Flower Market and Main Street, June 1963
I think both of today's photos are very nice. Nothing to make your eyes pop out and your jaw hit the floor (like a wolf in a Tex Avery cartoon), but good, sturdy B+ pictures.
The soft lighting in this photo of the Flower Market helps to diffuse shadows and mitigate harsh highlights. The bunches of blue flowers are very striking; in fact the flowers seem to be grouped by hue throughout the market. You probably recognize the group of ladies who liked their white sweaters and off-white overcoats.
There they go, approaching the Plaza while a Horse-drawn Streetcar heads south. The sign in the upper right points in the direction of "S. Plaza St" (I didn't know that it had a name), as well as "Lost Children" and the "Baby Station".
19 comments:
Is that blond kid in the first pic, with those ladies? He looks a little bit like the elderly man, who we've seen in this group's earlier photos. Or is it just the haircut and glasses that are making me think that?
In that same pic, we can see Christopher Miller's (Walt's grandson) window, above the ladies restroom. Today, it is above the men's restroom.
And the lady with the beige woven purse (first pic), looks like she is doing the "Drunken Sailor" dance step.
These pictures are from an interesting view—all from the backside. Sort of like Prince Phillip’s point-of-view...having to lag behind his wife.
I always love the flowers—even if they’re plastic. Thanks, Major!
The Baby Station eventually grew up to earn its keep servicing passengers at Videopolis and Toontown.
Ah, MGM lighting makes everything softer! I almost expect to see Munchkins dancing down the street (wouldn't that have blown some Disney minds? Now, not so much)
Fun (Secret) Fact: (Read this in a whisper) The ladies were suspected Russian assets and these were taken by the CIA.
Major-
I hadn’t noticed before the addresses for the West Center Street restrooms. Had I known that, I could have added them to my Xmas mailing list.
Thanks, Major.
We were always dragged into the Flower Market back then but learned to enjoy it later on.
L&S, Were they really plastic flowers? Of course they must be, but I remember real ones. I seem to remember things as I would like them to be. Oh well.
Tokyo, That lady next to woven purse lady has an actual basket for a purse. Very substantial, almost bulletprooof, which lends credence to Stu's supposition.
Major, thanks for these mellow pics.
PS I think It's E Plaza St.
These photos are beautiful. The colors remind me of the chrome postcards of the 50's/60's. Very nice! Thanks, Major.
Stu, welcome to the cold war paranoia club. Disneyland was practically spy central in the 60s. The only thing the Russians wanted more than our missile launch codes, was a park of their own. The ladies are about to make a drop in the Flower Market. Their contact is the guy on the left, code named the White Knight. Those enormous hand bags contain codebooks and electronic listening devices. Even the horse is in on it, I tell ya. Thanks Major, this comment will self destruct in 5 seconds.
TokyoMagic!, I don’t think the blond is with our group of ladies. He doesn’t show up in any of the other photos of the group, and there are about 20 pix. Any resemblance to Walter Knott is purely coincidental! So the ladies’ room is not the men’s room? I wonder why they switched them. Maybe it was larger, since ladies’ rooms tend to get long lines on busy days. Poor grandma takes one off-kilter step, and now she’s a drunken sailor!’
Lou and Sue, I wonder if all of the photos from this group were taken by somebody who didn’t appear in any of them. A husband perhaps? Prince Phillip may have had to walk behind his wife, but he’s had a pretty good life, I’d say.
Chuck, you didn’t want to be anywhere near it when it was a Teenager Station. So much attitude!
Stu29573, the diffused lighting does look a little artificial… like a soundstage. I don’t know about you, but my mind would be blown to see munchkins dancing down ANY street! Aw, those ladies look so nice, they can’t be working for Ivan.
Nanook, “Dear restroom, I hope you have a wonderful, clog-free Christmas…”
DrGoat, yep, just plastic flowers. You could even order a bunch and have them delivered to your home. That doesn’t mean that they never sold real flowers, but I think that it wouldn’t be very practical, with SoCal’s many hot days. That woven purse is entirely filled with Werther’s hard candies, as rewards for good girls and boys. And YES (d’oh), of course it is East Plaza Street. Yikes.
K. Martinez, these do have a nice look to them, though a vintage postcard probably would have had a bright blue sky added to replace the gray one. Someday I may get into my postcard collection, I’ve wanted to feature some of the variations on cards!
Jonathan, the tipoff was that the ladies always asked for borscht when they went to a restaurant. “Er, I mean I would like a hotdog and a Coca Cola! How about those Dodgers, my proletariat comrade?”. You know, the way regular people talk. They had a sign that would help to identify fellow travelers - dragging a finger across their throats. Sometimes they got the strangest looks! The horse is actually two men in a costume.
My theory is that these weren’t taken by a friend or family member; it was just some guy who had a thing for ladies in beige coats with woven purses.
Major, it’s one of my biggest regrets that I never got to play half a horse.
I like all these pics. Mom loved the Flower Mart, we never missed it.
I do remember the flowers arranged by color, and every visit was different. All plastic though.
I'm confused about the rambling Ladies Room. Did they switch the Mens location and Ladies location, or did they move the window with the caption? I guess depending on the internal floor plans, a switch might have been done to expand the Ladies side into an interior area.
Major, it is odd to see all the photos of the subjects from the back. Hoping there will be some smiling portraits later in the series. Thanks for these.
JG
@ Melissa-
It's still not too late...
Go for the front end Melissa. Back aches are common for rear-enders.
These must have been taken in the morning. Everyone is walking towards the castle and there is no one riding the horse drawn trolly back to the train station. Too bad I wasn't there. Maybe that kindly trolly man would have given me the reins. "Here sonny, there's no passengers so you take 'er down Main Street".
@DrGoat, you always put the tall person in the back of the pantomime horse. Otherwise it all slopes down from the front.
Melissa, I like bulky coats that leave everything to the imagination! I would want to play the top half, while somebody else could do the legs.
JG, they should have had a Main Street fish market, only with plastic fish. No smell! Take a can of artificial sardines home for grandma, and a nice 300 pound halibut for grandad. I’m going to have to rely on somebody else to answer your questions about the migrating restrooms. However, Google Street View has THIS to add to our knowledge. For whatever that’s worth. And don’t worry, we’ll see the faces of these beige-coated ladies soon!
Nanook, people are doing all kinds of things during this isolation…
DrGoat, they both have their negative aspects, when you think about it, but you’re right, playing the rear end sounds like no fun.
Sunday Night, yes, I think these are right after they entered the park; for one thing, I think that people who’ve just arrived tend to take more photos than later, when they are tired. I hope that if the trolly man gave you the reins, that you would have behaved, and not tried to go down Main Street at top speed!
Melissa, can’t I just play a tooth, like I did in the school play?
Major, in your last response to JG, I clicked on your “THIS”...is that really what you wanted to attach to your “THIS”?
Major, the fish market is a brilliant idea. Imagineering Definitely missed a bet there. What at tie-in with Finding Nemo!
JG
Sue, apparently, Google Street View has an archive of imagery that goes back much farther that we realized.
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