It's time (unfortunately) for more Sunday Blurzles™. Slide scans that need contact lenses. These are dated "September 24, 1956", so Disneyland was just over a year old.
Folks just arriving to the park often liked to ride the Disneyland & Santa Fe RR; or at least they liked to climb the steps of the train station for a nice elevated look at Town Square. This seems to be yet another case of guests not showing up until late in the day, which baffles me. The banner at the entrance to Main Street says, "Disneyland Welcomes...", well, we don't know who it welcomes. Let's pretend that it says Disneyland Welcomes Junior Gorillas!
Vesey Walker and the Disneyland Band march down Main Street, presumably for their final performance of the day. Note the band's blue uniforms, which were only used in the earliest days.
Major-
ReplyDeleteThere's another 1956 image capturing part of a banner - welcoming "A.S. of S.E. Now... if we only knew what that stood for. (I'm certain we can come up with a slew of crazy names).
Thanks, Major.
Vesey doesn't care if he's blurry, he's comfortable marching away the afternoon...
ReplyDeleteThanks Major!
Nanook, where do you see the "A.S. of S.E."?
ReplyDelete"American Society of ???"
Major, maybe instead of "guests not showing up until late in the day", these guests have been at the Park all day and are now leaving, and wanted to get one last view (and photo) before going home.
ReplyDeleteThere doesn't seem to be any room on that banner to welcome ANYBODY... not even Junior Gorillas! The foreground railing and tree are almost in focus, more than everything behind it anyway. Interesting how the Castle can't be seen from this angle. I wonder if the photographer did that deliberately, to make it look more like a real main street, which don't usually have castles.
The second photo is even blurrier than the first. How did the photographer get all the pictures out of focus? Maybe he didn't know you had to adjust the focus. His previous camera was a Quaker Oatmeal cylinder with a pinhole in the lid; no focusing needed!
Sunday Blurzles are better than no photos at all. Thanks, Major.
"Anaheim Society of ???"
ReplyDelete"American Society of Surly Elephants"....that's as G Rated as I can come up with....but the case still remains of WHO is Disneyland Welcoming? Just everyone? Possibly. Perhaps they just added another banner with each succession of "someones"...could be. Main Street, despite the blurry is looking quite charming there...and that fencing is quite elaborate. I'm glad they took the time to make it a little more than it could have been. Magic cost money: and I'm sure it did. I'm wondering when they switched sides with the Popcorn wagon...and why? Did it not get enough business on the East side? When I go to Disneyland, I want to buy a Wurlitzer Organ...now Wurlitzer makes vending machines: that was an interesting rabbit hole to go down. I don't see the impressive Sunkist Marquee...but I see Jellies and Jams....both of which I like: and a couple of lit gaslamps. The Walker family of Anaheim is another rabbit hole to visit, and I suppose I owe my Disneyland career to Vesey's son who started the Tour Guide program in '58. As far as going to Disneyland later in the day: I'm probably one of those people...the thought of rope drop and the hustle and bustle of the gate at 7 or 8 am never really "got me"...and I'm not one to stay 14 hours to "get my monies worth"....sounds kind of painful unless the Park was completely devoid of guests. I'm all for a "day hotel" IN the Park...where you can take a little siesta...and not for a zillion dollars please: but with a nice view akin to photo #1 in a sound proof room. Magic cost money, and I'd probably pay for it. Thanks Major!
ReplyDeleteEven out of focus, I can see several plain green trash cans demonstrating the “hot dog munch” theory.
ReplyDeleteBack then, the Park didn’t need a banner for guests to feel welcome.
Now, after Disney ransacking my credit card, I’d appreciate a banner “Welcome Guest Who Paid Full Price”.
Great old photos, Major, thank you.
JG
@ Sue-
ReplyDelete"Nanook, where do you see the "A.S. of S.E."?"
On that other image I was referring to - which depicts the 'welcomed group du jour' on a separate banner hanging beneath the 'welcome' banner.
Nanook, I know the park has welcomed Lutherans, and the city of Van Nuys, and (I think) “Military Families”. As for “A.S. of S.E.”, no idea.
ReplyDeletewalterworld, Vesey make a place cool just by being there.
Lou and Sue, I believe that Nanook is referring to an entirely separate (but similar) image from 1956.
JB, if those guests are leaving, GOOD! Who needs them? They are definitely not invited to my birthday party, and I am having a clown AND a pony. I think there is a banner below the visible “Disneyland Welcomes” banner, but it is too obscured. The photographer did purposely keep the castle out of the photo because he has castleophobia. Some people just seem to get the “yips” when they take pictures, I just scanned a batch yesterday and wound up tossing more than half, I didn’t even want to save them for Snoozles.
Lou and Sue, it’s going to drive you crazy!
Bu, can you blame elephants for being surley? I can’t. Why welcome everyone? It’s like they said in “The Incredibles”, If everyone is special, then no one is. Whoa, deep. Too much to think about on a Sunday morning. Hanging a second banner beneath the first is exactly how they did it. I’ll bet that the fencing was a design that was chosen from a catalog of styles, not that there’s anything wrong with that. “This one’s a little more expensive but… ahhh, why am I showing it to you? You won’t appreciate it”. Walt: “I appreciate it! I appreciate it!”. You would think that they would have figured out the locations of the outdoor vendors early on, I can’t imagine why the right side would be better (or worse) than the left side. Huh, I don’t think I knew that Vesey Walker’s son (Tommy?) started the Tour Guide program. I thought there were Guides from the beginning, or nearly so. With the cost of admission so high, I don’t like having to put in such a long day, but otherwise it feels like I’m wasting money and time.
JG, the “Hot Dog Munch Theory” and the “Theory of Relativity” were both presented to the world by Einstein in 1905. Only one got much publicity, but we can’t underestimate the way the HDMT changed our lives. I blanch to think about how much my next trip to the park will cost.
Nanook, take a look at one example HERE.
looks like that welcome sign got a lot if use, here it is in supposedly 1957...
ReplyDeleteDisneyland Welcomes Puck Comics Winners
Interesting to see the arched doorway ‘next too’ Carnation, as it seems to have been under an awning forever. Is this one of the areas where Disneyland repeats some architectural details? And thus covered it up to be less apparent.
ReplyDeleteMS
Major-
ReplyDeleteWow... the 'entire city of Van Nuys'. (I'm impressed). I hope there was enough gum for everyone-!
Ha! Nanook, you know that DL doesn’t sell gum.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@ Sue-
ReplyDeleteYes, it was this very event - having to supply ALL the attendees from Van Nuys with chewing gum - that put the kibosh on Disneyland selling gum in the Park. It's just amazing the things one can learn from this blog...