It's time for more '80s goodness from Lou Perry, courtesy of Sue B. (his daughter)! This time we have some nice shots of Main Street, U.S.A.
Lou headed out to the park on October 5th, which was a Friday. In the background is the Main Street Lockers, and just to the left of the doorway is a parked antique automobile. I don't think it's a "Gurrmobile", but can't say for certain. I wonder how long that was displayed there? It's a nice touch. I love the two mouse-eared kids on the Horse Drawn Streetcar.
Here's the same Streetcar (the #2), but with a different load of passengers. Two CMs are communicating with a series of clicks and squeals, much like dolphins. The Corner Cafe can just be seen in the background, to the right. Notice the sign for Donald Duck's 50th Birthday celebration as well.
It's yet another Horse Drawn Streetcar. Lou loved 'em! The Motorized Firetruck is almost entirely eclipsed by the Streetcar.
The Town Square Cafe (with the yellow umbrellas) can be seen here; it is the site of the old Hills Bros. Coffee House. Business is booming! Somehow it makes me happy to see so many people riding the Streetcars, I feel like the last few times I went to the park, there were only a few guests on board.
Pretty horse! If only he could talk, he would sound just like Allan Lane (the voice of Mr. Ed).
The young lady in white refers to her iPhone as she and her father walk with some newly-purchased merchandise. What could it be? In the upper right we can see Mary Poppins in her "Jolly Holiday" costume kneeling to talk to a little girl.
And finally (for today), here's a nice shot of a Horseless Carriage - another Main Street vehicle full of passengers, with more waiting for the next opportunity.
There are 14 more photos from this batch of Main Street images! MANY THANKS as always to Lou Perry and Sue B. for sharing these great pictures.
Major-
ReplyDeleteAs Lou takes so many images in the same area, we get a real feeling of the comings-and-goings at a particular time and place. For some reason, I favor the final image. Maybe it's the filtered sunlight as it strikes the area, but it seems restful.
Thanks to Lou & Sue-!
That green vehicle outside the locker building is indeed a real vintage 1903 AUTOCAR Sport Runabout. It actually belongs to National Car Rental - who sponsored the Main Street vehicles at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The car even appears on a period looking poster( “U DRIVE!! The New Sensation! why horse-around when you can drive!! ) for the sponsor that was used at both parks - the raw art without graphics is shown in the Art of Walt Disney World book. The car also appears on a 1983 Disneyland postcard with Mickey & Minnie touring town square - mistakenly referred to as a “model T” . The AUTOCAR was removed when the lockers were re-located to East Center St. And the Emporium Annex was expanded in the late 1980’s. I assume the vintage vehicle was returned to National Car Rental.
ReplyDeleteI remember this Main Street USA very well!!!
Actually the National Car Rental Main Street vehicle poster is visible to the very right of the locker building entrance! This example seems to be a bit faded.
ReplyDeleteI also remember this Main Street, very well! Annual passes were a new thing at the time, and there were not a "million" pass holders yet. I went to the park quite a bit during 1984, and I can still hear the Donald's Birthday Parade song, "Happy Birthday....it's Donald's birthday, happy, happy birthday to you....HEY DONALD!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these, Lou, Sue and Major, too!
These are just plain fun! This is the Willouby of Main Streets! Thank you Lou ans Sue, they brightened my day!
ReplyDeleteNanook, Lou really went on a tear at that time in the ‘80s, but wait until you see some scans that Sue sent me, from the 1950s! Zowie!
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, I knew that National Car Rental had sponsored the vehicles (after seeing the ornate painted advertisement on the Omnibus in some photos), but never knew about that 1903 Autocar runabout. I love it when new details emerge from out of nowhere. I don’t have “The Art of Walt Disney World”, since my interest leans much more toward Disneyland, though I’m sure it’s a nice book. I have to limit which Disney books I buy these days, since so many come out each year. I wonder if I have the postcard you mentioned? The description rings a bell. Thanks for all the info!
Mike Cozart, I’ll have to see if I can find a better image of that poster.
TokyoMagic!, I don’t know why exactly, but the lyrics to that Donald Birthday Parade song made me laugh, especially the “HEY DONALD!”. All the best songs shout at the subject. “HEY AMERICA!”.
Stu29573, I’m trying to think of other small towns of fiction, and so far only Ray Bradbury’s “Greentown, Illinois” comes to mind. Granted my brain is barely working at this time of the morning! I think Greentown was much more rural, however.
Like the Post Office, UPS and the Minuteman III, Lou delivers the goods once again. I never really appreciated Main Street until my teens. Lou has captured so much of it's charm and the cool transportation as well. Stu, made reference to my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone. Heck, it could have been filmed at Disneyland. Thanks to Sue as well, for sharing his photos with us. Say howdy for me. I will leave these up all day. A big thank you to Major for making all this possible. "Willoughby! Next stop Willoughby!"
ReplyDeleteSo true Stu.
ReplyDeleteSo much going on. Thanks for the info on the jalopy Mike. That thing looks so good sitting there. Like Stanley in the Cars Pixar movies. Even a good pic of the French field piece, ready to repel invaders.
That last pic is rather nice. The kid looks like he might be embarrassed to be in an old car with his parents.
Thank you Major.
Lou and Sue and Major, I am grateful to have these since they show the Park in the time that I could not visit. I don't recall this Main Street at all, so it's good to see it, even after 30+ years.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite has to be the Town Square Cafe due to fond associations with that spot from childhood.
Like Jonathan, I was slow to appreciate Main Street, but there were bits of it that penetrated; the Bookstore, the Flower Mart, the Hills Brothers Cafe. I was never much on the vehicles until I got old, now they are a great source of enjoyment, riding with ease through the massive crowd packed like some surreal form of tourist spam.
And that is a beautiful horse. All the farm horses had been replaced by tractors by the time I arrived, but Dad had fond stories of his work animals, and even some old pictures.
Thank you Major.
JG
I'm glad you folks like these.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely say "howdy" to my dad for you, JC Shannon.
Thanks, Mike, for the info on that car.
This peaceful scene on the street beats what I experienced yesterday, early evening, on the street. A young gal (most likely texting) driving a big pick-up truck in the opposite direction, coming towards our car - swerved off the road, bounced off a LARGE tree, and spun around 1-1/5 times, into our lane - as my husband had to instantly swerve off the road to avoid a collision. While spinning, her wheel/tire ripped off her truck and slammed into the front end of our vehicle. When her truck stopped spinning, she immediately hopped out of it, still holding her cell phone. When the cops arrived and asked for her license, she said "You already have it from something that happened a few days ago." Ugh! "I'll gladly go back to horse-drawn trolleys," I say as I'm laying down with a strained back and neck...
Oh, Sue...
ReplyDeleteWhat a nightmare-! Sounds as if you’re mostly okay.
The human being is so often such a mess-! (How do we manage from day to day-?)
Yep, Nanook, I'm ok...it's just the quick jolt of the swerving off the road and slamming on the breaks, jerked my neck and back. I'll be good as new, soon. (Of course, I did have my seat belt on.)
ReplyDelete(I just noticed I typed, above, that the truck spun around 1-1/5 times...I meant 1-1/2 times...silly me - not too bright with fractions.)
Don't drive and text!
Oh Sue, glad to hear you are both ok.
ReplyDeleteJG
Busy today but I like all of them. Thank you, Sue, for sharing your father's combined love of DL and photography. We are allowed to benefit from his and your passion and I thank you both along with the Major who is, like, our supplier, or something.
ReplyDeletezach
Sue, I didn't read the comments yet! Sorry to hear about the scare. Glad to hear you're all OK and I hope the young lady gets the help she needs.
ReplyDeletezach
@ Sue-
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's been said before - it still bears repeating [although I'll let zach do most of the talking for me] - exactly what he said regarding the combination of Lou's passion for both photography & Disneyland, and your generosity in sharing the results.
[You too, Major].
Sue, I'm glad you are on the mend. Horses have their own challenges..but at a much slower speed. I ride my Belgian from time to time...I can tell you there are a lot of moving parts to consider, let alone the environment around you. Still,I think you are on to something. KS
ReplyDeleteSue: glad you were basically ok. With the pandemic bad driving has really increased - I don’t think there is a day I don’t see someone drive through a red light ..... or sit texting long after the light has turned green - oblivious to the real world. And pandemic aside - bad driving and illegal driving has been on a steady increase here in California . Car chases almost daily.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I love horse drawn vehicles - I’m glad they are not our main means of transport. It’s fun and nostalgic to watch HELLO DOLLY, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and tv shows dealing with the nostalgia of long- gone places like “Willoughby” but they fail to show the reality of the “carriage trade” : the millions of tons of manure choking cities , horse urine constantly puddled in the Street .... the hundreds of horses that fall dead every day and left to be picked up or dragged away by the rendering man ...... not to mention the disease spread by the animals like Hoof and mouth . There was also extreme animal abuse. The horse maintenance was also extremely high and most people could not afford to own their own horse and “buggy”. The travel was slow and staggered and unreliable.
We are also nostalgic about the horse and how the auto was not well received - but that’s a cultural myth - yes there were critics but people quickly switched with excitement.
The horse ruled the road for thousands of years , but the automobile replaced it overnight!
Mike, agreed, traffic and driving is measurably worse now, and people can be so cruel to livestock, some on purpose, others through ignorance or thoughtlessness, and the animals can be so very messy.
ReplyDeleteBut all the things you describe still happen on dairies and feedlots, just now out of sight of most people.
I think we are poorer through loss of daily contact with our animal helpers and friends. I remember watching Scouts on camp-outs on Federal grazing land, they had never seen a cow "on the hoof" before, much less a coyote or a horse. Our society has to be worse off for this. And a slower pace would be good to have occasionally.
Sue, take some time off and rest, neck pain is no joke.
JG
Jonathan, what about Pizza Man? He also delivers! I think I read that Rod Serling considered “A Stop at Willoughby” to be his favorite episode of “The Twilight Zone”, or it’s up there anyway.
ReplyDeleteDrGoat, there’s a car museum not too far from where I live that is full of beautiful early cars - the collector seemed to like pre-War automobiles, unlike some collectors who love cars from the ‘50s or whatever. I’ve taken people who don’t even particularly care about cars (it helps that the museum is free) and they always enjoy it!
JG, this is right about when I started going to the park more, post “going with my parents” (we spent some years out of California, which meant that I missed that time completely). I’m with you, I didn’t really appreciate Main Street until later, and partly because my friend “Mr. X” loves it so much. He used to be a popcorn vendor, so he spent lots of time soaking in all of the atmosphere (and the popcorn aroma!). I was glad to see that they had at least one Horse Drawn Streetcar on some video footage of the park as it is revving up to reopen.
Lou and Sue, yes, say “Hi” to Lou! I’m sorry you were involved in an accident, what a lousy thing to happen. I know that it’s partly a matter of age, but I never understand the addiction to cell phones, to the point where some folks can’t stop at a light for 10 seconds without reflexively pulling their phones out, in case something amazing happened in the last 45 seconds since they last checked. That lady sounds like she has a screw loose.
Nanook, the way people drive, I’m kind of amazed that I haven’t been hit more.
Lou and Sue, I was imagining you calculating exactly how much your car had spun! “Not quite 1 1/3 times. More like 1 1/5!” I’m glad you’re OK.
JG, for sure.
zach, I would have never imagined that, one day, a reader would come along with an seemingly endless supply of Disneyland photos to share!
zach, it sounds like they need to take that lady’s license away for a while. Also: no TV for a month.
Nanook, I equate Lou’s passion for photography with my own passion for collectible, commemorative thimbles. It just gets in your blood! :-) I have the rare “Star Trek” set, probably worth millions.
KS, I’ve seen photos of you and your horse (as you know), it looks like you’re livin’ the life in that beautiful area. Mr. X’s wife is also a horse person, not so easy in Los Angeles!
Mike Cozart, just a few weeks ago I was about to proceed when the light turned green at a busy corner, when a car went speeding through. I can’t help thinking how badly things could have gone had I been a little quicker on the draw. Often I try to remember to look to make sure everyone is really going to stop before I go. And your comments about horses in big cities is true - we never think about how things really were back then. The filth and the smells, yikes! I remember reading a book about New York City, and how there could be dead horses just laying in the mud, or even pigs rooting around. Horses in the countryside, however… a different matter!
JG, I have limited exposure to farms, but I did have relatives who had small farms, and they were very good to their horses and other animals. My Great Aunt had some llamas, which were neat, but she kept telling us that the llamas would spit at us, so I never wanted to get too close. Maybe that was her plan all along? I know I was lucky to stay on her farm, even though she loved to put us to work, and I mean HARD work!
Glad you're OK, Sue. I do errands by bike as much as I can here in NJ, so "defensive driving" is a must. You can't assume others are paying attention or expect that it's just a matter for insurance if you get hit.
ReplyDeleteTM!, I went to WDW only once as a kid, in 1984. Apparently that song for Donald's Birthday played there incessantly, or the parade it was in made a particular impression on my 8 y.o. mind. I heard it again for the first time in ~35 years and instantly remembered *every word*
After all our comments of horses v. cars, I found THIS MAGAZINE ARTICLE from 2018 which tells us that the Disneyland horses get transported via horse trailer to Disneyland, from their stables 28 miles away! And all because Disney decided to give their original stables and land area to Wookie World. That's sad!
ReplyDeleteKS, I can't imagine how cool it would be to ride on a Belgian horse - what a magnificent animal!
Thank you, everyone, for all your kind words!
Major-
ReplyDeleteIt figures when I had the chance to collect the Star Trek Commemorative Thimbles, I instead opted for the Franklin Mint Thimbles of the World's Greatest Porcelain Houses - now worth a fraction of what I originally paid for them-! (So much for my retirement fund...)
Major, my experience has been that most farmers treat their livestock pretty well, because people are mostly decent, and it isn’t productive to damage your livelihood. But I have seen some “hired help” hard on the stock, who knows why, and get Reprimanded or fired.
ReplyDeleteFarms are good for kids, you learn things you might only guess at otherwise.
Sue, Disney backstage had extensive livestock areas once upon a time, you can watch it shrink over the years in the aerial photos.
Nanook, at least you didn’t invest in Avon bottles.
JG
Dean Finder, that song from the parade is definitely an earworm! I remember them using it again maybe about 10 years ago, for birthday parties on the patio of the Plaza Inn. They just took out the "It's Donald's Birthday" part, and replaced it with a second "Happy Birthday." Major, I don't remember what they replaced the shouting of "Hey Donald!" with. Maybe it was "America!"
ReplyDelete