Main Street, September 1964

Howsabout some photos of Main Street USA? It don't cost nothin'! Nothing but YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL.

Town Square has many charms, but one of the best is that you can look back toward Main Street Station and will often see one of the wonderful Disneyland RR locomotives. In this case, the Fred Gurley; old number 3, as I calls it. It debuted on March 28, 1958, less than six years before this picture was snapped. 

Some of the slides from this batch have taken on a slight purple tone, which I tried to ameliorate, with limited success. Main Street still looks pretty gloomy, not to mention practically deserted - we can only see a few people; I think Santa's arm is visible to the extreme left. What, he can't enjoy a day at the Happiest Place on Urf? Today is a great day for trashcan counters, and I'll sit back and let you have fun.

 

Jungle Cruise, August 1970

I'm sorry, Jungle Cruise, you are a great ride, but the photographs of you are (generally) not so wonderful. For one thing, there are usually lots of heads in the way. For another, the boat is on rails, so the pictures show the same scenes over and over. And over. 

Like the African Veldt. I just can't deal with a word with "l", "d", and "t" all in a row. It ain't right. The "d" is silent, just spell it "Velt"! It's what John Wayne wanted, and you don't want to disappoint John Wayne, do you?

The "Lost Safari"? They aren't lost, they're right over there! A rabid Rhinoceros would like to eat the entire hunting party, but they've scrambled up a convenient tree trunk. Laughing hyenas are enjoying the show, and a few antelope are just glad that Ricky the Rhino doesn't want them.
 

Autotopias!

There's the Autopia, and then there are Autotopias. You know, little car rides! All good amusement parks had them. Disneyland's versions are perhaps the most famous, but here are a few others. This first one is from the 1960s, and these sporty miniature roadsters have a pretty strong resemblance to Disney's Mark V Autopia cars - but they are a little bit different. I have no idea what park we are looking at, but would bet dollars to donuts  that these cars were a product of Arrow Development. There aren't many clues, could it be Six Flags Over Texas?

This next one is from July 1971, and luckily we can read the lettering on the side of that red beauty: SIX FLAGS. Not that this narrows things down much more, because a search for Six Flags car rides reveals identical postcards from several parks, including Six Flags Over Georgia and Six Flags Over Mid-America; if I had to place money down, I'd at least guess that this photo is from either of those two parks (since other Six Flags parks had "antique auto" rides). 

 

A Pair From July 1962

Here are two pretty nice scans from some slides dated "July, 1962". Disneyland was seven years old! 

A father poses with his two sons in front of the Sunkist Citrus House and the Penny Arcade - I wonder if there was a reason they took the photo there, or if it just felt like "as good a place as any"? Perhaps they'd had some olde-time fun in the Penny Arcade.

Next is this very fun photo of one of the happy sons returning to the Autopia load/unload area, with his cool Mark V vehicle, painted a pearlescent blue. A NASA guy stands safely on the curb because he values his feet and ankles. I love the joyful expression on the boy's face, and the many colorful cars in the distance.

 

Fantasyland, April 1972

1972 was a very good time to visit Disneyland! I just scanned a small batch of slides from April of '72, often featuring three folks in this photo who may or may not be related.  I can't help seeing them as "THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL", "THE FRENCH TEACHER", and "THE AP CALCULUS PROFESSOR". I'm sure they are very nice, even though they look like they will put me in detention if I insist on burping the alphabet again.  

What do you know, Principal Aebleskiver might actually be smiling! Or is he just squinting in the sunlight? I'll bet the ear-worm from It's a Small World has melted his icy heart and filled him with warm caramel. Madame LeFevre and Professor Bunions are secretly in love, but... nobody is fooled. They are practically floating! 

 

Frontierland

The BENEFACTOR OF MYSTERY! He has, like, more scans for us, ya know? All of today's relate to the Golden Horseshoe. Did you know that it was originally called "The Golden Horseshoe of Death"? Seems crazy, but it is true.

This first one is a pretty and very blue photo of the wide path between the Rivers of America and the GH building, which is all lit up like some proto-Las Vegas attraction. Dean Martin's grandfather probably performed there. The decision to use a star filter is really something. To the right, a popcorn wagon looks like a sunset in a box (admit it, that would be handy).

Back in the days when buildings in the Old West were made of splintered, weathered wood, stuck together with manure and despair, a place like the Golden Horseshoe must have looked like heaven on Earth. Pay no attention to the sign in the lower left that says "THE ASS". 

Many of the photos in the later folders (the MB sent around 1,000 photos in 10 folders) are from the 1980s and possibly even the 1990s (not sure), this particular photo appears to be from the 1960s. It's surprising what a difference it makes to have those people in their period clothing, because otherwise it looks relatively unchanged in the rest of the photos.

The next three are grainy images of the façade, perhaps the photographer was tasked with documenting the way everything looked in case the building was blown up by aliens (see: "Independence Day").

Here's the left half (with a special guest appearance by the Pendleton store)...

And here's the right half, with special guest appearance by Charo. I WISH!

Thank you, Mysterious Benefactor!

The Matterhorn, September, 1964

Today's scans almost fall into the Snoozle category, but I'm feeling generous, so I won't punish them. YET. 

It's no wonder that visitors would want to take pictures of the Majestic Matterhorn; it's not like you see something like it every day. Unless you live in Zermatt. This slide had turned a blue-violet, which is aggravating - I did the best I could to bring the color back to something resembling normalcy. There are no bobsleds visible, but don't cry - the Monsanto House of the Future can be seen peeking through the trees, and while it doesn't bring good luck, it does have a fresh, minty smell.

This next one is also from September, 1964, but is actually from a different batch of slides. Our photographer was up in the Swiss Family Treehouse, and must have had a camera with a zoom lens in order to capture this pretty-decent image of the Matterhorn. Again, no bobsleds. But there's the Minty Monsanto House of Plastic!
 

February, 1977

Going through a large-ish batch of slides from February 1977 (and others), I have a number of pictures showing a pretty mom with her two denim-clad kids. 1977 was just a few years after the U.S. discovered vast denim reserves in Colorado, as you probably recall. 

As I may have speculated before, mom might have been in showbiz in some capacity, or else she's just got IT. You know, IT! Some say that I have IT (but I went to the doctor and I don't have IT anymore). Dad took this picture and said, "Just look natural", and this is the best the son could do. You tried, little buddy. I attempted to figure out what the daughter is holding, and it appears to be a record album, but even Photoshop fiddling didn't really help. 

Next, mother and daughter exit from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and have just passed through HELL - you can see the walls of glistening viscera just behind the girl's head. You know, a few throw pillows would really make that work.

 

Snoozles™ - March 15, 1957

Today's Snoozles™are not so bad - they just suffered from some minor flaws. Kind of like me! These are from a lot from 1957, which was a Friday. The park was open from 10 AM to 7 PM, the temperature got up to a pleasant 70º, and attendance was an even more pleasant 4,341 (thanks as always to Jason's Disneyland Almanac for that info!). I hope you all brought your dead cats to swing.

This one would almost be POSTCARD WORTHY if it wasn't so dark and dingy. It needs to be washed with Duz Detergent, if you ask me. The Horse Drawn Streetcar is such an iconic part of Main Street, I hope it never goes away. Notice that the horse is wearing a straw hat with holes for the ears. In the 80s, they gave the horses Devo "energy domes". Why would I lie about such a thing? I had to chuckle when I saw that fire hydrant...

... only to see that it is still there, all these years later.

I was especially miffed that this one was too dark - I always enjoy any view of the old Stagecoaches that rumbled along the trail next to the River (and beyond). Up near the crest of the hill, riders on Pack Mules pass by.
 

New York World's Fair, DuPont Sign

A few years ago, I acquired a large-ish group of slides that featured photos from the 1964 New York World's Fair. It has some great stuff! But first, let's take a look at this previously-posted scan featuring the DuPont pavilion - take special note of the sign to the left.

Amazingly, there was a whole series of photos (date-stamped "March 1964") showing that very sign being built, from the earliest steps (seen below) to installation at the Fair. One of the red ellipses (there would be three of them, remember) that surrounded the text is placed on the wood floor of the establishment, held together with spring clamps at various junctions - presumably where pieces were glued (?) together. 

It takes a steady hand to do whatever the heck this guy is doing. Looking closely, there seems to be at least one brass rod to help align the pieces, or perhaps to add strength to the joint. The lettering is laid out on what looks like brown craft paper. 

Next we can see two of the three pieces of the sign at different stages of progress. Fluorescent tubes can be seen inside. Another sign that says "CHESAPEAKE" is in the dark background. As you all know, Chesapeake is the name of my pet goldfish.

I wish I knew more about the actual process of how this sign was put together, but I'll just have to make something up. "I don't know why we're sticking this thing together with schoolroom mucilage, it's going to melt in the first rain". "Who cares! By then we will have cashed the check and will be drinking Mai Tais on a beach in Miami". "You know, you always say the right things, Jack".  

Is that fellow to the right smoking in spite of the prominent "NO SMOKING" sign seen in the second image? I would imagine that all sorts of flammable solvents and other fun chemicals were plentiful in that place. Maybe he was just enjoying a nice candy cigarette.

In PART TWO, we'll learn a little about the place where this sign was built, and see photos of it as it was being installed, along with a few photo of the Fair as it was under construction.