Front Gate & Main Street, March 1981
It is sobering to consider that photos snapped in 1981 can well and truly be considered "vintage" in 2021 - a full 40 years later. How did that happen? Can I write to my Congressperson to complain? None of today's photos is mind-blowing, but they are a nice record of the park the way many of us remember it.
I'm sure security kept an eye on these three as they entered the park. "Here we go again!", Smitty would say to his partner (Jethro). "There's a trio of troublemakers if I ever saw any" (checks rounds in Nerf gun). The younger girl's green windbreaker can only mean one thing: she's in the Maple Tree Gang.
Meanwhile, no posters = no bueno.
The wonderful Opera House, one of the grandest buildings on Town Square. It's showing "The Walt Disney Story Featuring Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln", sponsored by Gulf Oil. It's so strange to see Space Mountain peeking up in the distance, I'm so used to park photos without it.
Let's stroll northward on Main Street, shall we? It looks as beautiful as ever. The lady in dark blue is having an argument with her invisible friend (who wants to go to Tomorrowland first, not Frontierland).
30 comments:
JG, I think I count 9 in that last picture. The one is just barely peeking out. How many do you see?
Mom’s wearing HIGH wedge heels (her poor toes even look abused), and the daughter is wearing practical shoes. Go figure!
Major-
Also - 'no bueno' on those clothes in the first image - and wherever else they manage to pop-up.
That woman in dark blue reminds me of the narration from the Standard [Oil] of California-sponsored 'thinly-veiled ad' about the glories of living in Southern California, entitled: Los Angeles "City of Destiny", ©1947. When describing the activity at Pershing Square, viewers are treated to this description: "... where sun-worshipers are entertained by soapbox orators discussing ideologies and world politics". I would describe that as a rather 'hopeful' way of saying 'drunken derelicts, babbling-on to no one in particular' - but that doesn't sound quite so lilting-! (Let's hope that blue-enshrined lady had a more socially-acceptable way of expressing herself - for, after all, she IS in The Happiest Place On Earth, where there's no place for "soapbox orators"-!)
Thanks, Major.
Lots of concrete goodness in these pics.....if you are someone who likes concrete. All the photographer had to do in that first pic is raise the camera a bit and he/she could have cut out all of that pavement in the foreground, and gotten the entire train station in the pic. Oh, well!
Major, these pics remind me of a post you did over ten years ago, which had plenty of concrete/asphalt and slurry. I think it ranked up there as one of your "Top Ten Funniest Posts."
Yes, the woman in blue was at Disneyland, but she couldn't relax and enjoy her day. You see, the following day, she would be taking the test to be a "traffic cop," so she was practicing her little heart out.
The girl's shoes match her jacket perfectly. Spooooooky.
I'm pretty sure the lady in blue has just ridden the Haunted Mansion and is now demanding that her Hitchhiking Ghost go back.
The lady in wedgies is holding an entertainment guide, along with her ticket book. I recognize the back of that chartreuse green entertainment guide, because they used the same color and cover photo for almost the entire year.....at least up until October. Lazy! Even back then, as a 16 year old, I liked it when they switched out the designs on the guides more often.
Here is the cover of that entertainment guide:
Today at Disneyland - 1981 Entertainment Guide
Every kid in my school (except me) had those green and tan rubberized shoes the girl in the green jacket is wearing!
The lady in blue looks like she’s trying to hail a cab. Or recite Hamlet’s soliloquy. Or both st once. To walk or not to walk, that is the question. Whether ‘‘tis nobler in mind to bear the springs and elbows and outrageous cab fare, or to take foot upon a crowded sidewalk, and thus by strolling get there?
@ Melissa-
That lady appears to be 'ready for anything'. Perhaps she'd feel more at home quoting Byron or Shelley.
Like TM, I like photos of surfacing. Beautiful expanses of integrally colored concrete or similar surfacing. It does have to be in it's place, of course. Like Disneyland or a similar location. Not just anywhere where it shouldn't be.
Melissa, growing up in Tucson, those shoes were rare thing. A few of them popped up here and there. People from back east. We called them duck shoes. Cool looking to a certain degree.
Thanks Major. I can't believe how time has passed so quickly. Or so it seems.
It's no wonder this fake-family was identified group of trouble makers. They almost got away with it. Fake daughter looks normal enough. Fake dad is every man. Fake mom is where they blew it. Stylish pants suit with high heels? Nobody dresses like that for a day at Disneyland. Holding tickets and a guide book in an attempt to blend in clearly didn't get past sharp-eyed security. I'm sure they were whisked off to the interrogation room and grilled for several hours until they cracked. Once again Disneyland security protected the rest of us. :)
Duck shoes! Yes! I had completely forgotten the name! Very handy for a wet six-month Upstate New York winter.
I've always liked the futuristic Space Mountain peaking above turn-of-the-century Main Street U.S.A. Nice Juxtaposition.
Thanks, Major.
Wonderful pictures of the "unplussed" Park, when Main Street still looked like a real town, and the Castle looked plausible, if not probable.
That bit of the Space Mountain visible is just enough to make you want to see the rest, which is a big part of Disneyland appeal.
Those shoes were all the rage then, even for men, although not in such brilliant tones. I never had a pair either. I think where I lived, they were called gum shoes, and the originals were sold by LL Bean, but cheap knockoffs were available everywhere.
Sue, I can make out eight trash cans for sure, and maybe number nine is visible on the left between the yellow and red umbrellas, which I think are over vendor carts. If the spacing is consistent behind us, then each side of the street might have had as many as ten cans, which is a lot.
Tokyo, thanks for the link to the brochure, fun stuff.
Thanks Major, fine pics today.
JG
Lou and Sue, I don’t see ANY vampires, so I am very impressed that you see 9 of them. You must have “the vision”. Whenever I see women wearing high heels at Disneyland, I think of how they must have suffered.
Nanook, hey, what’s wrong with beige (or is it “ecru”)? That quote about Pershing Square is interesting, I used to do work for the L.A. Times and walked past (or through) Pershing Square often, and even then, there was often at least one person informing passersby that they were all going to hell. Good times! Whether or not that person was drunk, I couldn’t say - I give a wide berth to people who say I’m going to the bad place.
TokyoMagic!, I’m amazed at how often I look at a slide and think, “Why did the photographer include so much cement?”. Or conversely, “Why did the the photographer make 2/3 of this photo sky?”. In the case of today’s first photo, I think that the main concern was putting the folks right in the middle of the picture. It probably looked better through the viewfinder. I remember that post that you mentioned (I worked hard on that one)! I wonder if the woman/traffic cop spoke with an Irish accent, just like all the traffic cops on TV? “Now where do ya think yer goin’ me boyo?”.
Stu29573, I noticed the matching shoes - green, shiny moccasins?I think that was a popular color around then, my brother had at least one green pair of Puma tennis shoes, and one pair of green Adidas. I don’t blame that woman for wanting to go back to the Haunted Mansion.
TokyoMagic!, I have a few different versions of that same bright green guide. And like you, I preferred it when they changed it every week! There’s one kind of gate handout in which I have nearly 60 different varieties!
Melissa, is that what that girl is wearing? They look kind of weird! I don’t remember seeing those before, but there is a good chance that I was just not observant. Your Hamlet quote was great, but shouldn’t he have said “forsooth” at least once?
Nanook, Byron Allen or Shelley Winters?
DrGoat, I remember the rumor that the slurry in each land matched the color in the INA Carefree Corner gate handouts (orange, pink, blue, etc). But it’s not true! The theory is kind of fun though. My brother’s driveway is dyed concrete (sort of a terra cotta color). “Duck shoes”, a new one on me. And yes, how can 1981 be 40 years ago??
Grant, you didn’t even mention mom’s obvious fake nose and eyebrows! I have to admit that I generally dress for comfort when I go to Disneyland, and am not very concerned about “looking good”. Though I don’t think I look like a slob either! Some folks care more though. I think it’s interesting that “Dapper Day” has become a popular event, people actually WANT to dress up nice!
Melissa, I guess the shoes are waterproof? They don’t look it.
K. Martinez, I wonder if there was any thought to building something that would block Space Mountain’s spires from view on Main Street? Or at least planting some Italian cypresses?
JG, it’s true, even in 1981, Main Street still looked very much like it did 26 years earlier. Gosh, how did I completely miss the Duck Shoe fad? I swear I don’t even remember hearing the term. Like I said to Stu, I feel like all the kids I knew were buying fancy tennis shoes - the beginning of that trend. Strange to think that Nike, which is now the big dog, wasn’t even a thing at the time. I think one of these days I’m going to have to start scanning some of those brochures I mentioned to TokyoMagic!, I love the listings of special events each week.
Nike was pretty big in ‘81. I remember it was one of the “approved” shoe brands by the Kids Who Were Cool in my 6th grade class, along with Converse and Adidas (as long as they were leather). My BX specials did not put me in that elite group.
You were probably living in the wrong part of the country, Major, to have caught the duck shoe fad. L.L. Bean sold them as the “Maine Hunting Shoe,” and in wetter climates they were relatively common. I remember college classmates had them in Ohio 1990-93, but I hadn’t seen a pair anywhere other than an L.L. Bean catalog during my previous five years in western Oklahoma.
DrGoat, here’s a nice picture of surfacing for you.
Major-
Yes - Italian cypress trees - nature's answer to 'Go-away green'-!
Thanks Chuck! On point as usual. Nice shot. Maybe Nanook can tell us what class of submarine that is. A James Madison maybe?
DrGoat, not to steal Nanook's thunder, but that's USS Columbus, a Los Angeles-class fast attack sub.
@ DrGoat-
What little 'expertise' I do have in the world of transportation is limited mostly to American automobiles - and primarily from post-WWII thru the early 1970's. But thanks for the shout-out, tho.
Yep, we know them as duck shoes, here, too. Even have duck boots. Just google it and you'll see some.
I love Chuck's surfacing picture! <;o)
TokyoMagic! I agree. That concrete/asphalt post was definitely in the top 10. Some of the past posts were pure genius. Do you remember the one where Major called the monorail a dinosaur pancake? That had me roaring. (You had to be there.)
Thanks for another fun day, Major and everyone!
In preparation for Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary in 1980 the entire Disneyland entry plaza and ticket booth area was completely redesigned and cleaned up. Part of this included removing the remaining attraction posters of the Floral Mickey fence .....( this had slowly begun in 1975/76 with the exception of two “showcase” posters on the far left and right of the fence close to their respective entry tunnels. I think the Pinocchio’s Daring Journey Attraction poster was the last new poster used on the right fence poster and that remained till about 1985.
Also in preparation for Disneyland’s 25th all new park entry signs were designed as well as new signs ( like first aid etc ) along Main Street USA and some new park directionals as well as new approximate wait time signs . Many traditionally hand painted signs were being replaced with more silkscreened signage to keep things looking standard and crisp. Ironically many of the these newly designed signs had to be replaced by 1982 to remove any mention of coupon media. This might explain why there tends to be a good deal of Disneyland early 80’s signs in collector’s collections!
In these pictures Main Street looks extra nice - no doubt still glowing from its extra Disneyland 25th preparation.
I really did like this time at Disneyland - the late 70’s and early 80’s really solidified my love of Disneyland.
Chuck, I knew I should have looked up when Nike started to ascend in the shoe world! Whenever my brother was really into tennis (playing it and watching it) I don’t recall Nike even being mentioned as a shoe that he desired. The duck shoe fad is one that I don’t feel too bad about missing, ha ha! Jeez, those sure don’t look like what I would think of as a “hunting shoe”, even though they do look kind of like Indian moccasins. Look at that majestic whale surfacing! ;-)
Nanook, it’s funny to look at some hillsides in California and observe how many Italian cypresses are poking up from so many yards.
DrGoat, I wonder what it was like to be inside that submarine at that point?? What a ride!
Chuck, Nanook knows classic cars, classic submarines, and classic microphones.
Nanook, don’t sell yourself short!
Lou and Sue, when I think of all the ducks that died for those shoes, it just makes me weep. ;-) Glad you enjoyed some of those old posts, Sue! I’d forgotten about the “dinosaur pancake” thing.
Mike Cozart, I do kind of understand why the posters were eventually removed (or just moved, to be more accurate), but I will always miss seeing those wonderful graphics out front, teasing us with the wonders that we will see inside the berm! I didn’t really think about it, but it’s interesting that some of those New Fantasyland attractions were the last to receive their own posters. I’m not as much of a fan of many of the later posters, but that’s just me. You’d mentioned before about the move to silkscreened signs around the park, which again makes sense, though I mourn the loss of the skill and artistry of those guys who could do wonders with brushes.
Major, the duck shoes are still very much around. They’re waterproof, so they’re still practical. But, speaking of shoe fads—remember those awful earth shoes (1975)?? I confess...I did have a dark brown suede pair.
^ When I googled "earth shoes," some new modern ones came up that are nothing like the 70s version...so CLICK HERE to see the 70s version I'm referring to...(what were we thinking back then?!?!)
Whoa! Those are some... interesting shoes. (The suede rubber-soled Mary Janes I wear for outdoor theater are Earth Shoe brand, so I was expecting something, well, something else.)
Melissa, those shoes were crazy. They were made so that the ball of your foot was higher than your heel. Probably the only reason I didn’t injure myself was that I was 15 years old when I wore them. You can do most anything at that age—and not get hurt.
:op
^ And, in 1976, disco started becoming popular in my area, and all us girls started wearing Candies--the exact opposite of earth shoes. CLICK HERE to see those shoes.
Sue, somehow I am not remembering the "dinosaur pancake" post. But another one that I also thought was hysterical, was the "Baloo And His Tracheotomy" post. (My apologies to anyone who has actually had a tracheotomy, for laughing so hard at that one!)
TokyoMagic! CLICK HERE!
TokyoMagic! AND HERE!
Sue, thanks for those links! Gee, that second one makes me realize that not only did I miss out on the days when the park sold animation cells, but also babies!
I gotta go now.....I have a Ballpark Frank in the microwave.
Post a Comment