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
We’ve discussed those Mexican boats before : at nite they were part of a musical presentation celebrating Seaports of the Pacific .. it included Polynesian outriggers and dancers , Japanese ( fan ??) dancers , Mexican mariachi band ( Garibaldi musicians) and other performers all in boats and floating floats in the main lagoon. During the day the water craft added to the port/harbor exotic atmosphere .
ReplyDelete@ TM!-
ReplyDelete"... that pic from "the bad side of town" is the Convention Center. I just can't figure out which side is showing".
I was going round and round trying to pinpoint just exactly where this image is. I believe the corner of the taller building is the Convention Center's Food Facility structure, attached to and south of the Convention Center. We're actually looking west, and those Italian cypress trees and utility poles are abutting S. Walnut Street.
I absolutely loved staying in the Disneyland Hotel a few years ago when my daughter treated me to a suprise retirement trip, but I can attest to the fact that it's in no way the old Hotel. Slick, corporate, high end accomodations, but for charm you need to go to the parks.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks Lou and Sue and Major too!
DeleteYou can get married in a gondola at the Venetian resort in Las Vegas, so they were just leaving money on the table by not getting double bubble on those mariachi boats as little wedding venues.
ReplyDelete"Seaports of the Atlantic" would have been a pretty long walk, no matter which direction you took.
The brass handles on either side of that door will allow me to hang on and sing "The Trolley Song" really loudly.
Plop, plop, plop, goes the mustard,
Ding, ding, ding, goes the bell,
Dowd, down, down, goes your hot dog -
Just don't worry about the weird smell!
Now I'm wondering if those "roller" thingys that we see hot dogs on at times cook the doggies, or just keep them warm?
I can only answer for a sample size of two convenience stores: the one where I ate lunch most days during my last few years of college, and the one where I worked around the same time. The hot dogs went on cold, and the rollers heated them up and then kept them warm. When you started to run low, you moved the older dogs to the front and put more cold ones on at the back.
Thanks to Lou & Sue & the Major, too, for this fun trip to the Disneyland Hotel!
JB, the color is a bit off on these photos, but I’m assuming that those flowers are fake - it would make sense. Ha, even if Lou was taking a photo of those plants, I can’t say it’s much of a picture. But Sue always says that he took photos of everything! And now that you know what the writing on the cable car says, you can be happy-go-lucky all the rest of the day! Maybe you’re right about the hotdog warmer, gotta keep those wienies warm.
ReplyDeleteNanook, yes, the beautiful hotel convention center can be seen by that “Seaports of the Pacific” sign. No idea about the San Francisco Wharf, I know next to nothing about the entire Hotel complex.
Lou and Sue, yes, I’m assuming that you were being thorough and scanning everything. It would make sense that these are from early in the morning - I thought that they could also be from winter, but I know you’ve sent other pix from 1980 when Lou was there in July so… probably not winter.
TokyoMagic!, I’m not sure I’ve seen a hotdog Ferris wheel, though I can picture what you mean. I’ve definitely seen the rollers, at every 7-11. I am never tempted to buy anything from those. Weird that corn on the cob was so popular at Knott’s and they did away with it. I assume that it was a big maintenance issue, as you mentioned the container for butter, etc. They should have had a special “butter sponge” for applying the butter! I’m impressed that the hotdogs were (at one time) actually run through a broiler, that sounds better than boiling or microwaving. Thanks to the link with the Google image of the convention center as it is today. Does it sit empty, or is it used for anything?
TokyoMagic!, you’re welcome!
Mike Cozart, interesting about the oar, obviously that company was well-known among folks responsible for exotic decor. I agree with you, if I had to guess, I’d wager that the cable car was built just for the hotel. Sometimes I think it looks a bit smaller than genuine SF cable cars, but then I’ll think, “No, it looks OK”.
TokyoMagic!, ha, “gourmet pretzels”. Well, it was a good effort anyway. “Licorice-coated pretzel”, YUCK. That can’t be real! I’m one of those people who finds licorice to be unpleasant to put it mildly. I do like a big soft pretzel though, nice and warm and salty with either mustard or cheese. In the pre-churro days, that was one of my “go to” snacks at Disneyland.
zach, I think the look of those boats recalling the Floating Gardens was intentional.
zach, I don’t believe that Mr. Ballard checks in very often, if at all.
JG, I can be an early riser at times, and I do like how it’s so quiet and uncrowded. And no traffic. I used to get to work an hour or two before my co-workers, which of course meant that I got to go home before them. One time my supervisor came in early, and my guess is that he wanted to see that I really did come in at 7:00. I find those hotdog display things with the rollers to be a bit revolting. How long have those things been rotating? I saw a photo online of a rat inside one of those cases, with the hint that you should buy the one with the rat on it because it would be the warmest.
Mike Cozart, that “musical presentation” sounds pretty fun, I assume they didn’t do that for very long. Think of all the performers they had to pay!
Nanook, I’m sure you are right - as I said earlier, I have no useful knowledge of the Hotel’s grounds or buildings, so I am relying on the expertise of you guys!
Stu29573, yeah, the Disneyland Hotel underwent a significant redo years ago, I’m sure all the old rooms were completely stripped and now look like rooms that could be in any hotel. I always wanted to stay there, but it’s just too expensive.