Up North

Today I have a few vintage slides from the great State of Minnesota (I truly love Minnesota!). 

First up is this fun picture of a man atop a giant walleye near Lake Kabetogama (from June 1953), which is located waaaaay up in the northernmost part of the State, part of Voyageurs National Park. Kabetogama is a big lake, 8 or 9 miles long and roughly 2 miles across. 25,000 acres of water, and over 200 islands! I've fished there with my family several times (years ago)... thank goodness my brother was navigating, because I would still be out on the lake (as a skeleton). I got completely lost! No, we didn't have a compass.

I wanted to see if the walleye statue was still there... it is, but it's a newer version. The photo is from the fun "Roadside Architecture" site, which tells us that the original statue was built in 1949, designed by a man named Duane Beyers. 

About 10 miles west of Kabetogama is the small town of International Falls (home of a giant Smokey the Bear statue and the Bronko Nagurski Museum). From there you can cross into Fort Frances,  Ontario, Canada, through this magnificent portal (photo from June, 1963) into a magical land! I've been here  too, but it didn't look nearly as charming as this. 

Just for yucks I looked for other images of the same sign, and found four vintage postcards, in no particular order. I don't have much to say about them, except that I love old postcards!

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Lake Kabetogama and Fort Frances, Ontario!

Disneyland Entrance, July 1958

I have one really great scan for you today (with a second one that is average)!

It's a beautiful Summer day; a clear blue sky, and a slight breeze, judging by the flags. Perfect! I am guessing that the park opened at 10 o'clock (as it commonly did), so the mad rush has already gone in, and only a few families wait in short lines at those awesome little ticket booths. I'm sure those painted lanes were necessary on busy days.

As always, I get a kick out of observing the people. I wish I could decipher the ticket prices, but even zooming in on the high-res file didn't help a lot. Let's just say that it is less than $100.00 per person!

Next we have this shot (possibly from a different day?) of Main Street Station. It's like the pilot episode of "The Twilight Zone"... where is everybody?! I think I see Earl Holliman up on the platform.

Vintage Postcards - Six Flags Over Georgia

I was hoping that today's post would be about "Six Flags Over Oxnard", but was ultimately delighted to find that Ken Martinez has instead written about "Six Flags Over Georgia"! Here's Ken:

The Second Park - Six Flags Over Georgia

Six Flags Over Georgia, which opened in 1967, is the second park opened by Six Flags and is located near Atlanta, Georgia. The Georgia park along with Six Flags Over Texas are the only two parks in the Six Flags chain that are not owned by Six Flags Corp. The parks are actually owned by a limited partnership, some in the group, heirs to founder Angus Wynne. The original theme areas were: Great Britain, Spain, France, United States, Confederacy, and Georgia. A year later the Lickskillet theme area was added and in 1973 the Cotton States Exposition area was added, featuring the "Great American Scream Machine".

Featured here is the entrance to the park with its obligatory six flags. Unique to this park was that it had two entrances, the other being at the back of the park, which finally closed in 1988 when the front entrance was remodeled to become the Promenade.

The Crystal Pistol is the main showplace for live productions and entertainment. Apparently there is a ghost story legend attached to this place about an actor named Joe who was to star opening night at the Crystal Pistol and was killed in a car accident on the way to work. Apparently Joe is still waiting to perform his number as there have been sightings of a man standing on the edge of the balcony watching performances on stage, and employees have reported a man singing backstage after closing while there is no one back there.

The "Hanson Autos" is an antique version of the guide-rail auto ride. The park also had a modern guide-rail auto ride called "Super Sports". Each of the original three Six Flags parks had both modern and antique versions of the auto ride similar to the Autopias.

The "Sky Hook", originally located at Six Flags Over Texas, was moved to this park in 1969. Thrilling riders for nearly nine seasons, it was closed in 1977. It looks very old-style being in a modern theme park.

The "Dahlonega Mine Train" is another of the Arrow Development Mine Trains that were installed in the three original Six Flags theme parks, the other being the "Runaway Mine Train" in Texas and the "River King Mine Train" in Missouri. The Georgia Arrow mine train was named after the City of Dahlonega, site of the first U.S. gold rush in 1829.

This classic wooden roller coaster with its red, white and blue coaster trains was known as the "Great American Scream Machine" (GASM). It was designed by John Allen, same designer of the Kings Island "Racer", Kings Dominion "Rebel Yell", and "Screamin' Eagle" at Six Flags over Mid-America. Its top height is 105 feet and it is an out-and-back design.

Hope you have enjoyed your visit to vintage Six Flags Over Georgia.

Information Source Material:

The Great American Amusement Parks, copyright 1976 by Gary Kyriazi

Funland U.S.A. copyright 1978 by Tim Onosko

Six Flags Over Georgia (Images of America) copyright 2006 by Tim Hollis

THANK YOU Ken for this fun look at a park that I knew absolutely nothing about! 

Nice Skyway Views, May 1969

I love today's fabulous Skyway Views, from 1969!

The sun is setting, and the big shadow of the Matterhorn is cast across the Fantasyland Autopia. People mover tracks and Monorail tracks criss-cross. In the distance, the always-magnificent façade for "It's a Small World", with the Richfield Eagle silhouetted against it.

Let's look at the Peoplemover, just because I want to. Sigh. Looks like the guys working the Autopia got to wear cool red windbreakers (a lá James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause") on a chilly May evening.

Here's a second shot taken 30 seconds later (just a guess!) looking down on Skull Rock and its lagoon (the dining area is partially visible). I've always loved the little grotto behind Skull Rock, with "natural" stone arches, tropical plants, and sparkling waterfalls. Monstro has appears to have been freshly scrubbed and polished too!

1964 New York World's Fair

I am very happy to report that I have found my box of New York World's Fair slides - they'd been misplaced during a recent move. Now I have another 200 (or so) images to share... a few of them are pretty neat!

MEANWHILE... today's scans are kind of odd, and not the greatest pictures of the Fair. But any chance to visit it is welcome.

See what I mean? This one is funky, taken from the "United Nations North" bridge as it crossed the Grand Central Parkway, looking South-ish. The very large building on our left is the New York Pavilion. NYC was celebrating its 300th anniversary that year, and one of the attractions was a skating rink, with a show created by Olympic skater Dick Button. You remember him! (?) 

If we could look to our right, we'd see the whole Transportation Zone, which included Ford's "Magic Skyway", General Motors "Futurama", The Chevrolet Pavilion, and much, much more. 

This next one was taken from the Futurama building (still looking across the Grand Central Parkway); we get an OK look at the New York State pavilion, with its two observation towers, and the massive "Tent of Tomorrow", which still stands today, essentially in ruins. The dome in the lower right is part of the Alaska pavilion, while the Missouri pavilion is the square building to our left.

One of the things inside the Missouri building was this exact replica of Charles Lindberg's "Spirit of St. Louis". You know, the plane that Lindberg flew through the center of the Earth! This particular example was used in Jimmy Stewart's 1955 movie called (wait for it) "The Spirit of St. Louis".

This slide was in a glass mount, which explains those chromatic Newton's Rings that you can see here and there.

And, just because it's related, here's a beautiful shot looking up at the colorful plastic panels that adorned the roof of the aforementioned "Tent of Tomorrow". Pretty spectacular!

A Pair From August, 1970

Here are two so-so photos from 1970! Let's begin with this image, shot from the queue to It's a Small World. We're near the "Picture Spot" sign, so you know that it's legit. It wouldn't be long before GAF replaced Kodak as the official film of Disneyland, and all of the Picture Spot signs would be changed to reflect that fact. One of the first things I notice (besides gramps giving us the eyeball) is the trees atop the Small World building. The teen boy in front of us hangs his head wearily at the thought of hearing that song soon. Hey, I like that song! 

This is an odd photo... was this really such an inspiring view that the photographer needed to use a precious frame of film? Maybe he was a fan of folding chairs. Who isn't! The Tomorrowland Stage is out of frame to our left, the Carousel of Progress to our right, we can see a rare view of the back side of Rolly Crump's ticket booth, and we can even see the Skyway and Peoplemover.

Fuzzy Carousel of Progress, May 1973

I sure wish today's photos of Disneyland's Carousel of Progress were not so fuzzy... as they are, they have been relegated to a Sunday post. 

Even so, the "today" scene (more like the hopeful "near future") has always been my favorite of the bunch, reflecting Walt Disney's optimistic view of what life could be if we willed it so. Father and Mother are enjoying Christmas in their home that looks modern in a warm, mid-century way. An avocado fridge! I'll bet it has "Tab" sodas in bright pink cans in it. Father has gone gray, but Mother still looks pretty foxy! Beautiful Progress City can be seen out the window. 

This picture was taken only months before the Carousel of Progress was closed for its eventual move to Orlando (it closed on September 9th, 1973).

Next is a blurry shot of one of the memorable "Kaleidophonic Screens", which displayed changing colors and patterns of light. 

Miscellaneous San Francisco

I don't get to visit San Francisco very often, but I really enjoy looking at vintage photographs of this distinctive, beautiful (and expensive) city.

Let's start with this shot looking toward 210 foot-tall Coit Tower, a famous 1933 landmark on Telegraph Hill. Below that is the usual mass of homes and apartments, while warehouses and other more prosaic buildings are near our parking lot. All of those vintage cars! Some knowledgeable reader is going to have a field day.

The closest current-day equivalent that I could get from Google was this shot from Battery Street, looking through Levi's Plaza (the headquarters of Levi Strauss & Co., completed in 1981).

Next we leap ahead to October, 1977, for this view looking Southeast on Columbus Avenue, near the corner of Lombard Street. Of course that's the famous Transamerica Pyramid in the distance, designed by architect William Pereira  and completed in 1972. It remains the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco. 

Almost as fun for me are the more mundane artifacts of life in 1977, including Char-Broil Burgers and Hot Dogs, One Hour Martinizing, and Kentucky Friend Chicken (this was before it became "KFC"). In the distance are the towers of Saint Peter and Paul Church. To our right, the "Dance Your Ass Off Inc." disco! Hey, it was the seventies, after all.

There appears to be cable car tracks (?) running down the street....

...and those tracks are still there in this contemporary screen-grab from Google's Street View. The disco is gone though.

Imagine my surprise when I found this pinback button! These were available in several colors. This same artwork was featured in a large painted sign affixed to the side of the building; in November of 1978, a smoldering cigarette started a fire that gutted the building.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to San Francisco!

Rediscovered Treasures, January 1962

I am sharing a few more misty, moody photos, from a lot that we've visited before.  These took some heavy Photoshop work (they were extremely dark and very pink), but I think that the results were worth it.

I believe these are in the order in which they were taken, though I could be wrong. It's not important! We're aboard the Mark Twain as the sun sets; the slight mist (or light fog) lends a moody atmosphere to Frontierland's riverfront. 

There's the Plantation House, with a striped awning... did they need that in January? Maybe it helped keep winter rains off of diners. I love seeing the globe lights turned on. To our left, we can see the Straw Hatters (or is it the Delta Ramblers?) performing in the little bandstand. The raft to Tom Sawyer's Island has just launched with a full load.

The raft has nearly reached its destination. The sun is trying to cut through the gloom, but it just can't do it! Notice the old location of the water tower that serviced the Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad (to the left). My brother thought that there was a graveyard on the embankment near the middle of the picture (which would have been cool!), but alas, it is merely the cement (or stone?) supports for the chain that served as a barrier between guests and the river.

A few heads partially block our view, but I can forgive them because one of them sports a souvenir hat with a colorful ostrich plume. There are a few of those on the raft, too! Notice that the Disneyland RR is now passing in the distance.

I hope you've enjoyed these moody "Rediscovered Treasures"!

Even More Walt Disney World at Night, November 1970

Here are two more scarce night views of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom back when it was only a few weeks old.

This first one is one of my favorites, a fantastic look at the Frontierland Shooting Gallery! Because this was taken at night, we can really see the scenic backdrop.

It's a beautiful mountain snow scene, somehow fitting for a normally-hot Orlando. It's hard to make out targets, but I do see flying geese (or ducks), and what appears to be bison and elk/moose. There is still a Frontierland Shooting Gallery at the Magic Kingdom, but it now looks completely different, with a dimensional, spooky Southwest "Boot Hill" scene.

Next is this nice photo of the Main Street Christmas tree. Mr. X has described the crowds as heavy during his visit; something tells me that a holiday visit to the Magic Kingdom these days would be considerably more congested.

These are the last of the night photos, but never fear, there are 24 daytime photos from the same visit, coming soon.