Two Leftuggies

Here's a pair of randos for you, from years apart! Let's start with this May 1981 view of Captain Hook's Pirate Ship. She's low in the water, meaning that her hold is probably full of tuna and mayonnaise, plundered from Her Majesty's ships as they passed through the straights. I'm sure the folks sitting nearby would be shocked to know that in about a year, the beautiful ship would be razed.

Next is this shot from May, 1969. We're relaxing at the Carnation Plaza Gardens, beneath the striped tent (one-a them fancy metal tents!), listening to the Disneyland Band. No less than six performers are playing flutes, which means that they were probably playing Wagner's "Flutey Fantasy No. 111". The most popular of all the Flutey Fantasies! 

Two Families, Two Sundays

Happy Easter, everybody! Back when I was a kid, I sure loved getting my Easter basket full of goodies. And those were the days when my parents would dutifully take us to church, which would be especially crowded. And then there was Sunday school, full of all kinds of fun stories. And yet I turned out LIKE THIS??

Our friend Sue B. came to the rescue once again and provided two fun vintage scans (not "Lou and Sue" photos) to accompany the occasion. In this case it's pictures of two kids in their Easter best, posing with two different women. This first one has Grandma, I presume, with her car (her TRUE pride and joy), and oh yeah, the kids might as well be in the photo too. It occurred to me that this scan is flopped, but I'm too lazy to fix it, so it is what it is.

And next, here's Mom, who doesn't like having her picture taken, so she hides behind the boys. Maybe they are outside for an exciting hunt for Easter eggs. The patch on the older boy's jacket probably means that he is going to Fauntleroy Academy. "Oh Papa, Easter will be ever so splendid!". Reminds me of myself, to be honest. THANK YOU for these fun scans, Sue!

And now, here are some of my own contributions!

I'm assuming that this was Easter Sunday, based on the store in the background with an advertisement for HAMS in the window - not to mention the purple plush bunny in the little boy's hand. Everyone is dressed in their finest on this apparently still-cool Spring day. I'm frustrated to not have more information, such as the location or exact year. But that's how it goes with vintage slides.

Another family - another Easter? This one's surprisingly similar to the first pic, though I have to give a round of applause to those massive polka-dotted Peter Pan collars on the two girls. It's a look! Grandma accidentally wore a brassier on her head again, but it's easier to just let her keep it on. We'll tell the folks at church that it's the latest style from Milan. I dig the old cars, though I couldn't tell you what they are. Gimme that two-tone station wagon!

Mystery Park

I have a group of scans featuring a mystery park or fair from some undated slides. There's not much to go on, but I thought that they were fun enough for an Anything Goes Saturday.

We've got ourselves a classic Tilt-A-Whirl in the foreground, but check  out that Flight to Mars dark ride to the left! Wow! They had something like it at the Century 21 Exposition (aka the 1962 Seattle World's Fair). Wouldn't you love to be able to ride that today?

I will be relying on the expertise of you fans of classic carnival rides when it comes to naming some of these, such as this variant of a double Ferris Wheel. Until corrected, I will call it "The Floopety Floop". 

Ducks! Why did it have to be ducks? (Or are they geese?).

Just lookit alla them carnival rides! I'd shake a stick at them, but... why? Again, I will leave it to the experts to figure out what's what, but it looks like there's quite an assortment of classics.

This could be a good old-fashioned girlie show, though there is no real nudity. Just some brief one-piece costumes with fringe. Let's not forget the feathers on their heads. I wonder what that sign said? "....O N D". I can't figure that one out.

Hmmm, another mystery ride. It looks like a teacups-style spinner, except that the turntable can tilt up at an angle. Along the wall are graphics with the names of various countries. I know one of you will know it!

Here's a roller coaster with the helpful sign in the upper right that says "Zyklon". Wikipedia says: The company, commonly known as Pinfari, was established in 1926 building Dodgem cars and buildings. Its first roller coaster was a wild mouse-style ride in 1954 called "bob-slide". In 1965 the company introduced a small portable coaster called Zyklon. These coasters proved very popular with traveling fairs and carnivals as wells as permanent amusement parks. Pinfari manufactured Zyklons in several variations and sizes, building over 200 since the ride's introduction.

Here's a cute little girl on the merry-go-round, there were lots of pictures of her in this lot! You don't need to see more than one though. Notice the "Trip to Mars" in the background.

Is this one called a Sky Wheel? Not sure! It's pretty impressive, like a giant toy. And with the neon lights glowing, you can tell that it's going to make for a spectacular display at night.

Sorry this post was short on information! If anybody has any information about the rides or even where this park was (unlikely, I know), I'd love to hear it!

Beautiful & Early Main Street Vehicles

I have two very nice early Disneyland slides to share with you today, featuring some of those beloved Main Street vehicles. No, not the Steamroller, and not the Paddy Wagon. Sorry.

Check out this wonderful look at the Chemical Wagon (aka the horse-drawn firetruck), from a slide that may or may not be from 1955. It's early, at any rate. The wagon is pulled by two tiny white horses, are they 5/8 scale?  It's late in the day (look at those long, slanting shadows), I wonder if they were just about to put the wagon away for the evening? The driver and his fellow fireman are discussing the latest gossip with a man on horseback. Who is he? Did he ride up and down Main Street back in those days? Did he wander over from Frontierland? Maybe he was the ghost of an Anaheim rancher from 100 years earlier. (Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you).

Next is a neat photo from July 20, 1960, featuring one of the Surreys (I believe that there were two, this one and a reddish brown example as well) in Town Square. Man, that thing is packed, like a can of sardines! Maybe it's an optical illusion, but the horses look a bit larger than the two that pulled the Chemical Wagon. Notice the little information booth to the left, and the Police Station to the right of that.

Two lucky kids get to ride up front with the driver! One young boy wears a Keppy Kap, it appears to be a rarer version (from what I can see).

Whenever I have an exact date on a slide, I love to refer to "Jason's Disneyland Almanac" for some fun facts. 7/20/1960 was a Wednesday; the park was open from 9:00 until midnight. Attendance was 28,563. And the high temperature was a blazing 107º! By the evening it cooled down to a more pleasant 65. Thank you, Jason's Almanac!

Cute in Tomorrowland, March 1962

I'm getting down to the last few photos featuring "Ginny", the gal with perfect poise! 

She's standing near the entrance to Monsanto's "Hall of Chemistry", a sponsored exhibit that I would give somebody else's right leg to have been able to see. I mean, just the name is enough to capture my interest. Chemistry means one thing: test tubes with filled with colored water (with a chunk of dry ice in each for drama). It's all I need! Ginny stands with a trash can behind her, when you know how tall those things are, you can tell that she is a petite thing.

You just know that Ginny's husband couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a photo with the impressive Moonliner behind her. The "TWA" logo has been painted over, but it still looks great. It would be repainted with the Douglas colors sometime later in '62 (I could find no exact date).  

 

Randos

It's time for more random scans for your vintage Disneyland enjoyment. Both are from October of 1967.

On the west shore, near the Canoe docks, the Mark Twain passes by, as it must have done five times an hour (or so) all day long. I'm surprised how few (if any) photos I have of the Twain from this vantage point, maybe because of those trees. 

Of particular interest are a few details, such as the totem poles, which I have never seen outside of the Indian Village before. There's also that sign (in pidgin English) for potential Canoe fans: Sorry this attraction closed today. I guess we can be grateful that they didn't add "Ugh". I don't think I've ever seen that blue "shield" sign for the Canoes, I wish it was clearer. We can clearly see the words "INDIAN WAR CANOES", as well as information about needing a "C" ticket ("No cash accepted on ride"), along with information on where to buy a "C" ticket if you don't happen to have one on you. We also have a cleverly-disguised trash can!

Next is this unusual photo taken as the C.K. Holliday passed by, with a mysterious little walkway... somewhere. Mr. X told me that this was taken at Tomorrowland Station, and he said that the tunnel to the Grand Canyon Diorama was just out of frame to our right.

Town Square Vehicles, September 1971

Here's a nice pair of Town Square photos, courtesy of Lou Perry and his daughter Sue B.! These are from September, 1971.

A Horse-drawn Streetcar is waiting for passengers on a laid-back day in the park. It looks so wonderful! The "small town" effect that Walt intended is somewhat lost when there are hundreds of people crowding the streets. Sorry, I don't mean to get negative. That popcorn vendor is right there as guests walked into the park, but it might not be the busiest location; people might not even know they want a snack yet. Still, imagine how busy it got during a parade or when "Fantasy In the Sky" was going!

Lou captured another angle of the same Streetcar (the #3). I'll bet the driver never imagined that someday his job would be to be at the reins of an old-fashioned streetcar, but as jobs go, it sounds pretty sweet. I wonder if these fellows had their favorite horses? "Biscuit here is the best, known him since he was foaled, sometimes on my break I like to give him an apple or some sugar cubes (C&H Sugar, of course)". I'm weird (news flash) because I always like seeing the pale yellow and moss green of the Wurlitzer building in the background.

 THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!

Details

Here are two photos that are all about details. The Devil's in them, I've heard. 

First up is this sign (from a scan dated April 1970) from Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. Sponsored by United Air Lines! The sign appears to be painted on rough hide of some sort (probably water buffalo), crudely held together with leather stitching and decorative (?) sticks.

The world is a carousel of color! Wonderful, wonderful color. Like this brilliant pink bouquet of roses and... er... some other kind of flowers, as seen in the Flower Market. They look pretty real to me!

Frontierland Views, November 1974

It's time for a "Snoozer Sunday" installment; and while I have over 140 scans in my folder, I had a hard time coming up with any real losers. Not a bad problem to have! 

So I feel like this first one is odd, but interesting enough to avoid the "snoozer" category. As you can see, we are looking across a grassy meadow toward some mysterious jets of water. Of course I assumed that there were whales spouting just beyond those bushes, but realized that it was actually some geysers from the Rainbow Desert (as seen from the Disneyland Railroad). Pretty cool! The grassy area has been referred to as the "Small World Meadow" by some, but I don't know how official that is.

Also seen from the Disneyland Railroad is this much-less unusual photo looking past some of the familiar topiaries and that queue for "It's a Small World". Looking closely, the water trough has no water, and there is a worker in white coveralls seemingly working on the railings.

 

Kids & Their Bikes

It's "Anything Goes Saturday", so I've decided to choose some vintage scans of kids and their bikes. Getting a bicycle was a big deal for me, and I'm sure it was (and still is) for most youngsters. "Look how fast I can go!". I still remember exploring parts of my neighborhood that I'd never seen before (even managing to get a bit lost for a brief while). My friends and I would take our bikes down to the beach (when I lived in Huntington Beach), and we'd just lay them down, play for an hour or two, and come back to find our bikes right where we'd left them, amazingly. 

These boys are proud as heck of their sweet rides (from a slide dated "April 1965"). One has a horn with a rubber bulb, the other a basket to hold whatever needs hauling (hopefully not school books). I love the "VENTURA CALIFORNIA" shirt, not far from where I lived for a time. 

Next we see three kids (siblings I assume), two on their bicycles, another on a scooter. I guess you could get them in any color you wanted, as long as it was red? The older girl has her creepy doll (with blinking eyes!) in her basket. The boy is the leader of this intimidating gang. "Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?". "Whaddaya got?". The younger girl has another creepy doll, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love her. 

I am imagining the scent of cut grass, and the feel of warm summer sunshine, the sound of bugs and birds... all things that make life great.

And one more... a boy who can play his plastic pan flute (it looks like a series of hotdogs) while riding his sporty bike (pay no attention to those training wheels). Looks like he even has a swell headlamp for night time adventures. Play us a tune, sonny! How about the Davy Crockett theme?