It's time to rescan some oldies that, in retrospect, don't look so hot anymore. Like this first slide from July, 1963; it's a view taken from the Monorail as it passed through a corner of Disneyland's massive parking lot. As is often the case in these old scans, the darks went very black, while the rest was grainy and orange-ish.
Ah, that's better! I believe that the street running through the lower third of the photo was called West Street in those days - now it's Disneyland Drive (it was renamed sometime around 1998 or 1999). I love the view of the old Disneyland Hotel.
Back in 2006 I published this grainy photo of the early Tomorrowland - it's undated, but probably 1956.
The rescan gets rid of more of the magenta that plagued this slide, and it looks sharper and better in every way. Notice the bright red trash cans (hard to miss!); to our right is the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry, though the sign on the façade hasn't been installed yet.
Lovely stuff there, Major. I gotta get the bird's eye lowdown someday on how you perform your magic.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that people's attire has changed is so evident in
ReplyDeletethat pic. Much nattier back then. Also, great shot of the
hotel and the sea of beautiful cars. I'm sure my family's
Chevy Nomad station wagon is in there somewhere.
That trash can has some great theming. Ha ha! I assume they didn't get into the layered details of theming until later in the game with such things as costumes and trash cans.
ReplyDeleteNice improvement from the original scans. Thanks, Major.
Wow, great shot of the hotel. Major, your new equipment is really bringing the game.
ReplyDeleteJG
Patrick Devlin, a lot of the magic is thanks to Photoshop… I’ve learned a few additional tricks over the years!
ReplyDeleteDr. Goat, it was only two or three years before Disneyland’s guests generally started to dress more casually. The men in sport coats and ladies in dresses become rarer and rarer! PS, I love vintage station wagons.
K. Martinez, those trash cans are so weird; I’m surprised Walt was OK with them. I understand that the public needed to see them, but yikes.
JG, I am glad that my investment (which was considerable!) was worth it!
Ah, an older couple holding hands. I'm encouraged. And I'm waiting for the car identifications. Nice scans today; thank you, as usual!
ReplyDeletedz
@ David Zacher-
ReplyDeleteSorry... too many cars for ID-ing. I don't however, see any Chevrolet Nomad station wagons; although one could easily be hiding. Too bad.
Indeed it was West Street 'back in the day'. Now it's practically all Disney just about everywhere in the surrounding area...and soon to get bigger. Never thought so much change would occur back when there was just a Parking Lot out front! KS
ReplyDeleteFuturist predictions of the trashcan of tomorrow. I wonder if Bob Gurr had something to do with that. I think I recognize his streamlining.
ReplyDeleteYour scanner never ceases to bless us Major, although nowadays I always seem to find myself suffering from scanner envy, and that’s not a blessing. I’ll be alright.
It’s funny how many of these vintage Tomorrowland pics are taken from the exact same spot. It’s like they drew a circle on the ground and put up a sign or something.
Danke, Major!