Main Street Station, 1950s
I heart Main Street Station, and I'll bet you heart it too. Both of today's photos are from the 1950s, though they are from different batches.
In this first example, the photographer presumably hoped to capture the C.K. Holliday, but it was in motion, and a slow shutter resulted in motion blur, even though the train couldn't have been going more than a few miles an hour. Christmas bells hang in the upper windows, the Kalamazoo Handcar is right out in front, the Mickey Flower Portrait looks great... and we get a great look at the rare "tri-level" Frontierland poster, which celebrated the Stage Coach Ride, the Mine Train Ride, and the Mule Pack Ride. If you are lucky enough to own one of these, it is likely worth tens of thousands of dollars today.
Next is this interesting angle; once again, Christmas decorations are on the Station, including those red bells, so perhaps these were taken during the same holiday season. Rose bushes mostly hide the chain link fence that theoretically kept gate-crashers out. The yellow passenger cars are out in front, presumably pulled by the E.P. Ripley. I'm not entirely sure of the purpose of that window to our right... any ideas?
19 comments:
Major-
With the Disneyland population listed at 5,000,000, along with the Xmas decorations, this image is most-likely from November-December 1956.
(Who do I contact about a floater policy on my Frontierand Tri-Level poster-?)
Thanks, Major.
Interesting that back in Disneyland's early days they referred to the rides as... rides, instead of attractions. I guess at some point they got all elitist, and 'rides' wasn't good enough for them anymore. Just like 'employees' became 'cast members'. I do understand the reasoning though.
That Frontierland poster may be worth a lot, but I like the Jungle Cruise poster better; much more impactful.
We've seen those colored balls (Christmas ornaments) before. They look like escapees from a giant gumball machine. I will assume that they are meant to look like ornaments on the Christmas tree-shaped roof of the train station.
I'm pretty sure that one of our regulars told us what that booth is for, but danged if I can remember.
Muchas gracias por los fotografías, señor Major.
@ JB-
"...rides, instead of attractions".
Don't forget Adventures - Attractions & Adventures
Ah yes. Adventures. I knew there was another term floating around in my head when I was writing that. But it wouldn't reveal itself.
As if those roses and that short fence with it's measly barbs, would keep gate-crashers out! Just give a then-young Bob Seagren, a broom or mop, and he'd be over it in seconds.
JB, when I scanned and posted a 1975 DL Guide a few years ago, I was surprised to see that it mentioned Disneyland "employees." I would have thought the term, "Cast Member" had already been established by then. On another page in that same guide, it referred to them as "Disneylanders." Repeat after me, "The rides at Disneyland are run by employees!"
Repeat after me, again, "I want to go on the Cups, the Buckets, and the Cars."
These are great! There's nothing like Christmas in the parks!
I actually like the blurred effect. Man, that train is rocketing out of there!!!
My wife has a t-shirt of the Jungle River Ride poster. Yeah, we're cool that way. It happens to be her favorite ride...uh...attraction....uh...adventure!
Was that window for will call? Just a guess, because I have no idea.
have a great one, Major!
Yes, the blurred train makes a great photo, You Are There!
I’m not a fan of the ball ornaments, sorry, but at least they aren’t fake diamonds.
Typical LA Christmas, flowers in bloom, this is before the shift to concertina wire.
The closest I’ve got to that poster is a nice scan. I made it the “album cover” of my Frontierland sound track mix tape.
Frank Sinatra, Jackie O and the Blues Brothers are waiting for the next train. I can hear the Announcer and the bell.
The folks in the second picture are waiting to shake hands with the carpenter with the scroll saw that made the ticket booth fascia trim.
Thanks Major!
JG
The first image is a beauty!
I agree with JB....those are gum balls. Plus there’s a gold starfish.
Thanks, Major.
Sue
Nanook, now we need a Latin term for determining the date of a Disneyland photo by using the “population” sign as a metric! And you joke, but have you ever thought of insuring your poster??
JB, yeah, I’ve never really understood why “rides” became a dirty word to some people. Of course there are many examples where various pamphlets and items used the word anyway. I sort of get “cast members” over “employees”, but it’s still a little highfalutin’. I love the Frontierland poster for many reasons, but it’s the only one that depicts Rainbow Caverns, in a beautiful little vignette. Mmm, giant gumballs. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Just like snails. Hey, I didn’t know you spoke French! ;-)
Nanook, they should have used “antics”!
JB, I see that your brain won’t behave, just like mine.
TokyoMagic!, honestly as a kid I would see photos like that and think, “All I would need is a narrow homemade wooden ladder (just a board with pieces of wood nailed to it), and a few old towels to throw over the pointy barbed wire…”. As if I was actually planning to sneak in. “Disneylanders” is truly old-fashioned, I’m amazed that they still used that term in a 1975 guidebook!
TokyoMagic!, What about “The Shrinking Ride”??
Stu29573, this photo was taken back when the trains were nuclear. Sure, they looked old-fashioned, but Walt wanted them to be technologically advanced! Hey, I can’t blame anyone for being happy with their attraction poster t-shirt. The actual posters are so big, and so expensive, maybe just the beautiful images are enough for normal folks. Unfortunately I am not normal. As you know.
JG, I don’t mind the ball ornaments mostly because they feel so old-fashioned. Nowadays the Christmas decor is so over the top and not authentic to a turn-of-the-century Main Street. My mom’s garden often looks great in December, though not quite as amazing now that she is not able to get out there and work like she used to. She truly loves her garden. I do wonder how that made things like that fascia trim; surely it couldn’t have all been done by hand, could it?? Some automation must have been used?
Sue, I don’t mind the gum balls! I’m not seeing the starfish. I need to see the starfish.
I agree with Stu - I think that’s been referenced as the “will call” window before. Or possibly where you can make reservations for Rise of the Resistance. These folks may finally have a boarding group assigned by now.
Hang on. Did he just say, "tens of thousands of dollars?" Woah this is heavy. Think I'll just duck on over in the DeLorean and borrow that poster. Of course that means it will start to disappear from the photo ...sorry everyone!
I always assumed that "rides" became "attractions" so that they could count stuff where you don't technically "ride" anything, like Circlevision and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Then again, I assume a lot of things.
I don't have the Jungle Cruise poster T-shirt, but I do have a pair fo socks with the poster across them.
Melissa, that makes waaaaay too much sense. Best put it out of your mind.
I assumed that the change to "Cast Member" was imposed by management to influence the mindset of the folks "On Stage", reminding them that they are playing a role on set, be on point all the time.
I've also encountered some old timer CM's that regarded that term with contempt, which I also assume was directed at the mindset of the management that developed the concept.
I have no memory from youth of what the employees were called, and the term CM is now so pervasive I have no idea when I first heard it.
I think Melissa is right with her notion, and there seems to have been a bit of over-definition to amp up expectations of the Park delights. Remember the poster advertising the 1959 Matterhorn/Monorail/Submarine development, where the Ice Caverns of the Matterhorn were touted as an "attraction". All you could do was ride through it on the Skyway and there was nothing there to see or do except look at plaster painted to look like ice. And I still miss it to this day.
JG
@ JG-
"...there was nothing there to see or do except to look at plaster painted to look like ice".
[You should see my front entry hall-! Brrrrr.....]
Chuck, I am pretty sure it was a “duck call” window, but I don’t want to argue about it. I’m too sensitive!
M.McFly, I believe that one went for auction a year or so ago for around $29,000.
Melissa, aha, that’s actually a great hypothesis!
Dean Finder, I wonder if they made attraction poster underwear?
JB, Melissa has solved it!
JG, I am sure that you are right too, though I wonder where the “on stage” idea came from? Was that one of Van Arsdale France’s things? He was pretty instrumental in developing the “Disney Way”. I’m so used to “cast member” that it doesn’t bother me, but there IS something kind of annoying about it. I am with those contemptuous CMs! I doubt I ever gave the term a second thought until well into my Disneyland fandom. Don’t forget about “attractions” such as the shooting galleries, the various Tomorrowland exhibits, and things like Mr. Lincoln, none of which can be called “rides”. I don’t remember the Ice Caverns, if I’m totally honest. I think I was always hoping to see a bobsled go whizzing by, and was blind to anything else.
Nanook, I’ve heard that you also have an “ice tunnel” like the one at Universal Studios (you know, the one Bigfoot ran though in “The Six Million Dollar Man”).
Nanook has a rotating ice tunnel? I'm inviting myself over, so I can run through it in slow motion! Also, so I can see, touch, and lick, his $29,000 tri-level Frontierland AP.
Post a Comment