Flower Market, October 1962
Well well well, if it isn't the Flower Market. One of the most-photographed features along Main Street, USA. The ladies loved it! I sometimes wonder how many people didn't even realize that the flowers were artificial - though any gardener worth her compost would know in an instant.
The cart to the left has tomatoes, corn, 'nanners, and other fruits and veggies to add color to your home. Just stick 'em in a big bowl! Hopefully they could ship them home so that you could enjoy your day unencumbered. Notice that the woman to the extreme right is holding a souvenir wall map!
Hmmm, even more edibles (no, not that kind of edibles), some that I can't quite identify. How about some garlic bulbs? Or carrots, full of vitamin D to help with good eyesight? You can't tell, but Grandma is super happy to be there.
17 comments:
Major-
If one of those carts had veggies, wouldn't that be "Hopefully they could ship them home so that you could enjoy your day unencucumbered"-?? (Oh, brother-!)
Thanks, Major.
In that vegetable wagon, the tomatoes look real, although the leaves look too shiny. The ears of corn, on the other hand, look fakey, fakier, fakiest. The 'nanners are a bit out of focus but they look pretty real as well. As you all know, when 'nanners are out of focus it means they're not ripe yet. Wait a couple of days and they'll be in crisp focus, and ripe.
Major, as you noted, the lady on the right has a souvenir wall map in her hands. But the lady on the left has a ciggie in her hand. If we could only choose one, which would it be? Hard choice, I know. More of Walt's hard facts... He would choose the ciggie.
In #2, doesn't it look like Grandma just stepped off the back porch of her farmhouse? I bet she was hanging laundry out on the clothesline to dry. Now she's gonna chop the head off a chicken for dinner that night when the menfolk come in from the fields.
The corn in this photo (on the right) looks especially unreal with those white husks. I guess those are lemons in the foreground? Although they seem kinda small. Behind the garlic bulbs are artichokes.
And um, I think carrots' claim to fame is vitamin A... not D. But perhaps these are genetically modified ears of corn that produce vitamin D. Yeah, that must be it. Because we all know that Major P. knows everything and is always right. :-D
Nanook....... oh my.
Thanks for the colorful lesson in fruits and vegetables, Major.
They should have sold a souvenir Carmen Miranda hat you could carry your plastic fruit around all day in.
A “wall map.” Is that like a diagram showing where all of the walls are? Sort of like a construction blueprint as drawn by Sam McKim?
Nanook, I’m stealing that one! I’m not sure how I’ll find a way to use unencucumbered in a sentence, but I will. And poor Mts. Chuck will probably be the unwitting (and unwilling) victim. Need to remember to stock up on lightweight, hollow, plastic fruit and veggies so whatever she throws at me doesn’t hurt and isn’t rotten.
JB, just had a ‘nanner in crisp focus. Delicious! When the ‘nanners hit that f/64 level of deep focus, it’s time to make banana bread.
First time I visited my wife’s apartment when we were in college, we met before an 8 a.m. German exam to study together. I’d already eaten breakfast, but she didn’t want to be rude and eat in front of me without offering me something, so she pulled a banana out of the refrigerator (apparently, she had never seen or heard a 1940s Chiquita ad)(Carmen Miranda shout-out, Melissa!) and offered it to me somewhat apologetically. It was probably the blackest banana I had ever seen without flies hovering around it, but when I opened it, it was the sweetest, creamiest banana I had ever eaten. It was like pudding in a peel.
Maybe those vegetables were grown from experimental radioactive seeds. If we eat enough of them, we will be able to see ships out in the Pacific Ocean, while riding aboard the Skyway. MeTV just ran that "radioactive seeds" episode of Gilligan's Island, a couple days ago. The Professor cured everyone by having them all eat a bar of homemade soap. By the end of the show, the castaways all looked like $25 Disneyland souvenir bubble blowers.
Such a pretty area, but I can see where bean counters would say "off with it's head!". In my world such things have HUGE ROI as the photographic content would, and was spread throughout the land as free advertising to the world, where the name "Disneyland" would be uttered millions of times. Seems like you don't need to cram churros and plush into every corner to make a dime. Walt had said at one point that some places weren't necessarily meant to be cash cows (like the Emporium) but added the extra oomph of experience/total immersion/etc. that compelled people to buy and spend like wildfire overall. "Spread sheet people" confound me, and it's always interesting that they expect ME to conform and understand their methodology (which I do) but WILL NOT budge, and do not understand us "creatives" and just think we are doing things to make things "pretty". Nope...we actually do know what we are doing. When art and science meet, it's a lovely thing. Takes a lot of arguing to get there though. Not sure I would carry around a big bag of plastic bananas all day, but even back in my time...the merch people would hold your stuff until later. I'm sure that type of thing is completely verboten now.
Ah, fake stuff. I never really understood the attraction of fake flowers, but I was a boy child and even real flowers didn't impress me much. Now, if you blew them up with firecrackers, THEN you might have something.
When I was in high school I worked at Long John Silvers fish and chips. I had a lady come in right at closing that wanted an ear of buttered corn. When I explained that we didn't have any more, she angrily pointed at one in our display case and said "What about THAT one???" I had to tell her that she was angrily demanding wax. Very realistic wax, but wax nonetheless. Man, that felt good...
These photos make me nostalgic (see my profile for definition).
Mom always loved the Flower Mart and it was never twice the same. We never missed taking a turn through, usually on the way out, but not always.
I think I have shared the story about her buying a big arrangement in blues and lavenders and picking it up at the shop on the way out after fireworks. We had those flowers in the living room for years if not decades.
The partially shucked corn is not believable but the artichokes look decent. JB, I’m surprised Warner Bros. didn’t sue over the carrots.
Thank you Major, these hit me right in the “feels”. I’ll be thinking about this all day.
JG
Nanook, that pun is worthy of Wally Boag!
JB, obviously you don’t polish the leaves of your tomatoes, like real experts do. Amazon sells tins of tomato leaf polish for only a few hundred dollars. Don’t be too harsh regarding those ears of corn, in 1962 NASA had not yet perfected the artificial corn technology that is so critical to the world today. Yes, Walt loved his cigarettes, I’ll bet he was a two-pack-a-day man at least. Sadly. Granny does look like she might still be living in the Great Depression. All of the topsoil blew off of her farm, and she’s not happy about it. And you’re right, carrots have vitamin A. I am SO ashamed!
Melissa, I like your idea. “Mix and match! Switch out those grapes for a mango!”. The kids would love it while they were listening to their Pat Boone albums.
Chuck, that map shows the layout of Wall Drug Store in South Dakota. You never know when you might need a floor plan of that historic place. Does anyone remember when Mr. Potato Head also had a cucumber head, a carrot head, and other veggies? Banana bread, urg. I might have mentioned this before, but I like a nice banana, preferably a bit green. But I don’t like bananas in things, or banana-flavored things. It’s one of my rules. My mom keeps bananas in the fridge, they always turn black, but she claims they are still good. I’ll never know.
TokyoMagic!, of course I thought of that Gilligan’s Island episode as well, with Mrs. Howell zipping around a top speed thanks to those sugar beets. I forget who ate the carrots that gave them super-human eyesight, was it Mary Ann?
Bu, it’s true, a whole street of artificial flowers would not escape the chopping block today. Now, if it was a street of plush toys, that’s a different thing altogether. I don’t know what “huge ROI” means, and I’m not sure I want to ask. And I think that the people running Disneyland today would disagree, you DO need to cram churros and plush into every corner to make a dime. Remember when they put plush in the Main Street Theater, to much outcry? I never did learn if they removed it or not, or if Disneyland fans just got tired of complaining. I would think that the shops would almost HAVE to hold (or ship) your items for you, some items are fragile or heavy and just not practical to carry around with you.
Stu29573, yeah, my mom and grandma were always such flower nuts, and I guess I appreciated them on some level (“Yeah, flowers, great. Where’s my Froot Loops!”). I never thought of blowing them up with firecrackers, and realize that my entire childhood was wasted. I wish you’d give that woman the wax ear of corn, dripping with butter! I once saw a woman go into a KFC just before closing and demand all of the chicken that they hadn’t sold - for free. “You’re just going to throw it out anyway!”.
JG, you have mentioned that your mom liked the Flower Market, and judging by the many photos that we’ve seen, she was not alone. Usually women are looking at the selection with interest while the husband stands nearby thinking that this might be a good time to use the bathroom. I love that you had genuine Disneyland flowers in your living room for so long!
@ TM!-
I was waiting for the references to 'Mrs. Littlefield' and a wax apple... I think you're falling down on the job-!
Major-
ROI is an abbreviation for 'Return on Investment'. That, and 'IP', seem to be the only raison d'être these days for the existence of the Walt Disney Company.
Nanook, Sue texted me to inform me about the meaning of "ROI"! I guess finances are not my strong point.
Don’t feel bad, Major, if finances were my strong point, I wouldn’t be texting this from work. ;o)
Btw, my mom loved plastic flowers, until silk ones came out. Of course, real flowers were the best.
—Sue
Melissa, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a Carmen Miranda hat piled high with fruit, plastic or otherwise. Now, a Beany Copter hat... that's different!
Chuck, oh definitely. When the 'nanners get to be so in-focus that you can see the individual molecules in the peel, then it's time for 'nanner bread. With walnuts, of course. If you make the loaf really small you could call it nano 'nanner bread.
Tokyo!, haha. I remember that episode well, and I haven't seen it for many years. It's funny how some of the soap bubbles don't quite come out of their mouths, but from their chin and nose.
Bu, I agree. The souls of "spread sheet people" are like hard, dried-up peach pits... or a small lump of Neutronium.
Stu, oooh! Stick the firecrackers inside the plastic fruit and veggies... even better!
Major, on your advice, I just spent my life savings purchasing a whole case of tomato leaf polish. No more lack-luster tomato leaves for me! Of course, now I can't afford the tomato plants.
Major, do you like "Circus Peanuts", that orange marshmallowy candy? They're banana flavored.
And yes, cold temps turn banana peels black. But the 'nanner is still fine.
Major, yes...it was Mary Ann who had the extra keen eyesight, due to the radioactive vegetables. Gilligan had extra strength, from eating the spinach, and as you mentioned, Mrs. Howell had extra energy from eating the sugar beets. The other castaways were apparently unaffected.
JB, I hadn't seen that episode for many years, either. I was glad that I caught it on Sunday.
Nanook, Major sent me a cease and desist letter, regarding the "I Love Lucy" references and quotes. From now on, I will only be quoting and referencing "Gilligan's Island," "The Golden Girls," and the Ray Stevens song, "The Streak." ;-)
Major, speaking of "The Golden Girls," I did appreciate your Bea Arthur joke/shout-out in yesterday's comments!
I'm wondering if the mens room adjacent to the flower market was purposeful. Husband goes to restroom, spouse purchases flowers...after purchasing: "these old flowers...why I've had them for years!" The plush in the Main St. Cinema was allegedly removed and the space was returned to a Cinema. Not to say that the plush isn't back since then. I do not understand plush. Annette Funicello was also a huge plush/stuffed animal fan. Just a random bit of info. I think it would be quite natural to have those flower carts selling ice cold freshly squeezed Bo Foster Sunkist lemonade. (Bo Foster owned Sunkist). He also owned the softball team that dominated the Disneyland softball league. The teams name was "super jocks" and creative services made them a banner that spoke to such things (use imagination). It even appeared in the Disneyland Line. (?) The ringers had to work a few hours a week to make it legal to be on the team. Bo wanted to win- and he did. I wondering if employees have such fun things to do now? It was all so non-PC in the day, with lots of shenanigans no matter what the sport or event. Let's not even mention the word "Banana Ball". That one was infamous. Note from the Tomorrowland post of yesterday: I got a news item on my feed about the upcoming TDL revamped Space Mountain. They do cool things over there with OPM (other peoples money.) Possibly there is hope for Tomorrowland.
Sue, I can’t keep up with all of the hip lingo from the kids!
JB, I haven’t had one of those circus peanuts since I was a young child… I didn’t remember that they were banana flavored! I thought they were just marshmallows. Why make them shaped like a peanut?? I DO remember getting banana candies in my Halloween bag that just about made me want to drink my dad’s bourbon just to get the taste of fake-banana out of my mouth.
TokyoMagic!, it’s funny how that particular episode stands out so vividly in my memory, after watching “Gilligan’s Island” over and over in syndication. I guess I always liked it! I’d forgotten that they ate soap to negate the effects of the radiation. I’m sorry about the “cease and desist”, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I encourage MORE references to “The Streak”, or any other novelty songs from the ‘70s. “Disco Duck” perhaps? I know how much you love Rick Dees. I’ve actually heard nothing but nice things about Bea Arthur, but it’s fun to lampoon her “Maude” image.
Bu, my guess is that they planned to have the restrooms at the end of that street anyway, and the fact that the Flower Market was there gave many husbands a good excuse to… well, you know. I understand the appeal of plush, it’s cute and squishy, but it’s also the kind of thing that appeals to the lowest common denominator. They used to have such great merchandise! Bo Foster, never heard that name before. I assume that things like a Disneyland softball team are obsolete? Maybe there’s no such thing as “esprit de corps” anymore. “Banana Ball” will probably be a demonstration sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Not exactly a novelty song (or is it?), is Right Said Fred singing about being "too sexy for my shirt" (and other things). For months, when the song was on the charts, I thought it was somebody deliberately trying to sound like Elmer Fudd. It sounds just like him!
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