A Pair From August 1963

Before we get to today's post, I want to congratulate Matterhorn1959 on becoming a father! Some of you were already aware of this wonderful news, but for those of you who didn't know, why not go to his blog and send him some good wishes?!

Here are two bright, colorful photos from the summer of '63; we'll start with this shot from just outside the west tunnel entrance to Town Square. The C.K. Holliday is passing overhead, pulling the combine (which can now be seen on display in Griffith Park). Shouldn't it be pulling the freight cars?

I zoomed in hoping to see what was on that street-level billboard in the middle. It looks like there  are 2 faces, but I couldn't discern who they were; checking IMDB to see what Disney movies were released that year didn't help much. It might be an advertisement for "Savage Sam" or "Summer Magic", or it could be something entirely different!

After walking the complete length of Main Street, we get to the castle of course. Watch out ladies, without a railing, you might fall into the moat! It's never happened in 60 years, but you can never be too careful.

Nice Snapshots, September 1971

I recently acquired a nice big bunch of photos (snapshots rather than slides) from Disneyland.  Nearly 100 of them, from various years and different photographers! None of them are mind-blowing, but many are fun and nostalgic. But I won't get to those for a little while.

Meanwhile, let's continue looking at a series of snapshots from September 1971. We'll begin with this nice shot taken from a Skyway bucket as we head towards the Matterhorn, with the Alice ride below us.

Meanwhile, over in Frontierland... that Mark Twain just keeps on going.

A Blurry Pair from 1956

I'm using up a few less-than-stellar (blurry) images today, starting with this 1956 shot of the Pirate Ship as seen from the Skyway. I like the blue Skyway bucket in the foreground. The cement pond (no critters!) that the ship sat in was no-frills at the time, but it still works. 

From this angle we can see beyond the berm for quite a distance; Anaheim still appears to be mostly undeveloped and rural.

This next photo, also from 1956, was strangely faded for some reason. But we get a look at Geppetto's charming village as seen from Casey Jr. The detail and level of craftsmanship is really wonderful. In the upper left we see the candy-striped light posts from Fantasyland Station.

Calico Mining Town, September 1978

It's time to head waaaaay out into the Mojave desert to Calico - the former mining town that became a ghost town when the silver dried up, and then became a tourist destination when Walter Knott bought the place in the 1950's and turned it into a sort of annex to his famous Berry Farm in Buena Park. 

Calico really is out in the middle of nowhere... over 100 miles of harsh desert and rugged terrain are between you and Los Angeles. You are basically halfway between L.A. and the Nevada border. But when shiny metal calls (and borax, let's never forget about that borax!), hardy people will put up with just about anything. 

Here's a general overview of how the place looked in 1978... that light streak in the distance appears to be a dry lake bed, though I can't seem to confirm it. If you took away the buildings and the few scrubby plants, and gave the photo a reddish tint, it would probably be pretty convincing as the planet Mars. There's Matt Damon now!

You'd hardly know that these pictures were taken over 35 years ago. I've always loved that they went to the trouble to put giant letters spelling "CALICO" on that mountain top. I wonder if that was a Walter Knott thing. 

From the looks of it, Calico was not generally a place for kids - I don't see a single child in this image. My grandparents did take me and my siblings there once or twice when I was little, and I enjoyed it. Ever since I had been given a map (probably bought at Knott's Berry Farm) showing the many ghost towns and mining towns all over the State of California, I had dreams of exploring the mines and striking it rich! But then I remembered that there were cartoons on TV and that I couldn't drive a car yet.

As you can see, there was a real gang problem at Calico in the 70's. Groups like this would intimidate visitors with their rough appearance and crude manners. Right after this picture was taken, the guy on the left pulled out a switchblade!

This blog is nothing if not classy, which is why I chose to end the post with this photo! 

I don't actually think this was an old outhouse, but what else could it be? A prospector's tiny abode, built with scrounged sheet metal and wood? There were few amenities, but you had access to plenty of free scorpions.

Carousel of Progress Scenes, October 1967

When I was recently going through some vintage Disneyland slides, I was very happy to find some nice (and scarce) interiors from the classic Carousel of Progress! Dated "October 1967", these were taken when the attraction had only been in the park for three months. I loved this attraction when I was a kid, and recently listened to the soundtrack while researching this post. Some of the humor is so corny, and much of the attraction is a commercial for General Electric, and yet... it was wonderful anyway.

All of today's photos are from the little side scenes, hidden behind scrims until the lights changed. Like magic!

This first image was taken during the first act, which Father tells us is "...just before the turn of the century". After hearing about the modern-day conveniences, such as gas lamps, a telephone, a cast iron stove, and an icebox, Sarah (aka "Mother) tells us about her "new washday marvel; it takes only five hours to do the wash. Imagine!". Now she has time for recreations like canning and polishing the stove! And ironing the wrinkles out of Father's shirts.

Moments later (still in the 1890's), we learn that they have the next best thing to an opera house... a talking machine. It plays a scratchy version of "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow", sung by an Irish tenor. You can see Grandmother sitting by the Victrola, while a parrot (voiced by Mel Blanc) sits nearby. "Raawk! She keeps that thing going all day long. Rawwk! That tenor is driving me nuts, rawk! Progress, rawwwwk!". 

Next we get to spy on the daughter as she prepares for her evening out. Father is totally cool with it.

"You know, the young folks have their own ideas about entertainment. For instance, Jane, our teenage daughter, is getting ready to go to a trolley party on one of those new electric streetcars. She says hayrides are old fashioned."

Jane: "OH!"

Father: "Don't be upset, daughter, they're friends". 

In this next tableau, we skip to Act 3, the "frantic forties". Father says: "Well, our whole family is caught up in the new do-it-yourself craze. Mother's remodeling my basement workshop into something called a rumpus room. Be careful now, Mother." 

"Don't Worry about me, dear."

"Mother's pretty ingenious, like using her food mixer for stirring... paint? Well, that's my wife Sarah. You know, I remember when..."

Mother's scene fades to black, but we hear a loud crash. Don't worry, she's fine!

The last picture in this series shows two kids entranced by a fuzzy image on a small black and white TV (with the sounds of horses hooves and guns firing).

"Well, thanks to progress, Mother and I can spend more time together. We've got the new electronic babysitter. Television is here and no doubt it will improve. But I'll bet there'll always we the good guys shooting it out with the bad guys."

Unfortunately there were no photos of Father, or of the 1960's with "Progress City" out the window, or of the giant model of Progress City that guests could see for themselves. But I am still happy to have these pictures from the Disneyland version of the Carousel of Progress!

"Rediscovered Treasures" or Rescans?

Today I am sharing two images that I thought I'd shared before... but I've looked and looked and can't find them on GDB. Maybe I rejected them at the last minute, but that is hard to believe. If they are there, I know that you guys will find them in no time! But the slides were still worth rescanning and revisiting. 

I particularly like this beautiful twilight photo of the entry turnstiles and Main Street Station. The clock tells us that it was 7:40, so this must have been in the summer, or thereabouts. It probably wouldn't truly be dark until 9 o'clock - fireworks time!  Anyway, this one just has a great mood, and unusual color. I don't have anything else like it!

This next one is from 1958, and is a great look at Fantasyland as seen from the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. The color is a bit faded, but there is still plenty of stuff going on to keep things interesting. Some details that I enjoy: the Skyway bucket in the upper right; the people on those funky oval benches; the guy pushing the cart full of... something mysterious. And I love the variety of patterns on the flat dark ride façades. 

More Vintage Postcards from Palisades Park!

It's time to go to Palisades Park in New Jersey, courtesy of Ken Martinez's vintage postcards!

More Fun at Palisades Park

In today's post are five more postcards from the legendary Palisades Amusement Park which was located across the Hudson River from New York City, atop the New Jersey Palisades in Cliffside, New Jersey. You can find the first part of this series I wrote about HERE. 

Featured on this first card is "The Monster", an Everly Aircraft Company flat ride, the same ride manufacturer that created midway classics like the Octopus, the Spider, Rock-O-Plane and Loop-O-Loop.

I love this postcard for the many details and overlapping rides. Featured are the Gold Spike Railroad, Soakyland and Antique Auto Ride. I love all the detail and everything crammed into the small area.

The Jungle Land attraction seems to have made appearances in several of the old traditional parks in the 1950's and 60's. I wonder if it was the same company who manufactured other Jungle Land attractions. Also in view is the giant Ferris Wheel.

Great midway scene featuring the Round Up, the Monster and what appears to be part of a Kangaroo flat ride. Is that a funhouse in the background?

Here's a great nighttime scene showing off the park's dramatic lighting and fanciful architecture. I'm not sure wha the concession stand is selling as I can barely read the signs, but one sign looks like "clams" and another sign "franks".

I hope you have enjoyed this second postcard visit to Palisade Park. There is one more set of five postcards from this series which I will share with you in the near future.

Information source material:

Palisades Amusement Park History - www.palisadespark.com

Roller Coaster Database - www.rcdb.com

Wow, what a place that park was! Look at that last photo... it almost makes me think of the rare color pictures of the World's Fairs of the 1930's. I am grateful to Ken Martinez for providing the next best thing to a time machine. There's more from Ken coming soon!

More Magic Kingdom, November 1971

I have two more vintage photos from the Magic Kingdom, taken by my friend "Mr. X" when he visited the park for its first Thanksgiving holiday season, when the park was only a month old.

The Emporium looks quite different from the Disneyland version. All of that gingerbread frippery, and those thin elegant columns, along with the Federal style (?) windows - - very striking. The windows contain plush animals (a glimpse of things to come!), including Pooh bear. 

Next is this nice shot of the Liberty Square Fife and Drum Corps, looking spiffy in their tricorn hats and uniforms. In the center of the band a young boy is involved in some ceremony, and he seems to be taking his role very seriously. He's gonna get him some Redcoats! In the distance, we see what I believe is the riverboat landing.

Special Guest Photos - The Devlin Family - Part 01

Recently, I was contacted by GDB reader Tom Devlin, who generously gave me some slides from his family's trips to Disneyland (and more!). Amazing! They are super fun, and I am jealous, since I don't have any pictures from my own family trips to the park (in spite of the many times that we went). The readers of this blog should get a kick out of them.

I'm starting with a group from April 23, 1960 (I love that we know the exact date). "Jason's Disneyland Almanac" tells us that this was a Saturday, and the park was open from 10 in the morning until 7 o'clock at night. The high temperature was a mere 62 degrees, and the daily attendance was 15,358 - not exactly crowded (April 22nd drew less than 6000 people)! Jason also let's us know that this day included a kid's amateur dog show.

I thought I would start with this nice shot of the Town Square side of Main Street Station; the Devlin clan is on the lower steps (minus dad, who was presumably taking the photos).

From left to right we have (I believe) Mike, Joe, Mary Jo (mother), sisters Mary and Judy, and brothers Pat, and Tom himself, waving his felt Disneyland pennant. 

Tom says that Mike is posing with his Zorro sword!

Next is this nice portrait of three of the Devlin boys; Pat (who loves him some popcorn!), Tom, and Joe. This area looks so different, with the trees and the lovely flower bed right in the center of the hub, where the "Partners" statue now stands.

Stay tuned for more Devlin family photos over the next few months!

Meh, I tell you, MEH!

I am embarrassed and ashamed to present three extremely "MEH" photos for you today. It's Sunday, so you know the drill.

First I am using up the last two pictures from an August 1970 parade. To our left we can see Honest John and Gideon, as well as Tigger. The horseless carriage barely contains a group of musicians, possibly the Strawhatters.

There's not much to say about this one, except that Bre'r Bear is passing by.

This next one is from 1956, and was kind of blurry, but the "Smart Sharpen" Photoshop filter did a pretty decent job of making this almost acceptably crisp. I believe that the windmills we see here were replaced with the town of Arendelle from "Frozen".