In the past - ten years ago or so - I used to be more selective about which slides I would scan for this blog, and which ones I would skip. Which means that there are some (not many) that I am now going back and scanning. Desperate times call for desperate measures! Except that I'm not that desperate.
First up is this portrait (from February, 1964) of three ladies posing near the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. Are they sisters? Maybe the middle one is the mother? We'll never know. What I do know is that the woman in the middle looks like someone who will not put up with any nonsense. The tropical plants and glimpse of the dining area in the distance (along with Cinderella's Castle) all add up to a pretty nice picture.
OK, this one (hand-dated "March 23, 1960") is driving me bananas. I could have sworn that I had scanned and posted this slide many years ago. But I sure can't locate it on the blog; I've used all kinds of key words in Google, and I even made a punch card for the UNIVAC computer that is in my basement, but with no results. (Prediction: one of you readers will find it before 8 o'clock in the morning!).
Anyway, it's an unusual angle, with Tiki's Tropical Imports to our right - there's a woven basket or purse for all occasions. Looks like a member of the Disneyland Band is hiding, just like Arte Johnson on "Laugh In".
Wow! That is an unusual Adventureland angle !! ....and that person hiding in the bushes .....very interesting........."
ReplyDelete1960 was the same year the original Jungle Cruise boat house was torn down .......but looks like as of March it was still standing !!!
Major-
ReplyDeleteYou ain't kidding about that 'dame' in the middle - she appears to be a "no nonsense - all business" kinda gal. In fact, at this very moment, she could be pulling a revolver right out of her purse-! Take cover. I do so miss that area.
I agree with Mike about the unusual angle of the Adventureland shot. Very nice.
Thanks, Major.
Images like that second one will be critical when somebody finally commits to building an accurate VR version of early Disneyland. There are lots of photos taken from the helpful "picture spot" signs, but you need shots like this to fill in the transitional areas and really get the visual ambiance right.
ReplyDeleteIs that the top of the Columbia's mast peeking above the rooftop? Or was Adventureland powered by alternative energy in the early days?
Major, I don't recognize that second shot, but then my memory isn't what it used to be. The tree in the center of that photo is still standing today....unless of course they cut it down since my last visit, which Disney just loves to do.
ReplyDeleteMajor, can I interest you in an index for your blog?
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the Disneyland Band might be passing by Tiki's. I first thought it was just one individual doing some shopping, but you can see another pair of navy pants behind with a hint of the same stripe, and then a hint of a red sleeve at the very edge of the frame.
Maybe those three women just finished auditioning for the female pirate band that played at the Pirate Ship Restaurant and the middle one is thinking their prospects of getting the job are grim. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I believe the Adventureland photo is new and never before published by you. You've posted several shots very similar, but not quite from this angle. Behind that tree and sort of hiding is the Tropical Cantina before it was Sunkist "I Presume" and currently Bengal Barbecue.
ReplyDeleteI can just see the index, all of them start with T: "The one in Adventureland with the guy who looks like Arte Johnson"
ReplyDeleteI love the unusual angle photos! Always my favorite! And rock benches! Are those still a thing? I haven't been to DL in three years. I'm getting withdrawals.
“Verrry interestink! But supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
ReplyDeleteNormally I'm all about the twinnage, but the middle and left hand lady are taking it to a new level. Not only do they look alike, but they've read each other's minds about what to wear today. It's twinny to wear exactly the same thing, but it takes overt and deliberate planning. These ladies look like they arrived at white sweater and black knee-length skirt independent of each other, down to the exact same shoes in a different color. That's not planning; it's thinking alike.
And look how they're sitting in almost the same position! If they had both crossed the same leg, it would be practically eerie. And their faces are like the masks of Comedy and Tragedy!
Mike Cozart, thank you for pointing out the detail about the boat house - I would have never thought of it!
ReplyDeleteNanook, she really looks like she is about to smack somebody for being too silly! But photos can fool us… maybe she was the nicest lady ever.
Chuck, I WISH somebody was really building a VR version of early Disneyland! Any areas that have no reference will just have to be filled with trees, kind of like the way they did it on those old souvenir wall maps. Yes, I think that is the Columbia’s topmost mast!
TokyoMagic!, I was so sure that I had posted that one before. Maybe I commented on that guy’s suit. But… after some 9,000 or 10,000 images, I have lost track.
Progressland, YES PLEASE! I wouldn’t wish that arduous task on anybody, though. Not worth it! At first I thought that maybe the Disneyland Band was passing through, but doesn’t it seem like they would march through the wide corridor instead of past that narrow area?
K. Martinez, it’s not that these ladies aren’t attractive, but it’s pretty hard to beat the three gals that were in the Pirate Trio!
K. Martinez II, OK, well at least I don’t feel so bad not being able to find it. But I know I did scan it long ago. Perhaps I just decided it was too boring.
Tom, isn’t there some TV show in which all of the titles are along the lines of, “The One With the Blind Date”? Maybe “Friends”? It’s been so long!
Melissa, I would not be surprised if these ladies are all related to some degree. And if so, maybe they frequently wear nice (but conservative) things like knee-length black skirts. One time I went to the park, and wore and orange shirt so that I would be “findable” by my date… and she wore an orange shirt too! We made an odd pair.
Major, They are both memorable views, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall the second photo at all. It is an unusual angle and valuable for that alone, besides the information about the boathouse and the tree in the planter, which is still there, much larger, as pointed out by Tokyo. I think the planter has been enlarged also, but not sure. The man in the brown suit is heading to the tobacco shop on Main Street for some pipe cleaners.
All the shops in the building behind have been blown out and replaced with a larger seating area for the Bengal Barbecue. I don't think the facades were changed much, which is good.
It's hard to believe that Disney actually "reduced" space used to sell cheap plastic cr*p and stuffed toys, but this was done to provide more casual dining space since the River Belle Terrace has (will?) become table-service by reservation only. My understanding is that RBT will be serving a high-priced dinner timed to go with the Fantasmic show in the River, which may offset the loss of merch income.
Hard to understand why the shops had to go when there was a perfectly good restaurant right across the concourse in the Tahitian Terrace, but there you go.
The ladies are definitely a family group, For my two cents, I think the two on the left are sisters or cousins, perhaps, and the one on the right is their sister-in-law. The lady in the middle is sick of Disneyland and wants to go home. All of them have sore feet and are ready to rest on the lava bench until cocktail hour. I don't want to be the one to tell them that there is no rum in the pirate ship.
Thanks for these fun pictures.
JG