Main Street, 1959

I love today's first picture featuring West Center Street, a little cul-de-sac off of Main Street. The Upjohn Pharmacy is to our left, and we get a pretty good look at the wonderful Tiffany-style stained glass mortar and pestle lantern above the door (now that's a souvenir I covet!). Various people are milling around beneath a couple of signs heralding the new Matterhorn and the somewhat-revamped  Skyway. I guess that's the Flower Mart at the end of the street, though it is pretty tiny compared to later years. My favorite detail is the two cast members to the right, in their striped shirts and red pants. Did they scoop ice cream over at the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor (or the Plaza Gardens)? It almost looks as if they are wearing Keppy Kaps.

I love those signs that are hanging above Main Street! These two show the Motor Boat Cruise and the Submarine Voyage. As is often the case in these older pictures, guests generally did not walk in the street, which is not how I usually see it nowadays.

Nighttime, July 1985

It is sobering to think that there are readers of this blog who weren't even born in 1985; how could that be 28 years ago?! It seems like just yesterday. I still have my "Flock of Seagulls" hairdo (look it up, kids!). 

Videopolis was an outdoor amphitheater located near "It's a Small World" where you could watch the latest hot videos or even "rock out" to live acts, as seen in the photo below. It opened in '85, and  according to Wikipedia, you could have seen real stars at the time, such as Janet Jackson, New Edition, Pebbles, Debbie Gibson, New Kids On The Block, or Tiffany. What, no GG Allin, Nurse With Wound, or Einstürzende Neubauten?  

This next picture was snapped over at the Dumbo attraction. You can just see the mirror ball that Timothy stands on in the upper left. The Dumbii are a blur, silhouetted against the lights of King Arthur's Carrousel. Night photography is tricky.

A photo of the castle! That's just what they'll be expecting! Maybe if I take the photo from an unexpected angle, all of their evil plans will be foiled.

Mystery Park, Somewheresville USA

Today I am sharing some photos of a modest little amusement park that I can't identify. The pictures are undated too, but are almost certainly from the 1960's.

Across a pond you can see Moby Dick; it looks like he's beached himself for a dental exam. Big red barns, crooked houses, giraffes... what can this place be?

Parrots. Why did it have to be parrots. Cub Scouts and other young boys apparently love their birdy antics.

A little train ride... I love little trains! I hoped that the plate on the back would give me some sort of clue, but it was illegible.

And here's the depot... the "Hoosier Train Depot". Is that just a cute name, or was this place really in Indiana? And what's with the giraffe?

Petting zoos are great because they have those little snack dispensers. But the dumb goats always try to steal my snacks.

Last one... giant flowers (lamps?), a pagoda, a Dutch windmill; I'm trying like hell to figure out the theme.

Well, there you have it, sleuths! There are a lot of knowledgeable amusement park enthusiasts out there, not to mention just plain smart people. I am confident that somebody out there will solve this mystery!

Instamatical

It's time for some more "Instamatic" masterpieces! I hope you are wearing your smoking jacket and monocle. 

Do you love to travel, but can't bear to leave your mutt or kitty at home all alone?  Luckily, they can come with you to Disneyland and stay in the Ken-L-Ration Pet Motel. Free wi-fi and HBO.  That sign is all kinds of awesome. Maybe if I get tired in middle of the day, I'll stay in one of those kennels myself. 

I always imagined that the life of a crab was a lot of laughs, but after extensive research I've learned that they typically spend half their time grappling, half their time skirmishing, and half their time fighting. Thanks, interwebs! 

I am trying to figure out what vantage point this photo was taken from. This is before there was the overpass in front of "Pirates" (and maybe even before that attraction was built), but clearly the camera was above eye level quite a bit. Any ideas? Could this be from the Golden Horseshoe's outdoor, upper balcony?

Firetruck and Surrey, 1966

I love the vehicles that can be found on Main Street U.S.A. They look great, and add movement, color, and sound. I hope they never go away!

In the early days you might see the horse-drawn "Chemical Wagon", but it was eventually replaced by the motorized Firetruck. The Firetruck still runs on busy days, though I've never been on it. That's another one of those, "If I had an annual pass and went to Disneyland all the time...." activities. Those kids in the back better lay off that bell!

The Surrey is another vehicle that no longer operates, though you can see one of them displayed back near Big Thunder Ranch if you are lucky.

Fuzzy Disneyland, January 1960

Today's photos really are foggy. Do not adjust your computer monitors! Or go ahead and adjust them, it's a free country. This picture of the busy Plaza is fun... folks are bundled up because it is January, which means that temperatures have plummeted down into the low 60's. Soon the guests will realize that they must eat each other to survive. The Horse Drawn Streetcar is so popular that folks have to wait their turn to ride it. Christmas wreaths and garlands decorate the castle... it looks like it would have been a fun day to visit the park.

Awwwww yeeeeeaaaaahhh! Now that's a picture worth taking; I think the photographer was on the moving sidewalk that would take you up to the Monorail platform. The cute 3-car blue Monorail gleams in bright sunshine, looking even more dramatic against that cloudy sky. If you look carefully, you can see a purple Autopia car; it seems as if that particular hue was only used for a relatively short span of time.

Two From August 17 1968

Some of the pleasures of "It's a Small World" (for those of us who actually like that attraction) can be enjoyed before one even gets inside the massive show building. There are the topiaries and the mechanical clock, and even the boats themselves as they head into (and out of) the load area. The turquoise color of the trough looks like a jewel in the bright sun, and it's fun to watch the people in each boat.

The boats have been changed rather recently, but in these original boats, the front row was the place to be! Plenty of leg room. I am intrigued by those "Devo" glasses on the lady in row 2! Row 3 is crammed with 5 kids. And in the last row, a woman is filming her ride experience.

Here's the Matterhorn, taken from what I believe is a Peoplemover vehicle. You can see one particularly swoopy curve exiting the mountain from left to right.

Snurps

Months ago, I attended a local postcard and paper collectibles show, where today's snapshots were found. First up is this fun black and white image of the Tomorrowland Space Man, caught in the act of abducting a pair of typical hu-mans. He is anxious "to serve man". The Space Man is so tall and silvery that he reminds me of a dorky Gort. Klaatu barada nikto!

Now our Earthlings have traveled into the future. Behind them is some strange dwelling. Maybe it flies?! The future must be pretty great, everyone looks happy. Except for the atomic mutants.

Walt Dizzy World in Weird-O-Color

I have three large color transparencies featuring photos of Walt Disney World, and I decided to scan them; they look weirdly yellowish greenish oogish. They are also undated, which is frustrating; I know so little about the "World" that if there are clues as to when these were taken, they are lost on me.

Anyway, let's see what we've got. Here's a nice photo, taken from a flying saucer, providing us with a bird's-eye view of the Contemporary Resort. That A-frame hotel is almost as iconic as Cinderella's castle; when I was a little kid, pictures of the Monorail track going right through the middle of the hotel were so amazing. Why didn't all hotels have monorails going through them? The oodles of cars surprises me, since I always imagined that early trips to the Magic Kingdom could be enjoyed without your car. I was such a fool!

A friend of mine described the experience of approaching the hotel in the Monorail, explaining that the entrance seems to get smaller and smaller as you get closer to it! Crazy, man, crazy, and yet I grok where he is coming from.

More weird-o-color™ effects blow our minds as we hover above the Polynesian resort. There's nice sandy beaches, it looks warm and pleasant in the shallows. Just beyond the developed land is miles and miles of nuthin'! I wish I could see a photo taken from exactly the same vantage point today. Readers in Florida who happen to own helicopters, you have an assignment!

Roman Holiday

Ciao, Italia! There, I have exhausted my movie Italian, lucky for you. Today we're going to visit the fabulous city of Rome in the 1950's.

I love the lighting in this first photo, taken atop the Castel Sant'Angelo, with the Vatican and huge dome  (designed by Michelangelo) of Saint Peter's Basilica in the background. I believe that the two seated ladies are American, and the standing woman is their guide.

I found this lovely, unattributed 18th century painting showing the Castel Sant'Angelo - that cylindrical building to the right - along the banks of the Tiber. The Castel is also known as tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian.

This next shot shows a Roman flea market (from February 1956). Wouldn't you love to be able to step into that photo and look for some fleas? I could use a good typewriter, since computers are obviously a "flash in the pan"; or maybe a vintage alarm clock. I would imagine that there was quite a lot of stuff on display that was considered junk at the time, but would now be considered rare and valuable.

And finally, you can't go to Rome without a visit to the Spanish Steps. The widest staircase in Europe consists of 138 steps up a steep slope connecting the Piazza di Spagna at the bottom and Piazza Trinitá dei Monti at the top. Just visible at the bottom of the photo is the Fontana della Barcaccia ("Fountain of the Old Boat"). Don't throw three coins in this one, it's the wrong fountain.

I hope you have enjoyed your trip to Rome!