It's time for three more vintage Frontierland scans, graciously gifted to us by the Mysterious Benefactor.
First is this photo of an outdoor vending cart, doing boffo biz. Dorothy Hamill is giving change to a pretty customer who might be a flight attendant on American Airlines (I'm looking at her neckerchief). Eyeing the buildings in the background, I am unsure of where this scene took place. Is that Fowler's Harbor? Probably not, but I am mystified.
It looks like the kid in the foreground is wearing a coonskin (rabbit fur?) cap.
Next we are in a dark Frontierland shop - but which one? "This ring has a curse on it, but it will look great on you!", says the cheerful sales lady. The customer is tempted... turquoise was always her color.
And finally, we are now inside the old Casa de Fritos restaurant, with a smiling hostess ready to serve up tamales, or enchiladas, or tacos, or... all of the stuff that we love. Behind her you can see part of the applied mural characters - I wonder if Mary Blair had anything to do with the designs? It doesn't quite look like her stuff, but seems to show her influence.
Stay tuned for many more photos from Frontierland!
For some reason, that first photo makes me want to run out and buy some Crepe Erase! Major, I believe you are right about the location of that cart. I remember there always being an ice cream cart located across the walkway from the Haunted Mansion and just before the entrance to Bear Country. In fact, the "Frozen Banana" wrapper that I posted years ago, came from a cart at that location!
ReplyDeleteNow, the second pic reminds me of my mom. She loved jewelry and in the seventies, she bought quite a few turquoise rings. I remember her purchasing several of them in the "Mexican Village," at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona.
I love the cast member in that third pic (on the far left). She is obviously trying to bring some levity to the job, by wearing one of the overhead heat lamps. She'll be sorry when she goes home to wash her hair and it all just "breaks off."
These all really capture a moment in time. I feel like they could morph into a movie as I'm looking at them.
ReplyDeleteAnd a frozen banana sounds good right now...
The first two images are technically BEAR COUNTRY - both girls are wearing the BEAR COUNTRY female merchandise & outdoor vending costume. The dark “Frontierland” Shop is BEAR COUNTRY’s Indian Trading Post. And of course by 1977 Casa De Fritos is Casa Mexican.
ReplyDeletePenna. Andrew, Good to see someone else likes the frozen bananas. They're my favorite classic Disneyland treat.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I wish more people back then took pics of the shops and restaurants like this. Nowadays everything is captured. Perhaps that's because of the digital cameras and not having to pay for processing film which makes them more likely to photograph more aspects of the parks besides scenic views and attractions. Thanks, Major.
Casa de Fritos, frozen bananas, genuine turquoise rings (not reconstituted turquoise)...what more could you ask for. Needless to say, those rabbitskin caps were really big in the 50s-60s. I had the normal dark grayish one, my sister had a white one. Can't remember if we got that one at Disneyland or somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major. I agree K. Hardly any of the photos my parents took back then were of the inside of any shop. Matter of fact I couldn't find one.
Now I want a frozen banana, Mexican food, and some turquoise jewelry. Major, I think you may be right about the Flight Attendant scarf, what a great layover she is having. Mary Blair's art is often overlooked, her work is great and I agree, the wall art is at least influenced by her. Many thanks to the MB and Major P. for these off the wall gems.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, you should definitely go out and buy some Crepe Erase! I have no idea what it is, but you should buy it. Thanks for the confirmation on the location. My mom loves turquoise too, she goes to the local gem shows and comes home with rings or a nice pendant. Judging from the serious expression on heat lamp girl’s face, she might be trying to keep out the radio transmissions from Russia!
ReplyDeletePenna. Andrew, how about other frozen fruit treats? A nice frozen apple for instance? You didn’t need those teeth anyway!
Mike Cozart, ah well… all the photos in this batch are supposedly from Frontierland (though at least one from Main Street has snuck through), I sure wouldn’t recognize the outfits worn by Bear Country CMs. There are two or three photos with the same date that show the Casa de Fritos sign outside, perhaps those are misdated?
K. Martinez, I am weird and only like fresh bananas. I don’t enjoy them in things (even banana splits), or cooked, or even frozen. Crazy, I know. There are lots of photos from shops in this batch, and stay tuned, because I recently spoke to somebody who might have many more wonderful photos to share!
DrGoat, ha ha, my mom is always pointing out how much turquoise is not REAL. It could even just be plastic, or stone reinforced with resin, or is some other stone altogether (sometimes dyed), and so on. I think I had a rabbit skin cap, and in my memory, my mom finally tossed it when bugs got at it.
Jonathan, your comment made me think of a teacher that I had who looked like Mr. Clean… he wore large turquoise earrings. It was unusual! Nobody ever commented on the earrings because he always looked like he was just waiting to throttle somebody with his bare hands. I think Mary Blair might be stunned at how much money her artwork fetches these days, she is definitely appreciated these days.
It's good to see Dorthy sticking to that whole "Frozen Stuff" theme!
ReplyDeleteThat first picture is PEAK SEVENTIES. I can smell the Charlie and Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific through my screen.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I both love Disney park frozen bananas, but we made a pact never to photograph anyone eating them. Just, you know, because reasons.
It was most definitely still Casa de Fritos when I quit in 1980. Customers even got a small bag of Fritos with every meal… whether they wanted one or not!
ReplyDelete@ Melissa-
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of the 70’s, wasn’t that stupid commercial for Post Grape Nuts - where the teenage ‘boyfriend’ is swimming at her girlfriend’s pool, and as he comes up for air “accidentally” grabs the girlfriend’s Mom-! Merciful heavens. When he realizes the faux pas, he embarrassingly states: “Mrs. Burke... I thought you were Dale-!!” (Evidently, chowing-down on Grape Nuts made ‘Mom’s’ waistline so thin, she could be mistaken for a teenage girl). Either that, or the boyfriend is a dip - or has other, less ‘wholesome’ ideas... Mrs. Robinson. Perish the thought.
The only reason I remember that stupid ad, lo these many years later, is the line reading by the guy - which was so stilted, along with incorrect word emphasis, etc. Madison Avenue at its finest.
Bear Country indeed. I have a BC belt of my own that I wore on canoes. It still fits I might add. :) KS
ReplyDeleteNanook, holy cow - that commercial is cringe-worthy!
ReplyDeleteThere was at least one more Grape Nuts commercial along those same lines.
The moms attribute their mistaken identity to eating right and exercise, but I'm sure that wearing swimsuits and hairstyles identical to their daughters might have something to do with it, too. Well, that and and the fact that they are in a Grape Nuts commercial.
Stu29573, Dorothy knows that when you’ve found your thing, you should stick to it!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, “Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific”, ha ha; it amazes me that they couldn’t come up with something a little less cumbersome for that shampoo. But… it was memorable. And I appreciate your “reasons”!
Anon, doing a little research, it looks like Casa de Fritos was there until 1982, so you are correct.
Nanook, wow, you really remember that commercial! I don’t recall it, but you described it so vividly that I can almost see it (bad acting included). (Not surprisingly, I found your commerical on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yky5wNzzFlU). Have you seen some of those Axe body spray commercials? Those things were pretty wacko too, especially the guy made of chocolate who gets eaten by women. Is that a fantasy some men have??
KS, a “Bear Country” belt? You mean one that was worn by CMs? Or a souvenir that you purchased? PIX REQUIRED! ;-)
Chuck, oops, I see that you went down the Grape Nuts commercial vortex too. There is even a brief “making of” featurette about that cringe-worthy commercial! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCupkdFKCdY. I’ve always wanted to like Grape Nuts, but never quite managed it. I prefer the healthy oat cereal known as “Lucky Charms”.
I loved Grape-Nuts as a kid, but my teeth were a lot better back then. CRONCH CRONCH CRONCH
ReplyDeleteMajor, Crepe Erase is one of those products, in which the commercial plays on TV constantly....to the point where you want to scream at the television. They start by showing Dorothy Hamill skating when she was very young. Then they show her today and she says, "People remember me winning the gold medal at age 19.......Well, I'm not nineteen anymore!" She then goes on to explain about the "crepey" skin that she started developing as she got older, and a doctor comes on to explain how they use the word "crepey" to describe the skin, because it "resembles crepe paper." More information than you cared to know, I'm sure.
ReplyDelete@ Chuck-
ReplyDeleteYou REALLY did your homework-! I never even thought to look. (I swear the way I remember the line reading, it was much worse than in that clip - perhaps there was “a take two” - although very unlikely). Either way, the spot is still very bizarre - and today, wouldn’t have a snow ball’s chance in hell of being made.
Thank You-!
These are really fun shots, a nice change from the Mark Twain or the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Not meaning to imply that I am tired of either of those subjects, just that the "you-are-there" feeling of these photos make me remember that I-was-there, at least for a couple of them.
ReplyDeleteI must confess my general distaste for bananas, and particularly frozen ones. I don't mind banana bread though, preferably with black walnuts.
Was the Bear Country Trading Post the log building with the sod roof? The turquoise looks like a memory of when each land sold merchandise appropriate to the theme, instead of light sabers on Main Street etc.
The young lady at Casa de Fritos certainly is happy in her job, very welcoming.
The Frito mural does have a "Small World" feel to it. It's too bad the Small World crossovers only go one way, with characters from other properties reappearing there, and not the other way around. Why not have the Swiss kids with the long horns appearing in the Matterhorn, etc.?
I refuse to click any of those YouTube links, just reading about the commercial is making me cringe.
Thank you, Major.
JG
Melissa, I think that’s partly why I didn’t like Grape Nuts. It felt like I was eating gravel.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, aw, poor Dorothy, I don’t want to think about her with crepey skin. To me she’ll always be that 19 year old with the greatest hairdo ever did.
Nanook, hey, I did my homework too!
JG, it is SO hard to think of anything new to write about the Mark Twain or the Castle, so yes, these are a nice respite from that agony. I can’t enjoy banana bread, but I like pumpkin bread! I believe you are right about the trading post having a sod roof - I think I might have a photo of it on the blog, but am too lazy to look for it. I’m not sure how I feel about Mary Blair characters appearing on the Matterhorn - on one hand I like the idea, but on the other, I think it would make the ride too cute for its own good.
Bananas are tasty, especially on Cheerios.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid I remember buying a bag of Fritos from the Frito Kid vending machine just to see it work.
I love the Casa de Fritos server's happy smile. She needs a raise!
Yes, the Casa de Fritos Lady is definitely on the list of People in GDB Photos I'd Love to Know More About.
ReplyDeleteAh my mistake! I was referencing Disneyland Signage documentation and Casa Mexicana photos dated March 1983 were mistakenly grouped with 1976-1977 signs. I have switched the Casa De Frito signs back and the Lowery’s Casa Mexicana signs in there correct sections!
ReplyDeleteMajor, I remember Dorothy Hamill's style of haircut, becoming a nationwide fad among women. However I forget what that style was called. Was it maybe a pageboy or a wedge? Or maybe a wedgie?
ReplyDeleteAll's I know is my mother made me get it once and it's so not flattering on everybody.
ReplyDeleteMajor...It's the belt I wore as a CM on the canoes!! KS
ReplyDelete