Nature's Wonderland, August 1960

One lot of slides from 1960 had quite a few photos from the then-brand-new Nature's Wonderland attraction. Maybe the photographer rode it twice, because there were near-duplicates of most of the views... you'll see those in a separate post.

As the little Mine Train crossed a trestle bridge, guests could look down into Bear Country and observe the antics of a few animatronic critters. It seems as if there are fewer bears (I only see two) than we might get to see in later photos.

Our train has been in the desert for all of 20 seconds, so it is a real relief to see that oasis. All that salty popcorn made me thirsty, just like the pioneers! The placid spring is surrounded by crunchy, delicious prong-horned antelope - they go great with rattlesnake and wild boar.

Right near the bears in the first picture, you would see two large elk, antlers locked in combat over some females. I love the dated non-PC humor of the original spiel: "Now there's a real struggle for survival; two stags are battling for them cow elk. Maybe you folks can tell me, though - does gettin' two women-folk mean your the winner, or the loser? Never could figure that one out." I guess they already used a mother in-law joke on the Jungle Cruise.

Above Fantasyland, 1966

Skyway views are so common in vintage Disneyland pictures, I sometimes take them for granted. With the exception of glimpses while aboard the Matterhorn, there is no real way to get a bird's eye view anymore. And I doubt that anything will be built there in the next 15 or 20 years that will get guests up in the air.

Today's photos are from 1966, heading toward Tomorrowland. Turning to our left we can see the massive, gleaming white show building for "It's a Small World", which must have opened rather recently. Behind Storybook Land there appears to be some construction going on, though I can't imagine what it would be for. Any ideas?

Continuing in our bucket just a little bit further, we now look down on the Monorail track, the queue area for the Motor Boat Cruise and a small ticket booth.

Yesterday and Today

I always have fun trying to match up a vintage photo with a contemporary view of the same location... let's look at two of those today.

Up in British Columbia (the westernmost of Canada's provinces), you will find the town of Squamish. The name was supposedly chosen by Queen Victoria! It has its origins in the construction of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in the early 20th century. That mountain in the background is Mount Garibaldi - a "stratovolcano" that is still potentially active. Yikes! Anyway, I love the look of this shot, with the Hotel Squamish and the old cars.

I grabbed this view from Google Maps' "street view", and it looks pretty close to the same spot, though it is hard to be sure. There are several streets that run parallel in a north/south direction - in this case we are looking up toward the end of "3 Avenue".

Salt Lake City, circa July 1959, looking up South State Street (but looking north!) toward the State Capitol. It has a prosperous appearance, retaining a bit of the rugged western flavor (spicy bbq!) from the city's history. Like so many vintage photos, the cars help to make this picture more fun.

A "today" view.... not so fun. In fact this could be any of 100 other cities, if you couldn't see the capitol building at the end of the street. I wonder who had the bright idea to put that decorative arch in a place that impedes the view? 

Instamatic For The People

Boy oh boy do I love this first picture! It was probably taken in the late 1960's from the Peoplemover; we get a very unusual angle from above the Submarine lagoon, looking back toward the Carousel of Progress (brought to you by General Electric), with a yellow Monorail passing by in the foreground, and a blue Monorail at the station just behind it. Throw in some Skyway buckets and the Rocket Jets, and you get a pretty wonderful moment in time. 

Here's another unusual angle, from aboard a Casey Jr. Circus Train looking back toward the Dumbo ride. Only 10 Dumbii are flying in endless circles (when elephants have inner ear problems, they are BIG problems) compared to today's 12. Fantasyland looks charmingly rinky-dink! (Thanks for the notes pointing out my many errors, hopefully they've all been fixed).

And finally, the Omnibus passes by the entrance to Tomorrowland. Peoplemover alert! And hey, there's Mickey Mouse, he just happens to be walking by. The driver is singing "Sunshine Of Your Love" into his microphone. By the way, who rides on the lower level of the Omnibus unless you have to?

Japanese Village, Buena Park - October 1973

Not far from Knott's Berry Farm and Movieland Wax Museum, you once could find a fun little park called Japanese Village. JV was a beautiful little oasis in the middle of Buena Park; formal gardens, koi ponds, doves, deer (of course), and more. There were also a number of animal shows, performing seals, dolphins, bears, and more. How about a demonstration of martial arts? They had that too, I'm guessing at least partly due to the popularity of Bruce Lee, and the movie "Billy Jack". Here's a great photo at a tori gate, obviously placed there for pictures like this.

By the time these photos were taken in 1973, Japanese Village only had about two more years before it would close. It had a brief return (with a number of changes) as "Enchanted Village", which opened in 1976 and closed only a year or so later. 

More From WDW, December 1971

I have a few more pictures from Walt Disney World, taken only about three months after the grand opening. 

Things are busy over in Fantasyland, which at the time was considerably more fancy than the Disneyland version. Being unfamiliar with the Magic Kingdom, I can't identify much in the picture... it looks like there is a dark ride façade almost right in the middle of the photo, but which one? Notice the ticket and info booth to our left, and the Skyway overhead.

Adventureland certainly has a different ambiance when compared to its Anaheim counterpart. It feels a bit too clean and sterile, maybe a bit of patina and faux grime would help, or some small amount of "visual clutter", although that wasn't Disney's style at all back then. 

The Autopia over in Tomorrowland appears to be pretty big (you'll see more photos of that attraction in the future); considering that Disneyland used to have two (or even three) Autopias at one time, I'm sure the Imagineers expected to have at least as many riders on their one attraction. The iconic A-framed Contemporary Hotel makes for a fitting background.

Stay tuned for more WDW pictures!

Knott's Berry Farm, August 1963

Oh boy, more Knott's Berry Farm! Unless you don't like Knott's, in which case you are frowning right now. Frowning is cool.

The Indian chief is a real chick magnet. It must be the bonnet, ladies love bonnets! That's why I am introducing my own line of genu-ine feather bonnets. Look for the name "GorillaCo" (made in the USA) on the label, accept no imitations.

Another train robbery ends in typical hilarious fashion - with a dead guy! I want his boots. The conductor and undertaker don't seem even remotely concerned... this is just business as usual. 

Look, ma, a performing minky! This one will caper and dance and doff his little chapeau in exchange for cold hard cash (or cigarettes). You can just see part of a sign that asks people not to tease the minky; I guess some people really are that dumb. We love you, Mr. Minky! 

Tomorrowland, September 1959

I always love a good picture of the earliest versions of the Monorail, when it was only 3 cars long. It looks sort of stubby, and more than a little bit like the famous (and expensive) Schuco toys that were sold at the parks and other stores. On a side note, I accidentally gave the files names an August 1963 date, which is stupid because the Monorail was lengthened to 4 cars in 1961. So there.

More lagoon action, with the Monorail/Sub station and the Skyway buckets. If you look carefully you can see a single tiny American flag to the far right, likely left over from the dedication of the Monorail, Subs, and Matterhorn.

Merms, 1966

I love merms! You used to see merms at Disneyland, lounging around the lagoon, playing lyres, combing their tresses, and frying baloney. There's three of them in this photo, I thought they usually worked in pairs. They are probably discussing what products to buy that will make their scales more lustrous and barnacle-free. How about Clairol's "Fin-tastic"?

The shadow of the Matterhorn provides some relief from the sun, while a thick coating of lard protects their skin from the chlorine in the water.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. Our nation's capital! We might not like what's going on there most of the time, but it can be a fun place to visit. My first experience was during a school field trip (taking a bus all the way fromPennsylvania), and it was very exciting! 

Anyway, today I have two vintage pix from D.C., starting with this 1947 photo of the Capitol building. Construction began in 1793, and continued for many years through various expansions. The cast iron dome (which weighs nearly 9 million pounds) was added in 1863. The giant Slurpee machine was added in 1974. I love the old cars, the old-fashioned stop sign and the general park-like ambiance.

From "sometime in the 1950's" we have this nice picture of the Jefferson Memorial. I always assumed it was built as a tribute to Jefferson Airplane, but it turns out that we once had a President named Thomas Jefferson. Who knew! I wonder if he liked tacos. 

Franklin Roosevelt encouraged the idea of a Memorial to T.J., and this Beaux-Arts style building began construction in 1938; it was officially dedicated by F.D.R. in 1943. The bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947.