Randos
I've had today's randos rattling around in a folder for quite a long time, and decided to just post them already. This first one is dated "July, 1964" and shows the familiar Flower Market from the far end looking out toward Main Street. There are blossoms in all the colors of the rainbow, even "olive drab", which just looks odd. One fellow has just admired the Carnation Milk Truck ("Gosh, what a honey!"), but otherwise it's ladies who really loved this Disneyland feature.
Next is this scan from 1956 - a rather chaotic view Fantasyland. You've got yer flying elephants, you've got yer Skyway gondolas, you've got yer Pirate Ship (with striped sails unfurled), and the cute little ticket booth to the right. The sky is as blue as can be!
16 comments:
Major-
Both of these images are lovely 'randos'. The first image is particularly compelling as it draws viewers out towards the excitement of Main Street, USA. I'm uncertain about all the colors of the rainbow, as I'm having trouble locating indigo...
The second image is great for the study of pachyderm asses - a familiar Disney trademark. (The unfurled, striped sails are merely an added bonus).
Thanks, Major.
1st pic: The [up-front] green daisies look like a giant Venus fly trap plant, especially in the thumbnail pic.
2nd pic: Everything looks all tangled up….but it is a fun picture.
Thanks, Major.
Ladies and gentlemen, the back side of the Flower Market! We don't often get this view, in fact I don't remember seeing any others from the far side looking out toward Main Street. And I have to agree, those olive drab sunflowers look pretty alien. Maybe they're Venusian? The other colors of sunflowers look just as strange.
Wow, busy indeed! It's like a 'find the hidden objects' picture. The Skyway buckets look like they're all tangled up with the Pirate Ship rigging and the Dumbi. I never thought of it before, but the Sweepers must have to follow those Elephants around constantly sweeping up piles of fiberglass poop.
Seems like Randos are always better than the 'average' photos. Thanks, Major.
^ JB, I guess those flowers do look more like sunflowers than my guess of daisies. I was also trying to decide if they were maybe black-eyed Susan’s, but I’m now going with sunflowers, too. Sunflowers that resemble Venus fly traps.
Major, I really like that first photo. It's just such an unusual view!
JB, you are going to give Disney designers an idea for something. You know how "modern-day" Disney just loves to use rude animal sounds, smells, and fluids in their attractions.
Thanks, Major!
Wow! The colors in today's pics are gorgeous. Always enjoy seeing the Hallmark Crown of the Hallmark Communications Center shop.
Thanks, Major.
- Ken Martinez
I love that first photo as it shows a Disneyland view I have no memory of. I remember sitting on the curb around the corner to the left and watching the Disneyland Band march by while I drank a mini-carton of Carnation milk through a straw stuck through a pre-punched hole in the top (remember those?), but I don’t remember us meandering into the Flower Market.
This picture clearly illustrates something I don’t think most of us consciously notice or think about very often - West Center Street is not a perfectly-aligned continuation of East Center Street. Check out this Main Street map from a 1965 INA guide for an overhead view of what I am talking about. Today’s image demonstrates why it was done - it prevents us from looking directly down the two short streets from end to end, giving the illusion of a much larger small town downtown. It’s almost like the first generation imagineers knew what they were doing…and management trusted their judgement. Inconceivable!
Like Ken, I always get a smile out of seeing the Hallmark crown, even though I don’t consciously remember it. And there can’t be too many photos that show both the crown and the Carnation truck.
And the second picture: ladies and gentlemen, behold - the back side of elephants!
Thanks, Major!
Ladies and gentlemen, the underside of a fiberglass elephant!
"Oh, Mr. Biv, how do you get your rainbow daisies so big?"
"Why, I feed them nothing but Fresh Milk and Ice Cream from Carnation®, ma'am!"
Ah, the perfectly preserved plastic posey patch! (I don't know if there are any poseys in there, but I needed them for the alliteration). I think those sunflowers are supposed to be "avacodo green" which, in 1964, was a very fashion forward color for homes!
The second pic reminds me of a bunch of toys dumped into a giant toy box! Ok, Mom, I cleaned up my room!
Thanks, Major!
I would like to talk to the lady in stripes (by the Pirate Ship) to see if she is related to Mr Smee.
The photographer just stepped out of the Men's room at the back of the Market.
I like the riotious colors and activity of these shots.
Thanks Major for the stroll around the park today!
Zach
This is definitely an unusual view of the Flower Mart, and I like it. Zach, I’ll bet you are right, taken as the cameraman comes out of the restroom. For some reason now I’m thinking back when San Francisco had flower stands on the various corners. All gone now, but I think there might still be florists inside some of the parking garages. Hard Facts indeed.
While the first scene’s intent was that it could be one of many small towns across the country, the Fantasyland chaos of photo 2 can only be in Disneyland. Pirates and elephant hams all mixed up. It’s a great scene.
Thanks Major!
JG
@Zach, I noticed the lady in the striped dress when I zoomed in; she's awesome! There's an old Erie Canal song I always liked better than the one about Sal the mule and the low bridge, called "The E-RI-E Canal" or "The E-RI-E was A-Rising." There's a verse that goes:
"The cook, she was a kind old soul,
She had a ragged dress,
So we hoisted her upon the pole
As a signal of distress."
If Mrs. Stripy was a cook on the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, they could hoist her up on the mast and she'd fit right in with the striped sails.
In the last picture look inside the DUMBO ticket booth : there’s an open cash box right on the counter … that’s a Disney no-no no matter what year or decade it is!
I have strong memories of the Carnation 1911 Delivery Truck …. But not on East Center Street ( except in vintage photos) for me the truck was always parked on the street between The Plaza Inn and the Carefree Corner/Plaza Art School/Baby Center . I think because for a time after Gerber’s departure Carnation sponsored the baby center.
Nanook, I dunno, those flowers on the cart in the background might be indigo-colored! Hard to be certain. I definitely don’t see any puce flowers. Hey, you can’t say “asses” on this family blog!
Lou and Sue, so weird, I wrote a blog post (that you won’t see for a long time) yesterday mentioning a Venus fly trap!
JB, I do prefer this view looking out toward Main Street, as you said, it is not the usual thing. It’s funny to me that they felt the need to make artificial flowers in unnatural colors. Real flowers just don’t do it, in fact they suck. I’m sure the “tangle” of attractions is seen as a negative to many, but I’m always impressed at the way the Imagineers crammed so much into the limited space available.
Lou and Sue, I know there are many types of daisies, you will still get partial credit!
TokyoMagic!, I love rude animal sounds too, there’s nothing better than a reverberating belch.
K. Martinez, I remember first seeing the Hallmark crown on the “Stuff From the Park” blog, it charmed me!
Chuck, I do remember drinking milk in those waxed paper cartons, with a teensy straw that you poked through a hole. Do you think that the mis-aligned side streets were a movie backlot trick? We know that a lot of Disneyland was built with “movie magic” in mind. Now that you mention it, I’m sure you’re right, you don’t see the Carnation truck and the Hallmark crown together too often!
Melissa, there’s just something about the idea of fresh milk and (ice)cream, so wholesome!
Stu29573, I am sure I am wrong, but I thought that “posey” was sort of a generic term for “flower”. If only there was some way to look it up! Maybe someday. You’re right, “avocado green” is probably more accurate. Often paired with “harvest gold”. When we moved into our house in 1976, the kitchen was both of those colors.
zach, if that lady was related to Mr. Smee, would she be allowed into the park as a “special guest”? Ha, I hope the photographer didn’t use his camera in the Men’s Room.
JG, I think you’re right about the flower markets in San Francisco, you might even see them in “Vertigo”. Real flowers, I’d wager. I can’t remember if I read this or made it up, but I do feel like Fantasyland is the most “Disney” of all the lands.
Melissa, I’m sure that other Erie Canal song is very nice, but it will never replace the classic that we sang in music class when I was in the second grade!
Mike Cozart, oh boy, and open cash box! Money, money, money. In 1956 it might have held as much as $25! I have perhaps only ONE photo of the Carnation truck near the Plaza Inn, so it was definitely there, but it must have been for a relatively short time.
Major-
"Hey, you can’t say “asses” on this family blog!"
Merciful heavens-! A thousand pardons. Make that pachyderm rumps.
What could have more style and flair
Than a simple pachyderm derrière?
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