Main Street Nite, August 1970
A good night shot from 1970s Disneyland is a rare thing indeed. I have two night photos from August 1970, but they are "just OK".
Looking south from the Plaza, we can see the streetcar tracks reflecting the lights of the Main Street buildings, including the INA Carefree Corner ("We don't care!" was their motto). We can also see the Eastman Kodak shop, the Coca Cola Refreshment Corner, and the Beef Jerky Shoppe.
Gee, why does this one look so yellow? And this is after I tried some color-correction. Then I remembered that the popcorn carts had those yellow bug lights (or at least I believe they did), nobody wants a moth in their handful of popcorn. You can see the Toasty Roasty Man, whose real name was "Mitch". He dreamed of being an astronaut when he was a kid.
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Ah yes, the Beef Jerky Shoppe. Been there since opening day and still going strong! What would Disneyland be without the Beef Jerky Shoppe? I believe it was next to the Wizard of Bras shop at one time.
I'm guessing these photos were taken when it wasn't quite dark out yet; we can see a bit of light in the sky. I agree, they're "just OK". If the popcorn lights weren't quite as glary and blurry, and if we could see the people a little better, then these would be "very good" photos. But "OK" is OK.
Is the Toasty Roasty Man really part of the popcorn making process? It looks like the actual corn popper is on the right where all the popped corn is. Does the popped corn ever leave the little guy's cylinder? He, and his turning cylinder, appear to be purely decorative. Or am I wrong?
Thanks for the "just OK" night shots, Major.
I believe we can see that same popcorn wagon from the second pic, in the first pic (in front of the Carefree Corner).
I hope the Beef Jerky Shoppe sold turkey jerky.
I think we can see five Main Street vehicles operating after dark in that first photo. The two omnibuses (which, when encountered in the dark, are known as “ominousbuses”) and the first horseless carriage in front of the I Don’t Give a Whit Corner are obvious, but if you look beyond each of the ominousbuses you can make out portions of one and maybe two more. The one on the left is showing just a smidgen of headlight, and you can really just see the canopy and the upper right rear of the car body of the third. I’m still not 100% sure the one on the right is actually a horseless carriage, but the black canopy height is in line with roofline of the other two cars. Only one trash can, though.
These photos are actually pretty remarkable considering the technology available. Since the moving objects aren’t blurs, we know this wasn’t a time exposure, but the slight softness in the first photo suggests the photographer wasn’t using a tripod. The relative lack of grain means this wasn’t super-fast film, which suggests a very “fast” lens with the ability to open up to a wide aperture to let in more light while still using a shutter speed of 1/50 of a second or faster to stop motion. I am impressed.
TM!, despite the name, the Beef Jerky Shoppe sold turkey jerky. They also sold jerk chicken and a vegan jerky made from kale and leftover broccoli from the cancelled Broccoli Mountain project.
You folks joke but there WAS a jerky shop on Main Street USA!! When SUN GIANT was a Disneyland sponsor the MARKET HOUSE sold about a dozen different flavors of beef jerky…..( I don’t know about Turkey Jerky - I don’t think that was a thing yet ) …. raisins and granola bars were popular too.
Tokyo Disneyland also had a Jerky Shop in WESTERNLAND …. It was there till just after Big Thunder opened in 1987. They had All kinds of jerky and stick sausage meats …. The packaging featured WED designed graphics of WESTERNLAND buildings and attractions …. The Mark Twain is on lots of the packaging and there was an entire line of Big Thunder Railroad ( they don’t say Mountain in TDL) of packaged souvenir snacks - including beef jerky.
And of course all of the canteens located inside all of the Tom Sawyer Island Forts sold selections of Beef jerky ….. Fishing Pier Snack Shack too. And don’t forget Disneyland’s original MILE LONG BAR!
Note the SIZE of the popcorn box the guest is getting. Disney park soda cups and popcorn boxes have always had a large and small … but in the 90’s started the OBCENE SIZED and plastic popcorn bucket sized trough servings in use today ….
I've always enjoyed the Disneylande Beefe Jerkye Shoppe since I was a wee lad. When I worked at Hickory Farms (1000 years ago) we sold very expensive ($19.00 a pound: $111.00 in today's world) Beefe Jerkye. It was then that I discovered that this salty treat was not the plastic wrapped processed thing you got at gas stations. It was delicious and "natural" looking. Since $19.00 was too rich for my 1.40 an hour I was making, I decided to make my own, which I did with success. Perhaps I should have gone into the business. That being said: a lovely night in the Park, with Main St. buzzing with vehicles in the dark. Something you don't see today since people don't know how to avoid vehicles, and fall into streetcar tracks as if they were a chasm. I do enjoy obscene amounts of popcorn, however, I would never attempt this in a public space. Bingeing on popcorn is a private matter. In the '80's we served one size of popcorn: you can see the boxes stacked there: and the design of the box and the stacks and the wagon were pretty much the same in my time: although they added an "Orville" logo on there for Hunt Wesson. Those lights were not yellow bug lights: they were just lights. We had to shut them off during parades as they were super bright, and only kept our popcorn lamps on. There was an art to scooping popcorn in these types of boxes, which is why they are stacked the way they are. They had to be positioned so you grabbed it with one hand by the edges, then "popped" it open from it's flat state while on it's way to the popcorn chamber where you would scoop up the popcorn all in one motion. If there was more than one box needed: you would place, let's say 5 boxes into the chamber and repeated the action in succession keeping the motion going. Sometimes guests would ask for quite a few boxes (10+) and thinking that this was going to take time as the guests behind them groaned...."nope". Literally, each box would take just one second to fill. There was no "pre-filling" as guests wanted to see you scoop it. Popcorn outside the confines of a dry environment would not be as crispy. Although I know that the Carefree Corner wagon was there in my time, I have to recollection of it: it must have been brought out for high attendance periods: like the Town Square one, and a couple of others. Normally: the "standard" was the Hub, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and New Orleans Square. Tomorrowland had the snack bar: (the name that always escapes me.). Big Thunder, Bear Country and the two others on Main St. would be sprinkled in when needed. Adventureland did not have a location. They refreshed the popcorn in the little diorama when the wagon went into rehab (once a year). For those wondering: it had it's own switch and was not on 24/7. You would think I would be sick of popcorn, but without fail: it is my favorite food...if you can call it a food....Thanks Majore!
JB, from day one, Walt insisted that there would be a Beef Jerky Shoppe on his Main Street. “Roy and I would follow the Jerky cart in Marceline, and pick up pieces that fell on the ground!”. Good times. For night photos, these are not bad for the time, but still leave something to be desired. I believe that the Roasty Toasty Man is just clever marketing and that he (and the gizmo he is hooked up to) serve no real purpose. But I could be wrong.
TokyoMagic!, we can definitely see a popcorn wagon, I just couldn’t tell if it was the same one as the one in the second picture.
Chuck, FIVE vehicles? I see the obvious three, and an outline of what might be a fourth to the right of the leftmost Omnibus, but after that, I’m stumped. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just don’t see a clear fifth vehicle myself. You’re right, for 1970 it’s amazing that they even got night photos this clear, without the crowd disappearing in ghostly blurs. Presumably the Horseless Carriage was in motion, but there’s no smearing of that vehicle at all. I’ve seen vegan jerky at stores, it’s no joke!
Mike Cozart, huh, I knew Sun Giant sold dried fruit, but did not know about the jerky. I guess that’s right around the time when jerky started getting popular. In Pennsylvania, pemmican was also a trendy snack, I don’t really see that anymore. Interesting that jerky is popular in Japan, though I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised; the Japanese band Chibo Matto has a song called “Beef Jerky”. I’m assuming that guest’s expectations of what to get when buying popcorn was influenced by movie theaters?
Bu, oh man, Hickory Farms. I never really shopped there, but sometimes would receive a gift box of stuff. A tiny summer sausage, a tiny cheese, some fancy mustard, crackers… that’s all I remember. Except that the box’s packaging was deceptive, most of it was empty space, the box could have been half the size and it would have held the same items. My nephew has gotten into making home-made jerky, it’s pretty good. That’s what he gave as Christmas presents last year, I’d be OK if I got that this time too! Mike Cozart recently said that they were still running the Omnibus at night when he was there recently, much to my surprise. I thought for sure that all of the vehicles were put to bed for the same reason you stated - guests barely manage to get out of the way during the bright daylight, much less at night. I have no doubt that serving popcorn to thousands of people becomes a skill. And I think you’re right, that wagon is not normally there in front of the Carefree Corner, at least according to vintage photos. I’ll have to ask a friend who worked at a popcorn wagon, but I think he said he worked at wagon #10 - wherever that was. New Orleans Square I think?
I love both of these photos. I also think Caring Free is better than being charged for caring, or charged to care, either way. So Bravo INA!
Old Main Street at night was a magical place, (like Tahiti,) sparkly lights in the trees, and the vehicles running lights, etc.
I very much like the popcorn pic, even though I am neutral to mildly negative about popcorn. Jerky, OTOH, is wonderful. The little guy turning the crank was always fascinating and he is the star of this pic for me. Now the character varies from Land to Land, which is also cute.
Thanks for these, Major!
JG
Sailor sighting! And possibly red and white lightbulbs. Though I know there's controversy over THE red-and-white lightbulb. WHEN did it really first show up??
I LOVE the Carefree Corner mottos. I can think of another, but it wouldn't be nice to type it here.
Thanks, Major.
Good eye, Sue! I’d totally missed the guy in his summer white service uniform in front of the right-most ominousbus. He didn’t jump out at me because you can’t see his rank since it was worn on the left sleeve. He could have passed for a sweeper if it weren’t for his “Dixie cup” hat.
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