Xanadu - Kissimmee Florida, 1985

I have some fascinating photos for you today, courtesy of Lou Perry (who took them) and Sue B. (Lou's daughter, who scanned them). Lou visited a Kissimmee tourist attraction known as a Xanadu House. There were other Xanadu Houses, and they were a series of experimental homes built to showcase examples of computers and automation in the home in the United States. (All of today's info is from a Wikipedia article).

There it is, with plenty of organic curves; it has a pleasing look, to my eye anyway. The architectural project began in 1979, and during the early 1980s three houses were built in different parts of the United States: one each in Kissimmee, Florida; Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The houses included novel construction and design techniques, and became popular tourist attractions during the 1980s.

The Xanadu Houses were notable for their easy, fast, and cost-effective construction as self-supporting monolithic domes of polyurethane foam without using concrete. They were ergonomically designed, and contained some of the earliest home automation systems. The Kissimmee Xanadu, designed by Roy Mason, was the most popular, and at its peak was attracting 1000 visitors every day.

Bob Masters was an early pioneer of houses built of rigid insulation. Before conceiving the Xanadu House concept, Masters designed and created inflatable balloons to be used in the construction of houses. He was inspired by architect Stan Nord Connolly's Kesinger House in Denver, Colorado, one of the earliest homes built from insulation. Masters built his first balloon-constructed house exterior in 1969 in less than three days during a turbulent snowstorm, using the same methods later used to build the Xanadu houses.

Masters was convinced that these dome-shaped homes built of foam could work for others, so he decided to create a series of show homes in the United States. Masters's business partner Tom Gussel chose the name "Xanadu" for the homes, a reference to Xanadu, the summer capital of Yuan, which is prominently featured in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem Kubla Khan.

The first Xanadu House opened in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. It was designed by architect Stewart Gordon and constructed by Masters in 1979. It was 4,000 square feet (370 m2) in area, and featured a geodesic greenhouse. 100,000 people visited the new attraction in its first summer.

By the early 1990s, the Xanadu houses began to lose popularity because the technology they used was quickly becoming obsolete, and as a result the houses in Wisconsin and Tennessee were demolished, while the Xanadu House in Kissimmee continued to operate as a public visitor attraction until it was closed in 1996.

It was consequently put up for sale in 1997 and was sold for office and storage use. By 2001, the Kissimmee house had suffered greatly from mold and mildew throughout the interior due to a lack of maintenance since being used as a visitor attraction, it was put up for sale again for an asking price of US$2 million. By October 2005, the last of the Xanadu houses had been demolished, following years of abandonment and use by the homeless.

Fascinating! It's a shame that this home couldn't be updated to continue to appeal to tourists. Or that it was not deemed to be worth saving as a historical artifact. But that's how these things go.

MANY THANKS to Lou and Sue for sharing these great photos of a Florida landmark that has been gone for decades!

Two From May 1972

Today's first scan is a beauty - a particularly nice look at the E.P. Ripley perched above the west tunnel out to the parking lot. Guests are leaving - good riddance to bad rubbish, am I right? Perhaps a few more are arriving, and I don't like them either (I'm crabby because I had a bad dream). The train is loading up with passengers, and soon the engineer will step on the clutch and put the locomotive into first gear (as we all know). Next stop: Frontierland Station! Booooooaaaaard! 

And here's a pretty nice, if oddly-composed photo from Tomorrowland. Where should our photographer point the camera? How about at the empty sky, and not at the sleek Monorail, the huge Matterhorn, or even the Skyway? Perfect! Always keep 'em guessing, that's what I say. I suppose the palm tree might have been the intended subject.

 

Adventureland

Here are two more scans from a small lot that I am confident in dating to 1955 (based on details seen in some of the other slides). I'm always happy to get a good look at the Tahitian Lanai, located right on the banks of the Rivers of the World. The Tahitians built their peak-roofed structure with some interesting gingerbread architecture on the opposite side, as was the custom. The sloped bank at the bottom of the photo is pretty barren, but somebody has planted a few flowering plants so that it looks less like a construction site. Notice all of the chairs lined up so that guests could sit and watch the Jungle Cruise boats come and go.

Now we're aboard one of those crazy boats, and we are approaching Schweitzer Falls, named after Jimbo Schweitzer, who discovered mosquitoes. "These blood-sucking insects help to keep me slim!", Jimbo proclaimed as he released a box of them into North America. The hut near us might be small, but it is decorated beautifully. The shells of giant bivalves are the international symbol that means "Welcome, buddies!".

 

Lagoon & Mountain

I have a small batch of 120-format slides that leave something to be desired; usually the larger size means that you also get a sharper image, but these are a bit soft. And the color is weird! But all in all they're still OK, really. 

This first one is oddly-composed - the photographer didn't point the camera at the passing monorail or nuclear submarine, but more toward the Monorail station in the distance. These were undated, but one of the slide shows the Douglas Moonliner, and the round Skyway gondolas are in use, so we can narrow them down to between 1962 (when Douglas took over from TWA) and 1965 (when the rectangular gondolas came into use).

This next one is not too bad; the Matterhorn really looms over the guests, including Marcello Mastroianni in the foreground. He was taking a break from Fellini movies! 

 

Disneyland Stuff

Here are two vintage Disneyland paper items - I admit that they are not the greatest, but I scanned them, so you have to look at them. 

We'll start with this brochure telling you all you need to know about Guided Tours. It is undated, but I would guess that it's from the early 1970s, even though not one of the pictures show the Haunted Mansion; I would think that the Mansion was such a big deal that they'd include it in all publicity materials. I'm sure that pretty Tour Guide worked there long before our friend Bu was there, but you never know. By the 80s she was probably either married (with kids) or had moved on to a more lucrative career.

I will time our tour to make sure it lasts 2.5 hours at least. And if not, I will complain mightily! I'm interested in the photo of the Jungle Cruise boat, the Skipper is letting a young girl steer - I've never heard of that happening! 

A mere $7.00 gets any adult the full tour "plus seven major attractions". If this was 1970, that would be the equivalent of about $59.00. Was admission included in that price?

This next item is something I planned on selling or otherwise removing from my collection, but I figured I might as well scan it first. It's not really a Disneyland item, per se, but seems to be aimed at "Press Carrier Salesmen" (it appears that this was specifically for The Cleveland Press), allowing them to enter a contest. The big prize: a 1970 trip to Disneyland. There were two trips available, along with many smaller prizes. 

Your four-day trip would include a flight on American Airlines, a visit to Disneyland, a tour of Universal Studios, and a visit to Knott's Berry Farm, including their "gold mine mountain". Sounds pretty sweet! They mention that the carrier with the most qualified six-day orders is the "high boy", so were these contestants actual teens? If so, they'd miss some school, with the trip being in September. WORTH IT. On the lower right page, you can see some other prizes, including an Eastman Instamatic movie camera, or that nice cassette tape recorder...

... not to mention a whole bunch of other great stuff! I'm trying to imagine what I'd want the most (besides the grand prize), and that hat would be way down on my list! Was that really "the latest mod style" in 1970?? Maybe I'd opt for the solid-state pocket radio? I want to be one of those guys with an earpiece, I could occasionally yell at the baseball game that only I can hear. The electric football game? No thanks. I know I wanted a dart board when I was a kid, but would have to put it someplace where we could allow for plenty of misses. My sister's room, har har.

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed looking at these items!

Two Totem Poles

I encounter totem poles no more than once or twice a month, but there was a time when those artfully-carved items could be found in Disneyland, in the old Indian Village.

This first picture is from July, 1964; a woman poses next to an impressive totem pole, perhaps 20+ feet tall (or over 6 meters). The strong and distinctive stylization on these amazing artworks is so appealing, and unlike anything else in the world. I believe that the totems were moved to Walt Disney World, eventually.

Next we have a slide scan dated "October, 1971"... which I believe is from after the Indian Village closed. I am not positive, but I think that the Indian Village closed in May of 1971, but of course the film in Mom's camera could have been developed any number of months later. These cute girls are posing next to a totem pole that I know for certain was moved to WDW, and I think it even appeared in the 1963 issue of "National Geographic".

EXTRA! EXTRA!

I had this nice screen grab featuring a high-res version of the National Geographic image; it's a great photo! You can definitely see the top "face" of the previous totem below, though the rest of the pole is not the same. Were they modular - with pieces that could be put together in different configurations? It's interesting that it looks so vividly-colored here, while it is relatively subdued in my photo (which is admittedly slightly-faded.

Snoozles™

Snoozles are a fact of life. 

One of the details on the Jungle Cruise that I've always liked a lot is this monumental carved stone head (from a photo date August 1970), part of some ancient Cambodian ruins. Why was this temple abandoned? "Too many boats, man". The face has an enigmatic smile in spite of almost being swallowed by strangler figs in the jungle.

Next, the leaning rocket of Anaheim, circa August, 1962. It's not the worst photo I've seen, but the Dutch angle is odd, and the shadows are very cyan. When I tried to compensate for the cyan, it threw other colors off. I finally gave up. Yes, I cried.  

 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! I pulled two Halloween-y Disneyland scans for you, along with some vintage photos of Trick-Or-Treaters, including a young Major Pepperidge.

The first two photos show the exterior of the Haunted Mansion circa October 1968; just under a year before the attraction opened to the public, to great acclaim. The antebellum house looks complete and ready to move into, and the grounds look beautiful. I'm wondering how our photographer got this photo - could he just aim his camera carefully through (or over) some wrought-iron gates? 

These slides are a bit washed-out, but I still find the Anaheim Mansion to be the best. It's OK if you have a different opinion! I can't help wondering what we would have seen if we could have walked through the front door. Maybe a construction mess? Or it's possible that the entry area was mostly complete by then.

AND NOW... vintage Halloween pix! Starting with this 1970-ish photo from our house in Huntington Beach. That was peak Halloween for me! I had the best time trick-or-treating with neighbors and friends, and I remember that there were houses on our block that really went all-out, including a door that opened by itself when we rang the doorbell, and a coffin opened before our eyes, and Dracula climbed out to hand out candy! That's me to the right  and my little brother to the left; the Frankenstein's monster mask was definitely my older brother's, but whoever is wearing it is too short to be him. Maybe it's my sister! Though at that age she always wanted to be a princess.

The next two are from 1968... location unknown. Four kids pose by the garage door, including Santa Claus, who was taking a break from the North Pole. Then there's a witch and a... um... er... what is that blonde "woman" supposed to be?? A middle-eastern maiden dazzles in silks.

Three more trick-or-treaters pose by the fireplace. A clown, a guy who looks just like me (including the mustache), and a boy dressed as a girl, which was a surprisingly common thing back then. The pumpkin is unusual - why carve one, when you can just draw on it with Magic Markers?

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Nice Pix From 1968(?)

Here's a pair of very nice views that I am pretty sure date to 1968; I think you will like them!

First up is this shot taken from the Peoplemover, looking down on the Motor Boat Cruise, which is experiencing a traffic jam. It's those ducks again! Why don't they get jobs? I like this unusual view, with the boats passing beneath the Autopia freeway.

Next is this great shot of guests who appear to be returning from Tom Sawyer Island - this is the "Injun Joe" raft. There was also a "Becky Thatcher", a "Huck Finn", and "Tom Sawyer" - though I don't know how many of these still operate today. I'd guess that no more than two rafts are still in service. Anyway, the guests seem to be at a raft landing that is not far from the Keelboat and Canoe load area; across the way, another raft seems to be dropping off a load of people. The river really looks wonderful here!

 

Big Thunder, July 17, 1980

Here's the last of Lou Perry's photos of the then-new Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - photos scanned by Sue B., Lou's daughter. 

Big Thunder had debuted a little more than a year before these pictures were taken... given Lou's interest, I assume that it's the first time he'd seen this attraction with his own eyes. And he was obviously impressed! Just looking at this picture gives a small impression of how complex this ride is.

I've always wondered if the mostly-yellow mine cars were a deliberate callback to the ones in the previous Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland? Or else it just looked good, which it did. Notice the one train in the distance climbing a lift hill, and the crows (or are they buzzards? I forget) atop the rocks to the left.

It's incredible to think that this attraction is approaching its 50-year anniversary in just four more years! 

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Lou and Sue.