I don't know about you, but I am sick of color. What's the big deal? The 1930s were in black and white and everybody did just fine. I propose that we ban all colors. Who's with me?
Meanwhile, here are some black and white snapshots. From August, 1960 comes this shot of East Center Street, where the short-lived "Disneyland Art Festival" could be found. You could have your own portrait drawn in pastel, just the way Toulouse Lautrec did it. Or you could purchase original artworks of various park landmarks, and highlights from Disney's classic animated films. I wonder how something like this would go over these days?
Next is this photo looking along what I believe was called East Plaza Street, between the INA Carefree Corner (to our right) and the Red Wagon Inn (behind that suspicious tree). A bunch of Keystone Cops appear to be impounding the Red Wagon because it was used to move churros across state lines.
Might as well look around the corner, right? Make sure there's no werewolves or other unwelcome surprises. A stroller can be seen parked in front of the Pablum Baby Center, for all of your baby needs. Unless one of those needs is for "extra spicy" diaper lotion, they never carried that for some reason.
To the left, the owner of the Red Wagon is begging the cops to give him a break, but churro-related crime is met with zero tolerance. Throw him in the clink, fellas!
Major-
ReplyDelete"I propose that we ban all colors. Who's with me?" Well, the name Kim 'somebody' comes immediately to mind - even though that seems a bit preposterous - take my word for it-! In the first image, we can see the 'Ice Cream Walkup' building featured in the February 1st post.
And 'East Plaza Street', it is.
Thanks, Major.
Boy oh boy, Nanook, you are so right about the colors. I still have a hard time looking at the WDW castle without twitching (and I can't even think about Disneyland's).
ReplyDeleteMajor, how can you tell it's a Red Wagon?
Those cops must be serenading the churros. I see a couple saxophones and a trumpet, I think.
In the last photo, I wonder what the photographer was focusing on??
Thanks, Major, for some unique shots!
In the first photo, I just noticed the lady on the right, wearing a unique, long, fringed skirt, so I assume she was an employee. Do you suppose she worked in that market house, on the right?
ReplyDeleteHappy Fat Tuesday, everyone! Enjoy a pączki or two on me.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, today's photos make me think of Mr. Mime, a clown who gets hit by a truck carrying a load of bleach and gains the evil superpower of sucking the color out of everything in The Powerpuff Girls.
As for the short-lived "Disneyland Art Festival" and wondering how something like this would go over these days, Disney currently puts on four festivals at EPCOT and DCA. They would be Festival of the Arts", "Flower & Garden Festival", "Food & Wine Festival" and "Festival of the Holidays". All sprinkled with Disney theming. The festivals are billed as seasonal events and attractions in their own right. It's a major thing these days and very successful.
ReplyDeleteLooking at these various B&W photos reminds me of looking through Ye Olde "E" Ticket Magazines. Thanks, Major.
Ah, the wonderful world of black and white. Wish my parents would have stepped up and bought one of those various park landmarks in pastel. I don't recall them buying anything for themselves, just for us kids.
ReplyDeleteChuck, discovered pączkis about a year ago at our local grocery store. My favorite is chocolate cream. I'll take you up on that offer.
According to my work mate, everything related to churros is a crime. To each his own. The only churros I've ever had were at the park. There are plenty of them in the different Barrios around south Tucson, but never get around to eating one. Not a huge fan of cinnamon, but they are tasty.
Thanks Major, needed that black and white fix.
I can make out the "grand" on the Edison Square banner in the last image, though I'm sure the "1958" date had changed by this time! Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteThe "Art Festival" was actually a permanent location as opposed to a short-term, temporary event. It was in that spot until somewhere about the mid-1970's, when it was taken out and replaced by the Flower Market, which moved over from West Center Street. Years later the Flower Market also went out and for a while the sales window, where Art Festival and Flower Market purchases had been run up, was used to sell ice cream cones. Also, about the lady in the long skirt: she certainly appears to be an employee, but not necessarily in the Market House. The gate at the end of East Center Street that leads to the backstage area has been a well used employee access way for all Main Street employees, so she could just as well be headed to her work location across the street, perhaps in the Emporium.
ReplyDeleteNanook, now I am trying to imagine a Disneyland painted entirely in black and white, as if one had stepped into a German Expressionist film! Might be cool - for a while anyway. You’re right, there’s the Ice Cream building right back there.
ReplyDeleteLou and Sue, I strongly dislike the colors used on the Disneyland and WDW castles these days. The color “expert” claims that the fact that she isn’t afraid of color justifies her choices. NO. And… it’s a red wagon because it’s from the Red Wagon Inn? The Keystone Cops were a saxophone quartet (sometimes a quintet) that played for many many years! And I have no idea what the photographer was trying to capture in photo #3… maybe he/she was interested in the path to the backstage area?
Lou and Sue, yes, I think that lady is almost certainly a cast member. The fringed skirt seems pretty exotic, but maybe it is accurate to the early 20th century.
Chuck, I’d have a pączki if I knew what that was. Is it a Yugoslavian rifle? And I am all for as many Powerpuff Girls references as possible! Loved that show.
K. Martinez, it’s hard to say how fans would respond to something like the Disneyland Art Festival today. Maybe if it was an annual thing instead of just there all the time it would get attention from the various blogs and websites. I think the passholders might appreciate it more than a guest who only goes to the park once a year or less, but it’s hard to say. I think all of those festivals were a desperate move to get more guests into EPCOT, and they worked amazingly well! Man, do I miss the “E” Ticket Magazine.
DrGoat, I would imagine that some of those paintings must still be floating around out there, maybe in thrift shops. The oil paintings would survive much better than delicate pastels; I’ve seen pastel portraits for sale on eBay, but was never interested (and those might have been drawn in New Orleans Square). I like churros just fine, it just seems like, at some point, they took on a life of their own. I bought one for my nephew at Magic Mountain and he loved it!
Andrew, ah, good eye! I should have also pointed out that the crown above the door on the Hallmark shop (photo #1) has not been installed yet.
Anon, you are right, I even looked at my 1978 souvenir wall map, and it lists the Art Festival, some 18 years after today’s photos. So much for my claim that it was “short lived”! It’s surprising how rare photos of the Art Festival seem to be, considering that it was there for so long, and considering that photos of the Flower Market across the street are very common.
These look like pictures of a real early twentieth-century town like you'd see on Shorpy.com. Especially the second one, with the man in the old-timey flat cap looking up at the photographer.
ReplyDeleteI love all those old churro-related crime ballads.
When I was just a baby, my mama told me good,
"Always be a good boy, and don't play with your food."
But I swiped a churro in Disneyland just to watch it fry,
When I hear "it's a small world," I hang my head and cry.
While I agree with the prevailing GDB opinion that the present Park color scheme is dreadful, I remain grateful that for the most part, it is only paint and can be changed readily at some point in the future when the management realizes what they have and how they goofed it up.
ReplyDeleteBlack and white photos hold a fascination all their own, revealing details that are often overlooked in the color variety, and these are no exceptions.
Major, your reference to the jail "...throw them in the clink...", my Dad used that expression often in the same reference. I was amazed to discover that there is a historic jail in London called "The Clink", presumably for the sound made when closing the cells. On the site since 1144. https://www.clink.co.uk/ "The Prison that gave it's Name to All the Others."
Thanks everyone.
JG
Melissa, it’s true, I could imagine these photos as being from my grandparent’s town (Austin, Minnesota), although Main Street USA is cuter. Still, there’s a definite resemblance. I don’t know what melody to use for your churro ballad!
ReplyDeleteJG, at least when it comes to Main Street and the castle the problem is mostly paint. It’s tough to do a blog where I praise the beauty of “Walt’s park” and then try to enjoy some of the poor decisions that were made later (see: Tomorrowland). I’m not really sure where I picked up the phrase, “Throw them in the clink!”, except maybe from TV or comic books. As far as I can recall, nobody in my family used that term! I didn’t know that the phrase was based on an actual London gaol, though I can’t say I’m that surprised.
Major-
ReplyDeleteI believe that song would be Folsom Prison Blues, sung by Johnny Cash.
Folsom Churro Blues doesn't have the same ring to it, but Melissa's lyrics are great.
ReplyDeleteFact: I have grown up with Hispanic and Mexican food all around me, and never knew churros even existed until we returned to Disneyland with our kids in the mid 1990's.
I thought then that they were a completely made-up thing just for Disneyland. Even now, I don't see them in restaurants or food trucks around here. Google shows some locations in East Bay.
Google says they are of Spanish origin, but I don't recall seeing any in Spain either. Maybe they are a southern specialty.
JG
Churros y Chocolate was the title of my Grade 7 Spanish textbook.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, you sure that wasn't your Grade 7 Spanish cookbook?
ReplyDeleteMelissa, really?
ReplyDeleteWe visited Barcelona and Northern Spain in 2019, and hot chocolate drink was quite a thing there. There were shops specializing in chocolate drink, different from coffee shops, although often each type of shop sold both drinks.
Didn't see churros, but I might have missed them.
Spain is a lot of fun, the food and architecture all great.
JG
JG, Grew up in Tucson and had the same experience. Didn't see a churro until Disneyland. Same experience with cilantro. I swear I never was served cilantro (which I hate because I'm one of those people who thinks it tastes like soap) before the middle 90s.
ReplyDeleteThey do have churros now down in the Barrios.
Hot chocolate is big in Italy too. Every street corner in my cousin's town had a shop with coffee and hot chocolate. Thick and sweet. So yummy in the morning.
I think you have to wonder how many of the portraits done at the Art Festival still exist. Probably any that do are in an attic somewhere and maybe still in the red and white cardboard tube they'd give you to keep the portrait safe for the rest of your day at the Park. Better still, it'd be interesting to know the total number of portraits done in the Art Festival's history. There's a reference online to a Disneyland Line blurb from November 8, 1972, about one of the artists who worked the Art Festival, after originally starting at the Art Corner in Tomorrowland in 1957. According to the 1972 blurb, she had recently completed her 150,000th portrait, or roughly 10,000 a year. Multiply that by the number of artists who worked it....
ReplyDeleteDr. G, agree about cilantro, the fresh kind never appeared until late 80’s, very exotic. I rather like it, but I know many like you who don’t.
ReplyDeleteI don’t recall chocolate so vividly from Italy, just that their coffee is great with sugar, which I don’t take with American-style coffee.
Just did a quick google of my old home town, lots of churros there now, “fresh and hot, just like Disneyland!”
JG