Beautiful Rainbow Ridge, March 13, 1958

I've already posted most of the slides from March 13, 1958, but there are still some nice ones left - like today's!

The low attendance (I think it was in the neighborhood of 5,000 people) on this day allowed for an excellent shot of Rainbow Ridge. It is a good looking small-scale western town, in spite of its artificiality. The muted colors look as if the buildings have been exposed to blistering sunshine for decades.

Oh man, there's already four people in line. It's not worth it! You can see one of the trains heading through the tunnel that exited into Bear Country. I wonder what the red-shirted cast member is doing? I wish I could read that white sign to our left, but no such luck.

How's this for a lovely shot? Taken from the Mark Twain, we look down into the empty corral where you could catch a Conestoga Wagon or Stage Coach. Looks like there are a few people in line for the pack mules - assuming the rain didn't start, this would have been an awesome day to ride the mules.

That Mighty Matterhorn!

Today I have two very nice Kodak Instamatics featuring the Matterhorn. 

What a beautiful day it was, with that deep blue sky and brilliant sunshine; attendance looks light. You can see some people on the aqua Peoplemover train, so it was "open for business". The square Skyway buckets are color-coordinated in hues of yellow and aqua. The slurry doesn't look very blue here, but that might have to do with the fact that these images are from scanned negatives; sometimes you have to do some creative adjustments when scanning those. 

This next one must have been taken at around the same time as the previous photo. As I learned a few months ago, the Peoplemover passed right above the Skyway station, so that's how we get this neat view. 

FYI: I am moving to a new apartment today, so I will be unable to respond to comments for a day or so. In theory my internet will be up and running by tomorrow, but "stuff happens", as you know. Hopefully I will be back in action soon - in any case, there will be new posts every day, as usual! 

1964 New York World's Fair

It's time for more images from the New York World's Fair! These are kind of so-so photos, but I'm using what I have already scanned.

Not far from the Chrysler Pavilion, and next to U.S. Rubber's giant tire Ferris Wheel, you could find the Lowenbrau Gardens. It was, "... an open-air Bavarian-style restaurant set in a village square. The square is surrounded by five buildings, including a bell tower and a gate". "Every now and again, Lowenbrau's brewery wagon, drawn by four massive horses, can be seen in the streets outside, or traveling about the fairgrounds".

Love those luminaires!

The Mormon Church pavilion was a very popular photo subject; I suppose that it did stand out amidst the other ultra-modern, geometric buildings. Here we see the three-quarter scale replicas of part of the Mormon temple in Utah. 

In official Fair guides, several mentions are made of an "artificial cloud" that would be seen around these three towers. "A white cloud, visible for a great distance, hovers around the three towers...". There is even an artist's rendering showing a large cloud around it (which is weird). And yet I have never seen this cloud in actual photos. Presumably some sort of special-effect was intended, and it must not have worked out so well in real life.

This photo is not much to look at, but it is a bit interesting because it shows the inner courtyard of the massive United States pavilion. I have plenty of exterior photos of that building, but this is my only interior. 

Kneat Knott's! - November 1960

Today's vintage Knott's Berry Farm images are cool because they feature subject matter that you don't often see in photos.

Like this one, showing the interior of a print shop, complete with printing press. It's fun looking at all the details, like the visors hanging on the wall (I can't tell if they have green eyeshades), the old portraits, a can of ink, and so on. That press is a cast iron beast; I'll bet it still works!

Now we're at the blacksmith's shop (I've never seen an interior of that before). Our smith wears a sort of clip-on microphone, presumably as he explains the art of making horseshoes. "You get this metal super hot and hit it like a crazy person! Any questions?". How many places needed to employ a full-time blacksmith in 1960? Lucky for him, Knott's had lots of horses and mules, and even a few burros. 

More "Classic GDB"!

For today's reruns, I thought I would choose a theme: the Omnibus! Double decker vehicles are awesome. Why not a triple decker? Bob Gurr, I've got ideas. 

Here's a lovely shot of the Omnibus up at the Hub (when does it stop becoming the Hub and start becoming the Plaza?).  It appears to be waiting to take guests from Tomorrow and take them back to Yesteryear. In 1974 the Peoplemover was still going strong (with its original colors), it's kind of neat to see them juxtaposed like this. Note the cold-weather clothing on the guests. (Originally posted in 2011)

Here's another unusual angle showing an Omnibus as it attempts to run over those two hoodlums who are brazenly walking in the middle of the street. The people on the top level are in for a treat.

I suspect that this photo was not actually taken in June (you know how that goes), but the weather could be a case of SoCal's famous "June Gloom". Hey, if you look really carefully, you can just see the Carnation truck in the distance.

Now an Omnibus waits in front of Main Street Station; there's a popcorn wagon (behind the Horse Drawn Streetcar). And beyond that is the building with the "Liberty Street" sign. Notice the red, white, and blue bunting, banners, and flags, possibly leftover from the 4th of July!

Two From September, 1971

It's a "Cavalcade of Mediocrity"! Brought to you by Pepsodent tooth powder.

I admit it - "mediocre" is too harsh to describe this pretty, pastoral scene. In fact, the more I look at it, the more I am inclined to give it a thumb's up. I think our photographer was at the Indian Village, near the location where the "Golden Bear Lodge" (now known as the "Hungry Bear" restaurant) would eventually go. 

OK, this one is mediocre. The color is weird, and there isn't much to see. I'm going back to bed.

Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk, CA

Happy 4th of July! 

I hope all of you will be enjoying your picnics, barbecues, fireworks, and days at the shore.

Speaking of days at the shore, today we're going to head up to Santa Cruz, California (about 75 miles south of San Francisco). It  now has the oldest surviving amusement park (the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk), which dates back to 1907. I'm sure GDB pal Ken Martinez will have some info to add to this post!

I absolutely love this first beautiful photo - those Kodachrome colors just pop! I also love the many variations of beach umbrella designs; it made it easy to locate your spot on the sand from far away. Monterey Bay looks like it is full of blue dye (just like my hair, har har). Don't you wish you could step into this image? To our left is the Boardwalk, with the famous "Giant Dipper" roller coaster.

Here's an unusual view taken from out in the bay (from the back of a whale). The Giant Dipper was built in  1924, and can reach speeds up to 55 mph. It is one of the most popular coasters in the world, having thrilled over 60 million riders. Wow! 

And finally, one of the concessions along the boardwalk was this "Skee Roll" establishment. Skee Ball machines have been around since 1909, and are still found in many carnivals, arcades, and even popular restaurant chains (we used to play Skee Ball at a Shakey's Pizza Parlor when I was a kid). This place is doing bang-up business. I wonder what prizes you could get when you redeemed your precious strip of paper tickets? 

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Santa Cruz!

Vintage Tiki Room Flyer

It's time for some awesome vintage Disneyland paper! You've probably seen this one elsewhere; if so, you'll just have to suffer through it again.

I love this gate handout/advertisement heralding a new attraction, "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room". It's an entirely new concept in family entertainment, yo. This was one of the very first pieces of Disneyland paper ephemera that I acquired, and I still think it is neat. I love the two-color artwork, and the photo of the guests. I guess nobody has informed that couple that pointing is impolite. Does anybody know if Marty Sklar wrote the blurb?

On the obverse is this neat ad for the new "Below Decks" exhibit on the Columbia; which means that this flyer is from 1964. The waving sailor reminds me of Ned Land from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"! 

About two years ago I was at a collector's show, and found a version of this handout without the Tiki Room ad on the other side. It's just blank. Which is kind of cool! And best of all, this version was UNFOLDED, which is practically unheard of.

More From July, 1958

Today's first photo is a beauty, featuring the brand-new Columbia sailing ship. Doesn't it look great? Back when I scanned this, I experimented with some different settings, and the colors have a softer, almost "silvery" quality compared to most of my other scans. I really like it, but occasionally some weird things would happen in the darker areas. So... I've gone back to my old settings.

I love the glimpse of people over on Tom Sawyer Island, and the canoes, mostly obscured by rushes. 

Now we've left Frontierland and moved on to Fantasyland. The old "medieval" façades are so great; I love the post-1983 look, but there is something about the graphic, low-budget appearance of the original Fantasyland that I find very appealing. 

To our right we can see some of the pirate ship vehicles from the Peter Pan dark ride, while the Mad Hatter shop is dead ahead. 

Walt Disney World, November 1974

I have a small group of Walt Disney World slides from November, 1974; that's pretty early in the life of The Magic Kingdom! 

This first one is a mystery to me; where are we? You can see the spires of Cinderella Castle in the distance. To our right is, perhaps, a Monorail station? Or the Transportation and Ticket Center? You sure see lots of topiaries in older photos of WDW, are they still as prevalent? That's four questions in one paragraph, which feels so wrong. I should just make up "facts" - if I sound like I know what I'm talking about, nobody will question me.

I almost used Photoshop to correct the wonkiness in this photo, but ultimately decided to leave it alone. It's not even nine o'clock yet, we're going to have the whole day ahead of us! The Florida Mickey portrait uses a more modern iteration of the mouse - I kind of like that it is different from the Disneyland version. The population sign says 25,000,000.

The flags show that it was a windy day, in this photo from the platform of Main Street Station. 

Did they do a "rope drop" back in those days? I don't know how else anybody would get a picture of a completely deserted Main Street. It will be 9 o'clock in just six minutes, and I'm sure that's when folks were allowed to start exploring, riding, eating, and spending.

There are only 10 more in this batch!