Main Street & the Plaza, October 1967
Today's images are kind of random pulls from a lot of scans from 1967. Nothing too exciting!
That being said, I do love old Main Street views, including this shot of the Market House, sponsored by Swift. The fastest meats in town! "I tried to eat one of their hot dogs, but it got away". I wonder what that sign in the street (just to the left of the Market House entrance) was for? Maybe it's about me. To the extreme left, mostly obscured, is the entrance to the Hallmark store.
Just moments after that first shot was snapped, our photographer was in the Plaza, where some decidedly unusual things could be seen. Like a snow-capped Swiss mountain! "What's that doing there?". "I don't know, but it's blocked by that funny-looking house". A house of the future, if you will. No, there aren't sassy robot butlers with British accents, those wouldn't be commonplace until the 1990s. But everything is made of plastic, and life doesn't get any better than that.
30 comments:
Major, that hot dog that got away must've been part greyhound... "Swifty" the greyhound.
In the first pic, the lady in the brown dress, near the center, looks like she's awkwardly stepping up onto the curb. But that's not what's happening at all... she stepped onto a wad of gum and is trying to scrape it off. Meanwhile, her rear shoe has stepped into another wad of gum and she's stuck! Can't move forward or backward. Everyone around her is pretending not to notice her situation, so as not to embarrass her even more.
The guy on the right is actor Bruce Boxleitner. He's checking his watch, timing how long it takes for gum-shoe lady to free herself. He made a bet with the two ladies nearest him; he says 5 minutes, they say 4. I guess we'll never know who won the bet.
Oh, and nice photo of the Market House.
In the second pic, that guy looks to be the same height as the Matterhorn; forced perspective at work! HOW DO THEY DO THAT?!?! (Must be a Pepper's Ghost illusion, don't you think?) ;-)
Thanks, Major.
Look at that crowd on E. Center Street! They must be assembled for whatever the sign was announcing.
The House of the Future only has a couple of months left to co-exist with the New Tomorrowland. It’s a shame that this photo doesn’t show it with the entrance to Tomorrowland. There is a small structure to the left of the HOF, behind a tree. Was that a souvenir stand of some sort?
JB, not only did they use forced perspective and Pepper’s ghost, the guy’s actually an audio-animatronic and voiced by Paul Frees.
I wish I would have been able to see the House of the Future. I am completely mesmerized by it. There were very grandiose stories told about it's demolition. Too bad it wasn't sold as an actual house and placed in some tract neighborhood in Anaheim. Once again, nice to see muted colors on Main Street. A crowd seems to be assembled for possibly the Organ Grinder and the monkey (?) Or Mickey Mouse was on his way to buy a card at Hallmark. Nice to see the park when guests combed their hair. Bruce is probably checking the time as they rush to the Golden Horseshoe to make reservations...or did they have to make reservations at that time (?) Bruce later on went to replace me in an Afterschool Special. I'm still bitter. His girlfriend (Half Pint from Little House) was directing. Note from another outspoken actor on Little House: "They fired you for Bruce?! Doesn't he have his OWN show?!" He did at the time. And Fantasyland is closed. I've seen many many photos of the Matterhorn from that exact spot. It seems that when you get to that point at the end of Main Street the Matterhorn suddenly "appears" and the excitement compels you to use a frame of film for the shot. Overall, it's kind of a sub-par viewpoint with so much asphalt in it. I wonder myself why I took numerous shots standing EXACTLY in that spot. Seems like trashcans, the backside of humans, and a couple of umbrellas. Oh...and the Matterhorn. On quiet days like these you could hear the screams from the guests on the ride from this place. The seating at the entrance to Tomorrowland is brilliant design. Very sensual lines, soft and rounded corners. So very brilliant for simple bench seating. Is this where the french fry thing happen that I often hear about?
JB, that's quite an unfortunate situation for the lady who's stuck in the gum, because she was also dragging that heavy sign behind her. She might just have to abandon it.....and her shoes. Maybe she could go to City Hall, and claim that she "lost" her shoes. She can also tell them that she lost her ticket book, and tell them it was one of those special Magic Kingdom Club ticket books, containing all "E" tickets. Heck, while she's there, she should tell them that her sunglasses were with her shoes and her ticket book, when she lost them!
Chuck, that little "structure" to the left of the House of the Future and behind the tree, is actually the sign for the HOTF. There is a sliver of a structure visible over that guys shoulder, and that was the "patio" for the HOTF, which later became a souvenir stand, after the HOTF was removed.
Hey, was the HOTF already closed and empty at this point? We can look directly through that one wing, and see the Monorail beam up against the Matterhorn. Part of that patio structure looks like it's also visible on the other side of that wing, and looks like it might have had it's yellow tarp/curtain pulled all the way around it. And there appears to be no furniture in the house, itself.
Major-
That sign makes an appearance HERE, although it doesn't seem to be any easier to read. (From June 1966).
@ TM!-
I think you're on to something with the HOF.
Thanks, Major.
TM!, now that you have explained what I am looking at, the Monsanto logo in the lower right of the HOF sign jumps right out at me. My brain was reading it as a dark-colored, squarish building with a slightly-sloped roof whose base was obscured by bushes. I now see that it is a hexagonal sign in front of the bushes.
Wow - not only was the furniture in the HOF plastic, it was invisible, too!
Swift Meats developed a six-legged turkey to provide more drumsticks, but never found out how it tasted because they couldn’t catch it.
I notice the ad for Sunsweet products, still in business today (www.sunsweet.com). Those people are hustling to get in line for free prune juice.
The Main Street pic looks weird, no trash cans in sight, but over at the Hub, they are placed one hotdog nibble apart.
The odd yellow structure to the right of HOF is/was a circus tent-themed souvenir stand, now long gone.
Great stuff today Major!
JG
JG
Swift Meats developed a six-legged turkey to provide more drumsticks, but never found out how it tasted because they couldn’t catch it.
JG will be hard to beat for Comment of the Day!
Any photo of the House of the Future is a good one. Especially with Billy the Mountain photo bombing. :)
It's sad how the House of the Future was trying to hide behind that little tree. It knew what was coming...
JB, not Pepper's Ghost- Holograms!
JB, I feel guilty, I never asked the hot dog’s name, so I cannot confirm that it was Swifty. As somebody who accidentally knelt in a gross wad of gum at Disneyland while tying my shoe, I can sympathize with that lady trying to scrape the gum off of her own shoe. As far as illusions go, I call them all “Pepperidge’s Ghost”!
Chuck, the sign must say “FREE BEER”! It’s a bummer that the House of the Future was removed, but I guess 10 years is a pretty good run for something like that. No idea if guests had stopped visiting it, or if somebody just decided that it was too “1957” for their New Tomorrowland”. I endorse all uses of Paul Frees’ voice!
Bu, yes, they tried to demolish the House of the Future with a wrecking ball, but it just bounced off. So they used an atomic bomb instead! They should have just tried that from the start, if you ask me. I wonder if there was ever any talk of trying to move the plastic house? Probably not, although I actually do think it is an attractive looking abode. Small, but hey, that’s not the end of the world. Bruce? Afterschool special? Huh?? That guy has “Ken hair”, and Ken wants it back. It’s funny about photos, photographers seem to be so intent on their intended subject that they don’t really think about the other stuff in the picture, no matter how distracting.
TokyoMagic!, all signs were complimentary at Disneyland. “The customer is always right, dammit!”, Walt Disney said while coughing. Of course he was gone by the time these photos were taken, but his wishes were still considered at that time. Ah, the sign for the HotF… I was wondering what “structure” Chuck was referring to, and figured I was just missing something (as usual).
TokyoMagic!, now that you mention it, I think that the HotF closed in September (this is from memory, so… you know. Probably incorrect), although the photos might have been taken months earlier. Interesting observation though.
Nanook, I’m still going with the “Free Beer” until further notice.
Chuck, once your brain sees something a certain way, it takes some slapping around to get it to see it some other way! Too bad Lee Marvin isn’t around, he was good at slapping people around. Hey, if they’d given tours of the HotF and told people that it was full of invisible furniture, they might have been able to keep it going for another few years.
JG, I’m now imagining a centipede-like creature with 20 or 30 turkey legs. Horrific, but delicious. And hey, prune juice ain’t bad! My grandpa liked stewed prunes, which I never tried, but I liked prune juice, nice and cold! That and Welch’s grape juice, so good. And yeah, where are all the trash cans?
Grant, I need to ask my brother about Billy the Mountain! I meant to before, but couldn’t find the reference to Zappa, and he got bored watching me scroll through my comments.
Stu29573, there are rare photos of the House of the Future wearing a wig and a fake mustache, hoping that it won’t be recognized. I think Daveland has them. Holograms - I always thought it was funny that Star Wars had all these incredible space ships and weapons, but their holograms looked like the worst black and white TV you ever saw.
...all signs were complimentary at Disneyland.
The sign actually said "Take One," so that lady took it! That led her to a life of kleptomania. Soon after, she took a bright new penny, she took a bicycle, and she even took a baby elephant, from the Clyde Beatty Circus!
Just checking in for a quick couple seconds, and will be back later...
Bu, you have a lot of explaining to do regarding that 'Bruce' story. Please share more.
Speaking of HotF, I saw this online the other day...the current 'house of the future.' See HERE.
I would love to hear our Jr. Gorillas' personal and professional opinions about this one.
^ FYI: If you click on my attachment above, make sure you scroll down and look at the photos.
Sue, it is an interesting design. Here's my take as an archimateck.
There is some value to this 3D printing technology, especially in places where conventional materials and methods are scarce or not readily available (3rd World etc.)
I doubt very much that this kind of design or construction will become popular, and for most of the same reasons that the original HOF didn't take off. I'll go with the top 3. All applied to the HOF also.
People in USA are very conservative about their homes, radical modern designs are almost all bespoke for individuals and they do not sell in "subdivisions". Look at real estate ads in the papers, you will not see anything like HOF or the house in the article, the average person will not buy one because they look "weird".
Regulators can't fit 3D printing processes into their building codes. We have trouble getting much less complex or unusual techniques past the authorities. 3D printing is most likely to take off in a place where there is little or no regulation. Maybe the codes will eventually accept it, but it is a long way off in places like California. Example. Geodesic domes are demonstrably safe and efficient structures, but many localities in California would not permit their use since they did not have wood studs at 16 inches on center, and could not fit into the code for wood framing.
A great deal of construction is performed by union labor. The unions jealously guard their prerogatives, and 3D printing erases the lines between trades. There is no union portfolio for this technology and it will be suppressed wherever unions can bring pressure to bear. Example: Fixtures that combine lighting and HVAC distribution in the same device were invented and promised to lower costs due to simpler installation of a single item instead of two, and never became popular because electrician unions would not permit HVAC installers to touch them, and HVAC unions would not concede to electricians.
While the HOF was not 3D printed, much of it was built in a factory and only assembled on site, and this was a threat to unions. Now many pre-fab buildings are partially constructed in-plant with unionized crews, so some of the objections have been reduced.
JG
I've always found it ironic that one of the largest meat-packing companies in the world shares a name with the author of A Modest Proposal.
Mrs. Plaidsuit in the first picture gets the Vintage Fashion Award. That is A Look.
Chuck, I forgot to mention that "people have no scale". Or, in this case, audio-animatronic people have no scale. Nor does Paul Frees' voice. I bet the AA guy sounded like Ludwig Von Drake.
Bu, I'm curious to know more (and so is Sue) about how you got shut out by Bruce and Half Pint. Funny how some things that coulda, woulda, shoulda happen, didn't. Seems like things happen, the way they do, for a reason. If you had become uber-famous, you probably wouldn't be commenting on Major's blog. And I wouldn't be writing this. So it all worked out OK, right? RIGHT?!!1!1!!
Tokyo!, that lady has hit the jackpot, won the trifecta, and the Megabucks lottery all in one!
And yeah, I was wondering why it looks like we can see all the way throught the HOTF as well.
JG, your turkey joke... yuk!Yuk! And Har!Har!
After the prune juice they'll really be hustling!
Stu, ah yes, holograms. Probably projected onto a mist-curtain, no doubt. So obvious when you think about it.
Major, "Pepperidge's Ghost"... I think you have a good chance of winning that lawsuit! Obviously, your username goes back waaay earlier than the mid 1800s when John Henry Pepper coined the phrase.
Sue, I can't imagine those 3D printed walls having any kind of insulating ability. Not good for extreme temps; hot or cold. I didn't read much of the article, maybe they figured out how to insulate it?
JG, thanks for your archimateck insight. The reasons you give for not implementing new housing materials and techniques is probably why we still don't have Moon/Mars colonies yet.
Melissa, now we know what really goes into those hot dogs! ;-)
WOW! JG hit on everything I was gonna respond to about the House of The Future!! The only things I’ll add is that MONSANTO and MIT …. Always said they had no interest in building houses ….. but wanted to show the construction industry and developers what was possible with plastics ( that they could sell to the building industry). EXACTLY!!! Regarding the unions and building codes …. They are very difficult to work with or have ways altered or updated. California is a perfect example of how a once thriving and technology leading state is being suffocated (to death ) by these factions. When I was studying architecture and environmental design at San Diego State we dead a great deal of study and design with ferro cement ( extreme high strength ceramic) ….. remember all those fantastical shaped buildings on the Jetsons ??…….. well, they can actually be built with ferro cement! There are even companies making ship hulls from the material! Our designs and study structures were not quite that drastic , but the idea was shown that residential structures could easily be built in factories as sub assemblies trucked to site etc etc… BUT no developments use this construction method with ferro cement …. Because the construction methods don’t meet building codes for other projects …. And many Unions protect these codes from being changed so as not in interfere with their product sales. In the 1950’s it took a long time for architects to get steel used in residential construction ….. and it can be done now but it was difficult to get it cleared with building codes and the obit way was to limit what it could do by basically matching it to the lumber construction specs . Also like JG mentions …. In general …. The general public is very general. Look at the bold new ( at the time ) building abs designs of the architect Eichler. His developments scream what we expect from Mid Century Architecture …. His sloping walls of glass and interior courtyards and gardens …. Cantilevered roofs etc …. Home buyers would buy these modern marvels and remove sliding doors … and replace with French doors… take the spacious open Sloped ceilings abs add a drop ceiling and use the upper clerestory windows as a “attic” wall up open open spaces …. Pop- out vertical skylights and Add double hung windows!! They bought the Future …. But turned it back to the vernacular!! Even 25 years ago you couldn’t give an Eichler home away ….. today you can’t even buy a rundown one for less than a million…… in california a rundown Eicher can sell for 1.5 million …. And need LOTS of work. In general people like to visit the future and dream about it … but few people wanted to really live there.
Those Eichler homes are cool, but I don't think I could live in one - not much storage space and not enough solid walls to hang stuff on. Where would I hang my Thomas Cole paintings and my Farrah Fawcett poster? Not sure they would work well in the Midwest - too much glass, which would make it hard to heat and cool and could be a literal killer with the severe storms we get. But I dig the design, daddy-o. I dig. [sound of fingers snapping as I adjust the collar of my dark turtleneck]
TokyoMagic!, I feel like I am not picking up on a reference! The Clyde Beatty Circus, a brand new penny, hmmmm.
Lou and Sue, yes, I don’t get the Bruce thing either! Bruce LEE?? That 3D printed house looks pretty neat; the undulating walls offer some interesting design options. Can you insulate them for colder climates? Can you hang things on your walls? Maybe you need “museum” style hangers (wires that come from the ceiling). Still, very interesting. I feel like, as cool as this is, people still just want a traditional framed house, for some reason.
Lou and Sue, I DID! ;-)
JG, YES, I agree with you on all of your points, especially the first one! I personally love the idea of a “modern” home like the Disneyland HotF, or the 3D printed version, but folks just want a house that looks like the one their parents had, more or less. I didn’t even think about building codes. I wonder how strong those 3D extruded walls are in an earthquake-prone state, or how about an area that might get tornadoes? Who knows, maybe they are VERY strong. You make interesting points about the unions too. It’s a shame that we can’t somehow overcome those issues; I support people who work in those various trades, but it is not cool that it means that we can’t ever change.
Melissa, I prefer my children to be deep fried! I actually think that plaid suit looks kind of cool on that woman.
JB, if elected emperor, I will demand that everyone has to conform to a scale. I still don’t know who Bruce is; was there an actor on “Little House” named Bruce? I think I’ve seen other photos where we can see through the HotF, but we also can see lamps and house plants. Does prune juice make you “go”?? It’s just juice. OR IS IT? I tried suing John Henry Pepper, but he never responds to the summons. I guess they could make those 3D printed walls “double” with a space in between? And then they fill it with discarded Beanie Babies, which have a R-factor of one million.
Mike Cozart, just because MIT and Monsanto didn’t want to go into the home manufacturing business doesn’t mean that some other entity couldn’t have stepped in. Working with unions is a real challenge, but I have to believe that there could be SOME progress made, even if it was incremental. People can learn new skills and be experts in those. Just like the installation of solar panels or whatever, something that has exploded in recent years. There is a community of Eichler homes not far from where my mom lives, and they are handsome to look at, though my understanding is that they have their issues as well.
Chuck, I think that lack of storage is a huge problem in many home designs, nobody thinks about where people need to put their lifetime of stuff. Not always, but it seems common. A friend of a friend just looked at a beautiful house out in Riverside. Lovely to look at, nice yard, etcetera. Not a single closet! NOT ONE.
Does BU mean Bruce Boxlitner? I don’t think he was on little house but wasn’t he married to Melissa Gilbert ( Laura Ingall’s)??
Major : exactly! That was what Monsanto was hoping for!! But because of reasons JG and I discus , you never saw neighbors or developments of extreme designs like the Monsanto House of the Future ( except in the 1950’s Looking Back at Tomorrow segment of Epcot’s HORIZONS!!”
When I worked at Disneyland there was a guest who would come into the Gallery sometimes and show us how he was building a full-size replica of the Monsanto House of the Future - I think it was in Rancho Verdes Estates …. Or Del Mar…. ( I can’t remember) but it was made from wood. Lol…. Laminated thick beams created the curved shape …. It was cool looking but not something you’d see in Tomorrowland of the 50’s and 60’.s I’d describe it as The Weyhausser Wood Home of the Future and maybe fit into a 1974/1975 Tomorrowland!
Mike, thanks for the confirmation. I struggle with these kinds of challenges weekly.
Major, re the concrete. For tall walls like those shown in the pics that Sue posted, special inspection and sampling and steel reinforcement are required by CA code. There is no way to embed steel in those walls as they are printed, and no way to take the periodic samples required by code, and the concrete doesn't seem to be consolidated with the traditional mechanical vibrators. So those walls would not be possible in CA without some kind of special dispensation.
I love the Eichler homes, there is a big subdivision of them in Novato near me. Highly sought after now, but not that popular when new. Nothing like them are being built new, even though the look is popular (now). It's hard to meet energy codes with all that glass. I would not want to live in one, though. Although we are both archimatecks, we are just fine with a traditional home, complete with a Thomas Cole painting over the fireplace. We do have some modern furniture though.
JG
Major, like Mike noted, Bruce is Bruce Boxleitner. I mentioned him in my first post, above. He's the guy looking at his watch... or, at least he looks like him. And yes, he was married to Melissa Gilbert a.k.a. "Half Pint" on little House.
I knew there would be a use for Beanie Babies someday... wall insulation! And I can't conceive of a better usage! (My mom has a bunch of 'em.)
For a bit of clarity..yes...Bruce is Bruce Box..... His girlfriend/wife Melissa was first time out the gates in a directing gig. A part was written for me, and written AS me-(...my personality/persona.) I knew the writer, producer, ex producer, etc. etc. They were all very kind trying to supply me with day player parts where it was possible to keep the income flowing, and my SAG benefits going....Melissa came in, I was out. Replaced by Bruce. The Ex Prod. who I did a previous job for was very sweet to call me personally to say..."maybe next show". The director gets final say, so B is hired. She probably had no idea that the part was written around me- so no harm, no foul. He did had his own show at the time- some space show. I went on to another gig. It is ironic how my nepotistic situation was trumped by another nepotistic situation. It's soooo very Hollywood. In the end, people want to hire who they like working with, who they can rely on, hit their mark, and show up on time. Regardless, I'm not REALLY bitter, as...I went onto the next thing and it's just another cocktail party story to me. The funny part was the other Little House actresses reaction to the story...which is just a little too colorful for GDB. Bruce is still working, although the marriage didn't last. Yes...I have the dubious distinction of having the star of "Tron" play "me". Wonder how that one liner turned out....I'd rather hear stories about "Super Concrete" and building a Jetsons house. Or...hanging out on Gorillas Don't Blog. I'm not a robot, and Fantasyland is closed.
JG, No trash cans in the first shot, but you could always stuff your garbage in that mail box (at least I think that's what that is). Maybe that's why they had to add more trash cans. ;oP
As somebody who accidentally knelt in a gross wad of gum at Disneyland while tying my shoe....
Major, if you wore crocs, that never would've happened.
JG and Mike, thank you for all the building information. Very interesting. Mike, I didn't know what an Eichler house was, but looked it up online. I LOVE that style and would buy one IF I lived in California (I don't, yet) and IF I had $1.5mil to spend (fat chance).
I wonder how strong those 3D extruded walls are in an earthquake-prone state, or how about an area that might get tornadoes?
Major, as you know and I've mentioned, we get tornadoes - and none of the houses in my area are built to withstand tornadoes.
Bu, thanks for sharing more. That half-pint was a half-wit. I would've 'voted' for you. I never heard of Bruce Boxleitner. But I've heard of you. I had to look him up. You're better looking. You mentioned that you "went on to another gig." You have more explaining to do.
Major, "...a beautiful house out in Riverside." I'm chuckling because when I lived in San Bernardino and worked just south of Riverside at March AFB, we thought of things up your direction as "way out in Simi Valley/Calabasas/etc." People from elsewhere think of the whole region as just "L.A." It's all perspective.
JG, now you have me wondering - which Thomas Cole painting do you have hanging over the fireplace?
Chuck, “The Architect’s Dream”.
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/thomas-cole-the-architect-s-dream/ggKi4X2yPzzOKw
I’ve used it as an illustration in my university classes and many other continuing Ed programs I’ve taught. I could go on for hours.
JG
“SOME SPACE SHOW?!?”
JG, I am not surprised. I have a print of it myself. In fact, it's my favorite painting. Fell in love with it when I first saw it at the Toledo Art Museum when I was nine.
Years later, my dad found his album from a photography course he'd taken in college. We were looking through it together and found a photo he had taken of the same painting, the only photo of any artwork in the entire book. I asked him about it, and he said "I've always liked that painting." The man has taste.
Still wondering how you managed to smuggle that out of the museum. You must have an enormous fireplace worthy of Charles Foster Kane.
Chuck, I’ll send you a pic.
JG
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