As much as I love vintage 35mm slides, old snapshots have their charms as well.
Like this one, showing awesome Tomorrowland. Ya got yer Rocket Jets, Peoplemover, Tomorrowland Stage, Matterhorn, Skyway, and even "It's a Small World". Down below, the Space Bar is not too busy, for a change. Even small details like the lozenge-shaped Goodyear logo make me smile.
I'm not sure what inspired our photographer to take this picture, which is mostly an expanse of industrial roof. Maybe they liked the juxtaposition of the castle's spires and the Disneyland Hotel in the distance. Who knows.
I always love the sight of the Disneyland Railroad, and here it is as it passes by "It's a Small World". Notice the soot stains on the archway that it is about to go through. Happy soot!
Stay tuned for more snapshots.
OH that top pic is a beaut, isn't it? Oh for a time machine.
ReplyDeleteThe Space Bar may never have been much as a bar, but now and then it did offer some space!
Can't say what the photog was thinking in the 2nd pic but it does raise a point. Some say the skyway was taken out as "poor show" 'cause you could see outside the berm, rooftops etc. But as anyone who remembers it can attest, in reality seeing all that didn't spoil a thing, neither as a kid or older. The Skyway was an experience that only enhanced excitement about the park.
Yes, in the Small World pic we can see the Happiest Soot on Earth. No doubt they hated to remove it...
Love how you can see the Columbia in the second shot.
ReplyDeleteAh! The Space Bar. Twinkies and Space Mist made quite the combo meal back then.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast of the industrial roof with the castle rising above might've inspired the photographer. I love it! But then, I like photos of Disneyland showing the rooftops, back walls, scaffolding, backstage areas, and telephone poles behind the Indian Village and Storybook Land. All of Disneyland is a stage. I love photos illustrating that point.
Soot on the "it's a small world" façade. Now that's a classic Disneyland memory.
Ah, the Tomorrowland of yesterday. That photo reflects the land in its glorious prime!
ReplyDeleteNice sets the past two days. Made me feel a bit more like being there today, for some reason.
Thanks as always Major!
Chiana_Chat (nice to hear from you!), yeah, I especially love that first image. Tomorrowland is my favorite, as you probably already know. The Space Bar served empty containers. When customers complained, they were told that each container was full of space. And I can't imagine anybody who experienced the Skyway thinking that it was "bad show"… I think that I often mentally edited out the backstage stuff (this was before I was quite as fanatic!), and mostly looked at the things we were expected to look at. As for the soot, the last time I was at the park, there was LOTS of it!
ReplyDeleteChuck, you can even see the cupola of the Haunted Mansion!
K. Martinez, wait, what? You couldn't actually get twinkles at the Space Bar, could you? And what exactly was "Space Mist"? Was it fruity? Minty? Did it taste like Neptunian hyper-cola? I doubt I ever ordered it. I know you like your backstage views! I do too. Coming soon is an interesting Instamatic of a backstage area, I need to do more research to figure out (if possible) exactly where it was.
Monkey Cage Kurt, Tomorrowland was so awesome at that point! It had been great before, but the '67 version is pretty hard to top. I'm glad you have been enjoying the recent posts!
Great images again!
ReplyDeleteI love the soot on the arch--you could also see it on the tunnel leaving Frontierland Station. The Disney trains' exhaust is always so clear--you wouldn't think there would be soot build up...but it definitely happens over time.
Major - Yes, Space Mist was a fruit punch (pinkish in color) and double-packs of Twinkies were sold at the snack bar under Rocket Jets. It might've been when the snack bar was known as the Lunching Pad. I had that combo several times while in Tomorrowland. Now I'm thirsty. I could definitely go for that Neptunian hyper-cola.
ReplyDeleteI love Disneyland photos from this era. Tomorrowland was my absolute favourite as a child in the 70s. Great pics!
ReplyDeleteOh Major, these are wonderful, just a great trio of images. The best of all possible times from youth.
ReplyDeleteI used to arrange my high school trips to have lunch at the Space Bar; there was a ham stack sandwich on an onion roll, can't recall the Space Age name, but the soda was always "Cherry Mist". That combo wasn't available anywhere else in the park at time, AFAIK. Don't recall Space Mist, maybe another flavor.
I always knew this location as the Space Bar, the "Lunching Pad" is a great name, but maybe this was changed later, in the era when I couldn't visit, because I don't recall it at all.
I've always been a fan of the backstage views from the Skyway, DLRR, Monorail, even Autopia offers some glimpses. I know it would destroy the images of the "show" to see how it's all done, but I'm still fascinated by the illicit glimpses.
Oddly, I do think that the view into the chiller yard of the Grand California from the monorail does constitute a form of "bad show", since it is really awful and apparently no effort made to hide it. But you can't argue that the GC facility is exposed to view on all sides, hard to design around these industrial elements, even with unlimited space.
Thank you, Major. Just a great visit today.
JG