Happy Friday! I am glad to present two nicer-than-usual photos from July 1969, starting with this great view showing guests as they approached the entrance to Adventureland. The crowd looks clean-cut, but brighter colors are starting to appear on clothing - even men's clothes.
We can observe the transition of the buildings on our left from Main Street gingerbread to bamboo and palm fronds. Wave hello to Uti, proudly standing guard above the Tiki Room.
This was a great time (era) to be at Disneyland! And the strollers were still small. Thanks, Major, for these photos!
ReplyDeleteBtw, is that guy carrying a head of broccoli under his left arm pit?
Sue, that IS his armpit. The guy has a hole in his shirt!
ReplyDeleteIs that a mock turtleneck on the far right of the Casa de Fritos pic?
TM! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think that is a mock turtleneck. He's carrying one of those great Disneyland gift bags! He probably purchased a silver castle tie clip. He definitely has style.
Major-
ReplyDelete'Gold' sandals at the Park-? Really, madame-!
Thanks, Major.
The clothing styles and the way Disneyland appears in these photos all look "normal" to me, which attests to the huge impact my early '70s guidebook had on my mental picture of the Park. I can also remember longing for these styles to come back in the early '80s. Still wouldn't mind seeing them come back.
ReplyDeleteNice way to start a Friday in a very busy work week. Thanks, Major!
Not only does the crowd look clean cut and the clothes brighter, but overall people were thinner and in better shape back then compared to today. Love the "Gateway to Adventureland" pic. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteAh, Adventureland! The most atmospheric land of all! In fact there is 5% more oxygen and 8% more nitrogen than in normal atmosphere! Don't ask about the atmosphere around Casa de Fritos... Those beans!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, there seems to be a moose stuck in the bougainvillea. I hate it when that happens.
Green plaid dress brought to you by 3M!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Adventureland was second only to Tomorrowland to Kid Me.
I love the plaid pants the lady in the 2nd pic is wearing. And check out the hat mock turtle guy is sporting. Kind of a cross between Frank Sinatra and Gilligan. Adventureland has the best signs in the park. There isn't one I don't want for my collection. Thanks Major.
ReplyDeleteAh, 1969. The year of many changes already in the works for a lot of teens, including clothing styles and haircuts. Everyone looks so nice. No long hair allowed. I actually did cut my hair, (unlike the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song) to go to the Park. Probably the only thing that would have prompted me to do that back then. That was pretty much the end of the really long hair phase for me. Including the fact that hair maintenance was getting to be a pain. The Beatles pretty much broke up in 1970 or so anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think that thing on that guy's shirt sleeve is either a small parrot escaped from the Bazaar or it's the Tingler.
Melissa, that plaid does look like 3M Christmas wrapping paper. We still have a roll of Mom's red plaid paper stashed up in the closet for sentimental reasons.
Nice Friday photos Major. Thanks.
The first image is amazing. I like how it just shows the word "Adventure" with "land" hidden by the trees.
ReplyDeleteSend down another bag of Fritos, Klondike! (Please don't click on this link.) ;-)
These pics bring a tear of remembrance to my sad old eyes.
ReplyDeleteAdventureland entry taken from a bit further back so we can enjoy the Tiki Room signs, and the ill-fated central planter that was later removed, a harbinger of Wookie damage to come.
Major, you are right, the adobe does look vaguely like the Alamo, and it might even have the Texas Republic flag flying over the doorway, but the lady in the wild orange, yellow and lime green dress is oblivious to it's historic significance. She looks like one of those jell-o salads we used to find at church potlucks. My Mom was partial to those colors in this era also.
All the best bougainvilleas have antlers added. It's the done thing, you know.
Look at the end of the handrail to the right in picture 2. I can still feel the wood polished by thousands of hands after emptying their clip at the shooting gallery. Today, all these rails are made of resin. They last longer but do not acquire the same patina. Sigh.
Thanks for the trip in the Wayback Machine, Major.
Best to all.
JG
Ah, 1969! These people don't yet realize it but they are on the verge of of printed front tank tops, and bell bottom pants long enough to walk on with your heels. Not quite yet in these photos - everyone is looking very spiffy. Melissa, perhaps 3M and Monsanto teamed up for that dress? Would acrylic knit men's shirts be a thing yet?
ReplyDeleteThe photo of the Adventureland entrance is especially nice today. I think I see a lighted torch by the Tiki Room. The United Air Lines sponsorship reminds me how big it was to travel to Hawaii around this time. On our first trip, United had a boarding lounge at San Francisco Airport that was specially themed for their Hawaii flights.
I don't ever remember eating at Casa de Fritos though it's a nicely themed building. Major, I would have thought that was a fountain to the right of the entrance but I honestly don't know. I can't say that the current plastic railings are any better than the old wood ones. It seems that the faux wood-grain surface gets worn down quickly and then looks obviously fake.
The scenes look normal to this kid who started as a CM in '69. To return to the days of simple stroller size...let alone the size of humans back then taking up less space. Planter removal may not have been necessary if it was so. ;) KS
ReplyDeleteLou and Sue, how did parents survive with such small strollers? They did, somehow. The Greatest Generation! I can’t tell if that broccoli is fuzz that was on the slide, or an actual blob of color. Or broccoli.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, yuck! I can’t tell if that’s a mock turtleneck, or a real one.
Lou and Sue, how can you tell? I do like that color blue, though. Vibrant!
Nanook, everyone knows that one only wears gold sandals after Labor Day.
Chuck, I can’t imagine that young folks would find the fashions too hilarious! They’re not that wild. Unlike some of the truly ugly fashions five years later. I just saw a photo of Starsky and Hutch, and Starsky (or was it Hutch? I never watched the show, admittedly) was wearing a Hang Ten shirt, those were my favorites for several years. I still think they look great.
K. Martinez, those were the days before everyone ate fast food five times a week. I know I was thinner too!! I need to get back to my fighting weight.
Stu29573, all those tropical plants are probably pumping lots of fresh oxygen into the air, which is why everyone felt a little light-headed. And yes, the less said about the frijoles, the better. I think there are TWO mooses (meese?) stick in the bougainvillea!
Melissa, ha ha! I do like that green plaid. It’s hard for me to rank the “lands”, but I might have put Fantasyland after Tomorrowland. Ask me another day and it will probably be different.
Jonathan, it’s so funny how plaid was OK, and now you don’t see it anywhere. I don’t, at any rate. The masses decided that plaid was OUT. Poor Gilligan, he only had one red shirt. I’d take almost any Disneyland sign!
DrGoat, do you really think you would have been denied entry to the park because of your hair? It seems so hard to believe that they would keep people out for that, but we know it happened. I even remember a joke on The Monkees about not getting into Disneyland with long hair. I had longish hair compared to now, but never that long. I thought The Tingler only attacked people’s rear ends. ZAP. That was an early form of the “4D” experience.
Andrew, Mr. X actually emailed me to say how beautiful the foliage looked in that photo! Hey, Klondike!
JG, photo #1 is far back enough to see lots of fun stuff, but close enough to discern details. It’s juuuust right. I had no idea that the central planter actually survived until only a few years ago. I’m sure the resemblance of “Casa de Fritos” to the Alamo is intentional. You know, Davy Crockett and all that. I used to live at a place where I took care of the bougainvillea, and it was NO fun. So spiky, even with gloves I’d wind up scratched and bleeding. I love the general relaxed vibe of those photos too, especially #2. No long lines or pushing crowds. That would have been a good day to be in the park.
Omnispace, yes, this was just before the counter-culture really kicked in. I mostly remember girls wearing the super-big bell bottoms, sometimes with ruffles on them to make them look even larger. Maybe it was 3M and Pendleton that made that dress! There is definitely a lit torch in front of the Tiki Room, those things burned all day, and maybe even all night. I think you are right, the late ‘60s and into the ‘70s, Hawaii was a super popular destination for mainlanders. I’ve never been! I don’t believe that there was ever a fountain to the right of the Casa de Fritos entrance, but I’ve been wrong before. I suppose the plastic (resin) rails are probably stronger than wood, even if they do wear out. I wonder if they replace the worn rails, or just repaint them?
KS, they really expected insane crowds for the debut of “Galaxy’s Edge”, and I suppose that was not an unreasonable expectation. The fact that it never happened is galling, considering how many alterations they made to the park, removing benches and flower beds. Let’s just make the whole thing concrete!
I may have told this story here before, but when have I ever let that stop me?
ReplyDeleteI saw The Tingler a few years back at the Drive-In Super Monster-Rama (https://www.dvddrive-in.com/driveinsupermonsterrama19.htm). When it got to the scene where Vincent Price turns to the camera and says, “Scream! Scream for your lives!” a field full of crazy, sleep-deprived people in cars rolled down their windows, honked their horns, and screamed at the top of their voices. It was so awesome.
Haven't heard that story Melissa. Love it. It's really fun and relatively uncommon when a group of strangers does that kind of thing. We need more of that. I think Rocky Horror was the last time I was in a crowd that acted in unison to have a laugh, and that was quite a while ago.
ReplyDeleteI saw the Tingler at the Fox theater, downtown Tucson around 1960. The seats were even wired up for the Tingler vibrating gimmick. Wow, I miss being a kid back in those days.
So cool, DrG!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, that sounds like fun! Definitely the reaction one would want from a Drive-In movie audience for a movie like that. I haven’t seen “The Tingler” for well over 30 years, I guess I need to revisit it. And all the William Castle films.
ReplyDeleteDrGoat, I once went to see the 1931 “Dracula” at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery - sounds weird, but it can be a fun time. But the trouble was, the audience laughed at everything. I get that the acting is mannered by today’s standards, but I was really looking forward to seeing that classic Universal horror movie outdoors with an audience, and the crowd kind of ruined it. Guess I'll have to watch it again in the privacy of my own home!
That sounds like the showing of The Shining I went to at our historical movie palace, and the audience acted like they were watching a Stooges film. It was an awful experience.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, there was a screening of the remastered print of Suspiria at the local art house; an Italian film scholar (he was Italian AND a scholar of Italian film) gave a short talk about the giallo genre before the movie, and it really set the tone for people to enjoy it in the spirit in which it was made. So much better.
I loved my Hang Ten shirts, Major! I see them in old photos of me and I still think they look great. I'd wear them today if I still had them. They'd probably be a pretty tight fit, though.
ReplyDeleteOmnispace, I remember the lounge you are talking about! Didn't get to Hawaii until the mid-'80s, but we waited in that lounge for a United 747 flight from SFO-ORD in '72 or '74 (we took the train in '73).
I remember they had a 3D figure of the menehune mascot on a table or pedestal behind a row of seats. THat impressed me, especially when we got on the plane and the kids' busy bag had a plastic bag puppet of the same character. I also remember asking my mom if we were going to Hawaii.
I forgot to mention on yesterday’s post:
ReplyDeleteEXINWEST is the nicest construction playsets of all the construction playsets in Walnut Grove.
Melissa, wow, I wouldn’t think that “The Shining” would evoke laughter, but then again, when the bug hits an audience, it doesn’t seem to stop. I would hate people laughing through that film! I am ashamed to admit to never having seen “Suspiria”, even though my brother is a huge fan of Dario Argento and giallo movies in general.
ReplyDeleteChuck, yes, whenever I see a photo of 9 year-old me in a Hang Ten shirt, I always think, “That is a fine looking shirt!”. I think I mentioned this before, but a few years ago my brother said that Kohl’s had Hang Ten shirts; I was so amazed that I drove right over. But they were godawful things, with day-glo “airbrush” patterns on cheap thin cotton. They did have the proper logo, so somebody with no taste must have purchased the rights to that brand name. I am sure that I have seen those menehune mascots for sale on eBay (and elsewhere) and I always covet them, but they do go for a chunk of change.
Chuck, It was probably the same lounge! That's pretty cool about the Menehune figure for United's ad campaign. I don't remember it at all.
ReplyDelete