It's time for another nice selection of slide scans, generously shared with us by Keith Schad. These 1958 views were taken by Keith's wife's grandfather (Harold).
Let's start with this shot of Davy Crockett's Arcade. The three ladies (as Keith indicated in a note he sent me) are (his) wife's great-grandma Caroline Hill, great-great grandma Helen Hill (Harold's mother) and Harold's sister, also Helen.
It looks like one of those smoggy SoCal days that were so usual back then. Sure, we have smog nowadays, but it doesn't seem as frequent (generally). Harold was standing on the top deck of the Mark Twain, and pointed his camera toward the Golden Horseshoe theater. I wonder if he and his group had seen the Revue there (or if they would, later in the day)?
Next is this nice shot of the southwest corner of the Rivers of America, with the Plantation House, a raft heading toward Tom Sawyer Island, and in the distance to the left, the tent that held the short-lived show featuring Professor Keller and his Jungle Killers. Pretty neat!
MANY THANKS to Keith Schad for sharing these great scans!
Major-
ReplyDeleteWith just a 'smattering' of folks in these images - save for those folks on the TSI raft - these images almost feel like publicity images, taken on a Monday or Tuesday.
Thanks Keith for sharing these images.
1) I was gonna say that the ladies all have matching hats, but then I noticed that they are a little different from each other. Or maybe they are the same and just look different when viewed at different angles? I love the lighting in this photo.
ReplyDelete2) Nothing tops off a good Frontierland photo like the Moonliner pointing to the stars! Anachronism Park!
3) Major, your left = my right. ;-) But we've gotten used to that peculiarity of yours. I guess that's the Frontierland Station water tower to the right (Major's left) of the Plantation House?
Thanks to Keith and Major for today's photos.
The Plantation House image features a full view of the Frontierland restrooms ( Santa Fe & DL RR Freight Depot) this building was added when the plantation house manager complained that “all of Frontierland “ was crowding up the restaurant to use the small restaurant restrooms …
ReplyDeleteYou can also see the circus tent to HOLIDAYLAND …. I always imagined it to be further south ….
In the 50’s the Plantation House must have gone thru a great deal of table umbrellas…. One time for a project I had to pull images to see what color the umbrellas were …. We’ll take yer pick !! The restaurant had burgundy … white and yellow , green & white and here we see blue!! And that’s just the 50’s!!! ( we went with burgundy)
In the very early 2000’s Disneyland closed up its giant decorating department on Ball Road across from Gnal Lumber and Christmas and holiday decorating was relocated to another location … while regular park decorating was moved back to Disneyland for a short time …. In two large “loft” like spaces in the mill shop / sign shop / paint shop they stored all kinds of patterns on rolling racks In giant clear vinyl bags …. They had saved pattens for EVERYTHING!! Main Street awnings … DL RR excursion coach valances … Frontierland Indian Tee-Pees…. Sub voyage nautical Flags … castle banners … tiki lani shades… small world que canopies … sails for prop boats in pirates of the Caribbean and still being stored : Chicken Plantation Sunbrellas!! I have a feeling they used the patterns for other locations and just never changed the title to the patterns. Incidentally the patterns were all made from a heavy duty chipboard like cardstock…. But some were also a thin plastic like material ..
Are we seeing a crane or derrick of some sort on the roof of the Golden Horseshoe? Or perhaps it's beyond that?
ReplyDeleteIt looks like that Tom Sawyer Island raft has one corner that's going underwater!
Mike was that Frontierland bathroom building, the one that is now located on the other side of the R.R. tracks, and caught fire just a few months ago?
Thank you for sharing more pics with us, Keith! And thank you, Major!
Always good to see the elusive Frontierland restrooms. This is only the second or third time they have showed up on GDB in their original location. One of the least-photographed (at least by vintage guests) Disneyland details ever.
ReplyDeleteNote how the front left corner of the raft is swamping…but the deck still looks clear. I am wondering what kind of footwear that raft crew member is wearing…if any at all.
TM!, that crane was on the roof of the Golden Horseshoe. Earliest photo I have found is from 1958. Here’s a clearer shot in 1959, a long with a side view (also 1959). It looks like it may have been gone by 1973.
And yes - the Frontierland restrooms are the same building as the Frontierland/NOS freight station that recently burned.
Are you sure he was pointing the camera at the Golden Horeshoe in the second photo, and not the Mark Twain's mast?
ReplyDeleteNanook, why do you hate those people on the TSI raft so much?? ;-)
ReplyDeleteJB, you have no idea how annoying it is to ME that I do that left/right thing. And it seems to only be when I am writing blog descriptions, weirdly. The moment that I read my own blog post, I thought, “Left? It’s to the right, dummy!”. ALSO, that tent is the Holidayland tent, not the Professor Keller’s Jungle Killers tent, so I must have been on drugs that day.
Mike Cozart, those magnificent Frontierland bathrooms - it really captured the feeling of “going” on the frontier! And yes, see my comment to JB, I was on crack the day I wrote this. Looking back, I really do wonder, was I listening to podcasts while trying to write? That’s never a good thing to do. Only half my brain is concentrating on the matter at hand, and as things are, I need all of my brain! I mostly see pictures of the Plantation House with blue umbrellas, though there might have been some yellow ones too. Not sure I’ve ever seen burgundy. Do you know if they still have the patterns for all of those awnings and tee-pees (etc)? Sadly that’s the sort of thing that usually gets tossed out.
TokyoMagic!, we’ve seen that crane on top of the Golden Horseshoe many times, it’s in lots of old photos of the GH. Not sure if it was there from opening-day. I’m also not sure of is if it is still there to this day. Imagine being on a TSI raft, with water spilling over the deck! That might be a bit alarming. Plus you might wind up with soggy shoes.
Chuck, I’m not sure I ever knew about the added Frontierland bathrooms until today. My life has been a mockery. I think we’ve seen the raft crew barefoot, or perhaps they were wearing some sort of flip-flop type sandals? But I swear they appear to be entirely unshod. Of course that would be a no-no today. The crane was needed to lift giant bison burgers up to the top level of the Golden Horseshoe building.
Steve DeGaetano, I have to admit, as masts go, that Mark Twain one is pretty nice!
These are excellent documentary photos of the Old Park. This area has seen a lot of changes over the years, not all of them good, and it's nice to see how it used to be.
ReplyDeleteOn the trash can hunt, we see one of the nice woodgrained models there in front of Davy Crocketts, again while Fantasyland still had the plain green ones.
Thanks Keith and Major.
I'll check back later with more detail.
JG
Mike & Major, gee, I always thought that was the tent that held the short-lived Mickey Mouse Club Circus... ;-)
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDelete"The crane was needed to lift giant bison burgers up to the top level of the Golden Horseshoe building." Major, finish your thought: ... where they traveled down a long metal chute, joining-up with bags of Fritos that just 'popped-out' of "the mine"-!
@ Chuck-
Not sure if you're kidding, or not, but yes, the Holidayland tent was re-purposed - originally used for the [short-lived] Mickey Mouse Club Circus
Nanook, yes, I was kidding. The Mickey Mouse Club Circus, Keller's Jungle Killers, and Holidayland all used the same tent, although it was moved outside the berm for Holidayland.
ReplyDeleteMust have gotten pretty crowded in that tent with all those shows.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at an aerial photo from early 1960's showing construction of NOS and it looks like there must have been a lot of open land inside the berm behind the Plantation House, and the future site of the HM all empty too.
JG
"Note how the front left corner of the raft is swamping…but the deck still looks clear. I am wondering what kind of footwear that raft crew member is wearing…if any at all."
ReplyDeleteWell, Chuck...would you believe flip/flops and sandals? I wonder what is the OSHA approved foot ware of today!
This is a time when it was truly a day at the Park! KS
KS, thanks! That footwear makes perfect sense to me.
ReplyDeleteToday, CalOSHA probably requires steel-toed chest waders, a personal flotation device, a safety light, a dye marker, and a full-face helmet. Oh, and no stepping outside the railing.
JG, Of course I understand the need for change, expansion, new attractions, etc…. but there is something about the old Frontierland that is so appealing! I wonder if those wood grained trashcans were made of the same rare woods that were used for the siding on old station wagons?
ReplyDeleteChuck, you’re not wrong…!
Nanook, oh, you’re idea is the best yet. Any reason to include Klondike, possibly one of Disneyland’s least-remembered “characters”!
Chuck, now that I’m thinking about it, did the tent for Professor Keller’s Jungle Killers have red and white stripes? I thought maybe that one was just sort of gray. If I had time I’d do research, but there’s daytime TV to be watched.
JG, yes, that whole “outside the berm” area to the west of the park was wide-open for quite a long time. While I wish I’d seen Holidayland, I’m much happier with the Haunted Mansion!
KS, in a few photos, it really does appear as if the raft pilots are barefoot, though of course sandals might be hard to see from any kind of distance.
Chuck, that costume sounds cool as heck!