Autopia, 1959

As far as I am aware, the venerable Autopia did not change much in spite of the major additions added to Tomorrowland (other than the fact that there was now a Monorail track overhead) in 1959. One thing that definitely didn't change was the way that kids loved it - at last, the chance to drive a car! What are mom and dad always complaining about? It's super fun! Of course, even in the future machines can fail, which is why we always need specially trained (and genetically modified) technicians. White coveralls are cool.

Steering wheel on the right.... ooookay. Did this have something to do with it being easier to get in and out of the car on the left side if there was no steering wheel in the way? Meanwhile the kid in the car dreams of being an Autopia repair man someday.

Bad Photos!

What's a blogger to do with bad photos? Post them on Sunday, that's what! In a lot of about 20 stereo slides (from around 1970), these three were teetering on the edge of rejection. 

Here's a familiar view to anybody who has had to wait in line to ride the Matterhorn. The spikes on top of the wrought iron were to prevent the escape of the abominable snowman. "Harold" officially became a resident of the attraction in 1978, and he is happy now. Notice the alpine stream which is actually ice-cold Zima.

There is a better shot of the Motor Boat Cruise in the lot of slides (stay tuned!), but this one is almost an accident. But it might give you a sense of what it was like to putter beneath the Autopia track.

And finally, an obligatory (and oblique) shot of the castle. I appreciate the photographer's desire to avoid the usual straight-on shot, but it's still kind of a yawn.

Las Vegas Casinos, May 1960

It's time for some vintage Vegas, from a group of stereo slides. Ring-a-ding-ding!

The Golden Nugget had one of the biggest and most elaborate signs back in 1960. At some point even more lights were added to make it dazzling, but it looks pretty neat here, especially in contrast to the relatively modest buildings. No gigantic hotels here. And this scene at night? Fugetaboutit! 

Here's another classic Vegas landmark, The Dunes! With its 35 foot tall fiberglass sultan, it was hard to miss. Supposedly it struggled for its first few years due to being located at the far end of the strip. A topless show (the first one in Vegas) turned its fortunes around! The Bellagio is now located on this spot.

The Showboat Hotel and Casino opened in 1954; instead of aiming for luxury, its claim to fame was the 49-cent breakfast specials and a world-class bowling alley. While it continued to expand, it also struggled, eventually becoming The Castaways in 2000.  

The Stardust opened in 1958 with this wonderful sign, which Wikipedia describes thusly: The... sign gave visitors a panoramic view of the solar system. At the sign's center sat a 16-foot (4.9 m) plastic model of the Earth. Cosmic rays of neon and electric lightbulbs beamed from behind the model Earth in all directions. Three-dimensional acrylic glass planets spun along side 20 scintillating neon starbursts. Across the universe was a jagged galaxy of electric lettering spelling out "Stardust". The sign utilized 7,100 ft (2,200 m) of neon tubing with over 11,000 bulbs along its 216 ft (66 m) front. The "S" alone contained 975 lamps. At night the neon constellation was reportedly visible 60 miles (97 km) away.  Wowee! The Stardust was imploded in March of 2007.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Las Vegas!

A Pair From June 1959

I love this first photo, taken in the middle of the classic 1950's Tomorrowland. A lady in her little black dress (and pearls) poses in front of the wonderful Clock of the World. It's almost 4 o'clock! There's Circarama, the TWA Moonliner, and the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry. Flowers and balloons add welcome splashes of color to this future world.

And here's a nice photo of The Pavillion (my spell check doesn't like the double "L"), where guests take a load off of their weary feet and enjoy a relaxing lunch. Hard to believe that the back side of this very same building is themed to fit into Adventureland, with a thatched roof and carved, unpainted wood.

More Black and White Walt Disney World, 1973

Let's take a look at some more nice black and white photos from the Magic Kingdom's Main Street U.S.A! (See the first batch here).

The amount of architectural detail is pretty impressive, with all the different moldings, window styles, shingles, awnings, and other stuff.  I think there is a lit lamp in that one window (above the "S" in the word "Shop").

Wowee, now that's a City Hall! It reminds me of the buildings seen at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, called "The White City".

Here's a shot of the White City, for those of you who care. Apparently, Walt Disney's father Elias was one of the many construction workers who built these grand structures.

Here's a detail of City Hall's front porch, with a bit of Main Street Station just to our left.

Whoever came up with the idea of paying tribute to notable Disney employees by giving them a window on Main Street was a genius! Here are two examples; Card Walker, who started at the Disney Studios (in the mail room) since 1938, and worked his way up to the president of the company when this picture was taken. On the right, the window honors Ted Crowell and Arnold Lindberg, whom you can read about here! If you do a Google search, you can see that this window, while still there, has changed in some minor ways over the years.

Stay tuned for one more batch of black and white WDW pix!

Nighttime Personal Viewmasters, 1961

I scanned many hundreds of personal Viewmaster images for a friend a year or so ago, and generally found that anything taken in a low-light situation resulted in a grainy mess. So it surprised me that today's pair of night images came out as good as they did.

There's the Matterhorn, presumably taken with a very long exposure. It practically glows! I love the green waterfall. Notice the corner of the House of the Future in the lower right corner.

And why wouldn't you at least try to take a picture of the castle? It would be impossible to resist. I wonder if my friend did they old "trash can = makeshift tripod" trick. 

The Columbia, August 12 1996

The Columbia has been around since 1958 and is still with us, thankfully. It is unique among Disney park watercraft (as far as I know). On busy days it will carry passengers on the Rivers of America along with the Mark Twain, though usually it seems that if one is running, the other is out of service.  I have been told that there are wheels on the bottom of the Columbia, and that it actually half floats, half rolls. Maybe my leg was being yanked! After looking at vintage photos for so many years, it is strange to see the Big Thunder Mountain Railway in the background.

It's a shame that the "powers that be" have decided to leave the sails furled permanently, though I know they would be a lot of additional work and expense to maintain. But the sails look so good!

Knott's, October 1967

If Knott's Berry Farm's old-west Ghost Town doesn't put you in a frontier mood, nothing will. And every now and then you might feel the need to have your picture taken with a genuine Indian Chief. I wish I knew this fellow's name... he's not Chief Red Feather or Chief Blue Eagle. His costume is a dazzling combo of crimson and turquoise; maybe he is Chief Hollywood. In the background, School Road looks pretty sleepy as the sun begins to head toward the horizon.

I see Paris, I see France... I see someone's underpants! The little stage over at the Calico Saloon is modest compared to Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe. It's almost as if it was added as an afterthought; it seems weird to me that it is way up high, as you can see in this photo.

Missed It! March 1972

It's Sleepy Sunday, and time for me to unload some "just missed it!" pictures. 

Like this one, taken out in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. I always love to see the costumed characters, even though I rarely interact with them (I do have a photo of me with Buzz Lightyear, however). Here we see "Honest John", Gideon the cat, and Pinocchio, about to devour a group of small children. Crunchy! Looks like somebody stole one of Pinoke's shoes, which is weird. Honest John is slumped over on that stone bench, which is even weirder.

Pooh for President! I personally voted for Pogo Possum, but Pooh had some interesting ideas for the economy and foreign policy. For instance, he wanted us to go on the "Hunny Standard" for our monetary system. Brilliant! But somehow Richard Nixon won the election by a landslide. Oh, bother.

Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles

Wilshire Boulevard is one of the main arteries through Los Angeles (east-west); it is nearly 16 miles long, going all the way from downtown L.A. to just a few blocks shy of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. It runs through Beverly Hills, past the L.A. County Art Museum and the La Brea Tar Pits, Westwood Village, and includes the famous "Miracle Mile". I have a number of vintage slides of Wilshire, and thought I would share two of them today.

There it is, near the corner of Fairfax Avenue, circa 1963. To the extreme right you can just see a "Googie"-style coffee shop called "Rams" at this point (it was originally called "Romeo's", and is now Johnie's" - the building still stands but is closed). The most distinctive building is the May Company department store, with its gold-tiled pilaster.

Here's a screen grab from Google Maps showing approximately the same view today. I'm always happy to see that the golden pilaster is still with us, though there are plans underway to convert the building to the David Geffen Theater at some point. Frowny face.  

Heading a few miles east, we arrive at an area called "Wilshire Center" (also called "Koreatown" due to the large Korean American population), one of the oldest communities in Los Angeles. The Wilshire Christian Church at the corner of Normandie Avenue is notable (to our left), the first church built on the boulevard in 1911.  You can also see the Gaylord apartment building, named after Henry Gaylord Wilshire. I believe that this photo dates from the early 1960's, though it is undated.

And here's the same area as it looks today!