DLRR & Main Street, 1950s
I sure seem to have a lot of photos from Disneyland, circa "some time in the 1950s". That's not a bad thing! Most of them are nothing super-extraordinary, but I love them anyway.
This first one appears to have been taken from just outside the park, with that chain link fence - the finest chain link available - looking very "hop-able". Why pay admission when you can just climb the fence? The wife can make a cup with her two hands and hoonch you over. How will she get over? She'll figure something out. Now I'm trying to imagine where you would have wound up if you did hop the fence and climb up that bit of the berm. What was on the other side? A tropical jungle? A land of tomorrow? Love this view of the end-car of the Disneyland Railroad.
Gosh, what a beautiful shot of Main Street USA on what appears to be a lightly-attended winter's day. So wonderful, with Main Street Station looking surprisingly far away. The Tobacco Shop Indian is just visible, way down there near the transition to Town Square. Some familiar signs can be seen, for the Swift Market House, Gibson Greeting Cards, and the Wonderland Music Store. I wonder what treasures would be found in the Art Gallery? Original animation cels for $1.00? As always, the variety of architectural styles and details are very pleasing to the eye.
35 comments:
I see that Disney splurged and got the deluxe chain link fencing; the kind that's festooned with barbed wire. Notice that the barbed wire is angled toward any would-be fence climber. The better to rend and rip the flesh off of a fence hopper. Hard facts.
And what's this? Why the train is bereft of passengers! Oops, my mistake. There is at least one soul on this ghost train. Maybe a couple; it's hard to tell.
If I had to guess the location, I would say somewhere in Frontierland, next to West Street. Although, I can also picture this being just beyond the berm outside Tomorrowland, like you said, Major.
Let's count trashcans, shall we?........ Well, that was fun. What should we do next?
#2 looks a lot like a real, present day, small-town America main street; except for the horse-drawn streetcar. I count only four trashcans here. Town Square looks devoid of trashcans.
Thanks for the vintage fifties photos, Major.
The DLRR pic is wonderful and so unusual. I'd love to know where along the track this pic was taken. Hopefully someone today will be able to verify the location of this shot.
Thanks, Major.
The wife can make a cup with her two hands and hoonch you over. How will she get over? She'll figure something out.
When I was growing up, our next door neighbor always referred to his wife as, The Wife.
After hoonching the husband over the fence, "the wife" can slide herself under a gate, somewhere along the perimeter of the park. If she gets a little dirty, she can just say that she was exploring caves over on Tom Sawyer Island.
It is amazing at how town-realistic Main St. USA looks in this picture. Back when it was treated as a real
“Land”
I count 6 trash cans :
3 green with yellow trim WESTSIDE
2 green with yellow trim EASTSIDE
1 yellow with green trim up at the train station.
I can’t quite place the location of the excursion train. I’d assume if it’s taken by a guest it has to be from the parking lot l
Most likely leaving Main Street enroute to Frontierland Station. Or is it from HolidayLand???
The train photo was taken no earlier than 1958, the year those excursion cars went into service on the DLRR. After carefully reviewing the earliest Daveland pictures of the DLRR, I think this was taken where the train rounded the southeast corner of Tomorrowland. If you look at This photo taken in Holidayland in 1957, you can see that the landscaping on the berm in the background is completely different from today’s picture.
Surprised I have never noticed that fire hydrant at the corner of Main and W. Center St. Just checked Google Street Maps, and it’s still there today.
Click here for the modern Google Street View of the hydrant corner.
I’ve always enjoyed how Main Street Station is a “weenie” in both directions, beckoning us in from the Parking Lot, and punctuating the view back down Main Street. Very economical to get double duty that way.
Mike, I agree, six trash cans, placed with micrometer precision no more than one hot-dog-munch apart. Number 5 is just a sliver.
And no less than four flags, but probably only the Town Square pole has a real one.
Chuck, thank you for the research and links. I agree here too. This is the TL side, taken from the Parking Lot or Harbor Blvd.
The East Center Street hydrant is very visible, as is the one in Town Square, both still in place today, and there is a drinking fountain at what will become C&H point, but it is not yet a white fluted one. You can just see the plain pipe sticking up, like the kind you would find in an elementary school playground.
Thanks Major, lots of fun today with quiet humdrum pictures.
JG
Yes, I bet Walt loved the fact that the train station was the gateway to his magic playground. The train loop is like Don Draper's Carousel, letting us travel in a way a child travels, round and round, and then back home again to a place where we know we are loved.
"There is at least one soul on this ghost train."
A sole soul, as it were.
I love pictures like #2, where somebody spies the photographer and looks right into the camera. It's like he can see us looking back at him all these years later.
Major-
Based on the Wonderland Music store location, that image is from around 1957-1959.
Thanks, Major.
Both great photos from the early days. Number two pulls my soul right into it. By the way, great comments.
Our first trip was around that time or a year later. All those memories went with the wayward wind.
Thanks Major, guess I can fabricate a memory from that image of Main Street.
Major, two awesome photos.
I can still remember being teeny tiny in the 50s, and our family routine at that age was we HAD to get on the train at Main Street as soon as we entered the park. Then we would take it once around back to Main Street and start our day. I thought this is what everyone did!
It's all about setting the stage!
Thanks, Dr. Goat. I haven’t had a Gogi Grant earworm in years.
Chuck, You're welcome. Haven't heard that tune in a very long time.
Unfortunately, I had the 'Murder She Wrote' theme song going thru my head, but when I remembered that song, that went away and it was smooth sailing.
As I've suggested in the past THIS will cure any ear worm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-PZMc25MA
I love the pics! I forget how at DL you can see the train from outside the park. At WDW you could never do that.
Gee, thanks, DrGoat. Now, for some weird reason, I have the theme to "Newhart" going through my head...
After looking at photo 2 for a while, if it were black and white, and only slightly cropped to remove the passerby on the left, it could pass for a photo of a real city street.
JG
Melissa... great observation about the train traveling around like a carousel!!
PS, as I'm sure everyone knows, with the reconfiguration for the addition of Star Wars land, the train now finally makes a left turn(!)
+ sports-coat classiness (probably even a suit). Nice day.
MS
If the train is in Tomorrowland, then the murky box far left kould be the Kal-Kan Kennel Klub.
Plenty of thorns to crawl over to before even getting to the barbed wire.
Cheers-MS
MS, And doggy-do-do, too, then!
Major, I love that second shot!!
—Sue
It just occurred to me that the first shot records one of the few locations on the space-time continuum where you could go forward in time and see dinosaurs.
DrGoat, my mom had the 45 of that song. It stood out because most of the records in her metal record case from her high school days were 78s, and this was one we could play on my little GE record player that would only play at 45 and 33⅓ rpm. My sister and I played it a lot. Still enjoy hearing it.
Stu, Go for the theme song from Sanford and Son to rid yourself of that one. Works for me.
Nanook, that is one earworm killer, I must admit.
JB, if you look closely, you can see that they used the Happiest Barbed Wire on Earth, which is nice. It makes you smile as the metal barbs scratch and pierce you. Maybe it’s coated with pixie dust? I’ll bet a lot of train passengers tend to move to the front, though it doesn’t make much difference. I do have to admit once sitting in the back car, and the audio did not sync well with the narration. Maybe that was just a glitch.
K. Martinez, if I had to guess, I’d surmise that the DLRR photo was taken somewhere along the western or southwestern edge of the park, just because that’s where a lot of guests would see that view as they walked from the parking lot.
TokyoMagic!, at least he didn’t call her “the old ball and chain”, I guess. If the lady was covered in dirt, she could say that she was an employee working on park maintenance.
Mike Cozart, more trash can trivia! I believe that there was parking over on the southeastern part of the park, but it seems like (based on my collection) more people were directed to the southwestern part of the parking lot (assuming they weren’t just plain “south” of the entrance).
Chuck, ah, good point, I didn’t even consider that we weren’t looking at the yellow passenger train cars, or the “cattle cars”. I guess a fire hydrant helps to keep Main Street looking realistic?
Chuck, thanks!
JG, yes, there were definitely features that could draw guests north or south. But the castle is so out-of-the-ordinary! Unlike the old-time train station, ha ha. For some reason I am charmed by those early, extremely minimal drinking fountains. I think that the ones at my grade schools were fancier than the ones at the park; inside we even had the kind that chilled the water! Kids were always plugging the spigot with their gum though, which was gross.
Melissa, while we’ve seen photos of Walt at the helm (?) of the trains in the early days, I wonder if he continued to play “engineer” over the years? I think I see two people looking right at the camera, notice the woman way in the distance, to the right!
Nanook, thank you!
DrGoat, yes, I do love that second image especially, it’s one of those photos I wish I could step into. The wayward wind, my dad loved that song!
LTL, yes, we often rode the train as our first ride. I’m sure we wanted to “see the dinosaurs”, so that was a no-brainer. I’m not sure I understood that you could have hopped on the train at several other stations, even though we stopped there on our journey!
Chuck, I can hear it now!
DrGoat, I swear I think my dad had a compilation album of “cowboy songs” that included “The Wayward Wind”. I remember also like “The Streets of El Paso”.
Nanook, that kind of hard rock and roll is not appreciated here!
Stu29573, seeing the train (AND the Monorail) before you got into the park was one of the exciting things for me!
JG, those Imagineering guys did an amazing job.
LTL, the funny thing is that I have seen a very early photo (wish I could remember where), in which the train track did a little jog to the left. Maybe not quite a “left turn”, but still the train did head a bit, left-ish.
MS, yes, those were the days!
MS, gosh, it’s just too hard to tell.
Sue, is this a “first” for a mention of doggy-doo on GDB? Historic!
Chuck, I’ve gone forward in time, and at a certain point there are dinosaurs again. Just so you know. My mom and dad gave me a little portable record player, I can recall how I abused my poor records. We loved to turn the records backwards (by hand).
Now someone needs to bring up 'kitty-poo'... oops, I just did. Or maybe kitty-cah-cah. I think we went camping at Lake Kitty-Cah-Cah once.
JB, making me think of this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wqT4HtK2sI
Have to turn it up. Lake Titicaca figures prominently.
Lyrics here >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_Fugue
JG
Major, your schools definitely had better drinking fountains than mine.
We had some porcelain ones hung on the outside walls, but the playground ones didn't have a drain or a bowl or anything, just a knob operating a bubbler stuck on the end of a pipe, and a puddle on the ground. Seems like the pipes were tied to a 4x4 post with a metal strap. You could turn it on and put your finger over the water spout to spray people several feet away.
JG
I now have all the "earworm cure" songs stuck in my head at the same time. My sister swears by "My Baby Takes the Morning Train," but that always gets stuck in my head too, which it just now did along with the other ones, and it feels like I just drank a whole pot of coffee.
IIRC, I recently went looking for the record set my Grade 4 teacher used to play to teach us the multiplication tables, and I found it on the first try: https://youtu.be/2PQf88h3sqE
Major, in the early days of the DLRR when the passenger train only stopped at Main Street and the freight train only stopped at Frontierland, the passing siding in front of Main Street station was accessed via a switch that made the train jog to the left. Later, after they expanded the berm, realigned the right-of-way, and moved the Frontierland depot across the tracks, the new passing siding at Frontierland was also entered via a left-hand turnout (the right-of-way is still there, but the tracks were gone by the middle of 1966).
Disneyland is often depicted as Walt’s ideal vision of America. When you think about it, the railroad design perfectly reflected Walt’s conservative, right-of-center politics, with only the occasional jog to the left in certain, specific situations. Maybe I’m reading too much into this.
I remember as a kid a very early “ear worm” it was from the radio commercials for BIG BEAR SUPERMARKET. “……Big Bear’s a GREAT home town supermarket …. Big Bear’s a GREAT home town supermarket ….” The singers would trail off repeating the song. I remember in my mind I could hear the song long after the radio was off or we were it if the car so no use like it was still playing .
Ironically as much as I remember that jingle, I have no recollection having ever been to or even seen a Big Bear Supermarket. It’s possible the radio station was broadcasting from Los Angeles and we were picking it up - that was common thing for radio and TV throughout San Diego “back then”.
Major-
Thanks to Daveland, THIS VIEW probably shows [one location] (behind Casey Junior/Storybook Land) where the tracks 'jog to the left'. This is dated 'sometime between 1959 - 1961'. (By now I assume you have a set of checks imprinted with: 'Pay to the Order of Daveland').
@ Melissa-
That's the very same 'music' our class used to learn the multiplication tables - I think back in the 3rd or 4th grade. (I guess some songs are just 'timeless'-!!) Thanks for sharing.
JB, I do not encourage the discussion of animal… stuff!
JG, yeah, I needed the lyrics, the words kind of mushed into a rhythm.
JG, oh I went to the fanciest of schools! I wore a velvet suit (short pants of course) and had long golden curls! ;-) The outside drinking fountains at most of my schools were like you describe, but I do vividly remember only wanting the ice-cold water from the one (or was it more than one?) indoors. Nothin’ like cold water.
Melissa, I used to work with a guy who would hum a tune, and a little while later he would catch me humming the same tune, and he would say, “Ha ha, I programmed you!”. So I paid someone to kidnap him and ship him off to Timbuktu. I hope he’s happy! Also, math, don’t tell me you believe all that stuff!
Chuck, I’m not sure if the “jog” to the left had to do with the Frontierland siding; I know I’ll never find the photo I am thinking of; I’d guess it was from 1955-ish. Gosh, I hate it when there is a photo that I know I have, but it might as well be on the moon. I’ve heard many theories that are crazier than your Walt/railroad theory!
Mike Cozart, I don’t know the Big Bear Supermarket tune, but Pete Ellis Dodge was one that many SoCal residents know. Even now I can sing it by heart.
Nanook, that is an interesting photo, but that’s not the location I was thinking of! Well, I guess I have no choice but to look through my photos scrounged from the internet. But there are SO MANY of them!
Nanook, it sounds like you and Melissa had much more fun in math class than I ever did.
Mike, if I could have the brain cells back that are devoted to remembering advertising jingles from childhood, I could rule the world. Well, at least I could probably complete simple tasks for myself.
…..oh yes , I know the Pete Ellis Dodge “Firestone Exit , South Bay ( South Gate) “ jingle … I saw a local documentary about Pete Ellis and the big financial scam and difficulties he got into with his dealerships …. ( that was never mentioned in the jingle!! Lol)
I had to look up Big Bear Supermarkets : they were a San Diego chain started in 1959. They closed in 2004. I read a early news article that the chain was “unimpressed” with bar code scanners and decided not to install them …. Despite a law (??) that soon required supermarkets to have 80% of products with barcodes and prices marked - go figure.
Melissa : one time at a Karaoke outing I knew none of the songs EXCEPT the tv show theme songs. My friends are amazed that I know so many songs and tunes …. But they are all from decades long past …. Lol. So they were shocked I was unfamiliar with most must after 1985….. lol. But if it’s from the 19th and early 20th I’m an expert! When NAME THAT TUNE came back a few years ago sone friends kept saying I’d be so good at that …. I had to explain , I’d be GREAT at Name that tune in 1977 …. Not 2017…..lol. And if I was a contestant on 1977 NAME THAT TUNE, my catch phrase would be : “ I don’t need a note!”
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