Here's a pair of "nice but not spectacular" photos from the holiday season, 1961. We'll start with this look at Town Square and Main Street, as seen from the steps of Main Street Station, on a clear November day. An uncrowded clear November day! Just look at it, it bring a tear to my eye. The Horse Drawn Streetcar is loading up, but the lady with the gray sweater was kicked off because she kept grabbing the microphone and cursing. Her mistake is that she didn't wait until the Streetcar was already in motion, the Geneva Convention stipulates that they must go all the way to the next stop!
Major-
ReplyDeleteTwo perfectly lovely images. The first one is outstanding, with its tasteful Xmas decor, crowd-free streets, and right down to the 'all vitreous china-version' of the drinking fountain, center stage. (But... where's the Christmas tree. Hello-??)
Thanks, Major.
It looks like the gray-sweater lady who got kicked off is holding some sort of Donald Duck tchotchke. I love how crisp and clear the Matterhorn is, poking out of the top of the Wurlitzer building. And at the bottom, we get a horse's bottom. For some reason, the flagpole is rather distracting and unsightly here; it doesn't usually do that. Maybe because it's so bright?
ReplyDeleteHmm. Yes. I believe that standing on one's head is the only way to see The Dent in this photo. We could call it The Slight Discoloration... but that would be silly. Sooo, what the heck IS that giant gopher mound? A meteor crater perhaps? There appears to be a small sign next to it. Whatever it is, the lady sitting on the bench it highly upset by it. On the left, there's a kid about to become Swan food.
I agree with Nanook (unlike yesterday, although I did finally come around), two perfectly nice images. Thanks, Major.
Love love love; see our castle is not tiny, it's perfect. Love the subtle holiday decor. Photo 1 even shows that delightful drinking fountain, with real grass, and no fencing around flower beds. All this good taste, and yet it must be 1959 or later. Obviously #2 is pure perfection, just the right amount of ficus repense on the walls, correct banner colors; no trees trying to frame it all from behind, nor even tinkerebelle wires we're pretending not to see, and no dent in sight.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy. Thanks!
MS
Photo 1 is the Town Square (more like a triangle, really) before it was gooped up with excessive excess. Sometimes less is enough. I count at least 6 trash cans, one is almost hidden behind those scale-less trees. I see that the signs declare these are “horse cars”, which is funny since the horses don’t get to ride them. Beautiful photo.
ReplyDeletePhoto 2 is practically perfect in every way. The kid at left is watching a bug and not thinking of jumping in the moat.
I’m going to say I can see something that might be dent-like, dent-adjacent, dent-ish, but who can really tell anymore?
The only spot in our feast of charity is the mound of dirt in the lawn to the right. Obviously, the Imagineers were field-testing a new style of “gopher baroque”. Also a beautiful photo.
Thanks Major, exceptionally fine photos today. They make me happy.
JG
Nanook, I really do miss the old “tasteful Xmas decor”, but perhaps guests need over-the-top decor now that it costs so much to get in?
ReplyDeleteJB, good eye, it DOES look like that lady is holding a Donald Duck doll. Unusual! I don’t mind the flagpole, though it is definitely reflecting the morning sunshine brightly. I can’t imagine what the “gopher mound” is for, maybe there was a sprinkler leak, like in my parent’s yard. Maybe the sign says, “That bench over there has wet paint”?
MS, I agree, our castle is perfect, not some giant monstrosity, but a charming fairy tale dream. I prefer real grass of course, but I guess I can also applaud wanting to conserve water these days, so it’s a trade-off. The lady in orange in the second photo is just the right “spice” for the whole picture, without her it wouldn’t be quite as great!
JG, Walt would have to eat his hotdogs pretty quickly in Town Square - the Bureau of Weights and Measurements should adopt the hotdog standard. Something tells me that they used “horse cars” because it’s fewer letters than “Horse Drawn Streetcar”. A kid really *would* stare at a bug, in spite of all of the distractions at Disneyland! I can imagine the Dent being there, but it is not very distinct. Since these are dated “November 1961”, could that gopher hole have something to do with a Christmas tree, to be installed soon?
I'm curious as to what we're seeing in that first picture, at the end of Main Street, in front of the castle--starting to round the bend to the left. Is that a parade float? I see what looks like a big wreath and a windmill(?) already around the bend.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I was also going to mention that I bet another Christmas tree was going in that gopher hole, as we've seen past pictures of the castle with multiple Christmas trees in front of it.
Very nice holiday photos, thanks, Major.
I was also going to guess another Christmas tree going in that gopher hole. But it's far more likely that Bugs Bunny poked his head out of that hole and decided he took a wrong turn at Albakoikee.
ReplyDeleteSue, I see the wreath and the windmill. You must be right about the parade floats.
Sue, I hate to contradict you, but I don’t think that’s a parade rounding the corner on the Hub. I think that wreath is hanging on a wire over Main Street. If you look closely to the right of the wreath, you can just make out the garland drooping across to the east buildings (okay, building) of Main. And I believe the “windmill” is the mizzenmast on the pirate ship with sails furled.
ReplyDeleteChuck, thank you! You aren’t contradicting, you’re answering my question….and now the mystery is solved.
ReplyDelete