Beautiful Frontierland, 1959
Happy Friday! I have two really nice Frontierland views (circa 1959) for you today.
Let's start with this neat shot; in the foreground is Aunt Jemima's Kitchen, with its palm-thatched roof and low brick wall. I believe that the blue "adobe" building is also part of A.J.'s, but if I am mistaken, please let me know! I love the colors in this one, from the umbrellas, to the pink brick, to the southwestern blue on the wall. Looks like it was a perfect day to be at the park.
Meanwhile I am wondering about the elevated vantage point of the photographer - where could he/she have been standing? I think that the train tracks were too far away. Could it have been taken from the Chicken Plantation?
OK, since I originally wrote the previous paragraph, I did a little research; Or to be more specific, I watched "Disneyland U.S.A." on YouTube, and there is a great aerial view of Frontierland, circa 1956. It looks like the photographer was standing on that little bridge that went over the tributary that connected the Jungle Cruise river to the Rivers of America, and was facing more or less in the direction the arrow is pointing.
Next is this nice photo taken near the queue for the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train - not to mention the entrance to the corral where one could still ride a Stagecoach or Conestoga Wagon. Right in the middle is the Gonzalez Trio looking ¡magnifico! in their splendid costumes.
11 comments:
Major-
Happy Friday, indeed-! Some lovely views of Frontierland. And again I ask: Just where are all the people-??
Thanks, Major.
You are exactly right. The photographer is standing on the foot bridge. Although I understand the reason it was removed, it was a shame to see it go.
Wow!! These are wonderful and unusual angles. Love the architectural style in the first image. The Gonzalez Trio looks great as they stroll out into the wide open walkway. Thanks, Major.
These photos are indescribably beautiful - particularly the first one. Unusual angle of a familiar area but including a whole lot of ground-level detail of things long past in crisp, vibrant color.
I will not get any work done today, as I will just be staring at the thatched roof and adobe brick wall of Aunt Jemima's Kitchen there, and imagining myself tucking into a stack of flapjacks.
These are great pictures of a Frontierland of long ago that I didn't know existed in this configuration. In particular what "AJ's" originally looked like. The land had much more Southwestern look. I am also intrigued about the last shot where it appears there is a rail crossing between the MT and mule/stagecoach loading areas. KS
Major, I love both of these! I also like your use of the inverted exclamation point. You can use that when your happy (¡Hurray!), or sad (¡Aw!), or frightened (¡Eeeek!), or mad (¡Rats!), or excited (¡WOW!), or glad (¡Hey!) and it will always start your sentence right.
Nanook, of course there were crowded days back in the 1950’s, but I was looking at “Jason’s Disneyland Almanac”, and there were days when there were less than 2,000 people in the whole park. A few days later, over 40,000! Must have made it difficult to staff the park properly.
Jon Skinner, I was glad to find the aerial photo, because I did not realize that the footbridge was so close to Jemima’s.
K. Martinez, wouldn’t you love to be able to go back and visit THIS Disneyland?
Tom, I think it that if you showed that first photo to a lot of Disneyland fans, they would never guess that it was taken in the park.
KS, I’ve been trying to see the apparent rail crossing in the last photo… not sure I know what to look for. There is that raised track (or whatever that is), I’ve always guessed that that was supposed to be where ore cars would move to dump tailings. Maybe not?
TokyoMagic!, it only took me seven hours to figure out how to make that upside-down exclamation point.
Those cotton print dresses would be the height of retro chic today.
Major...yes, I that's was what I was referring to. The aerial track to 'move' the ore cars. Thanks! KS
Is that also the building that had the Frito machine that the Fritos would come sliding down the chute? Five cents if I remember correctly.
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