Two Scans From September, 1959
Like the title of today's post says, today I have a pair of scans from September of 1959. I'd say that this is a lovely view of the river, with good color and lighting! The Columbia was still pretty new at this point, and I like the addition of details like the little Keelboat, the raft unloading at the dock, and people fishing at that other dock. A Conestoga Wagon can just be seen to the left of the Columbia too.
I must have been sniffing glue the day I scanned this slide, since I originally labeled it "Overlooking Fantasyland". Huh? Anyway, it's a nice and busy photo showing Town Square with the Horse Drawn Carriage, an Omnibus (notice the "Disneyland '59" banner!), lots of folks resting in the shade, and more guests lining up at the train station for a Grand Circle Tour. Bunting on the station is likely left over from the ceremony introducing the Matterhorn, Subs, and Monorail.
33 comments:
Major-
Love the glimpse of the Conestoga Wagon in the 1st shot. There's something so pleasing about the 2nd shot - with the patriotic bunting and shadows.
Thanks, Major.
Where they always called “Horse Cars”? I don’t recall that term.
Would love to be in these pictures, now - beautiful day.
Thanks, Major!
^ Were they always called...
Two great pics for a Tuesday. That banner really does stand out. It's 4:30 in the afternoon and you're wondering what ride could you go on before dinner. Try the Columbia and not the tea cups. That ship never looked better.
Thanks Major.
Then, after the Columbia, head for the Tahitian Terrace. I’ll save some seats....
I consider myself lucky to have experienced this DL as an 11 year old. Unfortunately, though, I only came with a 256K memory so I have to rely on these pics for details. But I still vividly remember the feel, smells and sounds.
Thanks Major and the unknown photographers.
Zach
Oops, Tahitian Terrace wasn’t there yet. Where should I save seats at??
Sue, the Plaza Inn is a nice spot, see you there.
I count only two trash cans in photo 2, the one on the upper platform is in a different paint pattern.
The keelboat looks like it is still wood, not one of the later fiberglass replacements.
Major, sniffing glue is acceptable, as long as it is Elmer's.
Nice pics today, thank you.
JG
JG
Whoops, I must be sniffing glue too.
JG
I have the tin box version of "Your Host, Walt Disney" that has "Disneylsnd '59." Well worth a watch!
JG, it was the late partying we all did at DrGoat's last night...I'm making mistakes left and right, this morning.
Plaza Inn, it is!
Yep, I only count two - but I do like the reverse paint job on the train station one.
Sue, this is proof that the fancy livery on the cans was in place by 1959. Major has posted some very early pics, 1955-5 where the cans were all quite plain.
JG
Nanook, the Conestoga Wagons were so short-lived that it really is fun to see one trundling along the trails of Frontierland.
Lou and Sue, while I have always called them the “Horse Drawn Streetcars”, that sign in photo #2 was there from the beginning (or very nearly so). Even in 1960 a brochure refers to them as the “Main Street Horse Cars”.
DrGoat, I wonder what time the park closed in September? If the kids were already back in school, maybe it didn’t stay open much after dark. In those days, you could probably catch quite a few rides before dinner (I eat dinner late!).
Lou and Sue, I was going to mention that the Tahitian Terrace wasn’t there just yet (it opened in 1962), but I see below that you already grokked that fact!
zach, it’s too bad that we didn’t come with some extra punch-cards for additional memory!
Lou and Sue, how about over at the Golden Horseshoe?? I’ve heard that Wally Boag is hilarious.
JG, you can’t expect to see too many trash cans in a closer view like photo #2! I do believe that the Keelboat is one of the original (and smaller) craft - as you said, from before the two were replaced with bigger, fiberglass examples. Remember that weird “mucilage” glue that we used to use in grade school? Dark amber, with the rubber applicator tip? I don’t know why that just popped into my head!
JG, the more the merrier.
Stu29573, I have that one too! I’ve gotten rid of many of my old DVDs, but I can’t bear to part with the Disneyland tin box sets.
Lou and Sue, I wonder if the Disneyland Trash Cans site has one of those “reverse painted” examples on their site??
JG, yes, I think they realized that their original, generic (ugly?) trash cans needed sprucing up quite early, maybe even by 1956 or 1957.
Major, I do remember that glue. Seemed like pretty worthless stuff to me, I can't remember ever using it, but Mom had a bottle in the desk just the same. Nothing beats Testors model airplane glue though.
After your comment, I keep thinking of Lloyd Bridges in "Airplane".
I have go study that trash can blog, it is the kind of minutiae that I live for.
JG
Major-
Oh, who could forget Mucilage-!
I remember the amber glue too, and yes, it wasn't good for much.
I also remember the non-toxic model cement that smelled sort of like lemons and refused to glue any type of model together...
Nanook, the stuff only glued paper together, and did a poor job of it. We also had this white, pasty glue that was even worse. It smelled OK though. Not as good as the Mimeograph machine, and very messy.
Sue, I retired before you left the party. Can't keep up with you youngers.
Mucilage sounds like a laxative. I do remember using that glue (not for a laxative), as a kid. It held papers together for 3 weeks max. As bad as rubber cement.
DrGoat, isn't that white, pasty glue what kids used to eat, back in the day?? They weren't supposed to eat it, but they did. I think it was usually the boys who did that.
DrGoat, did you try your new electric toothbrush?
Sue,
No I haven't even gotten to Costco to buy it. Seem to be in one of those temporal anomalies where I can't get anything done. Always loop back to the start.
I think that was the white glue kids used to eat. It smelled tasty back then I suppose but never tried the stuff. Now Mimeograph ink....couldn't get enough of it.
Yes, good ol’ “ditto’s,” as we called them in the 60s. The teacher would pass out the math homework sheets and they’d end-up glued to everyone’s nose.
Along with those Superelastic plastic bubbles you could blow up through the little straw. The chew it for a while after your bubble pops. Had to be good for you.
Oh yeah, the "ditto" machine. I sometimes got to turn the crank on of those in grammar school and get a hit of that vapor... whoa.
As i recall, there was white glue, mucilage (not Metamucil), and something called "paste", which was very, well, "paste-y" and that went sometimes crystalline when dried out, which might be a source of "paste diamonds". This latter paste was the stuff that the weird kids would eat. At least in my school. No, I wasn't a paste eater, but I know you were thinking that...
JG
@ DrGoat-
That's actually a Ditto machine - or spirit duplicator, not a Mimeograph. The term "spirit duplicator" refers to the alcohols that were a major component of the solvents used as "inks" in these machines... Ahhh - Mmmmmm...
That 'white paste' is actually 'library paste'. It's is usually made from dextrin, a water-soluble modified starch. Is it any wonder it tastes so good-? Yummy-! LOOKIE HERE
Thanks, Nanook! Now I recall that the paste lid had that handy built-in brush. The paste would spread as smooth as lumpy Farina.
JG, I don’t picture you as a paste eater, but more of a scissors-runner.
Nanook,
I like the name Spirit Duplicator much better than Mimeograph. Could it be possible to come up with eau de cologne of spirit duplicator? I'd buy that. Better than Mennen Skin Bracer as far as ancient scents go. Or the infamous Jean Nate, scent of my Auntie Louise.
Sue, in the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow, all candidates take an Indian name. Mine was Runs With Scissors.
JG
WED had a spirit duplicator in the MAPO facility. It got a lot of heavy use while they were building the Stateside Haunted Mansions.
Regarding ancient scents, back in the 60s (maybe early 70s), I remember my dad having bottles of Jade East and Hai Karate—sitting on the bathroom cabinet shelf.
DrGoat, I can’t remember what Jean Nate smelled like, but I remember Love’s Baby Soft—it had a very distinct smell and was popular in the early 70s.
JG, I remember nothing good about mucilage. It was like trying to glue things together with watery Log Cabin syrup. Testors model airplane glue, you mean like the kind I like to sniff?!?
Nanook, that’s the stuff! I think I remember an older label, but I’m sure we used Le Page’s.
Stu29573, thankfully I don’t remember what it smelled like. I’m sure it wasn’t good. Isn’t that the famous glue that’s rendered from horses? Yuck!
DrGoat, I just remember mucilage getting the paper very wrinkly, and also that it crystalized and got crusty. No good. Thank goodness for glue sticks. White paste glue was gross too - I don’t think I ever saw anybody eat it though. That stuff smelled nasty!
Lou and Sue, I always think “mucilage” sounds like “mucus”. It was probably only good for sticking pieces of construction paper together in grade school, because those things often went right in the trash! Since boys are weird, they probably did eat that glue paste, but WHY? (New electric toothbrush, what??).
DrGoat, I love my electric toothbrush. Just sayin’. In my memory that paste kind of smelled like an industrial cleanser.
Lou and Sue, I remember kids used to love the way dittos smelled when I was in school, and I confess that I never got it.
DrGoat, I loved that stuff! Don’t get it in your hair or in the carpet though.
JG, I think that I have heard that the term “paste” for fake diamonds was because the high-lead glass was put into a mold in a paste form. Might be completely wrong though. The things you pick up when your mom is into beads and weird jewelry.
Nanook, well shoot, now I am confused, which was which - were the dittos the ones with the purple-blue ink? You typed on a wax-covered sheet and the ink could go through it? It was all so long ago now.
Lou and Sue, kids these days don’t know how easy they have it!
DrGoat, (this is one of the oddest digressions we’ve had on GDB!), I only want Hi Karate cologne and after shave.
JG, mine was Dances With Gophers.
Chuck, I think it’s safe to say that spirits were involved in some form. Those old-timers loved to have a few drinks at lunch.
Lou and Sue, oh yeah, "Hai" karate. Like I said, it's been a while.
Runs With Scissors, I bet you never made it to Eagle Scout! ;)
Major-
Yes, ditto (spirit duplicator), incorporated the 'purple-blue ink'. Usually good for about 80 decent copies - although it was possible to eek-out more. When I was in college, I had access to an electric ditto machine-! (Almost unheard-of). However, with the advantage of that electric motor feeding the sheets of paper around the drum, it allowed an experienced operator to very-carefully meter-out the 'spirits' while simultaneously increasing the pressure on the two-ply spirit master, allowing many more copies than a typical maximum run of say 80-100 sheets.
The Mimeograph duplicating machine used actual stencils, that were "cut" using a typewriter. (Consistent typing pressure produced the best stencils. Electric typewriters, even more so). Technically, it was possible to "repair" mistakes on stencils; some resulting in better repairs than others, however. Real printer ink was forced through the cut stencil, yielding up to a few thousand copies - or so it was promised. As such, it wasn't uncommon to find electric Mimeograph machines used in many places.
Sue, you are right, I was not even a Boy Scout. I joined when my son joined, and spent almost 14 years as an adult leader.
My Grandad used Hai Karate aftershave, my Dad used Mennen, and my Father-in-Law used Brut, so we had all the 70's covered.
Nanook, thanks. I used the ditto machine in grammar school, and the mimeograph in high school. I was never clear on the difference other than the ink color.
Major, you are right, this thread went far afield.
JG
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