Randos From April 1975
Many Junior Gorillas remember 1975 - a pretty good time to visit Disneyland, all in all. Except for the Great Rat Infestation, that was bad. The rats were nice, but they made the lines really long.
One thing rats did not enjoy was the Global Van Lines storage lockers, where you could keep your set of Allen wrenches and your Hummel figurines, instead of carrying them around with you the whole day. Convenient! It was also the location of the "Lost and Found". "I lost a tooth four years ago". And guess what? They would have it, right there! Meanwhile, dig that crazy van.
Next is this rather unremarkable shot, unless you like green benches next to blue umbrellas. And somebody wearing a poncho. In which case this is a great shot!
36 comments:
Major-
There's no ambiguity in that first image as to which attraction posters are on display: The Monorail; Swiss Family Treehouse; and The Magic Mouse Go-Round.
Thanks, Major.
That first shot is great! "Global" Van Lines is appropriate...Switzerland's Matterhorn is in view, along with the great ocean depths...even the backside of a jungle. Can't get any more global than that, Kenya?
I also see Tigger in view, in #2!
Thanks, Major.
That is exactly how I remember the locker building in Town Square. However, I'm not sure I remember the scale out front (to the right of the doorway). I wonder if guests could weigh themselves with it?
Major, I visited Disneyland with my family, the last week of March 1975. I had my brand new camera with me, which had been a present for Christmas '74. The very first pic that I ever took in Disneyland, was taken from almost the exact same spot as your second pic. I just wish the color on my pic wasn't so wonky. It was the best I could do:
Disneyland - March 1975
After the Great Rat Infestation petered out, Disneyland went back to its usual Mouse Infestation: Mickey and Minnie walking around, Mouse ear balloons, Mouse ear hats, Hidden Mickeys, you know... the whole churro.
1) What is that light blue thing to the right of the doorway? A scale? What for? Maybe it's a post to tie up the truck so it doesn't go galloping down the street. [Edit: Looks like Tokyo! has settled the issue.]
Nanook must be blind. These Attraction Posters are so obvious, even i can see that they're (left to right) the Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, and Tom Sawyer Island. Easy peasy!
2) Like Sue said, Tee-eye-double guh-ur is over on the right schmoozing with the crowd. Hmm, there seems to be a paucity of outdoor vendors here.
Randos are fun; no limitations! Thanks, Major.
TokyoMagic, "wonky" is cool(!) - it's something different.
You were the first to photograph the Matterhorn's black waterfall. This was shortly after the Doobies' hit came out about Mississippi's black water. Obviously a "thing" back then.
Sue, ha, ha! I didn't even notice that!
I may as well include the 2011 pic I tried to take from the very same angle:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ege7qdlrBio/WCbl4EL4KYI/AAAAAAAAOb8/EK2U5xCOC5McdeTRZPy8eOgAm7gFdxd1gCLcB/s1600/Plaza%2B-%2BMay%2B2011.jpg
TokyoMagic, looking at that last photo you just attached from 2011, I see that you captured two new sightings!....
The famous french fry rocks, and folks who have eaten too many french fries.
;oD
Sue, HA, HA (again)!!! Those french fry people are the reason they had to redesign the boats for "It's A Small World." Seriously! At the time of the redesign, there was an article about it in the L.A. Times.
I need that 1967 version ( with carousel theater and rocket jet tower ) to complete my Tomorrowland 1967 attraction poster set. It appears to be rather rare and may have only had one or two production runs. The Disneyland Monorail is another poster that features several variations between 1959 and 1967. “Disneyland USA”, “Tomorrowland” , “Hotel & Tomorrowland Speedramp” , Tomorrowland ‘67 and sone versions with a metallic silver , metallic blue or flat grey background.
I have memories of the Global Van Line truck but never used a Disneyland locker till I was in late high school. I do have many recollections of the building as the National Car Rental “Main St. Livery center” with the 1903 Autocar parked out front. The Disneyland 1956 Horseless Carriage rear entry Toneau was based on the 1903 Autocar. I also remember running into the lockers where the giant Disneyland aerial photograph was to check if park changed were featured on the photo …. And they always seemed to be.
I’m not sure what was the motivation to create the brick structure facade for the lockers , but it was a late-in-the-game design change. Originally a wooded facade structure listed as the WED WAGON & CARRIAGE WORKS was to be to the left of the Emporium. But later a Sam McKim concept sketch showing the new brick storage “fire proof warehouse “ was sent out announcing BEKINS MOVING & STORAGE as a Disneyland sponsor. In fact at WDI the original have drawn 1/4 Main Street elevations have the old design sliced out of the vellum and the new design inserted and taped in. Anyone out there familiar with drafting will remember how this was delicately done with a very sharp blade , translucent drafting tape and a new piece of vellum ( or Mylar) … a sort of mechanical drawing transplant!
I suspect the brick facade as built with some kind of nod to BEKINS … . At Hong Kong Disneyland , when it opened , its Main Street looked more like the original 1955 Disneyland Main Street than the real
California Main Street USA - including the “global /BEKINS “ warehouse locker building … sponsored by UPS in China.
1967 version of the Monorail attraction poster ( I left that out)
Speaking of IASW (iasw?) boats, Bu knows a LOT about those boats needing to be redesigned...[right Bu?!?] "Coat tails up!"
TokyoMagic, got any more pictures to add? I'm still wide awake and not tired, yet.
Sue, about 5 years ago, I did an entire "Vintage Trip Report" post about my March 1975 visit to Disneyland. Depending on exactly when in April the Major's pics were taken, my visit was anywhere between just 1 to 4 weeks earlier. Here is a glimpse of that time period at Disneyland, including the entertainment handout and free guide book, along with some souvenirs:
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2018/04/easter-vacation-1975-vintage-disneyland.html
Tokyo!, your Brontosaurus picture is my favorite! ;-)
Thanks, TM! That’s a great post you added to your last comment....especially with your great-grandmother’s fried chicken story (now a favorite classic on GDB), AND that Brontosaurus picture —I love it!
Sue
Sue and JB, I'm glad you both enjoyed the Brontosaurus pic so much! ;-)
Love the Plaza Hub with Matterhorn pic. Always a favorite view. And as Sue pointed out, it's got T-I-double-guh-er. Tigger! Thanks, Major.
I wonder if this was the 18th of April of '75? Many a man (and woman) is now alive who remembers that famous day and year...
We almost went to Disneyland in April of '75. We went to Yosemite, camped outside the National Park and woke up to several inches of snow and closed roads. My mom and dad had to plan a revised vacation on the fly, huddled over the table in the trailer using nothing but maps, memories, and the AAA Tourbook for Northern California. My dad advocated for going down to LA, but since we had just been there in January, my mom talked him out of it and we instead embarked on a tour of Gold Country along CA-49. It ended up being one of the best family vacations we ever took. I even saved my three-year-old sister from drowning.
Sorry - what were we talking about?
Oh, right - ponchos! That guy's poncho reminds me of one my mom made for me when we did the Mexican Hat Dance in an all-school Christmas concert when I was in fourth grade. The one in today's photo is much bigger that the one I had. In fact, that one is big enough to live in - a regular poncho villa.
Mike, good to see somebody else's phone likes to change "some" to "sone." Actually, it's not a good thing at all and I feel your pain. I'd like to throw my phone in the river sone times.
TM!, I love how you captured the show lighting around the brontosaurus. It graphically illustrates that without that critical element, the image would literally be black.
Jan 3 and back "to it"...I am thinking of every possible way to delay "re-entering" the atmosphere...but the inevitable, is the inevitable. But before that: 1975 was a great year to visit Disneyland. Completely TRE FREE! It's funny that simply everyone has that same photo of the Matterhorn from right around the same exact spot. It is quite the view. The trees in the Plaza are so pretty. Tigger was often found in this area: cavorting with Pooh et.al. The yellow and white souvie stand on the right (formerly House of the Future) was one of my favorite for some reason. It seemed to be an area where I could really inspect things very closely to decide which thing would get my $$. I purchased on those "dial maps" there...where the little red dot appeared when you dialed the name in. So very low tech. I was obsessed with that dial map, which also did have a particular smell to it. Formerly Alpine Gardens could have been transformed into something amazing, and possibly it will be one day. That is a boat load of real estate right there. I would like to see a kind of a "Zermatt" area...which would lead into the Matterhorn...a bit elevated, but not blocking...and set back so it does not intimate another "land". Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Zermattland, French Fry Village, etc. I am enjoying Poncho Man...however, I never felt a need to wear a poncho...even in Mexico. The scale outside the lockers is an old freight scale. I don't remember it working, but I believe I tried it out during my time as a 90 pound weakling. You can see posters of the Global Anaheim building not he wall: I don't think those were there in my day, however everything else looks the same inside including the awful tube florescent lighting. I also only got a locker when I started high school days, which is around this time. We would always put our jackets in there....and then never use them....and then pick them up on the way out. I thought the sign on the right said "Slonge"...what is slonge? Ohhhh...Storage...that makes sense. Since Lost and Found was under our department I gave breaks to the ladies in there once in a while. It had a large room for the keeping of the lost things. The money that was found was turned into cash control, and if it was not claimed within 30 days it was yours. Putting found cash into your pocket was stealing. Lots of cash was turned in BTW. It was all documented on little cards as was everything that an employee wanted to keep...you just had to wait. "Finders Keepers" is real. Taking it home immediately is theft. If you needed sunglasses or an umbrella: that is different. Take your pick. In fact: anyone could go into lost and found and say "I lost my sunglasses" and the giant box would come out for you to peruse. Designer things were documented, and generally the owners would claim them. Changing this building to more buildings I do not approve of- and they look a bit "Olde Towne Mall: Torrance CA". Just my POV. Bring back the bricks please. Thanks for the diversion Major!
Lots to love here. I’m envisioning the Global Van with a hopped up engine and dragster tires like a Tom Daniel Monogram model kit.
I remember getting a locker once or twice, and thanks for the reminder of the giant aerial photo, which I had forgotten till now.
It’s too bad this classic facade was lost to the mall designers.
Mike, thanks for that description of replacing a vellum drawing, I was quite good at that and could produce a repair with only a faint line. It was important to use quality clear tape because the cheap stuff would yellow and make a shadow on the blueline after it aged. Our conversations lately have got me thinking about those old techniques and that pervasive ammonia smell of the ozalid process. There was a real tactile sense to drawing that is completely lost with computer tools.
I’m hearing a combination of Anton Karas and Ennio Morricone as the background music for photo two, and the Third Trash Can is hiding in plain sight.
Cheers all!
JG
I'm sure that somewhere in the family archive is a picture of me sitting in that Global truck as well as the Carnation truck. The lockers were one of the first places we visited to drop off the sweaters and food we smuggled into the park. We went back to the lockers several times a day to drop off souvenirs or stuff a plush in.
The scale by the door is to weigh the swag you were hoarding throughout the day, the lockers were by weight, you know?
Does anyone else remember the Global Van Lines building that was near the Harbor exit, they had a big globe sculpture close to the exit.
I was epecting a yellow rain poncho or something, not José and the Amazing Technicolor Poncho! I almost didn't notice Tigger in the background because the poncho was brighter and stripier!
"These Attraction Posters are so obvious, even i can see that they're (left to right) the Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, and Tom Sawyer Island."
The posters are clearly for the Vroomobile, The Succotash-Free Teahouse, and Great Moments with Fudgie the Whale. Speaking of Fudgie, if they ever come out with a "Find Fudgie" series of books à la "Where's Waldo?" I will have a whole new game to fail miserably at.
"Sue, HA, HA (again)!!! Those french fry people are the reason they had to redesign the boats for "It's A Small World." Seriously! At the time of the redesign, there was an article about it in the L.A. Times."
In the last day or two, my news feeds have been full of stories about how they just cleaned all the boats in the Florida iasw. The must have been pretty dirty for that to become such a hot news item.
The locker talk brings back a memory from my senior trip to Canada's Wonderland. This was back in the days when Americans and Canadians didn't need ID to cross the border, but when we got on the bus our German exchange student realized she didn't have her passport. She'd put her backpack in a locker that morning, so the bus driver waited for a group of us to go back to the locker room and look. She remember which locker she'd had, so we had to look in every empty locker while the staff checked the lost and found. We finally found it; it had fallen out and gotten wedged in the crack between the "floor" and back wall of the locker.
Nanook, it’s true, the posters are clear! Which I like, of course. I’ve always loved the Magic Mouse Go-Round!
Lou and Sue, I was happy to find that nice shot of the old Global Van Lines vehicle… it was a thrill a few years back when it was sold at auction, and I was able to walk around it and get a good close look at the details. It had been fully restored and looked amazing. Good eye on Tigger!
TokyoMagic!, I did not notice the scale, it’s interesting; I do wonder if people weighed themselves on it? I see nothing to prevent anyone from climbing on to it. I love that you can remember what you got for Christmas in 1974, I don’t remember anything at all! And it’s a fun memory that you first used the camera right in the Plaza. So… the color didn’t come out good?
JB, rats are just big mice, am I right? I just watched a YouTube video of a rat using a stick to set off a trap so that it could get the treat without danger of getting whacked. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen the video! As TM said, the blue thing is a scale, I guess it’s the kid they would have used for weighing parcels. And I guess I don’t know the Disneyland posters as well as I thought I did? I used to love seeing Tigger in his day-glo orange fur, usually skipping through Main Street or Fantasyland.
Lou and Sue, to save money they used untreated raw sewage on the Matterhorn back then. Just don’t think about it too much. And don’t breathe through your nose. Now I have that Doobie Brothers song stuck in my head!
TokyoMagic!, thank you for linking to your 2011 pic!
Lou and Sue, mmm, if those rocks had been giant french fries I would have liked them more.
TokyoMagic!, am I crazy or did they also widen (or deepen) the channel in IASW? Maybe they just changed the boats.
Mike Cozart, I do have one of those 1967 Monorail posters, it’s one of my treasures. Take a look at it HERE. I did not know that they made any versions of the Monorail poster with either a metallic blue or flat gray background, now I’d love to see those! I have used the Disneyland lockers, though on my last visit I used a backpack to carry my extra junk, and it was fine. No more lockers! I love that you would regularly check on the giant aerial photo in the locker building. I’m sure that if they’d built a wooden structure for the lockers it would have looked great, but I’ve always loved the unusual shape of the locker building, and hate that they changed it to a boring, generic design. Why?? I used to do some drafting and technical drawing, and I did plenty of cutting and pasting, it was such a pain to send out type to the typographer, wait a day, pick it up, put it through the waxer (I can still smell that acrid aroma), and so on. Who remembers rubylith?
Mike Cozart, I knew what you meant!
Lou and Sue, now that I think about it, did Bu’s story involve the old IASW boats? Of the newer redesigned boats?
TokyoMagic!, ah, I remember that post, and see that I left a lengthy comment! Old photo prints sometimes really changed colors drastically, I have to wonder if you used GAF film! Their slide film did not stand up to the test of time.
JB, yes, that is quite a photo of the brontosaurus!
Sue, it is fun to go back and look at older posts, I should really go back and start at the beginning of TM’s blog!
TokyoMagic!, that photo must be worth millions.
K. Martinez, it’s the fact that Tigger is there that makes the second photo a winner! And I didn’t even notice him, despite his vivid color.
Chuck, I love your story of Yosemite, 1975! I’ve never been there in the snow, and I’m sure it is beautiful, but… hey, snow is cold! Nobody told me! I would have thought that much of California’s Gold Country would have had snow as well? That sounds like a neat trip though, I was especially interested in California history, the Gold Rush, ghost towns, the Missions, etc, so I would have really enjoyed that diversion. Wow, your mom made you a poncho? Amazing! Was it multicolored? Did it say “Ski Bandini Mountain” on it? TM’s photo of the brontosaurs reminds me of some of my best work.
Bu, it’s never fun to return to the “regular world” after a nice break. I’ll bet that 1975 was a great time to go to the park, even though it was pre-Space Mountain. If I could go back and walk around with a camera, I’d take pictures of all kinds of things that would eventually vanish. I wonder if that view of the Matterhorn is kind of the first good look people get when they step into the Plaza? It would make sense that they would think “I have to get a picture of that!”. I remember seeing Tigger in this general area, and also Pinocchio, because my girlfriend of the time insisted that I get my picture with Pinoke, even though he was skipping away from us (probably about to start a well deserved break). I love those “dial maps”, and have one of each (I think there are five or six variations), such a fun souvenir. They should make new versions! I have only worn rain ponchos, never a cloth one, even though I think we used to have one from Olvera Street. Funny how that fluorescent lighting looks so green in photos, but it was just what was available, so we put up with it. “Slonge”, ha ha. You’d think that any money that was “lost” would be found by a guest in about three seconds, since the park is so busy. Maybe if a wad of money fell under a bench...? I’m weird and would feel odd about wearing somebody else’s sunglasses, unless I could give them a good wash. BUT I’M NOT CRAZY! Yes, I hate the way they changed the building to the way it looks now, so boring.
@ Bu-
A reference to the 'Olde Towne Mall'. Tackiness personified. Now my day is complete... and it's only just begun-!
JB, I’d love to see a Global Van Lines truck by way of Big Daddy Roth. It would have a plexiglass bubble dome on it, of course, Big Daddy loved those. I guess they felt futuristic, and Bob Gurr would agree. Oh man, that ammonia smell… we had a blueprint machine at school, and I remember the aroma vividly. We also got a neat self-contained machine that enabled us to make our own photostats, I still remember the smell of the photo chemicals. I would play with that thing for hours making stats of my drawings, I’m amazed they didn’t fire me for wasting so much of their resources.
MRaymond, interesting, I have lots of photos of people sitting in the Carnation Truck, but I don’t know if I have a single photo of anybody sitting in the Global Van. I still remember renting a locker, and then we left the park and forgot all of our stuff in the locker. So we found a security guard who was pretty dubious, but he finally let us in to go get our things. It was kind of neat to walk around Town Square when there was virtually nobody around! I do remember the Global Van Lines building, and have a few items, a postcard and a booklet, with nice photos.
Melissa, yes, I automatically looked for a rain poncho, not a “real” poncho. Everyone loves succotash, which is why the Teahouse finally closed. Folks enjoyed getting a free extra pockeful of succotash on the way out, to eat at their convenience. I’ve seen some headlines on YouTube showing the sad condition of some rides in Florida, maybe they are related to the news feeds you mentioned. I can practically imagine the panic that the German exchange student must have felt realizing that she didn’t have her passport. Reminds me of when I was a the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and I found a Chinese passport on the ground. Nobody seemed to know what to do, until a very pretty woman came up to me and said that it was hers. Yep, the photos matched! I got a big hug for my troubles. WORTH IT.
My news feed is also being pummeled by "It's a Small Mold"...sounds like a chlorine thing to me. My Small World adventure involves a 45 minute stint in the finale as we hit bottom- the flume must have been shallower or something in there...we scraped a few times before the actual "beaching". As usual, the water flooded the back seat where I sat...and my pants were a more than a bit moist. Luckily, it's the last ride of the tour. Some very kind Small World-ilions got their boating hooks and literally dragged us back to the dock- where we stopped was not possible for the evacuation. "Stay calm everyone".....The redesign of the boats probably add more "buoyancy" (?) Pirates: same deal. The boats look rather horsey though and lack the previous delicateness of the bateaux- kind of like the "Tonka" version of ride vehicles. "Where Churros go....Trouble follows..."
Disneyland not too long ago replaced the original It’s A Small World boats ( some were from the New York world’s Fair and additional boats were added in 1966) the current ones are lighter …. But the guests are heavier. One of the big reasons for the change is the boats width spacing. A flange was added to the boats sides to make it impossible to bounce against either side of the loading platform. There had been several incidents in recent years with children AND ADULTS putting their hands into the water or along the side of the boat and getting their fingers smashed between the boat’s step rail and the dock. For awhile Disneyland tried to seat children in the center - and they still do - and some rubber like guard spacers were added to the old boats for a time until all new boats were designed. My friends and I call the new boats the “LITTLE TYKES” series as they resemble the sturdy molded plastic finish and colors of the Little Tykes line of back yard tricycles and play wagons. The new series of boats included a few specialized versions to easily load and secure wheelchairs and other handicapped vehicles.
Disneyland saved two of the original boats as well as one that was converted to a maintenance “skiff” but I understand the skiff too has been replaced with a modern equivalent.
MAJOR : for your 1967 Monorail poster would you trade a HOUSE OF THE FUTURE 1957 or a SKULL ROCK GROTTO 1961 attraction poster ? Or a 1956 INDIAN VILLAGE CEREMONIAL CIRCLE attraction poster???? What about a 1958 MAIN STREET VEHICLES attraction poster??
Heee-heee!!
@ MIKE-
Always fascinating 'stuff'. I think my next new car should be a LITTLE TIKES Cozy Coupe-! (That'll show all those Tesla drivers a thing or two-!!)
Thanks.
Major, my poncho was multicolored in a pattern similar to the one in today’s photo. I was crazy about California history, too; it probably started with visits to missions in Sonoma and San Francisco and Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento when I was small, but I know this trip contributed significantly to that interest. I was in Kindergarten, and the history bug kind of stuck. Which must be why I have a degree in film production and work for the Government doing Not History.
And I’ll offer you an even better deal than Mike’s - how about a 1957 Viewliner poster signed by the artist for your 1967 Monorail poster.
My sister and I had SO many matching crocheted ponchos. But they were the kind that came to a point in the front, and usually some kind of lacy-looking pattern.
Bu, I don’t really know if WDW is as decrepit as the photos seem to show, or if somebody just found a few examples within a huge park. I’d like to believe that it’s the latter. I remember your story about being on IASW when the boat “beached”, amazing that you kept your cool!
Mike Cozart, the flange is a simple yet ingenious idea, it seems inevitable that somebody will put their hands where they don’t belong. It’s hard to blame kids because they don’t know any better, but adults… well, we all know that they can be pretty clueless too. Gosh, I sure wish there WAS a House of the Future or Skull Rock Grotto poster (I mean an official, vintage version)!! I know my friend Mr. X would flip if there was a Main Street Vehicle poster. Something to think about.
Nanook, at least your LITTLE TYKES Cozy Coupe will probably not burst into flames or drive into the nearest lake.
Chuck, we studied the Missions when I was very young, there was a romantic idea about seeing California when it was all so “unexplored”. Of course there were the natives who were already there and who suffered many indignities afterwards, sadly. But they don’t tell you that stuff when you’re a kid. If you throw in a Dolly Madison Zinger with your poster, I will make the trade! ;-)
Melissa, why did you have so many ponchos in Northeast U.S.??
I remember a story not too long ago about an adult suing Disney over a (claimed) amputated finger at WDW's PotC as a bateaux was docking. I don't know if it went to trail, but I'd believe that the lawyers and insurance people would insist on a boat design that would make such a thing impossible.
T remember that story about the Pirates finger guy! At the time, it flashed me back to my first ride an it's a small world as a kid, and being sure I could see some kind of scary machinery under the water.
I think the ponchos were just a cute, relatively easy thing for the crafty ladies in the family to make. They worked as well as a sweater in late Spring or early Fall, but we didn't grow out of them as quickly as cardigans.
The Pirate Finger guy experienced pier pressure. (I couldn’t resist)
LOL! Fun day!
Sue
I’ve figured out what bothers me about the building facade in the picture. The signs are all wrong.
The big sign blocks the door to the loft. This would be used to move heavy items like pianos into the loft by means of block & tackle suspended from the beam that extends out over the walk below.
And the smaller “Lost and Found” sign is covering the string course of the brick, spoiling the composition and not consistent with the period, when things like that mattered.
JG
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