I suppose it's only natural that I have become just a little jaded about some vintage Disneyland photos. I look at so many of them! But then a picture like this first one (from October 1965) comes along and dazzles me with its color and energy and optimism. It reminds me of the feeling I would get looking at the old souvenir guidebooks for the first time, or when I first read "Disneyland: The First Quarter Century". It makes me love the park all over again.
Soak it all in. It's OK, I'll wait!
It's not every day you get to see a genuine Monorail zooming overhead. Unless you live in Seattle I suppose! But there's still nothing quite like the classic Mark II Monorail at Disneyland. Before I saw that this was from 1964, I wondered if this was the green Monorail, but of course that didn't come along until 1968. You knew that!
Major-
ReplyDeleteAs 'colorful, energetic, and optimistic' as the first image may be (and it is), it's the second image with its unusual angle which tugs at my heart strings.
Thanks, Major.
The second image of the Mark II Monorail Blue is wonderful. I can practically hear it as it glides by. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteA couple of great big beautiful vistas there!
ReplyDeleteI like how the kid in the foreground looks like he’s eyeing the GDB watermark suspiciously. “What the heck is blog, and why don’t gorillas do it?” Green Sweater Girl and her beau are quite the adorable clean-cut young couple. And lots of great print dresses in the crowd.
I love the way the lines of flags draw your eye straight to that spiffy Douglas rocket. Design!
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with that caution sign, in the Tomorrowland entrance planter?
ReplyDeleteMajor, that monorail is only 5 years old. It's still pretty green in my book.
ReplyDeleteTM!, it's warning passersby that photos taken near to that Kodak Picture Spot sign might show up on a computer readout in someone's home in another 55 years. I love their optimism, but there's no way they'll ever get a computer to fit into a single room, much less someone's house!
Chuck, how about the entire basement space, beneath the Enchanted Tiki Room? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm with the second image too. That Mark II has a bronze hue at that angle. So nice.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, that kid ogling the GDB watermark is in his 60s now. Wonder if he found GDB and his lifelong quest was fulfilled. Hope so.
That couple does look very clean-cut. Kind of reminds me of the guy that used to pick on me in Jr. High. Wonder if he has long hair in a couple of years. It happened.
The framing of that beautiful Douglas rocket is darn near perfect, isn't it. Also, I tend to look for people in Major's photos that are pointing at something. Got one with the kid behind the squeaky clean duo.
Chuck, that reminds me of my first computer. A Zeos 386 bought in the late 80s with a somewhere around 40MB hard drive if I'm remembering it correctly.
Thanks Major.
Blue! No, green! It's fabulous either way. Our photographer snapped the shutter anyway, even with the crazy angle. Or they knew what they were doing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe our young friend is still trying to figure out the World Clock he walked by 5 minutes ago.
Green sweater's hair looks like a 60s graduation photo.I hope that couple is still together today.
I see the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry sign through the flagpoles. It will be gone in a year or so to make way for Adventures Through Inner Space. We'll have to come back in a couple of years.
Great scans today.
So much to see in the first photo. That big crowd is in for a treat as they enter Tomorrowland. I remember seeing the new Doulas livery on the Moonliner on visit to the park. It just doesn't have the same coolness as the TWA version. The Monorail is looking futuristic and fast. It's an unusual angle for sure. I will be enjoying these all day long. Thanks Major.
ReplyDeleteNanook, hey, I don’t think image #2 is a slouch by any means! But I find that first one to be so appealing.
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, yes, that distinctive Monorail sound, along with the airhorn (which I don’t know if they even had back in those days).
Melissa, I realize that this is not profound, but it is still a little shocking to think that green sweater girl is now 55 years older than she was in that photo. Why can’t people stay young forever?
Melissa, I’m sure that perspective effect was intentional!
TokyoMagic!, I can’t make out any signs of construction, but maybe there was a water leak or some broken cement. Just a guess of course.
Chuck, even in my youth I worked at a place that had a whole refrigerated room for their computers (they had two Kray supercomputers). I’ll bet a good desktop or laptop could do the same computations nowadays - or better!
TokyoMagic!, I’d love to see what they use now instead of that underground room. One iMac?
DrGoat, well I guess I’m just on another page, as much as I like the Monorail image (which is a lot). There’s so much to appreciate in the first one! But… to each his own. I’ll bet a lot of the guys in these photos wound up with long hair, and big sideburns five years later. Well, maybe not the kid who would only be about 15. I remember when a man at work upgraded his computer to store one Gigabyte. “Why would anybody need that much storage??” I marveled.
zach, I wish I had more photos from whoever shot that beautiful Monorail photo, but it is an orphan. I do wonder if they just got lucky, or if they had some mad skillz? I can’t help thinking about the young men, maybe some of them wound up going to Vietnam - a thing like that can affect one’s life in a big way. And yes, it’s amazing to think that in just over a year, construction on the New Tomorrowland would begin.
Jonathan, It’s funny how I’ve grown to love photos with lots of people almost as much as nice shots of features at the park. The people make it so much more “personal” if you know what I mean. Glad you liked these!
Beautiful pics today, Major.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, I can hear the air horn.
Thanks very much!
JG
@ DrGoat-
ReplyDeleteThat sounds about right. In either 1990 or 1991, we got AutoCAD at our office. And in those days, a mere 'typical' desktop computer just wouldn't do. The folks who sold the AutoCAD also supplied a 'custom-built' computer, as it needed a "huge" amount of RAM: 9MB-! No waiting-!
Nanook, I had the same experience. I started using Autocad in 1987 or 1988. Version 9. I forget what we ran it on, probably a 486 or something similar. I still use Autocad 2020, and we just got a computer upgrade, so I'm happy. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJG, I figured that these would be a good way to end the week!
ReplyDeleteNanook, I’m fascinated by early and odd computers, and watch several YouTube channels that cover some; part of me wishes I’d been one of those nerds who learned everything about how to build my own. It looks fun! But then again, those guys have houses packed full of old gear.
DrGoat, I never used AutoCad, but I do remember when I was first learning to do Photoshop on a Mac, the concept of layers was new and amazing. It seems so crazy to imagine now, but it was a game changer!
Major, I've grown to love pictures with lots of people, too, since
ReplyDeletejoining GDB. In the past, I thought my dad was silly to include people you don't know, in his pictures.
The monorail picture, today, reminds me of this little fellow HERE.