Main Street, July 1959
Sometimes the subjects of vintage photos don't necessarily have to be wow-inducing. Having that 65 year-old ambiance is enough. Not 64 years or 66 years, I hate those.
This July 1959 view of City Hall has weird color - kind of faded and scrofulous. The three girls in the middle of the picture are walking in the street (they must have just been released from "Juvie"), but everyone else knows how to comport themselves. There's something about this photo that almost feels as if we've been transported back in time to a real (and extra-adorable) small-ish town on a sleepy Summer day. The Wandas Trio (a family of magicians) will be performing at the Opera House, so exciting!
We've seen the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor many times, so in this case it's fun to observe the people. Near the Carnation Truck, three guests relax in the shade and enjoy their cones. A girl in the doorway holds her Keppy Kap (she knows it is bad luck to wear a hat indoors), while a man waits outside holding his young son - it's probably crowded inside the Parlor. Notice the lamppost sign for the brand-new Submarine Voyage! I'm assuming that there are no fire hydrants so prominently displayed these days, though that one does make the scene feel more authentic.
9 comments:
Major-
These scenes really do look as if they were taken from a small town - which is what they are supposed to represent, after all.
Thanks, Major.
"Get yer waste paper right here, folks! Happiest waste paper on Earth! Waste Paper! Right here!" (I'm pushing waste paper, like it says.) There's lots of horsies in this pic; six, I think. Though we can't see the horses pulling the Street Car. Or maybe five; maybe there's just one BIG horsie pulling the Street Car?
Major, I agree, that fire hydrant really makes this pic look like a real city street. Now all it needs are some pieces of crumpled paper and fallen leaves blowing around. Also various stains and discolorations on the street and sidewalk. Dang those Sweepers! They're too efficient!
These are nice nostalgic nods to small town America. Thanks, Major.
Major, there is still a fire hydrant in that spot, today! However, it does appear to be a slightly different model.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8110323,-117.918981,3a,60y,296.55h,90.98t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s_hawCZGP-S97n1QOAP3taA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-0.9750129263632772%26panoid%3D_hawCZGP-S97n1QOAP3taA%26yaw%3D296.55451691322816!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTIwOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
All looks very authentic. Take me back there please. Unfortunately I do waste paper and I feel bad about it. Paper towels are a guilty pleasure and I use way too many of them. There. I've admitted it. Perhaps there is a 12 step for paper towel wasting, but it seems like in Disneyland Wasting Paper is encouraged. Well: those were the days! Thanks for the link TM. I continue to be slightly horrified. Not by the changes in architecture/paint/decor particularly..... When we will look back at these photos 20 years from now: will we even know the time period? Is there a "style" of dress for 2024? Lots of bare arms...lots of....well...there is quite a lot to look at. We all want to be comfortable. The stroller count has definitely risen in the 60+ years. Back to the photos: trees have no scale. I like awnings...it adds a layer and clearly a lot of thought went into each one. I've said it before, but I have the dubious distinction to have the office building that I spent a decade of formative years displayed to me over and over again. So many horsies there with City Hall. Strangely, or not so strangely, when I smell horses I immediately go back to Main St. in my memory. Popcorn, Vanilla, hot asphalt, and well...."horse"....You can fill in the blanks. I feel a new "Yankee Candle Collection" coming on. Thanks Major!
Photo 1 proves the adage, you have to try to find an angle on Main Street without a trash can.
Photo 2 shows the photographer did manage it.
I’ve wondered about disguising fire hydrants elsewhere in the Park, there used to be one or two visible in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, but I can’t recall any in sight on the West Side. Usually, hydrants should be obvious, but maybe Disney got a code pass, maybe there’s a map of them posted in all the fire trucks. Which reminds me, are there Disney fire trucks somewhere backstage? I know some large “enclaves” (cough Skywalker Ranch cough) have private fire fighting equipment, all worked out in advance with the Local Authorities.
Major, the original Main Street really was a small town, before it became a Disney Store, you just had to pay to get in.
Thanks for these fun pictures.
JG
Just now I am really noticing the railing at the top of the City Hall turret; someone could perch safely there and commit somewhat harmless eccentricities, like Admiral Boom in "Mary Poppins".
When these pix were taken there was a correlative to Disneyland thirty miles away on the MGM backlots: Metro's jungle river and outpost, the Tarzan tropicals ( Adventureland); a lake with island, steam wheeler and three- masted ship, wild west streets and forts (Frontierland); a castle and quaint Olde Europe avenues (Fantasyland); and the Western and Meet Me in St Louis streets (Main Street). No match for Tomorrowland, though MGM did make sci-fi classics like "Forbidden Planet" and "The Time Machine", and EPCOT ended up looking similar to the city in "Logan's Run".
Thanks Major, warm no-place-like-home for the holidays photos today.
Bu, I never made that connection with the "Waste Paper" phrase/instruction on the thrash cans... reminds me of the old joke about the guy who took so long to drive on his road trip because he kept seeing "Clean Restrooms" signs.
Major, nice photo, and I agree it does seem like actually being in a little town of that era. I read once that Walt's plan for Disneyland could be considered Virtual Reality, and always thought that was a keen observation.
Nanook, I’ve mentioned this many times before, but there are a lot of small towns in the Midwest that have main streets, they all had tiny echoes of the one at Disneyland, although they were generally run down and sad by the time I saw them in the 1970s and 1980s. I wish I could have seen them in their prime.
JB, I wish I’d gotten a degree in wasting paper, I’m so good at it. Yes, the streetcars each use one strong horse to pull them, they make it look easy. Crumpled paper and leaves are good for realism, but I always appreciate a bag of fast food dumped from somebody’s car window. Those people are real heroes.
TokyoMagic!, thanks for doing the work, I honestly assumed that most clearly-visible fire hydrants had been moved and/or hidden.
Bu, I’m like you, I use far too many paper towels. I keep buying them “just in case”, and now I don’t have room to put them away. Dumb. But I do make an effort to at least tear them in half if I only need a bit, or I even reuse them if I wipe up a small water spill. They’ll dry out for a later use. I’m all for people being comfortable at Disneyland, I don’t exactly put on a shirt and tie. But sometimes you see a guest dressed in such a manner that it makes you wonder “Why??”. Exposed bellies hanging over waistbands. Etc. Now I am wondering if somebody really could make a candle that truly evoked Main Street, with all of the combined aromas you mentioned. A friend had a “Pirates of the Caribbean water” candle, and it did not smell like the real thing at all.
JG, considering how many trash cans are on Main Street, it is kind of amazing that guests will still just put their waste down anywhere. They can’t walk six feet? Guess not. It’s true that an old-fashioned fire hydrant really wouldn’t work in Tomorrowland, or even Adventureland, but I am not sure how the park deals with that. I’m sure that somebody knows exactly where to hook up hoses if necessary, but what if that person is indisposed? I still like Main Street, but it does seem to have lost a bit of its original magic.
Stefano, whenever I see those railings atop the buildings, I think of the many TV specials where a camerman was clearly perched up there to get good shots of a parade, or even the opening ceremonies way back in the day. How do the people get up there? Is there a hidden ladder in the back? Or a hatch? I sure wish I’d see the MGM backlot, of course I’ve seen photos (including some that I’ve shared on this blog), what a fascinating place, and so beautifully done. Now that you mention it, I do see a resemblance between EPCOT and “Logan’s Run”!
LTL, ha, that reminds me of a similar joke with a guy reading a “draw bridge ahead” sign, sweating as he attempted to sketch the bridge. I suppose one could consider the simulacrum of an old Main Street as a form of “Virtual Reality”, though today one thinks of big goggles in relation to VR.
Well composed pics today. Our photographer took time to stage in lots of details from the settings…and in such nice light. I don’t think it’s possible to frame out foreground people much anymore.
MS
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