Two Leftuggies
Like the title of today's post says... it's time for some tasty Leftuggies™!
How could this first photo be a leftuggie? I mean, it's got everything. Action! Suspense! Romance! Skullduggery! Cannibalism! But that's how the world works, oh my children. It also has a shiny Viewliner scootin' through the far reaches of Fantasyland with a Motor Boat among the rocks. I think this one is pretty swell. Don't you think the Viewliner looks like the offspring of an Edsel and a Monorail?
Meanwhile, did the Motor Boat Cruise always have so many darn rocks? Or were they eventually removed? I only recall calm, un-rocky water.
The second leftuggie™ is a great vintage view of Main Street on what appears to be a winter day, sometime in the 1960's. Only a few free-spirits dare to step onto the actual street, for fear of getting a ticket for jaywalking.
A group of sailors walks past the Main Street Cinema; I know it's hard to see, but in their midst is a gentleman with a fedora and overcoat, with what appears to be an impressive white mustache. Could this possibly be "Trinidad", the White Wing, in his "civilian" clothing?
Here's a better look at Trinidad:
We can see two Streetcars, an Omnibus, and a Horseless Carriage. It's almost strange to see people wearing cold-weather clothing at the park!
16 comments:
Major-
"... with a Motor Boat among the rocks. Oh my - that's not the sort of thing which makes a captain very happy. Let's just hope it's merely an optical illusion.
And who cares about the quantity of rocks present in the waters of the Motor Boat Cruise when you've got a beautiful specimen of a telephone pole on the horizon-!
Based on the address (200) I'm gonna assume Trinidad and the two lads (wearing jeans with "nice roomy seats" and proper cuffs) are standing in front of the Hallmark Greeting Cards Shop.
Thanks, Major, for these Leftuggies - which are always welcome any time.
The number of rocks may have gone down but I do remember a "rough water"/rapids section with quite a few boulders in the water.
Viewliner and telephone pole are as much a treat as Indian Village and telephone poles. Wonderful photo. Thanks, Major.
Not only the cold weather clothing, but the cigarette Mr. Plaid is hanging on to. Thanks for reminding me about the Motorboat ride. Had almost forgotten about it. Nice pics.
Beautiful pictures! I'm mesmerized by the first one. So clear, so uncluttered, so vivid - just beautiful.
The rocks were definitely there in an image I have from 1958 (across from the Fantasyland Viewliner station) but were gone by the time the Monorail was put in and the waterways were reconfigured. I think it would have been awesome to have to dodge boulders at high speeds in the motorboats.
Great pics, Major. Like Scott Lane, I recall a bit of the motorboats with some rocks and water jets to mimic the rapids, but nothing like in that photo. Photo 1 is really something.
Also liking the Main Street views, back when this area was more like a real street than a giant Disney Store.
I did not know about Trinidad, but have heard the "white wing" terminology on the blog circuit. Maybe you could do a post about that, illustrated with archive pics?
Thanks Major. Best to all.
JG
Nanook, the best theme park attractions have an element of danger! For the Motor Boat Cruise, the best they could come up with was rocks. As for the store that is behind Trinidad… you poor, mixed up, crazy kid. It’s the the Gibson Greeting Card shop!
Scott Lane, I remember a few boulders too, but nothing like that nightmare in photo #1. Think of how many guests must have perished.
K. Martinez, I’d think that the Viewliner and telephone poles would be much more of a treat, or at least a much rarer treat. Indian Village photos, I’ve got a million of ‘em.
DrGoat, it’s so odd to think that smoking was so prevalent back in those days. I just went to a live rock show the other day. No cigarette smoke, no “other” smoke (!)… crazy.
Tom, that would have been something if they’d managed to make a motorboat ride that could actually go faster than a slow walk. Maybe a nice hovercraft?
JG, those water jets trying to be “rapids” were not very convincing, even when I was a kid, but I kind of loved that they tried. Early Main Street views have become some of my favorite slides, though that wasn’t always the case. I’ve come to appreciate them over the years. I’m not sure about the term “white wing”, except that it must be related to the fact that they wore spotless white uniforms. I wonder if there’s any info online?
Major-
Well, if that is the Gibson Greeting Card shop, that image would be from a different batch, as the Hallmark sign is clearly visible in the other images. And Hallmark did move-in on July 1, 1960.
Speaking of smoking...even though Disneyland has designated "smoking areas" now, it still isn't pleasant to walk past them. And smoking is allowed out in the open in Downtown Disney and in the Esplanade. I really wish they would ban it from the property altogether. Or at least build a special room or booth just for smokers. At the Narita Airport in Japan, there is a glass booth for smokers on the sidewalk, just outside the airport building. It's almost like a glass telephone booth built for 10-20 people. Non-smokers get to have clean air while they are waiting to be picked up and smokers get to breath all the cigarette smoke they could possibly want. It's a win-win situation!
Nanook, I was teasing you, but yes, it is from a different batch... I just inserted it so that people who were not familiar with Trinidad could see what he looked like. That particular photo is from 1956.
TokyoMagic, I don't enjoy inhaling cigarette smoke, but things are so much better than they used to be. Did you ever sit on an airplane when they allowed smoking? Ugh! And years ago it was so shocking to go into a Hardee's restaurant in Minnesota, only to see everyone smoking at their tables. I'm sure that smokers don't like having to curb their habit, but when a habit can affect people for yards around them, I would hope that they would understand.
I can remember climbing aboard a military contract 747 flight from the Azores to Philly in early '89 back when smoking was still allowed on flights.
This particular airplane had started its eastward journey to the States in Kuwait and had made stops in Turkey, Greece, and Italy before touching down to pick us up for the final leg. While I had a non-smoking ticket, by the time I boarded people were spread out all over the plane wherever they felt like and the stewardesses were not enforcing the normal "you sit where your ticket says" rule.
When I got to the seat listed on my ticket, I found a family of four with small children occupying it and the seats on either side. Since I hadn't seen them waiting to board in the tiny terminal and they looked pretty tired, frazzled, and well entrenched in the seats, I guessed they had been on the plane a long time. I decided not to be a jerk and insist on sitting in my ticketed seat and continued on in search of an open seat.
After a long search, I finally found one in the smoking section next to a pleasant technical sergeant who, unfortunately for me, was also a smoker. Who had been on the plane since Turkey. And reeked of stale sweat and cigarette smoke.
The plane was already at least four hours late when I boarded, and then we were stuck for another four hours while they fixed a maintenance issue and refueled. They ran out of in-flight movies and had already served a meal before we took off. By the time we lifted off and the smoking lamp was lit again, practically the entire back end of the airplane lit up at once.
We landed at Philly something like eight hours, two packs, and no sleep later. Everyone missed their connecting flights, and since almost everyone was using the Government-contract Scheduled Airline Ticketing Office (SATO) to arrange their flights, we all queued up in front of the SATO window, conveniently-located just after Customs and Immigration.
I was the fourth person in line and figured things would go pretty quickly. An hour later, I finally reached the counter and the single clerk called in to service an entire 747 full of tired passengers. Surprise - at 9:30 pm, there were no more flights that could get me from Philadelphia to Oklahoma City.
I booked a ticket for the first flight the next day, called the family that was taking care of my car while I was visiting my parents about the delay, and stumbled into the airport USO about 10:15, expecting to crash there that night. At 10:30, the crabby old volunteer manning the place told us - and none too kindly, either - that we needed to leave because he was closing up the place.
About 20 of us shuffled out into the hall, trying to figure out what to do, when somebody - an airport cop, maybe? - told us about a Salvation Army shelter elsewhere in the airport that was open 24 hours a day. We found the place and discovered it was already full of GIs, duffle bags, and ashtrays sprawled all over every available horizontal surface.
The only clear spot I could find was directly in front of the TV, which the on-duty, chain-smoking volunteer had cranked way up because he was hard of hearing. The carpet was gritty and smelled of ashes and I had no pillow. I may have gotten an aggregate of 30 minutes of sleep.
I have a vague memory of dragging myself to the airline check-in counter in the morning, a connecting flight in Chicago, and not sleeping at all.
I finally staggered off the plane in OKC, reeking of stale sweat and cigarettes, and looking forward to someone else driving me the 2.5 hours home, only to unexpectedly find my ex-fiancée waiting to pick me up (her family had been taking care of my car but neglected to tell me she would be picking me up). My ex-fiancée, for whom I was still carrying a torch. My ex-fiancée, who despised smoking. My ex-fiancée, who was furious with me because I'd missed my flight the night before.
And then we discovered that my luggage had missed the connecting flight and wouldn't arrive for several hours.
Best. Trip. EVER.
Oh, Major, that does help explain the seemingly-mismatching exterior 'design' with that during the Hallmark years. (I was too lazy to check images of the Gibson store). I will sleep much better tonight.
Hunchback is playing at the Main Street Cinema.....
Major, I do remember sitting on an airplane when smoking was allowed. The seating was divided into "smoking" and non-smoking" section, but that was a big fat joke...just like smoking sections in restaurants used to be. The last time I went to Vegas, I ate in a restaurant in the hotel and was seated in the "non-smoking" section The people in the booth right next to us were seated in the "smoking" section. Puhleese! Who came up with that concept, anyway?
steve2wdw, I was looking at that marquee and wondering if there was ever a time when the Main St. Cinema had only one big screen like the old Fantasyland Theater used to. Does anyone know if it has always had the multiple smaller screen layout?
@ TM!-
The Main Street Cinema opened with "six motion pictures showing simultaneously!!!". I don't know if that number was altered over the years, or has been maintained.
Nanook, Thanks for that info! My fear is that someday soon, it will just have one small screen and that screen will be surrounded by shelves and tables full of plush toys and light sabers. I still cringe whenever I go into the shop that replaced the Main St. Cinema in WDW.
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