Anything Goes Saturday - Vintage Christmas

Christmas is only about two weeks away, so it seemed like a good time to bust out a few vintage photos from Christmases past.

This first slide is undated, but is in a very old-fashioned cardboard mount, and I am guessing that it is from sometime in the 1940's. This brother and sister are not in their jammies - instead they look very neat and spiffy. Maybe this was a portrait intended to be shared with relatives. None of the girl's toys are to be seen, but the boy has a few, including that impressive airplane! Don't play with it, kid; that thing'll be worth a fortune someday.


Check out these two surly boys, from what I believe is another 1940's slide. I'm not sure why they aren't smiling, considering that at least one of them got a sweet bicycle. Note that toy car (complete with string for pulling) to the left. Damien is holding a flashlight while Chucky aims his six-shooter directly at us. Behind Chucky, another large toy airplane. I'd say they both made out pretty well.

I love this cute photo (circa 1955) of a little girl in her jammy-jams, trying out her new iron. It might be toddler-sized, but it really works, just like mommy's. She's doing a much better job of ironing than I ever did. Electronic toys that get very hot are the perfect gifts for young children!

I hope you've enjoyed these! If so, I'll post more next Saturday.

More Freedomland, September 1961

Here's the last of a small batch of Freedomland photos from 1961...

Folks stop and make way for the marching band heading up the street of "Little Old New York". This land is authentic to the last detail, according to the souvenir guidebook! It continues... the shops, the streets, the horse-drawn vehicles - everything down to the policemen's uniforms has been painstakingly recreated to give you Old New York as it really was. Well OK!


A later guidebook says that we can ...ride gaily around the city's quaint old streets. Darnit, I'll try anything once! In the distance you can see the building that afforded you entrance to the Harbor Tug Boat ride ... for a cruise around the world's greatest harbor and on into the Great Lakes.


This is part of what was officially the "San Francisco" part of Freedomland, although we have veered further up into the Pacific Northwest. The giant logger isn't Paul Bunyan; it is his cousin Mitch. A sign points us in the direction of the Fur Trapper attraction, in which you could ...ride a bullboat up the Columbia River, through a land infested by dangerous animals and warlike natives. Infested, huh? Meanwhile I'll bet a few collectors wouldn't mind owning that stroller with the Freedomland placard on it. I want that fake albino deer!


I have a few more Freedomland photos to share. Stay tuned!

Main Street Stuff, April 29 1956

We're hanging around Main Street today, with two wonderful photos from 1956.

I wanted to become a police officer, but my saxophone-playing was just not up to snuff. Fortunately, these Keystone Cops were virtuosos. Seconds after this photo was taken, the cops took down a major crime syndicate. Then they played "Steamboat Bill" without even breaking a sweat. Notice that they are on East Center Street, near the Gibson Greeting Cards store. The Pen Store next door closed because people like me would ask if they carried pencils too, which drove them koo-koo bananas.

Boy howdy, that is some swell shot of the old Red Wagon Inn. Let's go in and get a bite to eat; or we can just relax on one of the many (many!) benches and watch other people chew.

Santa's Village, Lake Arrowhead - October 1961

It seems like a swell time to head on up to the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains in California, and visit Santa's Village!

This first photo doesn't actually belong to the "October 1961" group (it's probably from the 1950's), but it's such a nice image that I wanted to include it anyway. Somebody needs to check the level of radioactivity here, what with the giant mushrooms - and even giant candy canes.


OK, now it's 1961, and this happy family stands squinting in the brilliant autumn sun. You can almost feel the heat, and smell the nearby pine forest, and hear the bloodthirsty roars of a million hungry chipmunks.


Grandma stands in front of the Good Witch Bakery, where children are baked into delicious pot pies. Mmmm-mmm! The secret ingredient? Love. I think that the President of the United States should live in a house that looks like this.


Did you ever dream that you could ride in a spinning Christmas tree? Covered in peanut butter and holding a machine gun? Er, me either. But if you did have that dream, you could have at least partially realized it at Santa's Village. Sure, Disneyland talks about "dreams come true", but Santa's Village delivers.

Stay tuned for more Santa's Village...

Empty Lagoon, March 1961

Every once in a while, Disneyland's Submarine lagoon requires some maintenance. Water all by itself is tough, and the high chlorine content just adds to the fun. So... the water must be drained, and the old faded corals, seaweeds, shells, and critters need to be replaced or repainted. Like in the photo below!


Here's a similar angle taken just four months later.


As I've mentioned before, the lagoon was drained during one of my childhood visits to the park, and I was fascinated. It was a little glimpse "behind the magic", right out in the open for all to see. Especially from the Skyway! Just look at all that stuff.


And another view (this time from June 1960) from a similar angle - sort of - showing how it all looks when it's covered with turquoise water.

Disney Studio Signed Menu, 1950's

Today's Disney item comes to us from reader Steve Stuart, and OH MAN, I'm sure there are more than a few of you out there who dream of being able to have something like this! I know I do.

The Walt Disney Studio commissary is still going strong today. It's all buffet-style now, but back in the good old days (1940's and 50's, and into the 1960's), there were actual waitresses to take your order and bring it to you. And just like any other restaurant, there were menus. Take a look at this great menu cover; Donald Duck looks like he is trying to recover from a wild night! Or maybe he's just not a morning duck. While cover seems to indicate that this is a breakfast menu, the fare offered inside is definitely of the lunch variety.


Oh, and did I mention that this menu was autographed to Steve by Walt Disney?!? Holy mackerel! More on how that happened in just a bit! I love the illustrations inside; the fact that Lady and the Tramp are featured dates this to post-1955, although there seems to be some debate among the experts about how long these menus were used, according to Steve. I think I could eat in the studio restaurant very happily, day after day. My needs are simple! Note the beer selection; those animators loved to imbibe. "Heineken's" must have been fairly exotic for the 1950's (as Steve pointed out to me). What, no Pabst Blue Ribbon?

OK, now for the story of that amazing, big BOLD signature from Walt Disney, from Steve: How did I get it, I hear you asking-?? In 1962, a "new student" came to school, whose Dad worked previously at the Disney NY office - now transferred to Burbank - in the marketing dept, and was responsible in no small way for the Davy Crockett hat, etc. Any-who-hah, Billy and I became fast friends, which as you can imagine included many things Disney. My favorite was for one Halloween, Billy's dad was actually able to borrow a Mickey character costume for him to wear-!! Yes, those were simpler times. We're talking probably around 1963 or 1964, here. Then there were the trips to "the park" as it was always referred, proceeded by a phone call to Disneyland to place their name on a list at the gate and then raiding the hall closet, where many Magic Key Ticket Books were kept in a shoe box, allowing us the needed access to all of Disneyland's rides & attractions. Anyway, when Billy asked if I wanted an autograph, I said sure. (And, oh yeah, thru my friendship with Billy, I was able to meet Walt on the set of That Darn Cat).

Frankly the more amazing aspect of the story is the fact I STILL have it. You would have thought sometime between 1964 and the late 70's, when my interest in things Disney reignited, the menu would have somehow found its way into the trash, but thankfully, that was not to be. The authenticity of Walt's signature has been verified by Dave Smith and many others in the know, so it's the real deal.

Isn't that cool? Not only did he get an autograph, but actually got to meet Walt. How many of you wish that you could have experienced the same thing! My hand is raised. MANY THANKS to Steve Stuart for sharing this amazing treasure!

That Krazy Kastle, June 1968

It's pointy, it's crenelated, it's moat-ified, it's Sleeping Beauty Castle! You might not realize it, but outside of miniature golf courses, there aren't many castles in Southern California. No, it's true. I like this first photo, taken a bit further away than usual. There's the hub, pre-"Partners" statue and full of flowers. The "Partners" statue should have had Walt and Mickey riding mini-bikes and eating hoagies. This picture is good for a bit of vintage people-watching.


Well, whenever I try to take a picture of something, some jerk parks a horse-drawn streetcar in front of it. Murphy's Law, amiright? And that Omnibus just adds insult to injury.

Anything Goes Saturday - Chinatown, San Francisco

On today's "Anything Goes Saturday", we head back to San Francisco (remember when we saw the Cliff House?), this time to see that city's famous Chinatown, on a slide dated "January 24, 1943". San Fran's Chinatown is the oldest such neighborhood (or "city with a city") in the country, and is one of the largest outside of Asia. It was established in the 1840's (so, about 100 years before this photo was taken), and is still a vital, influential part of San Francisco.

This photo is chock full of 1940's Kodachrome goodness! The cars with their streamlined chrome, the man with his fedora, overcoat and scarf, and the wonderful signs advertising such exotic Chinese dishes as chow mein and chop suey! Fedora guy is checking out the lady in the fur coat, who is showing her gams in spite of the chilly January day!

I wanted to do my usual trick of showing the same view as it looks today (using Google Maps Street View), thinking that the "Pine St." sign would make it easy. But I couldn't find a match - in fact, Pine Street seems too far south to really be near Chinatown. If anybody has better luck, let me know!
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UPDATE!

OK, I admit it, I am lame! But my readers aren't! Rain and OC Native both knew that this was Pine Street at Grant, and they are correct. And reader Marc sent me a screen grab from Google Maps (thanks Marc!)... take a look:

Yes, it has changed, but see how much is still there after so many years! The street lamps, and even the basic buildings are, in many ways, very much like they were 70 years ago. Below is another image grabbed from Google Maps that is very similar to the 1939 photo. Thanks, folks!

Beautiful Fantasyland, 1956

The "Old Fantasyland" might not have been as fancy as the current incarnation (which I do like), but it had an awful lot of charm! This first photo was taken on a busy, busy day (did I mention it was busy?). Folks are packed like drupelets ("any of the small individual drupes forming a fleshy aggregate fruit such as a blackberry or raspberry"), on a beautiful sunny day with a cloudless blue sky.


No drupelets this time, only a little pink castle; in spite of its fanciful appearance, it has been built atop a formidable stony mountain. Gotta keep those peasants away!

In Town Square, July 7 1961

Welcome to Disneyland's Town Square! It's the first thing you experience once you are really inside the park, and it makes a pretty great impression (for those who bother to take a moment to soak it all in). In the background, a pair of horseless carriages await; the man walking towards us has snuck in a picnic lunch (10 limburger and onion sandwiches); and patriotic bunting is evident from the Independence Day festivities 3 days earlier.

Also, thanks to Jason's Disneyland Almanac, I can tell you that on July 7 1961, the park was open from 9 AM until midnight, that the high was 88˚F, and that the attendance was 25,562. Oh, and there was a "Date Nite" event too!


Faithful readers of GDB might recall the woman to our left, with the fuzzy white hat. She looks cute with her li'l white gloves! But if you look at this photo, you'll also recognize the buckaroo in the white cowboy hat, as well as the older ladies in their block-print dresses. A tour group? An extended family? Meanwhile, note the banner on the Omnibus celebrating "Disneyland '61". That graphic shape interests me - unless I am missing something, it is completely abstract, as if inspired by minimalist/color field artist Ellsworth Kelly.