Nice Main Street, 1960s
Here are two pretty nice photos from Main Street, USA - undated, and probably from the early 1960s.
Here's Vesey Walker and the Disneyland Band performing in front of the Opera House, which was not used for much until the sets from "Babes in Toyland" were exhibited (1961 through 1963). Since we can see the attraction posters for the Submarine Voyage and the Monorail, we know that this photo is post-1959, and I am surmising that it is also pre-1961. Just a guess! A small group of guests looks on curiously as they pass by, it might be a family with a few of the kid's friends.
When I think of the Flower Market on West Center Street (which I do all the time!) I generally imagine it looking just like this next photo. But it did evolve somewhat over the years, with the colors of the artificial blooms changing, and new offerings of things like wind chimes and garden figurines, and other tchotchkes.
31 comments:
Major-
It would appear our bespectacled friend standing behind Vesey is holding a Magic Key ticket book-!
Thanks, Major.
I also left a comment on yesterday's post regarding the MGM 'ships' which ended up at World's of Fun in Kansas City.
Ah!! Those two attraction posters have been lopped off on the bottom - trimmed down to fit the Opera House broadside poster openings!! The attraction posters at this time were designed to be inexpensive and used wherever some marketing and color could be used . I’ve seen many of examples of the posters being trimmed down ruining their proportions in order to fit an existing frame or and old ticket or service window.
I always love pictures of the Flower Market. A place where you can pick out flowers or “Gentlemen.” That lady on the right has “A.I.” toes.
Thanks, Major.
Somehow, the band looks odd sitting there in their marching uniforms. They should have different uniforms: some for marching and some for sitting. For a sec, I thought the girl on the right had a fur muff that she had her hands in, but I guess it's just part of her hoodie (did that term exist back then?). Or maybe she has a baby kangaroo in there. The boy closest to us, deep in thought, looks like he was the organizer and director of the group, "Come on, people! We're already behind schedule! Chop, chop!"
It's a nice photo of the Flower Market but.... it lacks vibrancy. Kinda blah. (Oh great, now some more orphans are gonna be homeless... I'll blame Lothar.) For years I thought the flowers were real, and I was quite impressed. Then I learned they were plastic and/or silk, and I was less impressed. I suppose the cost of having fresh flowers delivered every day would have been astronomical, and most of them would just get thrown away. I wonder if they tried using real flowers in the earlier years/months/days?
Sue, it must be a glitch in the Matrix!
Thanks for the scans, Major. (I should open a "GoFundMe page for the homeless orphans.)
@ Sue-
You're not kidding about that lady's mutant little toe-! (She also appears to have a Kodak Brownie Starflash Camera hanging around her neck).
@ JB-
"For a sec, I thought the girl on the right had a fur muff that she had her hands in, but I guess it's just part of her hoodie (did that term exist back then?). Or maybe she has a baby kangaroo in there".
The 1990's would be the decade when 'hoodie' came into use. As for the pocket filled with hands, the correct name for it is indeed a kangaroo pocket.
The little girl walking in front of the band is dressed in "Snow White colors." But she has the "red" on her feet instead of her head. If she had just worn her shoes on her head, she would have totally nailed it! I bet the "real" Snow White was very disappointed when she saw her that day, and I bet she let the little girl know it.
Thanks for the Nice Main Street pics, Major!
Extra points for using tchotchkes in a sentence. I don't remember spending any time at all at the flower market. I do remember watching the glass blower down the street.
Thanks for the walk down Main Street.
Zach
more slice-of-time photos to peruse, like every day! at the flower market... a missing "A" on PARLOR sign (bad show for sure), nice sign for phone booth in right rear. and -- is that Massage Parlor in upper left? Strange. Thanks for these photos, Major.
I thought a good name for a "Curio Shoppe" would be "Joanie Loves Tchotchkes"....and if you get that reference: congrats! That family is a lesson in sociology....the boys all kind of spastic running about in the front ready to submit coupons for rides....the little girl in front wants to be "in the mix"....the parents thinking...wow...that music is loud...(and It HAD to be...they are standing so close) and the daughter in back already getting on to her "stay away from me!" phase....hands in hoodie, and a general disgruntlement. I'm sure all those boys were bouncing around in the station wagon on the way up...so that girl is DONE with them...and mom and dad are just oblivious because they deal with it all day...through 3 of those guys. The Opera House sign that says "Disneyland" I always felt rather sub par...and gives a "plywood painted" vibe...but since the Opera House was basically an empty shell for so long: I get it. The Flower Market as always is Lovely....I created one like this this year....and I'm the only one who "gets it". I like having my little spots of vintage Disneyland that I walk by everyday....and hard to say that Autumn has shown its first signs...even though today will be blistering hot and muggy. When the cherries start dropping their leaves....that starts the ball rolling....I get why people in the NE are so crazy about checking things off for Summer....it's about a minute long. Speaking of the flower market: mine needs to attending to.....thanks Major!
“We’re getting the band back together…”
This is unusual, I think. I don’t recall seeing the band set up here before. It’s a good choice, close to a back stage exit. I wonder if they carried their chairs and music stands themselves when the set was over?
Always love the flower mart. This pic was taken in the summer, both lilies and delphiniums are blooming. I tried growing delphiniums several seasons but the slugs and snails always won.
Thanks Major!
JG
Nanook, I see that key, I didn’t know that they had Magic Key ticket books as early as 1960.
Nanook, I saw that comment, but so late in the evening that I haven’t responded yet.
Mike Cozart, I’ve mentioned those cropped posters before, it always hurts to see. I’m trying to remember if they put posters there before the Monorail and Matterhorn were added! I’ll have to see if I have Opera House photos pre-1959 to check.
Lou and Sue, hmmm, what exactly is going on with that lady’s foot? I thought it might be some sort of decoration on her sandal, but it doesn’t really look like it.
Nanook, those Kodak Brownie Starflash cameras must have been super popular, we see a ton of them.
JB, eventually the Disneyland Band would play without pants when sitting down. So much more comfortable! I think that girl has a fried chicken in the pouch of her sweatshirt. If the photo had been taken ten seconds later, we’d see her munching on a drumstick. It’s true, the Flower Market photo lacks bright sunshine, and it looks best when there’s plenty of light. But this might have been taken during the dreaded June Gloom.
Nanook, sorry, you are all confused, it’s rhinos that have pockets!
TokyoMagic!, kids didn’t start wearing shoes on their heads until the 80s. Thanks to MTV! I blame Madonna.
zach, yes, I loved watching glass blowers (or glass “lampworkers”) in any park, I specifically remember watching an artisan make a glass dolphin at Japanese Deer Park. My mom bought me another dolphin that was already finished, and dipped in a blue transparent color. I still have it, though the blue wore off years ago.
LTL, oh, crazy, I’d think that the missing “A” would have been fixed immediately. Maybe it had fallen off that morning?? That is a message parlor, I think it was right next to a gym.
Bu, I like the “Joanie Loves Tchotchkes” pun, but feel like the punny names at the parks has gone overboard. “Award Wieners” hotdogs. “Chester Drawers”. And so on. It’s nothing, really, but for some reason I hate it! Maybe I need to listen to some whale songs and sip a glass of wine. I do wonder if the Disneyland Band adjusted its volume if it was morning, or less crowded, or if they were playing for a lunch crowd at the Plaza Gardens. They can’t always be blaring at full blast, can they?? I sort of like seeing the word “Disneyland” above the Opera House entry, it feels “early”, as in “this is from before Mr. Lincoln”, which it was of course. Hot and muggy - join the crowd! I can hardly move without breaking into a sweat. Be sure to pick all of the Japanese beetles off of your plants!
I love the thoughtful contrapposto of the boy in the stripey shirt. He looks like he's posing for a brochure. "Which ride ticket shall I use first? How shall I decide?" Little sister in the Snow White colors gets the vintage fashion award. And it was very nice of the trombone player to sit this one out while Mom walked by in her pleated skirt; that could have been a real Benny Hill moment.
I wonder how many people had an arrangement of fake flowers from Disneyland's Flower Market in their houses.
JG, the Band did set up there occasionally, but obviously once they started using the Opera House for the Babes in Toyland exhibit, the Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters, and then Mr. Lincoln, it had to end.
Melissa, that boy looks like he stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting, only Rockwell would have given him a weaker chin. Benny Hill?! You need Yackety Sax for him!!
Dean Finder, I’d love to know that too! “See these flowers? THEY’RE NOT REAL! We bought them at Disneyland!”.
@ JG-
"I wonder if they carried their chairs and music stands themselves when the set was over?"
One word: ROADIES.
@ Major-
"I didn’t know that they had Magic Key ticket books as early as 1960".
DEFINITELY by 1961 - perhaps earlier-? (Maybe Mike knows...)
"I’m trying to remember if they put posters there before the Monorail and Matterhorn were added!"
UH HUH - I've seen a pairing of TSI & Frontierland from July, 1957.
Nanook, thanks for that additional information you left in yesterday's post as well for as correcting my confuselationized geography. I left an additional comment after yours on yesterday's post regarding the MGM "ships."
So, part of my visual impairment is that when I'm trying to read, sometimes one of the blind spots on my retina will obscure part of a word, and my brain will autofill it in as another word before the good part of the retina has a chance to pan over it and catch up.
The reason this is relevant at all is that when I was trying to read the attraction posters in the first picture, even blown up good on my bod screen, my brain initially filled in "SUBMARINE VOYAGE" and "SAMURAI VENICE." after my eye caught up and I had a little giggle at myself, I remembered Mike Cozart mentioning "Snowball Express" a few days ago, and it struck me that "Samurai Venice" would have made a great Ron Miller-era live action Disney movie. Why is there a Samurai in Venice? We don't know either, but we've got 80 minutes and 20 madcap chase sequences to find out!
BIG screen, not BOD screen! I do NOT have a bod screen! I am NOT a Teletubby, all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding!
.....is that Massage Parlor in upper left? Strange.
LTL, I see that Major already confirmed it for you. Walter Knott had his "house of ill repute" (Goldie's Place), and Walt Disney had his "massage parlor." Walt should have hung a body part out of the window just like Walter Knott did!
Bu, I got the “Joanie Loves Tchotchkes” reference! I've actually met both of those actors. It's just too bad that Tchotchke turned out to be such a creep.
Melissa, we don’t care if you use a BIG screen OR a BOD screen….we’re just so thrilled you’re back!!
NEW THIS SUMMER FROM WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS: VENICE SAMURAI!!
See what happens when a Chicago mob boss (Cesar Romero) tries to laundry money thru a Chinese fireworks factory hidden under the the disguise of a Japanese restaurant!! Joe Flynn plays the oblivious investigator who along with 2 single college girls hoping to find romance in Venice uncover a giant stolen diamond ring run by a all but innocent elderly dowager ( Hellen Hays that makes the mafia's antics look like a kids lemonade stand! If you and your family aren’t headed to see VENICE SAMAURA , you’re headed the WONG way!’
RATED G FOR EVERYONE!!!
1973
1973
Walt Disney Productions
The finest in family entertainment
See Melisa !! You were spot on!!
….and coming this winter:
Tim Conway and Don Knotts are the NUTTSIE NAZIS - two top rank klutzes who turn the Third Reich into a giant wrong!
Nanook, I have a bunch of ticket books, but I turned my nose up at the Magic Keys. I wanted the A,B,C,D, and E tickets! Thanks for the info about the posters at the Opera House.
Chuck, I mean, who has even heard of “Worlds of Fun”?? Not me! Well, OK, maybe I have.
Melissa, I think part of the nature of eyesight is that our brains fill in a lot, so in a way it makes sense that you would see things a little differently. “Samurai Venice” sounds like a real thing, like a movie Quentin Tarantino would love. If it was a Disney movie, I can only imagine Joe Flynn with his eyes taped to look “Asian”.
Melissa, this is a family blog!
TokyoMagic!, “Walt should have hung a body part out of the window”… D’OH. Yes, that actor turned out to be a real piece of garbage.
Lou and Sue, ha ha, I think I saw footage of a bod screen from the 1960s, with psychedelic imagery.
Mike Cozart, what about Dean Jones? He could have been the Samurai. Peter Ustinov could have been involved too.
Mike Cozart, “The finest in family entertainment”, was that their slogan?
Mike Cozart, she’s always spot-on!
Mike Cozart, I love the scene when the accidentally drive a tank through Adolph’s mountaintop chalet (with their pet seal helping).
Mike and Major, uh....I want to know why Sandy Duncan doesn't get to be in this film???
TokyoMagic!, OH MY GOSH, Sandy should be the star!
Sandy is new to film since she is mostly a Broadway Star …. Ur she does appear in THE NUTTZIE NAZIS as Frau Von Veet Tin . This makes thus Sandy’s second Disney film ( so far ) the Million Dollar Duck. Underway is her third film in production now under the production name “SPACE CAT”. While Sandy keeps busy with stage and screen projects she mostly likes to eat WHEAT THINS - one right after the other - RIGHT OUTTA THE BOX!!
Melissa, "I am NOT a Teletubby". Dang. And I had your nickname all picked out! "Laa-Laa".
Mike, you nailed those Disney movie premises! You also included all the 'regulars' in you cast line-up.
Hey! What about Kurt Russell?!?
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