Frontierland, June 1962

It's time for a little more Frontierland.

All aboard the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland! Here's an unusual POV shot as the little train passes one of Cascade Peak's waterfalls. You can almost feel the spray.


Here's Castle Rock on Tom Sawyer Island. The island used to have a number of rock features for climbing and playing (Merry-Go-Round Rock, Teeter-Totter Rock), but they were deemed to be dangerous and were removed. Thanks, lawyers! Pirates have invaded the island, but you can still walk the trails, cross swaying bridges, and explore mysterious caves.

Adventure Village

Oh boy, here is some kinda boring post, you betcha!

They are two mystery photos. Sure, I can see that the place is called "Adventure Village", but I have no clue where it was. There's something sad about pictures being taken through a chain link fence. The park was clearly closed, possibly for good. Notice that there are some weeds growing over the train tracks in front of the little depot; if there was a train running regularly, those weeds would be cut right off. Notice the old-timey fire engine in the distance.


Or maybe the place was only open seasonally. When I look at this metal helical slide, all I can think of is how hot that steel must have become on a sunny day. Children slid down accompanied by the sizzle of frying bacon. The cute li'l building behind the slide has artwork showing folks on old-fashioned bicycles. Wonder why?

Anything Goes Saturday - Halloween 1952

Welcome to week 2 of a celebration of Halloween from days gone by! The photos are from a Sunday school party in 1952.

Editorial note - some of these costumes are rather grotesque racial stereotypes. They were considered "wholesome fun" 59 years ago, but are offensive, without question. While I have no wish to censor history, please be aware that I am in not condoning costumes like those.

Apparently these four kids were finalists in a "best costume" contest. The kid on the left has "blackface" makeup, an unfortunate choice. Instant fail. Kid #2 is a skeleton-faced clown (I guess). Kid #3 wore that same "mournful old man" mask the year before. You're not fooling me! Kid #4 is trying to look like a cosmopolitan socialite. I like her gypsy motif.

Try to ignore the regrettable mask to our left. Hobos costumes were popular back then (and still are). The clothesline belt is a nice touch. The couple on the right is interesting! The boy is dressed as a girl, his girlfriend is dressed like an older woman (or is that another boy?). I think I've seen a French movie about something like that.

The masked twins with the orange cloth topknots are probably my favorites of all these kids. Just the right amount of weirdness! Miss something-or-other is a bizarro-world beauty contestant. Our blue-masked girl in the middle looks surprisingly elegant. I can't quite place what the girl over her shoulder is supposed to be. And one last kid is lost in the darkness.

Well, I have more vintage Halloween photos, but I am tempted to edit them a bit more (I finally did remove one photo that just made me too darn uneasy), and hopefully keep the vulgar costumes to a minimum.

Fun With Decals

It's time for another look at some vintage decals; the kind that you could buy for a few cents, soak in water for a minute, and then slide them onto the window of your station wagon, airstream trailer, or even your suitcase. I love their simple (sometimes crude) designs and garish colors.

If you were lucky, a trip out West would include a visit to Las Vegas, where you could head over to Fremont Street and see the big neon sign featuring Vegas Vic! For a while, he actually said (in a recorded voice) "Howdy, Pardner!". You can still see Vic today, albeit slightly altered.


Here's a nice example from the Disneyland Hotel, with a special guest appearance from the Monorail.


I don't recommend parking your horse right next to the train when hot steam is being vented. You know what this decal needs? More brown!

One of the true landmarks of Hollywood is Grauman's Chinese Theater. Fortunately it is not quite so psychedelic in real life. Most folks go to see the hand prints, footprints, and signatures in cement. I go for the nachos.


Yee-haw! We're back at Knott's Berry Farm again. A giant boysenberry, a cowpoke, a conestoga wagon, and the silhouetted Ghost Town make this an exceptional decal.


And finally, here's one from The Enchanted Forest in Old Forge, New York. When this park opened in 1956, it only had a train ride. There was also a circus tent, and scenes featuring characters from Fairy Tales and other stories. The park changed owners, and is now known as "The Enchanted Forest Water Safari".

Frontierland Entrance, July 17, 1968

Greetings, GDB readers.... these photos were taken on Disneyland's 13th birthday. Happy Birthday, Disneyland! Maybe you've heard of it. It's a place that sells churros, and they installed rides to give people something to do while waiting their turn to buy more churros. Today's photos were taken on the day of Disneyland's 13th birthday, which was very lucky. Because they sold their millionth churro.

Here's the entrance to Frontierland, and judging by the lack of people and the long east-to-west shadows, the park had probably just opened; it's a hazy July morning that looks like it's going to get hot eventually. You would have been able to fry an egg on that slurry by 2 o'clock. Hey, see those two signs on the big wooden gates?

Well, I've got pictures of them, too. It has all the information you'll ever need about the flags of the original 13 colonies. Or does it? Why doesn't it mention the flag with the motorcycle jumping the flaming skull, designed by Ben Franklin and sewn by Betsy Ross?


Words! If I wanted to read, I would have gone to the liberry!! But I have to admit that this sign gives me some good ideas for the next time I make a fort out of blankets, chairs, and sofa cushions. Notice the misspelling in the second paragraph: "....unobstructed veiw of the clearing". That one is for Progressland.

Queen Mary, January 1974

It's time for another visit to that unique Southern California attraction, the Queen Mary! In beautiful Long Beach, don'tcha know.

This firsts photo shows a mom and her two daughters, walking on the long covered gangplank (or whatever they call it) that took you from parking lot level to the ship. They're actually leaving at this point, which just shows you that these are in no particular order.

Hey, there's Santa Claus, loafing on a sign that says that the QM is a PSA Hotel. According to Wikipedia, Hyatt operated the hotel from 1974 to 1980 (when it the Wrather Corporation - owners of the Disneyland Hotel - signed a 66 year lease). I guess this must have been from just before Hyatt took over.


Here's an interesting POV shot from the deck, looking out at Long Beach harbor and the glamorous, exciting parking lot. What the heck is that little mock-Tudor village?!


Hi mom! She's standing above the stern of the ship, looking so alone. Notice the little booth for radio station KBIG, which was one of the highest-rated stations in Los Angeles back in those days. "Beautiful music" was their format - lush instrumentals and some vocals. Yarg. Now they play "Hot Adult Contemporary" music.


Mom is standing next to a beautiful model of the RMS Mauretania. When it was launched in 1906, it was the biggest, fastest ocean liner in the world (holding speed records that lasted 22 years). Its sister ship was the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the early days of World War One. The Mauretania was retired in 1934. Read about it in your local liberry!

Around the Hub, April 29, 1956

Disneyland was a relatively small place in 1956, but what it lacked in rides it more than made up for in charm!

Here's a neat shot of the old Chemical Wagon, jam-packed with riders (and plenty more waiting their turn). Notice the sign with the map of Fantasyland.


Here's a zoomed-in view, just because details are fun.

In olden days, no churros were to be had. It was popcorn, or ice cream bars, or nothing! But popcorn is OK with me. I love this colorful view, and the vendor practically glows in his white costume.


Every day was "Dapper Day" back then!

Nice Frontierland, 1956

I have two Kodachrome beauties for you today!

First up is this exceptional shot featuring a Conestoga Wagon and a Stage Coach. Suh-weet! Both of these conveyances would vanish by 1959. I love that blue color used on the Conestoga Wagon. Even with the pre-shrunk horses, you can tell that both wagons are scaled-down. Notice the pack mules in the background, and a couple of workmen on top of the ridge.


The Rainbow Desert looked pretty convincing back then. Ignore that telephone pole! Or pretend it's a telegraph pole, sending morse-code messages ("Be sure to drink your Ovaltine. Stop.") . Did you know that the implementation of the telegraph caused the demise of the Pony Express?

I know that the saguaro cacti are fiberglass, but wonder if those other varieties are fake as well? If so, they look like the real thing to me.

2 From Fantasyland 1958, and a trip report!

Here's a commonly-seen view of the Mad Tea Party (I tend to just call it the "Teacups") as seen from the Skyway. With the colorful spinning things down below (including the Carousel), and the old dark ride façades, and the oodles of people, it would be hard to NOT take a photo of this scene.


A ride on the Storybook Land Canal Boats also tended to produce photos of familiar views, such as this shot of Toad Hall - maybe tied with the miniature Cinderella Castle as the "most photographed" feature of this attraction. Buzz-cut kid is looking at Moley's waterfront shack. Up above, Casey Jr. affords a different perspective on the same scenery. In front of Casey, you can see the tips of three Atlas missiles that were just launched from the secret underground silos in Fantasyland.

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For those who might be interested, here is a report of my visit to Disneyland on Tuesday, September 27th! Sorry about the lack of photos; I am just not a camera guy (unlike Daveland, aka "Weegee Junior")!

My friend Amy and I managed to get to the park just as it opened, and walked through the east tunnel (after admiring the Halloween-themed Mickey flower portrait) at about 10:00 AM. Folks were crowded around the giant pumpkin Mickey head in the center of town square, all trying to get that perfect family photo, while the buildings had orange bunting (an unusual look) on them.

We noticed that a large portion of the crowd headed up Main Street was turning right into Tomorrowland, so we figured that we'd better get our Fast Passes for Star Tours. Little did we know that we'd have to stand in a 10 minute line just to get our passes! Since we couldn't hop on to Star Tours until 11:30, we headed straight over to Space Mountain, and waited in a very short line. The "Ghost Galaxy" overlay is a fun change, though I am hoping for future additions to the gags and effects.

After that we decided to check out Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, something that Amy had never experienced (both of us had abysmal scores!) Since we still had more than an hour before our Fast Passes would work, we walked over to Fantasyland, and rode on the Dumbo attraction. A first for me! And it was fun, whaddaya know. Then we made a beeline for Mr. Toad, which had a fairly short line. I love that ride! We would have done Peter Pan, but took one look at the queue, and decided that we could wait. So we hopped on to the Snow White ride, and then we rode the Teacups, spinning that darn wheel as fast as we could. What a workout!

By now it was time to check out Star Tours. I enjoyed checking out the revamped queue, which had enough to look at that it made the wait seem shorter. I sort of miss the baskets full of robot parts that used to constantly move overhead, but it's not a big deal. Anyway, our first journey took us to the Wookie planet, and then we went to the Death Star. The motion simulator seemed to move more gently than it used to (or am I imagining things?). The screen was bright and sharp, and the 3-D was pretty good, but overall we walked off the ride thinking that it wasn't as amazing as we'd hoped.

After a ride on the Matterhorn we decided that we needed to see the Haunted Mansion, so we walked across the park and after a brief wait in line went into the foyer area, and then into the elevator with the stretching portraits. Complaint time: there must have been half a dozen people who were staring down at their phones, texting and tweeting with their brightly glowing screens. Seriously? You can't stay off your phones for a few minutes on the Haunted Mansion? I can only imagine the important messages that were sent. Also, EVERY time the lights go out, somebody (mostly a 20-something dude) thinks it's hilarious to scream loudly. How I would love to taze them! I didn't notice much new stuff in the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, except maybe the giant "living" gingerbread house (that smelled of fresh gingerbread!) down on the ballroom floor.

I'm going to take a few shortcuts now, just to keep this from becoming a novel. We hopped on to the Disneyland Railroad at New Orleans Square/Frontierland Station, for a grand circle tour, which was fabulous as always. Then we visited Splash Mountain, which had a very short line in the morning. Later, the line was pretty long! We hit the Winnie the Pooh ride, which Amy had never seen.

The Mark Twain was being refurbished at Fowler's Harbor, which meant that the Columbia was out and about. Having never been aboard that venerable ship, we took a sail around the Rivers of America. So... another first for me!

We had lunch, then rode the Jungle Cruise and climbed Tarzan's Treehouse. Heading back over to Tomorrowland, and got in the standby line for Star Tours. It only took about 20 minutes to board our spacecraft. This second experience was WAY better than the first one! First of all, my photo showed up on screen as the rebel spy! Then we found ourselves in the middle of a pod race, and after that we wound up under the sea, zipping through the Gungan city, and then were terrorized by several giant, scary fish. The effect of being caught in the jaws of one of these creatures (and the 3-D effect of its tongue against the view screen) was fantastic! Also, the finale, in which the pointy end of a parked spacecraft crashed through our viewscreen, pointing right at us, was similarly great. This time we walked off the ride very enthused and impressed!

During the rest of our visit, we check out "It's a Small World", and we rode both the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain twice more. Our final Mansion visit, 15 minutes before the park closed, was the best. There were only five or six other people in the elevator with us, and they weren't rude jerks!

That was about it for rides! We missed a few favorites (some of the dark rides), and didn't get around to the Monorail or Autopia, and I wanted to head over to Tom Sawyer Island, but Amy wasn't interested. Neither of us cared about Captain Eo! I did want to see Lincoln and the Mary Blair exhibit, but we just ran out of time, since the park closed at 8 o'clock.

After the park closed, we had a quick dinner in Downtown Disney, and then had a traffic-free ride home. Overall we had a great day, and I was regularly impressed with the cast members, particularly the ride operators. A+!

Anything Goes Saturday - Halloween 1951

Happy October, everyone! Halloween has been slowly creeping up on us since August, like some sort of low-grade fever. It's already everywhere you go! Hopefully you aren't sick of it yet, because I plan to celebrate Halloween during each of my "Anything Goes" saturdays this month, with a series of vintage photos from parties thrown by one family, dating from 1951 through 1955. Today's examples are all from 1951, a full 60 years ago.

It is interesting to see the masks and costumes that these kids concoted. Check out the miniature Fu Manchu (a pretty cool mask, and I like his shirt!). Next is Long John Silver (Disney's "Treasure Island" had been a big hit in 1950); a rubber Indian mask resembles one of the Kickapoo Indians from Al Capp's "Li'l Abner"; and a fierce werewolf is next.

Back in those days, a popular costume idea was to borrow mom's clothes and wear lots of makeup. The fellow to our left does not make a very convincing girl! The kid in the middle wants to look like a grownup, and he has Ernie Kovac's "Percy Dovetonsils" glasses! I don't like the looks of that sailor.


Boys pestering girls, it's a tradition. The wearing of "black face" makeup was another commonly seen disguise - one that wouldn't fly today. Not sure what that character in the middle is supposed to be. A drunk who works in a lab??


There's our harem girl again (she's a tall one!), along with a gypsy lass, a pirate wench, a Spanish señorita, a ghoul (?), and I don't know WHAT that scary thing is to the right. Perhaps a giant baby (with a twin, apparently).


And finally, there's another boy in girl's clothing, an actual girl in an elegant dress, a home-made dog thingy, a hobo, and a cool Frankenstein's monster.


If you enjoyed this visit to a 60 year-old Halloween party, let me know and I'll continue next week with pictures from 1952. If you didn't like it, I'll find something else to share!