Here are two photos showing the iconic entrances to two "lands" that were mere steps from each other, but that took you into completely different worlds.
The big wooden gates evoke a frontier fort (and there is the stockade to the right, where a skilled marksman could shoot a fly off of your hat). The "Frontierland" sign could have been made with one wide board, but I've always loved the split, as if they could only source skinny trees out on the plains. The young woman with the red shirt has an impressive helmet of hair that would repel any arrow. To the left, the Davy Crockett Arcade, and beyond that, the Pendleton shop, where everything was plaid.
If you were in the Plaza and walked past Frontierland, you'd only walk a short distance to the entrance to Adventureland, with thatched roofs and bamboo as visual clues. Notice that there are walls to the left, where the Enchanted Tiki Room was being installed, to open the following Summer (June 23, 1963). Straight ahead is a fence of thin poles, which seems oddly-placed, I'm not sure if some other addition was underway - if so I can't imagine what it would be. Or was it just there to protect that tiki from hooligans?
Major-
ReplyDelete"Straight ahead is a fence of thin poles, which seems oddly-placed..."
That 'fence of thin poles' has been there, in one form or another, since the very beginning. It surrounds a planter. Sorry, all that miniature white, wire fencing used elsewhere wouldn't do for Adventureland-!
(I wonder if the Imagineers hiked on over to the closest 'The Akron' to pick-up all those rolls of bamboo fence, creating a 'construction wall' for The Enchanted Tiki Room-?)
Thanks, Major.
I spy with my little eye at least two colorful Indian headdresses! There's a lot of interesting patterns and colors on display in the clothing here. And somewhere, a box of 100 toothpicks has only 98, looking at the legs of the arrow-proof helmet-hair gal.
ReplyDeleteThe lady closest to us has a 'fishing creel' purse, no doubt brimming full of succulent rainbow trout from the ROA. We can take another two toothpicks out of that box of 100 for the legs on pink polka-dot gal. I can't tell if the little blonde girl on the right is happy and is being lifted up by Grandpa(?), or frightened after seeing the skulls displayed on poles just ahead, "Nope! Nope! Nope!"
Pleasantly, typically, Disneyland pics, Major. Thanks.
In the second pic, we can see just a smidgen of the famous Adventureland telephone booth! And now I'm wondering......does Disneyland still have payphones throughout the park?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major!
I like both of these photos, it’s fun to see the comparison of these rustic entries. Photo 1 has the girl who put the “bouff” in “bouffant”. Her hair could take direct fire. But also has the most boring shop in Disneyland, The Pendleton Store. In later years I would become a fan of their shirts, but not yet.
ReplyDeletePhoto 2, another lady in red having a run at “helmet of the week” and Dad to the left with ticket book and fountain pen in his shirt pocket, in the approved manner. I remember the line for the Tiki Room stretching around the corner to Main Street.
Great stuff Major! Thank you.
JG
nice photos... these entrances to theses lands are like two books on a bookshelf, and standing at the Plaza one could pick which book to "open".
ReplyDeletealso... The Akron(!), along with Nieman Reed Lumber City and others, were no doubt well-frequented by WED employees. did they take BankAmericard?
Shouldn't the Rockett Arcade be in Tomorrowland?
ReplyDeleteI think the lady all in black with the interesting pendant walking toward the camera in the first picture is studying at the same witches' correspondence school as Eglantine Price.
Nanook, I guess I should have gone back and looked for other similar views, but that would have required effort. And I’m all about laziness! Good question about the bamboo fencing in front of the Tiki Room, it very well could have been purchased at a garden center or some place like that.
ReplyDeleteJB, ha, good eye on those headdresses, I love a “land specific” souvenir! I wonder if those were purchased in the nearby Trading Post? I suppose that girl does have skinny legs, she needs to hit the StairMaster. Yum, I love to dig into a fresh trout that hasn’t been cleaned or gutted or anything. Sort of like Gollum would do. Gosh, imagine carrying that girl for very long? I would occasionally carry my niece or nephew, and was amazed that my sister could do it for as long as she was able. I’d be tired of it after about one minute!
TokyoMagic!, that is a great question, I’d love to know if there are ANY pay phones left in the park. Considering that they have made it all but impossible to spend a day at the park without looking at your cell phone constantly, I kind of doubt it. But perhaps there is a pair of them in some forgotten corner!
JG, this was definitely “peak hairspray” time, at least until the New Wave 80s! Was the Pendleton Store the most boring shop?? I never went in it as far as I can recall, but it doesn’t sound *that* bad. Wow, it would be nice if the Tiki Room still attracted so many people that the line stretched out to Main Street!
LTL, I like your comparison to books on a bookshelf. Which one would you typically choose first? I know a lot of people loved to do the Jungle Cruise right away. I think I remember ads for The Akron, but never went in - I have no idea if there was an Akron store anywhere near where I lived. I see that they had over 24 stores, and closed in 1985.
Melissa, “Shouldn’t the Rockett Arcade be in Tomorrowland?”. You forgot that Davy Crockett built a rocket out of pieces of old casks and crates, he and Georgie Russell went to the Moon!
I don't recall any pay phones in Disneyland when I visited. There are still phones in WDW, but none of them take coins. You can call within WDW for free, but need a calling card or credit card to call anywhere else. I think they're there for international visitors whose mobile phones don't work in the US, or it would be too costly to redesign a part of a building designed around payphones.
ReplyDelete@ LTL-
ReplyDeleteYES... not just Lumber City, but Neiman Reed - or sometimes - Neiman-Reed Lumber City-! Still a 'going concern'-!
BankAmericard - who needs Visa-?? LISTEN HERE. (I'll still stick with my metal 'Charga-Plate', thank you very much-!)
Nanook, wow, send that commercial to the Smithsonian!
ReplyDeleteDean Finder, yeah, I’m guessing that there must be some sort of public telephones - even today I can imagine situations in which a visitor might not have a cell phone (lost/stolen phone, etc). Your idea about international visitors is a good one.
ReplyDeleteNanook, gosh, I thought Lumber City was long-gone. We used to have a place called “National Lumber” nearby, I liked their mascots, “Shorty” and “Cheap Chicken”. Their ads would say, “I’m stickin’ with the chicken!”. Hey, I recognize Leopold Stokowski in that BankAmericard commercial!
LTL, those old ads seem so LONG now!
"There are still phones in WDW, but none of them take coins. You can call within WDW for free, but need a calling card or credit card to call anywhere else. I think they're there for international visitors whose mobile phones don't work in the US...."
ReplyDeleteDean Finder, I bet you're right. The last time I was in the Tokyo, I was surprised to see payphones throughout the Tokyo Disney parks. I never saw anyone else using them, but I did because I didn't have an international plan on my phone.
Come to think of it, the last time I was at WDW, I also used their payphones because I didn't even have a national plan at that time.