Skyway & Monorail Rescans

Welcome, junior gorillas, to another installment of "GDB Rescans"! 

Let's start by taking a gander at a photo from 1960; this is how my original scan looked back in 2011. Not even that long ago! It's not super terrible, but it looks like it was taken through smoked glass - gray and murky.

Time for the rescan; here's how it looked before I did any color-correction or dust removal. That piece of fuzz is fun.

And after two months and millions of your tax dollars, here is the new improved image! I am very happy with this one. That blue sky really came back, and the snow on the Matterhorn looks like snow.  I see three bobsleds, included at no extra cost to you.

Next is another "smoggy" image, circa 1962 (orignally posted in 2008). Everything appear to be coated in soot, including the sky.

And here's the rescan, sans color-correction and dust removal. I always thought that looking at the world through rose-tinted lenses was supposed to be a good thing, but - no, it's not.

I consulted NASA and the Lawrence Livermore laboratories to get this final result. Not bad, if I do say so myself! There is some weirdness in the sky that I probably could have fixed, but enough is enough, if you know what I mean. I like the fact that this is an uncommon angle on the Monorail, with the castle in the background.

I hope you have enjoyed today's rescans!

Walt Disney World - 1977 Resort Guide, Part 2

Hey! Who's in the mood for more vintage Walt Disney World ephemera?! Ken Martinez has you covered!

Walt Disney World - Resort Guide 1977 (Part 2)

Continuing with the "Walt Disney World - Resort Guide" booklet, featured in today's post are the two original hotels of Walt Disney World.

The Contemporary Resort Hotel is probably the most iconic of all the hotels on the WDW Resort property. While the hotel is highly visible from Seven Seas Lagoon it primarily resides on the shores of Bay Lake. The hotel also serves as a backdrop for the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland. Check out the names of some of the establishments like "The Outer Rim" and the "Top of the World".

Here we have a map showing the layout of the hotel as it was in the 1970's featuring the Contemporary Tower and the North and South Garden Wings. The North Garden Wing was eventually replaced by Bay Lake Tower. The hotel was originally going to be called "Tempo Bay" but reverted back to its placeholder name "Contemporary Resort" when the hotel opened.

The Polynesian Village Hotel was the other original hotel. Designed to look and feel like a South Seas getaway, you could dine at restaurants like "The Papeete Bay Verandah" and "The Coral Isle Café" or attend one of the nightly Luaus on the beach. Like the Hoop-Dee-Do Musical Revue at Fort Wilderness Campground, the Polynesian Luau was an extremely popular show which I believe is still entertaining guests today but in a different location.

Here we have a map showing the layout of the hotel as it was in the 1970's. The map shows the arrangement of the original longhouses with their original names and the Great Ceremonial House. The Polynesian has expanded several times since then. Like the Contemporary, the Polynesian was connected to the Monorail System. The only other hotel that would connect to the Monorail System is the Grand Floridian Resort Hotel which was yet to be built at the time this booklet was published.

Coming up next: The Golf Resort Hotel and Fort Wilderness Campground.

Many thanks again to Ken Martinez!

Count Basie at Disneyland, June 1974

My pal "Mr. X" used to work at Disneyland when he was a teenager, and he regularly visited the Carnation Plaza Gardens to watch the many legendary big bands as they performed there. And... he brought his camera! He was nice enough to let me scan some of his photos to share here.

In this series of images, we'll see Count Basie and his orchestra, from June 23rd, 1974. Count Basie! Pretty amazing. Here's the Count himself addressing the crowd. Imagine getting to see such a renowned musician on a warm summer night.

Luckily for me, Mr. X knows a lot about the big bands of this era, and he said that the guitarist is Freddie Greene. The gentleman playing trombone is Al Grey - this was his last year with the band.

There's the Count and Freddie Greene again, along with Norman Keenan on the stand-up bass.

Here is Jimmy Forrest on saxophone; the drummer (to the extreme left) is Harold Jones, who also played drums regularly for Sarah Vaughn.

Mr. X says, "This is a nice shot of the well known trombonist Al Grey soloing. On the other tenor sax chair is Eddie Lockjaw Davis.  The tenor sax player on the left is Jimmy Forrest. That is Paul Cohn on lead trumpet (second from left with glasses). And lower left is Freddie Greene, rhythm guitarist who had been with Basie since the beginning in 1934. The lead alto sax player, next to Eddie Davis, is Bobby Plater". 

Thank you to Mr. X for the images and information!

1964 New York World's Fair at Night

I have a group of about 20 night shots from the fabulous 1964 New York World's Fair - some of them are really neat! And.... some of them leave something to be desired. Like sharp focus, for instance. 8 of the photos were shot from the New York Pavilion's observation tower, and because of their flaws, I decided to just corral them into one post. 

We'll start with this fairly decent look at the wonderful Unisphere surrounded by fountains; a bit to the left and up is the USA pavilion (looks like a striped wall), and the brightest lights are from Shea Stadium - probably a Mets game. 

For some reason this next image has an overall warm, golden tone. I scanned it exactly the same way as the first one, so it's all a mystery to me. But it's pretty!

Looking across the Grand Central Parkway we can see the building that housed General Motors' "Futurama", as well as the "Helldrivers" stunt show arena.

There's the cratered moon dome, part of the Transportation and Travel pavilion, with the Chrysler pavilion and the U.S. Rubber Ferris Wheel (in the shape of a giant tire). Behind the moon dome is the Port Authority building with a rooftop heliport.

I wish that this one was clearer, but I still love it because I did not know that those inflatable "moon berries" lit up at night! Each one marked the location of a "Brass Rail" eatery. In the middle of the photo you can see the dome of General Electric's "Progressland", with its show of swirling lights. Just to its left is the purple and blue Tower of Light building, and above that is the Bell System pavilion. The red "umbrella" dome of the Traveller's Insurance pavilion can be seen as well.

Here's a second shot in a vertical format. It's a little clearer, and again, weirdly warm in tone. Now you can just make out the spidery form of the Johnson's Wax pavilion, just to the left of the Tower of Light.

The brightest lights in this image are from the Eastman Kodak pavilion with its giant, brilliantly-lit photo prints (30 feet high), while just to its left (hard to discern) is the Pepsi-Cola pavilion with the Tower of the Four Winds.

Looking down from the New York Pavilion's observation deck, we see the hundreds of lights that capped the multicolored translucent panels of the "Tent of Tomorrow". Groovy!

In case you'd forgotten, here's what those panels looked like during the day. With all of those lightbulbs, it must have been pretty stunning from the ground level after the sun went down.

I hope you have enjoyed this World's Fair extravaganza!

Beautiful Monorail!

Here are two especially beautiful photos of the Mark I Monorail Red, scanned from a contact sheet; the images were roughly 4" X 5". I don't know anything about the origins of the images, but these are so nice that they might be publicity shots. 

This first one is my favorite. There's something about the juxtaposition of the sleek, futuristic Monorail, the tropical lagoon, and that beautiful sky... wow. 

And there she goes... at this time, the Monorail did not leave the park, so the ride was considerably shorter than it is today. As usual, my desire to snorkel my way through the Submarine caverns is considerable!

Near Misses

Sometimes a collector gets lucky and finds some really amazing images amongst the dross and dreck. And sometimes you just find dross and dreck! Today's images land somewhere in the middle.

I would absolutely love this first slide if it was in focus! Trust me, this looks better than the actual picture; Photoshop has some image sharpening tools that do amazing things. Anyway, in spite of the softness it's an interesting look (circa 1956) at Holiday Hill (with hiking trails) and the Skyway tower that stood on it. To our left is the Yacht Bar in its original location - when the Matterhorn was built, the entire building was picked up, turned around, and placed elsewhere. 

Also from 1956 (December 29th, to be exact) is this oddly blue-gray photo from the Skyway looking down on Fantasyland as we head toward the Chalet terminus. We get a glimpse of the backstage area to our left; it's as amazing as I always imagined! Isn't that door magical? To our right is an outdoor dining area - is that "Fant 1" beneath the striped tent? I'm kind of fascinated by the view of Anaheim (and beyond) in the distance.

Freedomland, August 1961

It's been quite a while since I last posted photos of "Freedomland U.S.A." (the Bronx, New York), but I have three for you today.

This first one was taken over in the "Chicago" (1871) area. Just visible in the upper left is one of the steamboats, "The American" (the other was "The Canadian"); see the ticket booth for the Great Lakes Cruise? The little girl has apparently never seen a person with a camera before. Say, there goes a fire company pulling (and pushing) an olde-timey fire wagon through. Why in the world would they need that?

What? Chicago's on fire again? Seems like it happened every 20 minutes. Which it did. Lucky kids were chosen to help fight the blaze, just like at a real conflagration! Tax payers like it because kids work for free and they don't eat much. The boys with the ostrich feather hats are my heroes.

Comparing the Disneyland Band to the Freedomland version is an interesting study in contrasts. While Disneyland's musicians dressed in crisp uniforms, the Freedomland band appears to be made up of a motley collection of cops, clowns, and other characters. A baton twirler is always a plus, though! Notice the beautiful steam locomotive at the station.

I have a few more Freedomland images for you, coming soon (?)!

Skyway & Tomorrowland 1956

Here are two more beautiful vintage Skyway photos (plus one zoom), circa 19 fitty-six. 

Man, do I love this first view! We're on our way from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland - there's the Yacht Bar, with "Tomorrowland Lake" (home of the Phantom Boats) to the right. That unimpressive hillock is Holiday Hill (or Snow Hill or whatever) looking very raw, with none of the landscaping that it would receive eventually. There's that Skyway tower on the hill - even after all these years, it is strange to not have the Matterhorn there!

In the distance (to the right) you can see the Richfield Eagle that graced the Fantasyland Autopia, and the Pirate Ship is there as well.

I wanted to zoom in on that funky area down below, with the loops of turquoise metal, the nautical flags, the olive-and-toothpick lights, and other mid-century weirdness. 

Next is this dream-like photo of the TWA Moonliner, pictured with its less-regal cousin, the lovable Astro Jets ("Astro Jets" is a cooler name than "Moonliner"!). While Southern California was certainly plagued with particularly nasty smog in the 50's, 60's and 70's, I am guessing that we are seeing seasonal haze, with a pinch of carbon monoxide for flavor!   

Walt Disney World - 1977 Resort Guide, Part 1

Today I have a post from our pal Ken Martinez, but this one is different! Instead of looking at his collection of vintage amusement park postcards, we're going to see some vintage Walt Disney World ephemera. Here's Ken:

Walt Disney World - Resort Guide 1977 (Part 1)

Walt Disney World will have its 45th anniversary on October 1st of this year so I wanted to do a little project on the early years of Disney's Florida property to coincide with the celebration. In future posts I'll be sharing guide booklets and other ephemera/memorabilia featuring the Vacation Kingdom, the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center. The little guide booklets were handed out to visitors of the Vacation Kingdom from the period of 1977 to 1983. It is the Walt Disney World of a much simpler and quieter time when visitors to the Vacation Kingdom could experience their vacation in a more leisurely pace than what visitors experience today. The first booklet I'm featuring is about the resorts of Walt Disney World in 1977. I hope you enjoy this series.

Here we have the front and back cover of the "Walt Disney World - Resort Guide" booklet. This booklet and the others I'll be sharing are the ephemera I picked up during my trips to Walt Disney World in the late 70's and early 80's.

Here you can view a stylized map showing the locations of the wonders of the early "Vacation Kingdom of the World" including the Magic Kingdom, River Country, Treasure Island and Lake Buena Vista.

Here we have a little transportation map showing how to get around the "World". I love the original 1970's icons of Walt Disney World. The resort icons especially are a wonderful example of the style of graphics disney used in the 1970's.

Here are some facts and information to help make your stay in the "Vacation Kingdom" a more enjoyable one.

Coming up next: the two original hotels of Walt Disney World - the Contemporary and Polynesian Village Resorts.

THANK YOU, Ken!

Salvaging Some Oldies! Main Street 1960

Digging through boxes of previously-scanned slides, I found a bunch that I had skipped for one reason or another. Like today's examples. Both of them were mis-aligned when they were originally cut to be put into their cardboard mounts, and the color was not great (though I've certainly seen worse). 

Here's the first one, a nice shot of a Horse Drawn Streetcar heading toward Main Street Station. I don't know how these slides got cut incorrectly (that doesn't happen often), and I am disappointed that I don't have the image to the right that appears to be a shot of a Surrey. 

So... crop the photo, fix the color, and we wind up with a lovely image of vintage Main Street. Notice the Chemical Wagon (horse-drawn firetruck) just in front of the Streetcar, the other Streetcar coming toward us, and a banner advertising "Nature's Wonderland".

Next is this photo of the Coke Corner, with a popcorn cart and a streetcar - we're only steps away from the first image. The small slice of the other slide that got cut was taken next to the China Shop.

And... crop, color-adjust, remove the dust, and we're left with another pleasant look at Main Street, and an unusual angle to boot. Who's more bored, a Maytag repairman, or a streetcar driver? (Answer: Maytag repairman).