not constitute "hiding.")

B. Waiting until a guest complains about or questions a design element, location of an attraction, artistic or musical choice, etc.

C. Springing out of my not-hidden location and loudly declaring, "IT'S A THEME, DAMMIT!"

D. Quickly moving on to my next station across the park

E. Reviewing collected hidden-camera footage of guest reactions at end of day

F.

G. Profit

Nancy said...

lol! Melissa, I think you have something there....

Love the freight train - should have kept it. Both pictures are nice, the bright yellow train reminds me much of my beloved Monorail Yellow :-)

Major Pepperidge said...

Hey GDB readers, sorry I have been so slow to respond to comments. Things have been super busy with me lately - hopefully it is a case of "better late than never".

MRaymond, there is nothing like early hand-woven chain link!

Chuck, ewwww! I'm sure Disneyland has been barfed in many many times. Thousands of times!

K. Martinez, holy crap, I didn't see that the freight train was passing the passenger train. Very cool! Too bad it's blurry, which seems to be a theme here on this blog.

Tom, I don't mind the chain link, even though it isn't beautiful. It was practical for the times. Presumably the park still uses it in places?

JG, it's funny, in general I think people complain about seeing "off the shelf" items in the park. "We can see that ANYWHERE!". Were queues actually line with plywood in the Pressler days?

Melissa, if there's one thing I've learned from Disney, it's to follow your dreams, and to believe in your wishes. Or something. And to be yourself, especially if you happen to be a pretty princess. Mostly I just like the idea of shouting at strangers and scaring them, especially when in uniform.

Nancy, I love the passenger cars, but I get why they had to go. Just not practical for the park. You couldn't see out of them! What's the point of having dinosaurs in the Primeval World section if you can't see them?