Disneyland Hotel Brochure, March 1961
I love paper Disneyland ephemera, and today's example seems to be pretty scarce. It might look familiar though, stay tuned to the end of today's blog post.
SO... there it is, from March 1961 - a brochure designed to get you hyped for your stay at the most exciting resort in the World! Hey, it's subjective. I love the drawing of "Li'l Stubby", the Mark I Monorail, which (as it says in small print) was projected to open in June. You could be whisked to the park in the blink of an eye!
Here's one side, unfolded. The list of room rates is crossed out - yes, it drives me crazy, but there was a reason for this brutal defacement. Meanwhile, enjoy the spot illustrations to the left, SoCal has everything you need to be entertained.
It's too bad we don't get color photos of the way the Hotel looked back in those early days, but you can't have everything.
Here's an insert showing the newest room rates, which explains why that portion was X-ed out of the main brochure. The prices are amazing, but don't forget that we must adjust for inflation. Multiply by 10, that's a good general rule. So a deluxe room is $30 per night (vacation rate) - that's around $315 today. Not cheap by any means, but a bargain compared to what you would actually pay in 2025.
I have no doubt that some of you remember the somewhat-more-common coral-pink version of the same flyer (printed a few months later) - "common" meaning "still pretty rare". Here's a comparison of the obverses:
And the reverses:
15 comments:
I wonder if Walt cussed out Jack Wrather, for including the competition (Knott's and Marineland) on the brochure? I bet he used every four letter word in the book!
Thanks for sharing more vintage ephemera with us, Major!
@ TM!-
"I bet he used every four letter word in the book!"
And then he coughed-!!
And to think I stayed there many times-! Good times, for certain.
Thanks, Major.
Yeah, that was me.
The cover artwork is done with an abstract 'scribbled' style. And yet, we can tell at a glance what everything is; all the pertinent details are there!
"for the youngsters, a wading pool, playground and giant sandbox." I just saw the eyes light up on 200 feral cats!
I think I like the coral pink cover more than the light blue. But I like the insides of the blue version better than the coral. Can I have one that's half n' half?
Tokyo! and Nanook, after Walt cussed out Jack Wrather and coughed on him, he flicked a few chili beans at him for good measure.
This is a nice brochure. Informative, fun artwork, and lots of photos. Thanks, Major.
Ya gotta go to Knott's and Marineland et.al.....when there's nothing to do on Monday and Tuesday....I would be going to the tour of the stars homes though. Ray O Schmitz must have been a very confident hire to put his name on 1000's of brochures. I guess they could just cross out his name like the prices and use a rubber stamp for the next guy like they did the pricing. Here's a reference to good 'ol Roy in the Mosquito killers gazette:https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/content/part/JAMCA/MN_V20_N4_P402-405.pdf. Yes, this is a real thing. I love that floating fireplace: it's like the one on the set of White Christmas: a very mid century vibe in a old Vermont Inn. Here it fits in perfectly. Could it be the same one?!!! I guess after the movie was made it had to go somewhere....and then, where is it now? That coral color is a common color of the time, and wondering if it had to do with the "Coral Club"....the poolside club at the hotel? Perhaps. It's a subtle nod. Maybe Ray O Schmitz thought of it? $300 in these days for a room still would be in the mid upper end of business hotel pricing-land...unless you are in a major metro area. I can see why my parents usually gave a "no" to overnight stays there. I would yearn for two days in a row of Disneyland and the chlorine of the pool...and miniature golfing....that year we went to Lake Tahoe instead which I have very few memories of. I wish I had saved all the brochures I collected as a kid of all the Anaheim hotels. I would spend hours reading them. As I got older I branched out into "Hotels of the US" and started collecting those. It's amazing what hotels would send you back in the day. I emailed a hotel in San Francisco and they sent me a giant press kit with photos and tons of stuff. It was a huge envelope. I had Disneyland Hotel ones as well, but in the 70's they weren't as note-worthy as Majors finds. Thanks Major!
Sleeping Beauty Castle dominates by size all the competing attraction sketches. This was also true of the Castle illustration on the foldout map of Los Angeles in the celebrated October 1962 National Geographic article by Robert de Roos, author of the even more celebrated August 1963 NG story on Disney.
It was poignant looking through the October '62 issue recently; there are fine photos of the Will Rogers Estate, now ashes, and of Marineland which is now a luxury hotel. Many thanks Major for sharing Park and Hotel images of things and places that are no more.
I have some questions…
I thought the three brown dots on the Park Description might have been coffee spills, but they appear on both versions, a strange graphic indulgence. Imagine having to explain what Disneyland was?
Is that a fan or a shell behind the pool description?
A radio station… …really?
To maximize your vacation experience you must stay at the official hotel. Unofficial lodgings will not count. Maybe Park tickets will be surcharged? At any rate, your enjoyment will be measurably reduced, don’t risk it.
Monstro is moonlighting at Marineland. And all those wonderful little sketches now extend to Knotts, San Juan and even Newport. These are probably my favorite feature of these items, that and the swoopy monorail sketch, forerunner of a World in Motion…
While the room rates are eye-catching, I’m noticing the big drop between Vacation season and off season, nearly a 30 percent discount on the standard room, and a pretty big jump between the pink and blue flyers. Those rooms were getting easier to fill just in the short time between flyer editions.
That pink or coral was the au courant color to be sure, recalls my story about Frank Lloyd Wright and “Tehachapi Dawn”.
Thanks Major, I’m discovering the fun of ephemera.
JG
TokyoMagic!, Walt knew how to use four-letter words as well as anybody in Hollywood! He probably made Jack Wrather cry.
Anonymous, he DEFINITELY coughed.
Nanook, how do I know for sure??
JB, the artwork looks pretty typical of concept art for any hotel, shopping center, or even amusement park! Ha ha, I couldn’t help imagining robot cats when you said that their eyes lit up. ROBOT CATS! You can have any color of this brochure you like, I will not stand in the way of your happiness. I wonder if Walt ever flicked any chili beans at Julie Andrews?
Bu, I’ve never done the “tour of the star’s homes”, but I’ve been told that back in the 1950s or 1960s you could actually see the houses; at some point, high walls and gates were built, and now that’s mostly what you’ll see at most celebrity homes. It makes sense I guess, I wouldn’t want busloads of strangers gaping at my abode all day long. I wish they hadn’t crossed out that part of the brochure, since it bugs me, and the only other copy of one of these that I’ve seen went for way more money than I would ever pay. Ray O. Schmitz was a real man’s man, a raconteur, a bon-vivant. He knew everybody, and everybody knew him. My guess is that the coral color didn’t have anything to do with the Coral Club, but you never know. As you said, pink, black, and white was a popular color combo. Remember, the $300+ price tag is for a “deluxe room”, which I assume was fancier than the typical room that most families would get. Doesn’t the Disneyland Hotel (and the Grand Californian) regularly charge closer to $800 a night these days? So I’ve been told, though I’ve never checked personally. There are a few 1970s Disneyland Hotel brochures that are worth having, I just bid on one that I did not win due to the high “price realized”, I had no idea anybody else would even be interested. I assume you threw out your collection of random hotel brochures!
Stefano, I’ve always loved that National Geographic issue, I wore ours out and finally bought another copy to replace it. I went to Will Rogers State Park regularly with my girl, it is heartbreaking to think of it all gone, burned to ashes. And I have misty memories of Marineland, looking down into a tank with an orca and being positive that he was looking right at me!
40 acres of golf next door to Disneyland? Who owned that land?
DBenson, I know that there was at least one 9-hole golf course as part of the Disneyland Hotel, not to mention a driving range and the miniature golf course. 40 acres seems like a LOT of land though!
Great news! I just heard from Melissa and she asked me to post this message to all of you:
"I miss all of you and think of you every day! I'm still dealing with vision problems; the doctor is trying new medications, and we may try some new contacts, too."
Melissa has been able to see some of our past posts (she loved her birthday post), but it's still difficult for her...we're all hoping and praying she'll be back on GDB 24/7, soon!
We love and miss you, Melissa!
Hooray Melissa! Go to hear from you!
Praying for your full recovery!
Thanks Sue for passing on this message.
JG
Lou and Sue, thank you so much! To all the Junior Gorillas, Sue has been working tirelessly to try to find and contact Melissa (running into many dead ends, etc), so it's incredible that she spoke to Melissa in person. And Melissa, if you are reading this, I hope we see you SOON!
Yay to news from Melissa. Hopefully she can be back soon to send us some rhymes.
Thanks for posting your brochures Major. I do enjoy a good brochure. So informative and those colors are nostalgic to me.
Sue, that is good news. I hope Melissa and her doctors have success with the new medications and/or the new contacts, and that she is able to return to GDB soon! I'm glad that you were so persistent in your efforts to find her!
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