Main Street USA, June 1971
Here's a pair of nice views looking down Main Street in the summer of 1971.
There's clouds in the sky to mitigate the sunshine, but it's not quite June Gloom. The Disneyland Band is marching toward Town Square, and judging by the size of the crowds, there must have been a full parade, with the band bringing up the rear. It could have been "Fantasy On Parade", which ran from 1965 to 1976 (with another run in the 1980s). I notice a young girl in a half-blue, half-yellow dress that reminds (somewhat) me of the cast member costumes from Tomorrowland (though of course those were futuristic jumpsuits). See some of Mike Cozart's photos HERE.
A second photo is a bit more sunny, which is always nice. The sign on the Market House shows that one of the sponsors was Burry's Cookies. The rest of the scene is "the usual stuff", but it's a beautiful scene!
11 comments:
Major-
In the 2nd image I see the C and H Sugar Corner, formerly adjacent to Burry's Cookies has closed. (Some time in 1970, to be 'precise').
Thanks, Major.
The girl next to 'Tomorrowland girl' is wearing the same dress. The girls don't look anything alike so I'm not sure why they're dressed the same. And for some reason they've got some sort of mouse character, dressed in a flashy bandleader costume marching the Band down the street. What's up with that? ;-p Even with all that crowd, I can see one trashcan.
The boy on the left is wearing black & white vertical striped pants. His mom, to the right, looks like she's emptying out her pockets, but I guess she's tying a decorative belt around her waist. And poor dad is left holding his wife's purse. A little farther to the right is a gal wearing one of those 'hippy' poncho thingys. Everybody else in the photo looks 'normal'... I checked! Except for the horse, he's wearing hairy spats on his shoes.
Nice Main Street pics, Major. Thanks.
Those two girls are wearing the Tomorrowland Autopia Car Rental hostess costume “…..you’ll get a smile in every carefree mile!” …. Wow! The split halves and blue and yellow are VERY similar to the 1974/75 Autopia costume ( technically it was first implemented in Florida after the first major rehab of the Tomorrowland Grand Prix Raceway) growing up we had a neighbor who in the early 70’s always wore outfits with split colors . As a kid it reminded me of a court jester . She was one of those people who always seemed over dressed for everything…. I have distinct memories of her outside watering the lawn - in an outfit that looked like something you’d wear shopping or to go to the bank.
This is a Main Street USA … I remember well … but it’s mostly lost to time … yeah .. most of the buildings look similar … but the crowds and the people are different… and that changes the whole feeling.
Above the clock in pic 1 there is the red 'gaf' sign which today sounds like something Homer Simpson would say.
I always enjoy a reminder of what Main Street used to look like when people mainly kept to the sidewalk, or they're moving for the band, IDK.
Thanks Major for today's theme, Marching in March.
Zach
You know Main Street is crowded when you can only see one trash can through the crowd. There are four visible in photo 2, so I feel better.
I really like these pictures. There are flags and patriotic bunting on display, so that could be June Gloom if it were a bit darker. I think the GAF sign looks very out of place with its sans-serif typeface, but everything else looks great. I think those girls are in some kind of costume, like band or cheerleaders.
Thanks Major !
JG
@ MIKE-
"I have distinct memories of her outside watering the lawn - in an outfit that looked like something you’d wear shopping or to go to the bank".
Did she also wear a string of pearls-??
Nanook, yes, I at least noticed the Burry’s Cookies… even though these are date-stamped “June 1971” the could have been taken any time before that.
JB, oh yeah, that girls redheaded friend also has an Autopia dress! I’m guessing they are just best friends who liked to dress alike sometimes. And maybe it made it easier to spot them in the park, my mom always wanted us to wear bright colors on a Disneyland day. 1971 is the right time for striped pants like that, I’ve seen photos of myself when we lived in Huntington Beach and I had pants with super-thin stripes of various colors. GROOVY. I can’t tell what that lady is doing, why would she be tying a decorative belt around her waist at the park??
Mike Cozart, as soon as I saw those yellow and blue outfits I thought of the Autopia, and you! Interesting that the girl’s dresses pre-date the Disneyland use of those colors. I applaud anybody who overdresses, hey at least they are making an effort. Unlike me! I love the Main Street in today’s photos, it feels just right.
zach, whenever I see that GAF logo, I think about how terrible their film was. If I ever had any GAF slides, they were guaranteed to be bad. Red, or orange, or something awful. The sky definitely looks June-Gloomy; a blue sky is always nice, but it’s also nice to not have it be 95ยบ.
Nanook, maybe she wore a mink stole.
Major-
"maybe she wore a mink stole."
PLEASE... there are limits. (Perhaps in Bel-Air...)
Nanook, a mink stole is always "the thing"!!!
NANOOK : well it was the early 70’s so heavy ceramic beads or overdone metal medallion necklaces were the fashion. I actually remember her wearing a necklace that was almost identical to one my grandma wore : an elaborate brass owl with amber diamond cut ( glass I’m sure ) translucent eyes!!!
MAJOR : well, Disneyland didn’t really come up with those colors … they were official GOODYEAR racing team colors … and Goodyear sponsored GRAND PRIX RACEWAY … like many DL&WDW costumes of the period the same designs would often be implemented at equivalent attractions at both parks. But what we know as the “AUTOPIA BLUES & YELLOWS” were really created for WDW. The. 1971 Grand Prix Raceway WDW costumes at the time were a medium blue with white stripes - also the official racing team colors of GoodYear at the time. For Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 the same design but in yellow and red was used …. The corporate colors of BRIDGESTONE - the sponsor of GRAND CIRCUIT RACEWAY .
The Disneyland PeopleMover 1967 and 1974 costumes used Goodyear corporate colors …. But in 1987 the PeopleMover costume used the short lived blue & Teal goodyear racing team colors of the mid 80’s.
Speaking of the blue and yellow Autopia cast member uniform, who can forget our very own favorite HERE, from the GDB June 8, 2021 post!
Thanks, Major.
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