A Pair from 1969
I have two nice ones for you today, from 1969. We'll start with this shot of Main Street Station, and Mr. Timex Clock tells us that it's 12:44, so... right smack-dab in the middle of the day. The "population" sign says that 45 million people had visited Disneyland at that point. I won't say anything about the posters because you are probably tired of me blathering on about them. But they're great!
Later in the day, we see one of the parking lot trams heading out to various parts of the vast lot, depending on where your car awaited. A nice convenience for guests who'd just spent all day on their feet. Hello, Monorail Blue! Funny, if I just had to guess by looking, I'd say that it was a Mark II Monorail, but by 1969 the Mark III trains should have been in service. SHRUG!
20 comments:
Major-
I'm certain you meant to say the tram we see services the DL Hotel. And... it appears that large, white vehicle parked behind the couple seated on the 'center' tram is a 1959 Cadillac limousine.
Thanks, Major.
In #1, those silhouetted tree branches are the crowning touch that adds more visual appeal to the photo. Like a Disney multi-plane animation camera shot.
That's a nice assortment of attraction posters; some of my favorites. We can see a tiny sliver of the one on the left edge. Is that an Adventureland poster? (Just a guess.)
In #2, judging by the sign atop the tram, I'd say these weary guests were headed to the Hotel, yes? (Edit: Nanook spotted it first.)
And, WHOA! A super rare sighting of Monorail Graphite! I know you said it was Monorail Blue, Major, but it's Monorail Graphite. An easy mistake since they look so similar, especially in this lighting.
Thanks, Major. That first image is very crisp, like a Red Delicious apple. And I'm sure it's much more tasty than the apple...TRE.
Great train station image. But I doubt these are from 1969. There’s a Flying Saucer attraction poster on the front gate - long gone by 1969. Also in 1968 the all “new” yellow and blue Bob Gurr parking lot trams went into service …
That sliver view of the attraction poster to the far left is MINE TRAIN THRU NATURES WONDERLAND .
This should be earlier, but how earlier? I'm sure someone on here knows by the color of the concrete behind the attraction posters, the grass/sod by Mickey, or by the attendance....I'm sure it can be narrowed down. The Flying Saucer poster indicates a lot...but maybe this was taken when they were filming "Saving Mr. Banks" when the posters went back up again- very very briefly (?) Probably not, but you never know. Do we know if they two photos were taken by the same person, same year, (?) Why the Monorail was not put into widespread use throughout the world defies logic. It makes sense. "It's too expensive!"...figure it out people. Someone told me (firehosed me) in a meeting yesterday that we couldn't do something because "It was too expensive". I don't accept that as a reasonable excuse. Please find the solutions where the task can be completed, and meet the constraints of the budget. And when asked, "well...what would be the cost?" and you can't answer that in the moment, then HOW do you know it's too expensive? (The war between creative and operational.) The Monorail could have been figured out. It was figured out by Disney in Walt Disney World. What specifically led to the removal of attraction posters at the entrance? Too expensive? It's Disneyland, if we used that for an excuse, everything would be too expensive. Let's just leave the oranges and walnuts...then we have NO expenses. I'm on a roll. I have fond memories of that specific parking lot tram and it continued in service up into the early 80's for employees. Both used as an orientation tram (it picked us up at the Ad. Building and then went over to the staff shop, paint shop, pony farm, et.al on day one of employment.) On super busy days when you had to park waaaayyyyy out in I think "Mickey", they used this tram to shuttle employees from the far depths of the parking lot- beyond the Harbor Marquee. If you parked out there...you knew it was going to be a busy busy busy day...both backstage nd onstage. Hope you got to work early- there would be lines at wardrobe. I think they warned us before super busy days to change your costume at the end of your shift instead of the beginning. I always changed at the beginning as I wanted the freshest possible costume. If you were parked out in timbucktoo, and there was a security guard at Harbor House with his scooter handy they would give a few people a ride to their cars. If you were a pretty girl, it made that task easier. If you didn't feel comfortable walking to your car solo at night, security would give you a ride. The parking lot can be kind of creepy late at night where no one can hear you scream. I actually enjoyed that walk...the asphalt would still be warm from the day, and you could smell it/feel it. The heat emanating from the ground. It was the same experience as the guest experience, so it was kind of peaceful after the madness of the day for a nice stroll, with no one around you asking where the Pirates or the restrooms were. The Security guards patrolling the lot would frequently ask if you needed a ride, which I thought was very nice, especially when your day was spent servicing others, and here was someone giving you a bit of kindness and service- not for a dollar or a tip, just to be nice. What a nice and memorable way to end my comments today. Thanks to those who were kind to a young skinny kid making his way out to his '68 Firebird. (Vroom!)
Great shot of Main Street Station, where the original colors really pop. The buttercup yellow dormers and trim; the forest green doors; the single-color slate-grey roof against the red bricks just really looks like what a railroad station should look like.
The Flying Saucer poster is weird but fun; why the yellow “eyeball” thing at the top? It works though! The posters really added some color and pizazz. Are those quintuplets in the last tram car? The man doesn’t seem to want to ride sideways, but it’s so fun to watch things go by that way. I was going to say their clothes are more 1959 but the Saucers wouldn’t have been there yet then. Curiouser and curiouser. Thanks, Major.
Major, that first pic is like a museum of posters, take your pick.
Photo 2 is wistful, makes think of going home after a long day.
JG
The tram is racing the monorail to the hotel. I know what would seem to be the safe bet, but I’ve seen The Tortoise and the Hare, so I’m not taking that bet.
I know there’s no way to tell for sure, but these photos just “feel” like 1965 or 1966 to me. I can’t explain it, but I’m positive Walt was still alive when they were taken, and that makes me happy.
Nanook, see, this is what happens when a blogger leads a life of debauchery and vice. And also what happens when I write my blog posts only looking at the thumbnails instead of the full-size pictures. A 1959 Cadillac? Nobody wants one of those.
JB, I like your multiplane comparison. Let’s slowly dolly-in for that added sense of depth. The poster that we can barely see is the Nature’s Wonderland poster. And yes, now I will spend the rest of the day crying because I did not see the “Disneyland Hotel Tram” sign. It was so tiny! It’s not my fault! I blame… er… I blame Beatniks. Always playing those bongos. Glad you enjoyed these!
Mike Cozart, well by golly, that would explain why the Mark II is in the second photo, wouldn’t it? Again, I blame the Beatniks. I scanned these about four months ago, otherwise I’d try to find the slides and see what they said, since I clearly misdated them.
Mike Cozart, see my comment to JB!
Bu, I’m wondering if I misread “1967” as “1969”. Who knows. I never did watch “Saving Mr. Banks”, maybe it was great, but I just wasn’t drawn to it. I saved some Internet photos of the entrance with posters back on the fence though, that was pretty great. I’m not sure why Monorails never caught on, you’d think they’d be a lot cheaper to build than a subway system, but there are many factors to consider. CHUDs (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers) for one thing. I can understand that some proposals might actually not make sense due to cost versus benefit, but a Monorail system would be bitchin’, and that’s all that really matters. Cost, shmost! At some point they moved the posters from the fence in front of the Mickey flower portrait to the Monorail pylons further out front. Maybe to “de-clutter” the view of the train station and flower portrait? Not sure. Funny about the parking lot giving off heat until later in the evening… my mom has a small brick wall enclosing the front porch area of her home, and that thing absorbs sunlight all day, and is warm for many hours afterward. I never thought about young female employees having to walk (in the dark) so far back to their cars, you’d think that they would have had some sort of system just for CMs. Of course, in general, things were probably safer back then.
Steve DeGaetano, I appreciate your appreciation of those colors! There is so much to be said for just the right hues, used correctly. No gold trim necessary. Although I wouldn’t mind some glitter, and maybe that trim could be vivid blue, now that I think about it. The train station really does look great in that first photo, and I always like seeing the Kalamazoo hand car sitting there, knowing that Walt was photographed on it. Do we know if it is actually the same one?
Kathy!, I think that yellow “eyeball” was just an abstract graphic element, possibly implying a planet and gravitational fields, and orbits… that’s what I make of it, anyway. Blame Rolly Crump! (We love you, Rolly). Maybe those are the Mulligan Quintuplets in that tram, the first quintuplets born several years apart. I’d explain it but it’s very technical.
JG, I’d pick the Flying Saucers poster… I had two chances to buy an example, but at the time I thought that they were too expensive. Now I’d pay those prices in a heartbeat!
Chuck, not only did the tram race to the hotel, but it also went up a ramp to jump over a line of 12 buses. I forget why it did that, but you can’t argue with facts. I’m feeling bad about misdating these, but sometimes, in the heat of writing a bunch of posts in one evening, stuff happens.
Yes, Major, that is the same Kalamazoo Model 6 handcar that was given to Walt (either from Jerry Best or Kalamazoo) sometime between opening day and March, 1956.
I agree with JB about the nice framing effect the tree branches in the foreground have on Picture #1. Very artistic. And speaking of artistic, I've learned from and appreciated every bit of blathering on about Disney posters I've read in the hallowed, synthetic-ivy-covered hall of the Gorilla Non-Blogging Institute, so blather away whenever the mood strikes you!
I absolutely adore the group of ladies in the tram, with their graceful poise and posture. Look at all those crossed knees and ankles, and all those pointed toes! I bet they had to take deportment and elocution lessons in school like my mother. They could probably all walk from the Train Station to the Castle in high heels with copies of Walt Disney's Pictorial Souvenir Book Of Disneyland balanced on their heads, and eat a whole Mickey bar without getting a drop of melted ice cream on their hands.
@ Melissa-
Speaking of 'deportment'... it was never on better display than when student-led functions required the elected 'girls' to sit on-stage in the auditorium, in a row of (uncomfortable) wooden, 'board room-type' arm chairs, facing the audience, as they addressed the assembled students. I was on Stage Crew back in "junior high school", and vividly recall the 'proper protocol' for those seated, "nice young ladies": Both legs held tightly together, with the 'calves' held at around a 30° angle, all-the-while somehow keeping both feet/shoes flat on the floor. Undoubtedly, this 'pose' was 'taught' to those girls by the Mädchen in Uniform-fueled Girls' Vice Principal-! (Sorry, guys... those leering looks were all for nothin'-!)
Major-
Based on the attendance figure, and how often those signs are updated, this is probably from around early 1965/late 1964 - as Disneyland declares August 12, 1965, as the day the Park achieved 50M in total overall attendance - and the annual attendance for 1965 was 6.5M. You do the math.
Nanook, Major can’t do math. At least that’s what he always tells us.
Love the images today—especially the first one. Thanks, Major.
—Sue
Steve DeGaetano, that’s good to know! I was imagining that the old one might have rotted/rusted out over 6 decades.
Melissa, OK, I will blather away when the subject of posters comes up next time! Did young ladies get lessons in how to sit properly (etcetera) in school back then? It seems like such an old-fashioned idea now, and would never happen, but learning the basics is never a bad thing. My best friend, who some people think looks like Satan, was a Boy Scout, and he still uses many of the lessons he learned to this day.
Nanook, I have a story or two about my school days, when girls (and at least one teacher) did NOT comport themselves properly when in front of crowds, but those stories are not really appropriate for GDB!
Nanook, yes, with the Flying Saucers still in action, I’d say that 1965 is probably a good guestimate. Very cool that you knew the date when the park attendance hit 50M!
Sue, it’s true, I can’t do math. But my sassy robot butler can!
I'm reasonably certain that these photos must have been taken earlier than 1969. The poster for the Skyway ride shows the original round buckets, but these were changed out for the larger rectangular buckets in 1965. It's not likely Disneyland would still be using the older poster.
The Flying saucers were gone by 1966, so I'm calling this as definitely before that year.
Hogarth, good point regarding the Skyway! I wonder if they ever considered making an updated Skyway poster with the rectangular gondolas? Sounds like the 1965 estimate is a good one. No idea how I got the date wrong, I usually write these months before you guys seem them, and it all becomes a blur.
The deportment and elocution may have been part of the secretarial classes Mom took in high school.
Major, as I recall, the handcar was restored a few years ago. Still the same one, though.
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