More New Orleans Square, August 1983
It's time for more great photos from New Orleans Square, circa August 1983, taken by Lou Perry and shared with us by his daughter, Sue B. When NOS debuted, it was a stunning example of the Imagineer's skill and artistry - and it still impresses today.
This first one is an echo of a photo that we saw in part one (I'd link to it, but as I write this it hasn't published yet), showing some mystery restaurant. In the previous Lou and Sue NOS post, I postulated that this could be the "Royal Street Veranda", though it might also be the "Grunt and Chew".
Speaking of Royal Street, there's one of the iconic lampposts. "Iconic? Major, what the he** are you talking about??". Yes, for years lamps like that one were used as a sort of graphic representation for NOS. I have no idea if there are lights like this in the real New Orleans.
Two guests stroll toward "Le Gourmet" (which is French for "The Lizard", I believe), where you can find all sorts of kitchenware - the finest available! Do you need a corkscrew made of rhodium? Or a frying pan carved from a nickel-iron meteorite? They have both, but you can only buy one of them. To the left is the entrance to the Blue Bayou restaurant, where all the food is blue. You get used to it.
Lou took only a single photo inside "Pirates of the Caribbean", but it turned out pretty good! It's one of the early scenes (before all of the animatronics) in those moody caverns full of skeletons. This particular pirate died doing what he loved - sitting on a pile of gold.
Just a few years later, the exterior of "Pirates of the Caribbean" changed drastically to accommodate the long lines that could form on a busy day - you know, the whole bridge thing. I like seeing it in its original non-bridgey form,
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
9 comments:
Major-
"Grunt and Chew". Good one, Major-!
It's still the Royal Street Veranda.
Thanks to Lou and Sue.
The "Grunt and Chew" was only there for a month and a half before someone realized that the name was a little off-putting. So they changed it to something less offensive: the "Snort and Spit". But oddly enough, that name didn't last long either.
1) Whoa! That girl on the right was caught with both feet off the ground! She's going somewhere reeeally fast! Meanwhile, the little lad on the left, in the orange shirt, is wearing shorts that are longer than the short-shorts his dad is wearing.
2) How considerate of Disney to include a crown on the Royal St. sign, so illiterate folks can tell what street they're on.
3) We are so lucky to have the Major as our host. Today, we learned some French! All the world's knowledge is right here on GDB! I had an iguana gourmet for a few years back in the late '70s, early '80s.
4) The set decoration in this scene from Pirates is truly spectacular. One of many iconic images in PotC.
5) Lots of interesting clothing in this photo. The boy closest to us is wearing a white derby(?) hat. Farther back, the lady pushing the stroller is wearing the latest in Tom Sawyer couture. Speaking of strollers, there are a flock of them gathering over there on the right. That's never a good sign. It won't be long before they'll be chasing after guests, asking for small change and picking their pockets.
Thank you Lou. And to Sue. And Major too. And yuh, and yuh and yuhhh-uh. :-D
Part 1 of this series can be found HERE. (https://gorillasdontblog.blogspot.com/2025/01/new-orleans-square-september-1983.html)
I feel bad for the guy hung up in the railing at the Grunt & Chew. Hopefully, a security host and maybe a maintenance guy with an acetylene torch will wander by soon to help him out. Perhaps the running girl is the first first responder on the scene.
The real French Quarter does indeed feature lights like those in New Orleans Square. (https://c7.alamy.com/comp/C5P51T/royal-street-lampsign-post-decorated-with-mardi-gras-beads-C5P51T.jpg)
The pirate skeleton's positioning helps me better understand where the term "crapload of gold" came from. I had always assumed it was Shakespearian in origin.
I understand the operational necessity of the revised and embridgened entryway into Pirates of the Caribbean, but I miss the original design. All but one of my childhood visits were in the off-season, and it always looked like this. I'm not sure which I admire more - that boy's hat or the way he confidently wears it, strolling about as if he owned the place.
Thanks again, Lou & Sue (and the Major, too)!
Forget the low-rent, greasy-spoon Blue Bayou! You have a pretty good shot of the original entrance to Club 33 there!
More N'Awlins memories: on a crowded summer day, friends and I waited to enter the Blue Bayou Restaurant. Paused for ten minutes in front of Club 33, someone noticed a door bell set inconspicuously in the jamb, and pressed it repeatedly until a hostess opened the door and politely told us to stop doing that. Polite, considering we were teenage rabble who would be better served at Scarf and Barf (our name for McDonald's ).
The Treasure Cache scene is a testament to paste gems and, for the rockwork, crumpled Pyro Kure paper, which was also used in Knott's Berry Tales and The Castle, a dark ride at the Old Towne Mall in Torrance.
Thank you Lou and Sue and Major for keeping the good times rollin'.
“Grunt and Chew” still better than “Taco Smell”.
Are the street lamps still in NOS, or were they removed to make room for more guests? NOS is a masterpiece, but current management is slowly drawing a mustache on this Mona Lisa.
I thought gourmets were those little rings you could punch into a tarp to tie ropes into. Why would there be a whole store full of those? Did the French invent them? So many questions.
Re the treasure pirate, Major, I’m writing these comments perched on top of my huge pile of rhodium corkscrews. Thank you, and to Lou and Sue too!
JG
JG, I hope those corkscrews are pointed sideways or down...or at least have corks on the end of them
When NOS was a charming place just to shop. A slow day in the Park. Single dispatch operation of Pirates with just that pair of doors open. Likely a small number of Pirates, all "A" or "B" status in the rotation. Similar to my time in the 70s. I look at the interior scene and hear the background music in my head thinking of the times when I would have the "Utility" position downstairs as the last position of my rotation, monitoring backstage...smelling the water...being under the load area checking for hydraulic leaks. It was a smooth and glorious operation that I never tired of witnessing. And then I'd be 'bumped 'for a break or lunch. Oh it was hard work. LOL KS
Nanook, remember, I write these WAY in advance, so after the last NOS post I now know for sure that the restaurant is not the “Grunt and Chew”!
JB, it was Walt Disney who insisted that there be a place named “Grunt and Chew”, and you can’t say no to Walt. But guests did not like the food, which was all boiled cuisine. Good eye on the girl with both feet off the ground, she’s excited! I appreciate signs for the illiterate, since I can’t read. I’m fluent in 22 languages, I don’t want to brag. My sister had iguana in Mexico years ago, I guess it’s a regular part of a local’s diet there. The boy with the white derby is a Droog! Watch out for him.
Chuck, thank you for the link to the other post. Don’t worry about the guy hung up on the railing, he will chew his own leg off soon enough. Huh, so there really are street lamps in the real New Orleans! “Crapload” definitely is of Shakespearian origins, I remember Juliet using the word. Like you, I get why the Pirates bridge was needed, and I don’t hate it, but I just miss the original facade.
Steve DeGaetano, yep, there’s that distinctive oval glass sign!
Stefano, ha ha, you darn teenagers! Why don’t you get haircuts?? At least the hostess was polite, I wonder how many times she’d had to ask people to leave the button alone? Even as a kid I noticed that some of the rock work inside “Pirates” looked like large sheets of crumpled paper. It didn’t bother me, in fact I felt pretty clever for noticing! :-)
JG, my guess is that there still some original street lamps in NOS, though I would not be surprised if some others have been removed. Gotta make more room for Fantasmic seating. I see your confusion with the word “gourmets”, you are thinking of “geodes”. (When I was a kid, I knew another kid who called geodes “gonads”). You can’t have too much rhodium, if you ask me!
Chuck, don’t worry, JG knows what to do!
KS, I love it, all of your stories make me jealous that I did not have any Disneyland employment adventures back in those days. Not so much today, I’m sure it’s hard work, but I hope the employees still get some comaraderie and fun out of it.
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