Dining at the Disneyland Hotel
I have a very fun piece of vintage paper ephemera for you today - a little foldout flyer (only about 5" X 3" when closed) touting the surprising number of places where guests could go to drink and dine. Everything from a casual coffee shop to something a little more sophisticated and "grownup". I really love this one!
There's the cover, with a stylized Sun, perhaps evoking an "endless summer" in SoCal. "The whole family will enjoy the California Dining Room". At the bottom, a "special menu for children" is mentioned, you can find these quite easily, a menu that doubled as a paper mask of Mickey's smiling face (they also had a Pinocchio mask at some point). I used to have several of them, until my visiting cousins decided that they were junk. Into the trash they went!
The item unfolds to reveal six panels on each side, each featuring a different establishment for refreshment and relaxation. I had no idea that the Disneyland Hotel had so many options!
Next to the aforementioned cover is the Monorail Bar (not to be confused with the Monorail Cafe), and the Crown and Pillow, where "you'll have a jolly good time". Many of these places emphasize the availability of alcohol, clearly something that the parents and conventioneers demanded after a long day.
All of the graphics are great, but I especially like the art for the Disneyland Hotel Lounge. The Coffee House sounds like a place I'd want to go, perhaps to enjoy a nice club sandwich and maybe a milkshake. Next, take the "Looking Glass Elevator" (I've never heard that before) up to the "Top of the Park" in the Sierra Tower. So... was the elevator mirrored??
The obverse features six more cafes and restaurants.
Several mentions of the Marina help to date this flyer to post-Spring 1970, when that feature debuted. More cocktails could be had at the Palm Court Lounge and the Shipyard Inn, along with seafood, more English atmosphere, and even dancing in the Oak Room. I wonder if Anaheim locals ever went to these places even if they weren't staying at the Hotel?
And the last three, starting with Blum's of San Francisco, the Sailmaker's Den (love some of these names), and The Country Kitchen, which had Mediterranean cuisine (surprisingly).
Somebody was selling a different version of this flyer on eBay a year or so ago; maybe someday I'll get one of these (because I love variations), but I'm very happy with the one I have.
13 comments:
Major-
Clearly, this was Anaheim's swanky location for ALL four meals of the day: Breakfast・Luncheon・Dinner・and Cocktails: From a Sidecar to a Caboose. Sign me up, now-!
"...take the "Looking Glass Elevator" (I've never heard that before) up to the "Top of the Park" in the Sierra Tower. So... was the elevator mirrored??"
The designers of the elevator's interior received the same memo as you did and surrounded the interior with mirrors - creating the world's only Glass Elevator which had no view-! These things happen sometimes...
I had forgotten the Disneyland Hotel was home to an outlet of Blum's of San Francisco. It's interesting this brochure seems to be 'pushing' egg dishes, when they are famous for ice cream confections of all kinds, candies, and their famous Coffee Crunch Cake.
After perusing thru all the food and beverage options available for guests, I miss the Wrather-owned property even more-!
Thanks, Major.
Major, I hope you bricked your cousins up behind a wall. :-p
Why, this is an outrage! None of these restaurants serve lunch! Just something called "luncheon"! ;-) If you ask me, I think Disney made up the word "luncheon" just to sound sophisticated and hoity-toity. (I know the word has been around for probably hundreds of years.) OK, I looked it up: A luncheon is a formal lunch. So I was right! Sophisticated and hoity-toity.
Oh yeah... the fold-out flyer: With the groovy pink and orange coloration, this flyer must be from the seventies, as you said. Like you, I'm wondering why a place called "The Country kitchen" has "Mediterranean Cuisine In An Old World Setting". With a name like Country Kitchen, one would expect to have fried chicken, mac & cheese, and mashed potatoes on the menu. Instead, they probably had grape leaves stuffed with escargot. Or maybe the focus was on Italian cuisine? Like Spaghetti and pizza?
The flyer does have a nice look to it. Although, the image of Mickey looks a little odd. Maybe he was drawn by a non-Disney artist just for this pamphlet.
Thanks, Major.
Now I want to eat (and drink!) my way through the Disneyland Hotel of olde!
^^ That's from me. :-)
Oh Major, I mourn the loss of your menus. I hope you sternly reminded your cousins to stay out of your stuff!
This brochure is making me hungry. So. Many. Choices. If I lived close by, you can bet I’d come to the Hotel to eat, even if only for special occasions.
I remember seeing the Monorail Bar, but of course never went inside. IIRC, the bar had a headlight in the end like a train. I don’t know if I could see that through a window, or just in pictures.
I wonder if the Sailmakers’s Den was a play on the old expression “three sheets to the wind” for extreme overindulgence? But all the establishments have nice and evocative names. And two places with live music and dancing! I don’t think there is even one today where I live. No one knows how to dance anymore.
You should buy the second one and frame them in same frame to show off the opposite sides. Thanks for sharing this!
JG
I was in the Monorail Bar a few times in the 70s (the same era as the flyer). The easiest way to get adult beverages at Disneyland. Get on the Monorail at the Tomorrowland station and get off at the Hotel station. Get your hand stamped at the station exit. The bar was upstairs, right next to the Monorail station. After a beer or two walk out of the bar, show your hand stamp and get right on the Monorail back to Disneyland. Eazy peazy...
In the late 70s I went to the Top of the Park several times. It had floor to ceiling windows and a great place to watch the fireworks.
JG, I'd forgotten about it but the bar in the Monorail bar DID have a headlight like a train. There are pics of it on the net.
That flyer brings sure back memories. Thanks Major!
Nanook, I think the Disneyland Hotel clearly wanted to offer casual, family dining options, but definitely wanted places where adults could go and enjoy “swanky” surroundings. I can’t tell if you are kidding about the elevator having mirrors inside or not. Maybe when they said “looking glass” they meant that you “looked” through “glass”. Somewhere on GDB I have a photo of the Blum’s shop at the Disneyland Hotel, where they mention their famous chocolate/tuna cake. So moist.
JB, honestly we never had our cousins come back, and they offered. The menus weren’t very valuable, but it was the principle of the thing. They also found a “bag with a bunch of old mail!” and threw it away. It was financial and tax records for me. Grrr. I suppose that the Mediterranean is surrounded by countries, so you could have a “country kitchen”. I wish I had a menu from there so that I could tell you what the food offerings were. That Mickey art on the menu that I don’t have actually looks exactly like the paper masks that they gave out - definitely a clumsy portrait of the mouse.
Anonymous, don’t ever give up on that dream!
Steve DeGaetano, I will need to see three forms of ID before I believe it.
JG, I really am surprised that the Disneyland Hotel offered so many choices when it came to dining and drinking. It’s kind of impressive. My cousins don’t care what I want, they just do whatever they want and tell you that it was for my own good. Sounds familiar! Now that you mention that train with the headlight, I know I’ve seen photos in brochures, maybe on that Disneyland Hotel blog. Somehow I doubt that they were making a “three sheets to the wind” reference, but anything is possible. I don’t know how to dance, so I can’t point fingers. If I see one of those other variations I will bid on it, but the one that I pictured went for a lot!
Grant, it is kind of nice that people didn’t have to worry about driving a car to get to the Hotel for a cocktail or two. And then they could head right back to Tomorrowland! It’s kind of brilliant. Wow, watching the fireworks from the Hotel with floor-to-ceiling windows sounds pretty sweet. Did they pipe in the music? Glad you enjoyed today’s flyer.
Major-
"I can’t tell if you are kidding about the elevator having mirrors inside or not".
Just Kidding-! Obviously, the 'joke' fell flat.
@ JG; Grant; The Major-
HERE is an image of the infamous bar with its "headlight". (Now, where did I put my mink stole-?)
@ JG-
"...“three sheets to the wind” for extreme overindulgence?"
I prefer BLOTTO-!
It’s interesting that the MONORAIL BAR graphics are shown as being very modern - because a two versions of the Monorail BAR was very “old fashioned” its was old timely railroad themed … but mostly trolly / cable car decorated . Not a monorail in sight - except on the opposite wall! I have several friends who worked the DL MONORAIL .. and have heard many story’s of DL castmembers. Keeping drunk passengers from boarding the Monorail to try and enter Disneyland - it was very difficult.
MAJOR: I’ve mentioned several incidents of me losing things from my collection that I loaned to other collectors … from rare park audio recordings to WDI/WED documentation. Alas ANOTHER situation similar to your menu story happened when I loaned a pretty complete collection of Disneyland Line issues from the 60’s to the early 90’s. He had been doing research and took a bunch to Xerox and after left them in his car … I don’t remember the exact details but he had been using his parents car and while at his parents his dad cleared out all the collectible - rare issues and trashed them to clean up the car.
Nanook, you are usually such an expert on everything that I thought, “Maybe what he’s saying is true??”. It didn’t make sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true!
Mike Cozart, it is a little odd that the Monorail Bar would have an old-timey train theme. So… why is that? Why didn’t they make it sleek and futuristic? I like the idea of the train theme, but then don’t call it the Monorail Bar. I have no doubt that it was an issue keeping drunks off of the Monorail, kind of a bummer. I’ve heard from other collectors about loaning out important pieces and then not getting them back. That would be very upsetting, especially if those things can never be replaced. Like those audio tracks! I hope your friend who lost your collection of Disneyland Line issues was at least contrite about it - not that it would ultimately do any good!
"The designers of the elevator's interior received the same memo as you did and surrounded the interior with mirrors - creating the world's only Glass Elevator which had no view-! These things happen sometimes..."
Nanook, your joke did not "fall flat." I chuckled.
"Major, I hope you bricked your cousins up behind a wall."
JB, HA!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Grant - I wish I was there!
Mike, your loaning--and then loss of your collectibles--is disheartening. It's awful to hear what happened to you and Major. Ugh!
The Sailmaker's Den became the 'wine tasting place' in the 2000's, underneath the Shipyard Inn. Thanks Major!
Even without the vast expanses of Florida, they were strategizing to keep guests inside a Disney "bubble". So along with resort-type amenities, nervous out-of-towners could choose from a variety of menus and themes each evening without facing infamous Southern California traffic.
I think it was in the 80s they had a tavern with a mini Hoop-De-Doo hosted by Sergeant Preston, the hero of radio and television shows back in the day. Jack Wrather owned that property, along with the Lone Ranger and Lassie, and Disney held them for a while after buying out Wrather.
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