A Visit From DrGoat!
I am very happy to present the first of several posts from a longtime GDB friend. His name is Peter, but you know him from the comments as DrGoat (named after a 1950 Whitman children's book that was illustrated by Peter's uncle - it is still beloved by many to this day); he will be sharing 17 photos from various years - Disneyland and one Knott's Berry Farm. I think you're going to enjoy them!
Here's DrGoat: ... The first is me (Peter) and my Dad Aldo, 1960, July. I wish I remembered more, but I do remember we stayed at the Peter Pan Motel, spend 2 whole days there, which was a treat since we drove from Tucson and got a day at the San Diego Zoo, a day at the beach, a day at Marineland and usually a day at Disneyland and one at Knotts. We actually did 2 days at Disneyland and skipped a beach day which was fine with us.
Wow, what a vacation!
Next is this nice shot of the Flower Market, with some of DrGoat's family:
The second pic is the same day or the next day looking at flowers in the New Orleans Square area My Mom Mary, her sister Louise, and Dad. Us pretending we were interested in the flowers (my sister Christine and I) but really thinking about the rest of the park.
MANY THANKS to DrGoat for sharing... there are more to come!
11 comments:
Peter, What I find most fascinating is your connection to the Dr. Goat book and that it was your uncle who was the illustrator of the children's classic. It never occurred to me that you were actually connected to the book in some way. That's very cool! Love the first photo of you and your dad. It reminds me of riding with my own dad on the Autopia back in the 1960's.
Major, I really do find vintage photos more interesting when your readers are featured in them and their stories are shared.
Thank you Dr. Goat and Major!
The second pic and description does suddenly remind me of childhood visits to the parks when we would have to stop and let the adults look at "adult stuff." I had kind of forgotten about those moments!
Major, I am really enjoying the series of vintage Disneyland pics and trip reports from GDB readers. And I'm glad to hear that we will be seeing more from your personal collection, DrGoat! Thank you for sharing with us!
Peter-
I see at least you're driving the Autopia vehicle in your family photo; where I commandeered my mom to provide the chauffeur duties during my early visit. And don't lets kid ourselves about "pretending" to be interested in those lovely flowers - kids the world-round simply LOVE admiring them, and I can see you're no exception. Frankly, I can't understand why Walt didn't assign at least a "B" Coupon for admission to the area.
Thanks for sharing your family memories with the rest of us. Looking forward to seeing more of them.
I was one of those weird kids who usually enjoyed stopping to look at "adult stuff." Or, more likely, my parents' continual stopping to look at "adult stuff" and explaining them probably helped me develop an early appreciation for them, or at least a conditioned response that had me enjoying visiting the Missions and museums as early as Kindergarten. Surprisingly, I have only the vaguest memories of the Flower Market; it wasn't one of those "adult things" that my parents were interested in (although I'm positive we spent a bit of time here with my grandparents on my first visit).
I also enjoy seeing other readers' photos with detailed captions. I think they really add to the depth of the pictures and increase my enjoyment of them. "Meeting" people on social media necessarily abbreviates our contact with them, and they often become nothing more than their online "handle" to the rest of us. Traditional human social interaction involves storytelling, and hearing their stories helps us connect just a bit more to them. Plus it also makes me feel a little less like such a narcissist when I go off on one of my own stories. :-)
Thanks so much for sharing, DrGoat. Can't wait to see more of your stories!
Thanks to DrGoat(Peter)for sharing these great family memories(thanks to MajorP for posting).
With the luxury of growing up in Southern California we took it for granted the places we went (Disney,Knott's,Marineland,SeaWorld)were day trips that could be spread out throughout the year.
Now that I live up the road from you (Phoenix) and have children of my own I know that unique joy (and pain) of the massive multi-day tour of themed parks and the scramble to take it all in. I now have a new appreciation (and sympathy) for the "out of town" visitors. Building great memories now comes at a bigger price physically as well as monitarily.
It certainly does add a level of interest to hear some of the backstory to the photos from the people who are in them. Thanks for sharing DrGoat.
Thanks to all. Nice to hear that from the 'big guns' of this great blog, but the real thanks to to the Major for posting these memories for me. Nanook, you're so right. Everything in Disneyland was wonderful back then.
I am sorry my parents didn't take more photos back then. I found these slides searching through boxes of stuff after they both passed away in 2000. Still looking so hopefully I'll come across some more.
As far as Dr. Goat goes, there's a great couple of articles this lovely lady posted for me about my uncle's illustrations.
http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com/2009/10/dr-goat-charles-clement-wonderful-art.html and
http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com/2009/11/dr-goat.html
I've had a pretty good life, but I've always believed our trips to Disneyland from '57 to '70 were some of the best times of my life.
Wow, amazing stuff Dr. Goat. Thanks for sharing all of this, including the wonderful history of the book.
So much fun to see these favored places as others saw them and hear your shared experiences. I felt the same way about the flower mart. Mom loved it and Dad was always patient to let her wander in it.
Thank you again, this made my day!
JG
Thanks for your family pics Dr. Goat. So many of us live out our own memories through other's photos posted on this site.
Happy New Year to all. KS
Peter, WOW!!! What a wonderful article from "Vintage Kids Books My Kids Love". Those are some really wonderful childhood memories you have of your uncle and aunt and growing up in the Sonoran Desert. Your uncle and aunt sounded like loving people with a great attitude towards life. I enjoy reading about other people's memories and recollections of their childhood like this. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Very welcome all. And Alonzo, looks like we're in for some rain this weekend. Bring it on.
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