We've been enjoying a series of Disneyland Hotel photos from Lou Perry, scanned by his daughter Sue B. Today will be the last four! It's been fun.
The Marina was added to the Hotel in 1970, adding a general nautical/island theme; this dock had a number of different types of boats moored, along with the paddle boats. I wonder if those odd flat-bottomed boats with the decorative arches were available for weddings? You, your bride, a priest, and two guests!
This corner of the Hotel property is not exactly beautiful - it resembles an industrial park. There's a banner pointing in the direction of "Seaports of the Pacific", which we've seen in previous photos. Other than that, this looks like an area to be avoided.
This nice old (?) streetcar (the "Orient Express") was used as a hotdog stand when things were busier. I don't think this was a former San Francisco cable car, but I'm sure one of you will have info about it.
I don't see a kitchen area inside the streetcar, so maybe they boiled hotdogs in a saucepan full of funky water. Or better yet: microwave! "Sir, my hotdog tastes weird". "That means it's gourmet!". The brass handles on either side of that door will allow me to hang on and sing "The Trolley Song" really loudly. All the other guests will love it.
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
The flowers on the arch of the flat-bottomed boat look dead and dried up; like a scene out of the Haunted Mansion! Or maybe they're just in shadow. I'm getting tired just looking at the paddle boats.
ReplyDelete2) This is the back of the building where Soylent Green is manufactured. DON'T LOOK UNDER THE BLUE TARP! I'm pretty sure Lou was taking a picture of that grounded boat full of plants, in the foreground.
3) I really like the cable car/ hot dog stand. I tried fussing with the writing on the panel below the window... I still couldn't decipher it.
4) Well this is embarrassing. The undecipherable writing is plainly visible in this photo. Major, I think that glass box thingy to the right of the door that you're hanging onto is the hot dog warmer. Like you see in movie theaters, where the weenies rotate on wire racks.
Thanks to Lou & Sue & Major.
Major-
ReplyDeleteThat "Seaports of the Pacific" signage is sitting near the hotel's convention center (with rooftop parking). Wasn't that 'Orient Express' snack bar "cable car" a part of the area now (1980) referred to as the San Francisco Wharf-?
Thanks to Lou and Sue, and The Major.
Boy are those first two shots especially depressing….not sure why I decided to scan them. I guess — because ‘they were there.’ (These do confirm what I’ve said all along: My dad took pictures of anything and EVERYTHING.)
ReplyDeleteSeeing the ‘stillness’ and lack of life, I’m assuming my dad took these pics at the crack of dawn. (Maybe someone can tell by the shadows….I can’t confirm.) My dad was an early riser…always was at work by 6:00a…and he was also up early on vacations to take pictures—then getting back to the hotel before anyone else was awake.
I wonder if the Hot Dog Ferris Wheel thingy actually cooked the hot dogs, or if they just kept them warm under heat lamps, after they had already been cooked. Now I'm wondering if those "roller" thingys that we see hot dogs on at times cook the doggies, or just keep them warm?
ReplyDeleteAt Knott's, we had a Ferris Wheel thingy for corn on the cob, which was a VERY popular items with guests. The contraption actually just held plastic corn on the cob, and the actual corn cobs were kept in a pan of water in a wells warmer. At some point, the geniuses in charge got rid of the corn on the cob, even though it was a huge seller. They brought in "Chicken Chow Mein" but nobody wanted it. So did they get rid of it and bring back the corn? No! Stupid Knott's. They would make dumb decisions like that all the time! But back to the Ferris Wheel for corn......it had a deep tray at the bottom for melted butter, so when the corn reached the bottom of the "ride" it would be dipped into the pool of butter. I don't know if it was ever used (it always had the plastic corn during my time), but it seems like it would be a B*TCH to clean at the end of the night, with all that butter dripping off of the corn after being "dunked" each time it reached the bottom.
That's what seeing the Hot Dog Ferris Wheel reminded me of! Ha, ha! Oh, and at the larger Knott's food service counters, the hot dogs were run through sort of a broiler on a chain conveyor belt. But at the little food stand across the street at Knott's Lagoon, they were just microwaved. There was no comparison when it came to how they tasted. The broiled dogs were definitely better.
As Nanook pointed out, that pic from "the bad side of town" is the Convention Center. I just cant figure out which side is showing. You would think it would be the backside, or a backstage area, but then I don't know why we would see the directional banner or the "boat planter." The building is still standing. Here's a view of one of it's corners, but I don't know if it's the one we are seeing in Lou's pic. Obviously, they could have made changes to the surrounding area in the last 46 years!
Disneyland Hotel Convention Center
After leaving my VERY long comment, I forgot to thank Lou, Sue, and Major, too!
ReplyDeleteThe SEAPORTS OF THE PACIFIC directional sign is appropriately enough on a rowing long oar! It’s a prop purchased specifically for such themed use by Bensen Tropical & Nautical Imports … the company was once a massive supplier to Hollywood , themed restaurants and amusement parks, it is now an anemic version of itself with mostly online sales of pool party supplies and bamboo and thatching .
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that streetcar hotdog stand is 100% created for this and while it has some authentic looking pieces none of them appear to be real vintage. Whoever designed added things like the safety scoops ( sort of a cow catcher for traction vehicles) it isn’t real … and probably fabricated just for looks. And it’s definitely nothing San Francisco ever used - cable - horse drawn or electric . If Disney didn’t fabricate it new themselves…. Someone else did for Disney.
It appears lots of the early themed props for Seaports of the Pacific didn’t last too long and they probably required more maintenance then they saw use.
One more Knott's memory! Knott's had their S.F. Cable Cars that were actually used for transportation around the parking lots and Knott's Marketplace. But they also had one very similar to the one in Lou's pics, which had also been converted to a little food stand and was always used outside the main gate, next to the Cable Car Kitchen. It sold pink lemonade and "gourmet pretzels. That was another "genius" idea that didn't go over well with the public. You could get a chocolate dipped pretzel, or a "pizza pretzel," or a "licorice-coated pretzel." I forget the other flavors they offered, but the public did NOT want them! Anyway, the reason I brought this up is because the street car was very similar to this DL Hotel version, and it is now located at the Southern California Railway Museum (formerly the Orange Empire Railway Museum), along with one of the S.F. Cable Cars that was used at Knott's. Major, you, and Ken and I saw both of those vehicles in a storage facility, when we visited the museum! they had ripped out the Formica counters that had been added, and the two original long wooden passenger benches that ran the length of the car were still there!
ReplyDeleteI love the reminiscing and the memories revealed on this blog! Thanks, TM! Speaking of which, the boats in the first photo immediately reminded me of the decorated boats in the Floating Gardens in Mexico City.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major and Sue for the tour of the more mundane areas of the Disneyland hotel.
Zach
Maybe Mr. Ballard with the Disneyland hotel book will drop in and shed some light on those floating garden boats.
ReplyDeleteAh, GDB. Come for the pictures, stay for the comments.
ReplyDeleteI’m with Zach, the stories make the post. From Lou getting up with the chickens to take pictures to the Corn Cob Ferris Wheel, we got it all today.
I took a moment or two to recognize the beached boat in the back yard photo. Proof that even fancy buildings have Back-Of-House not meant for guests.
I do think those hot dog rollers cook the sausages eventually, but I think they are warmed first and cook slowly if they aren’t purchased right away. I’ve seen some gnarly dogs on those things in distant gas stations.
Also agree with Mike on that trolley. It looks like some of the pieces are adapted from construction material for buildings. I wonder why a cable car evinces thoughts of hot dogs?
Thanks Lou, Sue, and Major!
JG