Main Street, July 1961
Does Modern Life get you down? Do you long for simpler times? Go to Main Street, my friend! It'll cure what ails ya. From the steps of Main Street Station, we look down on Town Square, with three Main Street vehicles nearby. The Motorized Fire Truck, a Horse-drawn Streetcar, and the Bus that is very Omni. Notice the banner on the side advertising the Monorail, which would now take you to (and from) the Disneyland Hotel.
Next, the surprisingly-popular Flower Market. I'm sure I would have whined and fidgeted if my mom had paused here for even a minute. But flowers are for girls, after all. It's a scientific fact. The woman in the white dress could be my grandmother, it's uncanny. If you look to the extreme left, up toward the corner, you can just seen part of a lamppost sign...
... this one!
9 comments:
Major-
The Omnibus looks swell just sitting there - all empty-like - just waiting to be boarded by eager guests.
Over at the Flower Market, it looks as if a fiberglas cigarette urn (normally filled with sand) was 'converted' into a holder for flower-related do-dads... Shout-out to the light-up sign for the pay phones.
Thanks, Major.
It doesn't look like the Chili-Bean-Flicker is in today; the Fire Station window and the curtains, appear to be closed. Passers-by are safe, for the time being.
I was wondering what that red thing was peeking through the tree on the right. At first I thought it was a Popcorn Wagon; but now I don't think so.
OoOOoh! This one is nice! I would say 'postcard worthy'. Flowers may be for girls, but there are a couple of boys (stripy shirts) toward the back, looking at... something. Maybe they're watching a praying mantis bite the head off another mantis. Or a squirrel choking on a plastic sunflower seed. Anything but looking at the flowers!
I like the streamlined Monorail illustration but... if it was any more aerodynamic, it would lack all dimensionality and be invisible! Also, I don't think I would trust those spindly, daddy long-legs supports.
Today's photos were 'better than most'. Thank you, Major.
I was going to say that I thought Walt was "in"...as the shades are up, and you can see the shears...but who knows...I would like to see the photos from guests who took them as they spotted Walt randomly in the Park....there's got to be more than a few. It would be nice to see him "out in the wild" rather than staged. It seems that in most photos he is aware of a camera, and not so much "posing" but still aware...or in some sort of "set up". The Monorail was a big deal in '61: clearly. In my opinion, Town Square should always look like 4th of July...and any type of "celebration/promotion" should only happen once you cross into the actual "Street of Main": this way it stays true to form with the quoted "every day should look like opening day". That may be a legend quote, but I do like it and have used it in every job I've worked in since. The flower market looks especially nice in this photo. There is so much architectural gingerbread...I've never really "dove into" the little flower cart: and it is lovely...with a unique structure and it's sweet square umbrella. I would love to have something like this. These were really the "Golden Days" of the park...with it's smartly dressed ladies who came into shop: and perhaps a luncheon...and see a show or two. This is miles away from the experience of 2025: a mere 64 years later. I would think they would want these "consumers" back in again...who came in, dropped some dough...and split. No? I would be interesting to note the In-Park per caps today vs. 1961. I am all for a commercial enterprise, but not when it sacrifices "show". People came in for the "show"...and even when I was a kid: I would play checkers at the Market House, or listen to the party line in there....talk to Jeanne at Carefree Corner and sign the guest book...do things that weren't "production centers" or "commercial enterprises", but most definitely would be part of the experience where when the time came to completely empty my pockets of every single cent: I would submit to it. I may have only had a couple of dollars in my pocket: but Disneyland got it. Thanks Major for the walk down Main St.
Does Modern Life get you down? Do you long for simpler times? Go to Main Street, my friend!
I thought when we were feeling that way, we were supposed to go to the Cabaret, old chum?
I like the colors on that Omnibus Monorail banner. But why is the rectangle on the left void of any text? I wonder if they were planning to add something later, like maybe for the Flying Saucers, which opened the following month.
Thanks, Major!
As a seriously macho man of flowers, I appreciate the sign welcoming we gentlemen…to wee over in the corner, next to a previously unnoticed ‘cool-case’ in the rear for tender buds, along side the full-sun sales counter. How many folks would take a deep sniff of these faux beauties and get a big petroleum whiff? Real gardeners are horrified by plastic petunias, but Betty and Matilda rushed right over from the train station to examine the impostors. I suspect that Frank and Fred lingered back to take photos and appreciate all that rolling stock on Town Square, like as fellas are wont to do.
MS
Back when Disneyland had something for everyone, vehicles for the guys, flowers for the ladies. Now, it’s all the same, one big soup of bubble shooters, keyrings, coffee cups and t-shirts in every shop.
Photo 1 looks like someone brought in a “shrubbery” from Roger the Shrubber, yet those folks are forging ahead undaunted so there must be a way through.
Major, my Mom loved the Flower Mart back then. Now I do too. I wonder who scooped that telephone sign? I’m sure it features in a man cave somewhere, probably Mike’s.
I’m ready for a rest on Main Street. Thank you.
JG
Nanook, boy it took me more than a minute to find the fiberglass cigarette urn! It kind of blends in. And yes, I do love that sign for the pay phones. You have one just like it, I believe?
JB, the only photos I’ve ever seen with the Firehouse window actually open are from pretty early; I do often look, just in case! The “red thing” must be a person?? Not sure. The only thing I would find interesting about those flowers is that they are man-made, but often look pretty realistic. “I could buy some for my wife, and then I’d never have to buy flowers again”. It’s not that he’s unromantic, he’s just practical. I love that Monorail lamppost sign, I saw that exact one in person a few years ago and MAN did I wish I had the money to buy it!
Bu, imagine being a guest in Town Square, and you just happen to glance up at the Firehouse windows, only to see Walt Disney looking out! Hopefully he was fully clothed. I’ve only seen a few photos of Walt caught mid-walk as he strode through Disneyland, mostly he’s posing with some guests; even that’s pretty cool, you have to admit. I kind of agree that Town Square should always look like the 4th of July, though maybe that would be a bit weird on a cold winter day. I wonder if sales at the Flower Market went down, and that’s why it was removed? Of course at WDW they just filled in the side street with “more shop”. With the considerable crowds of modern times, I don’t know how many nicely-dressed ladies pop in to just spend a little money. The place is so expensive that I don’t think many people visit to just have a leisurely time soaking up the atmosphere. Sure, some annual passholders probably do it, since some go 3 times a week - I can’t even imagine doing that.
TokyoMagic!, I’d go to the Cabaret, but I am holding this bucket, book, and broom! I’ve wondered about that interesting abstract design on the Monorail banner, you could frame just that left part and put it in a museum of modern art.
MS, so that shaded stand in the back of the Flower Market was for real flowers? I had no idea. I really do wonder how many people realized that the majority of those blossoms were made of silk and plastic? I appreciate the way the restrooms were tastefully placed so as not to offend those who’d rather not think of such things. “Betty and Matilda” made me wonder if I’ve ever met somebody named “Matilda”!
JG, it’s really true, a friend has a lot of very rare early Disneyland merchandise, and a lot of it is shop-specific; the packaging tells us that it was sold at Merlin’s Magic Shop, or the Emporium, or the Mineral Hall. Kind of amazing to think about. I honestly don’t remember if we ever had to stop to look at the flowers; my grandma and mom were so proud of their gardens, I would think that they would have wanted to.
Tokyo! and Major, Those orange and yellow rectangles on the Omnibus banner look like they are temporarily tacked-on, covering up something underneath. It looks like we can see bits of what's underneath sticking out here and there?
JB, I see what you mean, but I can't imagine what else would be there on a banner that says "Disneyland '61"... perhaps they had another design that they decided was no good.
Post a Comment