Frontierland & Mine Train, April 1962

Frontierland looks pretty busy on this sunny April day. In addition to the usual families (see that kid getting an orange popsicle?) a few men in uniform (Marines I guess) are going to practice storming the shores of Tom Sawyer Island.


Here's a neat shot of the Mine Train (taken from the passing Disneyland RR) as it loops around the geysers and paint pots in the Living Desert. Hey, there are those Marines again!


There are those dusty old bears again... we've seen them many times, but I never get tired of 'em. It really seems like this tableau is never the same in any two photos, but I haven't exactly done a scientific study on the matter. For instance, I'm not sure I've previously noticed TWO bear cubs climbing that tree to get to the bee hive...

Murky Street USA, 1957

Boy oh boy, I don't know if I've ever seen Main Street looking quite so gray and murky! Was it the film stock? Did a nearby volcano (in Brea, maybe) send tons of ash into the air, blocking the sun, plunging Anaheim into an early ice age?


This is what Disneyland would look like if it had been built by the commies! Only there would be more armed guards and giant posters of Lenin.

Ticket Boof, April 1962

Just one photo for ya today, guys and gals... plus a detail. But it's a nice one!

Ol' Major Pepperidge wasn't around in April 1962, but this picture takes me there, to Disneyland's entry; All we have to do is buy our tickets and we're in! We can probably already hear the train whistle, and maybe seen the Monorail swoosh past in the parking lot. It looks like a beautiful day! You can juuuust see some old flivvers in front of the Mickey portrait.


As you can see from this detail, a family of four could get Jumbo 15 ticket books (which includes admission) for less than $20. What a deal!

Random Fun from '57

Here's a nice photo of the sign in Frontierland directing guests to the Indian Village (and the Keel Boats and the War Canoes)... as you can see, we are heading towards a tunnel that will lead us into this "land within a land". I'm sure it would have been a lot cheaper to not have that earthen hill to cut through, but going through a tunnel adds an almost cinematic transition from one place to the other.


There's Old Smiley, basking in the sun and showing off his new uppers. He loves to sniff the blossoms of the lotus, much like Ferdinand the Bull liked to smell daisies.


The Friendly Indian Chief has his gang with him (a gentle warning; don't do anything funny!). His fancy war bonnet is at the dry cleaners.

1962 Seattle World's Fair

I'm taking my time machine (it's a modified Autogyro) up the coast to beautiful Seattle for a look at the Century 21 Expo!

Here's a neat view looking across Puget Sound, with the Fair in the distance. Of course the Space Needle is the most prominent feature, but you can see other Fair buildings to the left.


There's the Needle again! It's like a cross between a Martian from "War of the Worlds" and George Jetson's home. If only the saucer on top periodically took off and then returned a short while later, life would be perfect.


A photo taken from a Sky Ride, what a novel idea! These buckets were fully enclosed to protect riders from the frequent Seattle rains and from Soviet microwaves (which would turn people into commies). We're looking down on the amusement zone, known as the "Gay Way". You heard me. It doesn't look that different from a fancy carnival. Wonder what the "Cake Walk" was? Some sort of funhouse, I'll wager.


Chip, Ernie, and Rob are enjoying their cotton candy (part of a balanced diet) while staking a claim to this area of the Fair. If you look at them funny, it will end in a knife fight! Two of them are wearing sweat shirt featuring classical composters (Bach and Beethoven) - wonder what that's about?

POSTERAMA 13 (more fun with a black light)

Today's "Posterama" is a bit different from past installments; neither of today's two posters is an attraction poster. One of them isn't even a Disneyland poster! But they're still great.

You might remember this fantastic TWA travel poster from a previous post; as I mentioned back then, this poster appears to be part lithograph, part silkscreen, with the lettering being the silkscreened part. The day-glo ink pops even without a black light, but as you can see, it really dazzles when viewed with UV!


While I was photographing the other glow posters, I noticed that this one glowed brightly as well. It is from the 1971 re-release of Fantasia, and the poster bears some resemblance to the psychedelic rock posters (from the Fillmore and The Avalon Ballroom). Fantasia gained new popularity among hippies, and this design seems to be aimed right at them. It looks pretty cool - does that make ME a hippie???

Hither and Yon!

It's time to leave the safe, comfortable environs of Disneyland, and head out into the strange, scary world. Don't be a-scared!

Here's a nice picture from New York's famous Coney Island, circa 1969. The sun has just set, and thousands of lights have been turned on. Silhouetted against the dramatic red horizon is the Cyclone, the legendary roller coaster built in 1927. In the foreground you can see the Tilt-a-Whirl, found at so many amusement parks and carnivals. And of course there is the Wonder Wheel, the Ferris wheel that opened in 1920. It is 150 feet tall and can hold 144 riders; it still stands, and today it looks considerably more spectacular covered in colorful neon.


Now we're in beautiful Palos Verdes (sometime in the 1960's) with a great exterior view of Marineland's main "seaquarium". Instead of stairs or elevators, guests could walk up long zig-zagging ramps, which also had the added benefit of being wheelchair friendly (or burning off a few calories). From the top rows, you not only had a great view of the dolphins and pilot whales, you had a glorious view of the Pacific Ocean.


Across the Atlantic, and back to 1958, we head to the Brussels World's Fair. This was the first post-war Fair; most of the buildings were originally from the 1935 Brussels International Exhibition (held on the same site). But the landmark of the '58 Fair was this structure... the Atomium! It was supposed to be a giant model of a "unit cell of an iron crystal (each sphere representing an atom)", magnified 165 billion times. As you can see in this photo, it is very striking in a modern, abstract way! There are escalators in the tubes, and you can ride up to the spheres for a panoramic view. The Atomium still stands, and is one of the most popular attractions in Brussels!

Skyway Stuff, February 1964

I remember becoming a "lost child" years ago when I stopped to look at the Matterhorn while the rest of my family kept walking! Where'd everybody go? This view reminds me of that day, and I am actually crying as I type this. Want to see what the view would be like from up in one of those buckets?


Ask and ye shall receive! The Matterhorn is right behind us, and "Alice in Wonderland" is beneath us. If you look to the middle left, you can see a series of structures that resemble football goal posts. What the heck are they?


We're still in a Skyway bucket, only now we're on the other side of the Matterhorn. The air is chunky-style today! But the Monorail still looks great. The Motor Boat Cruise and that little ticket booth are fun as well, and even though you can only see a bit of it, the sub lagoon is dry. Stay tuned for a better look at that!

Shades of Gray, 1959

Here are three snoozetastic black and white snapshots of Frontierland. I promise to do better soon!

The F.I.V. (Friendly Indian Village)... suddenly I crave beef jerky.


The Fort on Tom Sawyer Island doesn't look like much in this photo, but it sparked my imagination when I was a kid.


It's a "Where's Waldo?" moment... there is a Stagecaoch visible in this photo, although it blends into the surroundings.

Matterhorn, April 1962

Boy howdy, I sure have had a lot of pictures of the Matterhorn lately. It has to be one of the most-photographed objects in the world, don't you think? Please do some exhaustive research and get back to me with the results. Behind that colorful fence you can see some Storybook Land canal boats in storage.


There's the concrete mountain again, with the Monsanto Home of the Future peeking out. Plenty of guests are milling around the hub, and you can see some additional chair set beside the benches to our left. Was this for a parade?