Disneyland Flowers, June 1974
Disneyland has been famous for its beautiful landscaping for decades. In the earliest days, the grounds still looked pretty raw - a work in progress. But after a few years, many folks noticed the care taken to create a place that would please the eye and calm a frazzled soul.
Here's a happy fellow, he's not even through the turnstiles (I refuse to consider that he is going home already!) and his wife or girlfriend wanted to take his picture next to that flowerbed full of white and pink blossoms.
I think I'll mosey on over to the postcard rack in the background, there's probably some good stuff there. Notice that they provided drinking fountains (a tall one and a short one) outside of the park as a courtesy.
The Flower Market doesn't count as landscaping, but it's pretty anyway. I guess prosperous turn-of-the-century towns could have had flower markets like this, though it feels more European to me. Calling Eliza Doolittle! Or maybe small towns had their version of garment districts, meatpacking districts, and so on?
If you don't want artificial flowers at home, how about some bunches of plastic grapes (as seen hanging from that awning)? Sorry, no plastic 'nanners for the junior gorillas.
26 comments:
Major-
Since you mentioned plastic grapes, it would be remiss of me not to mention wax apples from I Love Lucy episode #33, "Lucy's Schedule". I'm sorry, Major - you just can't escape it.
Thanks, Major.
Those flowers in the first picture are beautiful! I wish we could see more of them.
Major, there may be no 'nanners for the junior gorillas, but I see something better . . .
In that second picture, in the lower left foreground, you'll see owl and flower napkin holders and little flower pots with flowers, made out of some type of molded plastic/acrylic(??). I remember my mom buying some of those for gifts. I still have my blue and green flowers in the little pot - similar to the orange, gold and yellow flowers you can see at the bottom of the picture (but their pots aren't visible). I could never part with mine because it brings back so many good memories of our trip. They were also sold at one of the Disneyland Hotel gift shops then, too.
Nanook, good job! TokyoMagic (and the other I.L.L. fans) will be proud of you, too!
Thank you, Major, especially for that 2nd picture!
The second image is iconic. It reminds me of one of my favorite Disneyland postcards.
My mom had plastic 'nanners along with the plastic apples, plastic oranges and plastic green grapes. Me and my sister used to enjoy pretending we were eating the plastic fruit and sometimes even picked the plastic grapes off their plastic stems much to the dismay of my mom. We always reattached the plastic grapes back onto their plastic stems though.
Nice post today. Thanks, Major!
I love how the greenery is positioned just so behind the smiley guy’s head that it looks like he’s wearing a leafy green beret.
Reminds me of my uncle’s wedding pictures. The mothers-in-law were both petite ladies, and in the group portrait they are positioned right in front of large, matching floral arrangements. It looks like they’re wearing Vegas show girl head dresses
2nd picture: Towards the back, on the left, can anyone tell me what they’re selling on that rack? Bonnets?? Looks like a garage-sale rack of used toddler’s clothing . . .
Melissa, do you have a copy of that picture, to post here? Would love to see it. I think you just started a great new picture category!
My father-in-law used to walk across the parking lot from events at the Convention Center to pick up souvenirs for my wife and her brothers back in New York at that stand in the background of the first photo. He never actually visited the Park proper.
Over the west tunnel is a banner that reads "Families." I wonder...did the other tunnel read "Singles?"
Ken, love your story about "eating" the plastic grapes. My sister and I used to do similar things with plastic and wax fruit. My mom had three bunches of dark glass grapes (red, purple, and green) that lived in our living room when we lived in Solano County; I think my dad may have brought them home from Japan. Never pretended to eat those; stuff in the living room was not for touching without adult supervision.
Sue, that's a rack of cloth facemasks.
Lol, the top pic totally reminds me of a series of shots my wife took of me on our first WDW trip together. I look increasingly less thrilled as I stand by plant after plant...
Those flowers in the market are called that thing that starts with a "P"...That's right! Python!
Are those handbags or shopping bags maybe Melissa? Love the second photo, you can't tell the flowers are silk or plastic. My mother had an old brass scale,and in had some wax fruit and a bunch of grapes made of glass. David and I always thought they would make great grenades as they hit the sidewalk one at a time. We never dared do it though. I still have the scale. Thanks Major.
It's funny how you mention plants behind people's heads making them look funny, Melissa. There's a picture outside the high school gym of a very serious looking lady with a crazy plant made of what looks like peacock feathers behind her. It looks like she has messed-up hair, so kids always snicker.
My sisters like to yell "'nanner!" when we pass by a yellow car - they're rare, you know. There're two random facts that no one needed to know, but thanks for the cool shots, Major!
Sue, how I wish I had a copy of that picture!!! JC, they look more like shopping bags to me, but others here are more versed in Disneyland bag history than I.
My oldest friend has an arrangement of those glass grapes he inherited from his grandparents. I had never seen anything like them before, but I guess they're not that unusual!
Major, the flowers and landscaping of Disneyland are the stuff of legends, to be sure. And it goes right back to the beginning, both of the Park and of each visit. The landscaping seems to be one thing that hasn't suffered too much under the current money-is-everything management. I am grateful that it is overlooked, or deemed worthwhile by the bean counters.
The Flower Mart is exactly how I remember it. My Mom loved it, we always had to linger here a bit on the way out. No lingering on the way in till the Bobsled ride was completed. The photo must be taken early since the cash register is still covered.
Like others here, my Mom had a brass scale on the console TV, with both buckets full of plastic fruits, including green and black plastic grapes. She also had a cluster of the glass grapes, purple. My in-laws had one too, in green. It was the done thing at the time.
@Sue, I remember those hard plastic cast flowers, we had some too, but I'm not sure they were bought at Disneyland. Plastic flowers were everywhere back then, I remember K-Mart had a whole department, but Disney had the best selection in the most picturesque display.
JG
Nanook, you know, you actually don’t have to mention I Love Lucy every time!
Lou and Sue, ha ha, I didn’t notice the owl and those flower pots. For some reason my memory goes right to a crafts fair that my mom took us too in the early 70’s, there was plenty of macrame, and lots of ceramic owls, and I remember thinking that a set of stamps for sealing wax was pretty cool (for all of my official decrees). I can still remember the smell of that sealing wax, very perfumy.
K. Martinez, I am trying to think of which postcard you are thinking of. Could it be This one? The A-7 (though it was released with other numbers later). My grandma had glass grapes, and others that were carved out of green stone), AND some that were very thick shiny vinyl (or some other soft plastic). Kids are weird, and I was no different, I liked to squeeze the grapes, which would deflate them, and then I’d watch them slowly refill with air. Hours of fun!
Melissa, well this was the “Leafy Green Berets” were some of the toughest fighting men in our military! And what’s wrong with wearing a Las Vegas headdress? They are classy and practical.
Lou and Sue, I sure can’t tell what those things are. Bonnets seem weird, but they do sort of look like that. Used toddler clothing, the bane of every yard sale hunter.
Chuck, funny that your father-in-law never visited the park. Maybe because he was by himself? If so, I kind of get it. I think in another photo we can see that the sign says “Welcome Military Famlies”, though I may be mixing it up with another batch. You said that your dad may have brought glass grapes back from Japan, I wonder if thousands of servicemen did the same thing? Kind of like those big ceramic elephants from Vietnam.
stu29573, aw, it’s nice that your wife wanted so many pictures of you! The flowers are called “Python”? Are you OK, Stu? Did you bump your head? ;-)
Jonathan, I used to go to Michaels for arts and crafts supplies, and was often impressed with how real some of their artificial flowers looked. My brother once gave my mom some fake orchids, and I thought it was a dumb present, but she loved them because they always looked good and required zero care.
Andrew, I used to know a professional photographer, and he told me that one of the things he always looks for (when taking pictures of people) is items behind the subject - he wanted to avoid things like a tree growing out of a person’s head. So funny about your sister yelling “Nanner!”. My great aunt would hit us and yell “Cemetery swat!” when we passed a graveyard. It was annoying. And somebody else (I forget who) would say, “Slug bug!” whenever we passed a VW bug (which was often), and we’d get a punch in the shoulder. Humans are weird.
Melissa, maybe those are brand-new, never opened babushkas! I’ve seen glass grapes in odd colors like amber and turquoise, I suppose at that point they were not even trying to look realistic.
JG, I do think the landscapers still do a good job, but the number of planters and green areas has been considerably reduced, especially as they prepared for “Galaxy’s Edge”. I wonder if the flower people work at night? That just seems wrong, and yet, they must. Oh, I would have liked that brass scale, I’m glad you still have it. We had a neighbor who had one of those big, ornate old cash registers, and I always wanted to push the buttons, but it was strictly “hands off”. I don’t blame him, that thing is probably worth a lot of money now. The last time I looked at Michael’s artificial flower department, it seemed much smaller than I remembered.
Major, Yep, that's the postcard. And the one I have was actually from an early to mid-1960's trip to Disneyland, not eBay?
Chuck, speaking of face masks, can you imagine how busy the Disney designers are, right now, designing face masks to use at the Parks when they open. Princess ones, light-up ones, etc.
There're two random facts that no one needed to know . . .
Andrew, "sharing random facts that no one needed to know" is why we're here. It's a requirement. (Right, Major?)
Melissa and JC, speaking of shopping bags, did you notice that cool bag the lady in the 1st picture is carrying?? White with purple splotches. I don't recognize it as a Disney bag, though?? (The lady I'm referring to is behind Mr. Leafy Green Beret - to our right of him; to our left of Mr. Leafy Green Beret is Englebert Humperdinck, on hiatus.)
We still haven't really solved the mystery of what's for sale, hanging on that rack in the flower market. Mike, you really do know everything 'Disney'- what are they selling there?!?!
JG, speaking of those plastic-cast flowers being at Kmart back then, I saw some similar ones about 5 years ago and purchased them from a local store, because they reminded me of the original ones and made me smile.
Come on guys, the "Python" line is a reverse Jungle Cruise joke! That material is gold! Gold, I say!!! Aw, heck, never mind (grumble, grumble....)
Stu, hahahaha! :D
I should've caught on, as that's the reason I'm here today, on GDB! This time, last year, I was searching the internet for funny Jungle Cruise lines and stories, after having read a book written by a past Skipper who was sharing his Disneyland JC experiences. I loved that book, and now LOVE this blog!
I am very familiar with the ceramic "Saigon" elephants; every military family we knew had one...except us. My mom didn't want a set when my dad was over there for a year or during the nine years he was flying there pretty regularly. At least, not until 30 April 1975, when they suddenly weren't available anymore.
26 years later, my wife and I were in Saig-, er, I mean Ho Chi Minh City and found a nice set in a shopping center. I called my mom to see if she wanted me to pick them up, and she told me "well, no...they're easy to get now."
I think I may have told that story before. Maybe twice.
Oh, snap! I'm old.
K. Martinez, very cool that you have postcards that you actually saved from past trips to Disneyland. I didn’t start my postcard collection until 20 years ago (or so), so of course eBay, postcard shows, and my friend Mr. X were all sources for cards.
Lou and Sue, I just overheard a young woman at Trader Joe’s saying that she had ordered Disney face masks, so I guess they are already out there. I was trying to imagine what the masks would look like - no idea. I wonder if we’ll get to the days when there will be light up masks?! I had to search for the bag you mentioned, I thought it might be a paper bag from a Disneyland shop, but now I don’t think so. If it IS one, it’s a kind I’ve never seen before!
stu29573, gosh, I still don’t know the Jungle Cruise joke you were riffing on. Maybe it’s one I don’t know?! Sorry!
Lou and Sue, I actually do remember that you told me about how you found GDB by looking for Jungle Cruise skipper jokes!
Chuck, I can’t remember if we discussed those elephants here, or if it was all via email. I would be curious if you ever heard those elephants described as “BUFEs” (pronounced “Buffys”) which my dad told us stood for Big Ugly F****** Elephants. My dad! I grew up knowing all the good cuss words. My mom still uses one as a sort of end table, since you can put drinks on it and it won’t hurt it
Chuck, a good story is worth telling twice!
The skipper points out a huge snake in a tree and asks "Does anybody know what kind of snake that is? It starts with a "P." After a pause, "That's right, plastic!"
Jungle Cruise Skippers in quarantine, doing what they do best. (Also includes ex-Skippers, but do you ever *really* leave the Jungle Cruise?)
Awesome, Melissa. Thank you!
Melissa, I really enjoyed that! :D
Thank you!
I know I've said it before, but the ultimate Disneyland Jungle Cruise ride would include all of you junior gorillas on board, with our Major narrating. Just thinking about it, gets me laughing!
Oh, that would be fun!
Yup, Disney is selling face masks. MIC-KEY MOUTH!
Not sure what their rules will be for wearing them in the parks, which have always been prohibited.
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