Unknown Amusements
I have two slide scans of "unknown amusements" today... maybe you can help figure out the locations!
First up is this l950s look down the very wide main street of a western town that appears to be some sort of movie ranch. I was aware of "Mortensen's Ranch" in New Mexico, and "Apacheland" in Arizona; but neither of those seem to match, based on photos I've seen online. I don't believe this town is in California, but I'm really not sure. Do you have any ideas?
Next is this 1960s photo of some sort of amusement zone featuring (among other things) two rockets; an Atlas missile, and what appears to be a V2 rocket. In the background is a nice Skyway ride, and then to the left are very temporary-looking pavilions - cloth-covered structures similar to what I've seen at some short-lived fairs. There's not much to go on as far as hard clues, but I'm hoping that somebody out there might recognized where this is!
3 comments:
For a second, I thought this might be Corriganville Movie Ranch in Simi Valley. But, 1) I'm sure you SoCal guys would know if this was Corriganville or not. And, 2) After looking at a couple images, Corriganville didn't have this wide (or long) of a Main Street. And I think it curved a bit to make it look like more than it was. So... I got nuthin'.
The landscape seems to be rather flat in the 2nd pic. Probably not Florida... maybe Texas? I do like seeing these rockets and missiles. Exciting! The Atlas missile needs a little color to liven it up. Hot pink and electric blue! With shiny gold trim!
Well, I wasn't any help, as usual. But I do like the photos! Thanks, Major.
Major-
That 'very wide' main street is a mystery, but naturally we're all rooting for it to be downtown Oxnard-!
The 2nd image, believe it or not, appears to be from the International Transportation Exhibition (IVA) in Munich, Germany - June 29 thru October 3, 1965. It should also be noted that... "The spectacular show attracted guests from all over the world, including US astronaut John Glenn, cosmonaut Jury Gagarin and: Walt Disney. The American animation producer traveled to Munich due to the “Monorail” train gliding on elevated tracks. A similar train had been an attraction at “Disneyland” in California since 1959, piquing Disney's interest in Munich's train and leading to the acquisition of rights for his amusement parks".
Once again - the Disney connection-!
Thanks, Major.
@Nanook, I was thinking that the second image had a World's Fair/Exposition flavor to it! Thanks for the research!
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