Beauties From 1956

I love looking at views of Disneyland from the early days, when the park still felt kind of small and "just-finished" (as if you would still smell fresh paint) and the trees are still saplings. Today's scans are from 1956 - perhaps February? Just a guess of course.

So there it is, Main Street USA, with the setting sun casting long shadows across the street. These photos do have a few kids, though you really have to look for them. It's fascinating how much Disneyland seemed to cater to adults at that time. Meanwhile, Main Street looks beautiful, and we get the added bonus of a Surrey and the Chemical Fire Wagon.

Those familiar lessee names give me the warm fuzzies - Yale, Swift, Gibson, Eastman Kodak... they all make me think of Disneyland! Note the sign outside the Main Street Cinema, with Mabel Normand in "A Dash Through the Clouds".

Next we head to Frontierland, and the dock for the Mark Twain. A few guests appear to be boarding, but there will be plenty of room for everyone. Hey, there's a kid! They DO exist!

Along the shore, it looks like construction is underway, with some boxed trees here and there. I'm assuming that the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge will spring up pretty soon, along with the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train, which will debut on July 2nd, 1956.

Arline, 1956

Today's photos don't stray very far from the front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, but that's OK! The first two are really more about the people than the place, anyway.

Meet Arline! There's a name you don't hear anymore, even though it's kind of pretty. I'm  guessing that Arline and her sweetheart were married, but had no kids yet. Might as well enjoy Disneyland before having to deal with strollers and diapers, right? Arline's blue dress goes well with her blond hair. I enjoy her little "hurricane as seen from space" spit curl too. Her bag is full of peanut butter and jelly sammiches.

And here is Arline's sweetheart (or husband). Sometimes folks look uncomfortable in pictures, and this guy certainly does. Is he worried about cosmic rays or Russian microwaves? Two words: TINFOIL UNDERPANTS. One interesting note is that there was no little boy in red when the picture was taken, but somehow he's there in the photo! 

A nice followup features our gal Arlene, she just loved posing on bridges! The swans are swimming toward us hoping for some popcorn. In the upper right, we can see a sign for Prof. George Keller's FELINE FANTASTICS! The professor had been part of the Mickey Mouse Circus, but when that failed, he got a solo gig with his heavily tranquilized big cats. A mere whip and chair was all he needed to bend them to his will! 

Just for fun, here's a scan of a scarce postcard featuring the professor with two of his lions. His show ran from February 19th, 1956 through September 5th of that same year.

Disneyland, March 1992

GDB friend Sue B. scanned some slides, photos that were taken by her cousin Stu. You've seen some of his stuff here before! They are from March, 1992, which was just a few years ago. Wait, what do you MEAN it was over 30 years ago?

It looks like Stu was in line to ride the Matterhorn when he noticed a parade of some sort going by in the distance. I did some Googlin' and saw that there was a parade called "The World According to Goofy" in 1922, but that didn't start until June. I'm sure one of you will know the right answer! We can see Mickey Mouse in his sporty red and yellow roadster. 

The Disneyland Band is right behind him, and Monstro even seems to be smiling a little bit. The big softie. 

Now we can see some characters, including Pluto, Goofy, Balloo Von Bruinwald XIII (from Talespin), and Darkwing Duck, riding in the Motorized Firetruck. Behind Balloo is Don Karnage (also from Talespin), who I did not know about until the fine Junior Gorillas told me who he was in THIS POST.

Next we have two photos of  Splash Mountain, a truly wonderful ride that I am going to miss (it closed in early 2023), though I understand why it had to change. At this point it was about three years old. 

I'll be very curious to see what the replacement, "Tiana's Bayou Adventure" is like, and will try to remain objective! 

THANK YOU, Lou and Stu and Sue!

Two Leftuggies™

Someday I'm going to make a fortune with my trademarked Leftuggies™. I just need to monetize them. BUT HOW?

Speaking of Leftuggies™,  I have two of them for you right now! This first one is dated "September, 1959", and shows a nice lady posing in Tomorrowland. There's the mysterious UN logo, presumably placed there for United Nations Day. Children all over the world placed tinsel on their Rand McNally globes, and they drank warm buttermilk with a cinnamon stick placed in the mug. They also watched lots of TV, but they did that every day. The lady gets two extra points for not folding her souvenir guidebook, but then one point is subtracted because her sweaty hands will cause the paper to warp.

Next, from what I am guessing is "sometime in the 1970s" (look at those sideburns) is this picture of the Dapper Dans, serenading us with a lively song. Perhaps "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo'bye)!"?  Whatever the tune was, they are having a lot of fun, and so are WE.

 

Two Pix From April, 1974

I have to be honest, part of me will be glad when I have used up all of the "too dark" scans from the April, 1974 lot. The kids at school are laughing at me! My mom said that they are "laughing toward me", but it still stings.

It's always nice to see one of those big Belgian Draft Horses (do they like Belgian draft beer?), they appear to be gentle in spite of their strength. "I've seen it all!". I'm looking at the man to our left, he's got crutches. Maybe he just sprained his ankle? It's going to be a long day, hobbling around for hours and hours. "You go ahead without me, I'll just lie down in the middle of Main Street". Notice the kid to the right with the patriotic hat - Bicentennial Fever was already starting to take hold in 1974. "America Sings" would open in Disneyland on June 29th of this year.

I'm sure our photographer was going for a view of the Matterhorn, but the fun part is looking at the guests in their 1974 fashions.  Which are surprisingly "normal", except for Mom, who has a long-sleeved red shirt, and then an oddly-patterned shirt over that, with a giant Peter Pan collar. 

SNOOZLES™

It's the Crumbs of the Crop! Snoozles, that is. This first one is either a double-exposure, or the photographer was moving between multiverses. I hate when that happens. If we stand on our heads (go ahead, I'll wait), we can see the façade of "It's a Small World", and the exterior of the Alice in Wonderland ride, with the snooty caterpillars and giant leaves. This is how things look when you drink that stuff from that little bottle on Alice's table.

Next is a "fine but very boring" photo of the African Veldt scene from The Jungle Cruise, taken on a gray and sad-looking day. The Skipper is wondering why his entire boatload of passengers was weeping!

Los Angeles Miscellaneous - Internet to the Rescue

As a fan of vintage slides, I especially like views of Los Angeles from long ago. The trouble is, so do lots of other people - a particularly nice view of Wilshire Boulevard from the 1940s or 1950s can fetch well over $100. Those aren't for me! I don't even search for LA slides very often, but once in a while I'll think of it, and do a search - and sometimes I'll win one. Today I am sharing two such slides, along with the story of how the Internet helped me to figure out the locations in surprising ways.

We'll start with this one, from July 1959; a cute green car (help, Nanook!) is parked on an unidentified, rather nondescript street. Beyond the wall and oleanders is a giant "T" for Thriftymart. But there were LOTS of Thriftymarts, so that didn't help a lot. Was this even California? Just above the roof of the car we can see a business... COLEMAN CL...; "Coleman Cleaners", perhaps? Let's look it up!

After a brief Google search, I found THIS THREAD on  SkyscraperPage.com, as part of the "noirish”  LA" discussion. It was all about the slide I'd won! It's pretty fascinating. I recommend following the thread if you are at all interested. A very clever person suggested that the location was 12210 Santa Monica Boulevard. Looking at Google Maps Street View shows this - I am certain that it is indeed the same location, even the giant "T" is still there, though the store is now a Smart and Final. Pay no attention to the tents for the homeless. 

Next is this photo dated "January, 1959" showing a downtown area that sure looks like "old LA" to me. But I didn't really know where it was. The store "Nothing But Ties" seems to be a good place to start investigating. 
 

Once again, Google took me to SkyscraperPage.com, and a discussion about an image that was clearly taken by the same photographer as the one I own. There's "Nothing But Ties"! To find the discussion, you'll have to scroll down, but I think that people who read this blog will enjoy it.

Here's a recent view of 628 1/2 South Hill Street, in downtown Los Angeles; that little sandwich stand is still there, though it is now a Mark Broumand jewelry store. I'm surprised how little this scene has changed over the past 70-ish years. I can't even truly say that it looks much worse than it did back in the old days!

I hope you have enjoyed today's Miscellaneous Photos and the Internet info!

Randos!

I am a humble blogger, and my needs are simple. Sure, rare views of Disneyland are great, and I enjoy getting bags of money in the mail from my Hollywood friends, but I can appreciate the charms of more modest things too. Like today's RANDOS. 

First up is this scan from July, 1967, showing a bustling Fantasyland. Dumbo is Dumboing, the Skyway is Skywaying, and all is right in the world. I like the splashes of color from bright clothing, and think that the lady in chartreuse is pretty daring with her bare midriff - seems pretty saucy for '67.

It's funny, this next picture is from only 8 months earlier (the slide is dated "November, 1966"), and yet it  somehow feels a lot older. Maybe it's partly due to the cooler weather, leading to more subdued long-sleeves, sweaters, and coats. The park still looks lovely though, with blue skies, and bright flowers around the flagpole. The trees have either been recently trimmed, or they were replaced completely. 

Three kids pose near the sugarless drinking fountain, and the park looks pleasantly busy (but not too busy). A Cast Member hurries in from the left, maybe he drove a Horse Drawn Streetcar or an Omnibus. If he's late one more time, he'll be in big trouble.

Main Street, 1970s

I have two slides from two separate lots that look like they were taken on the same day. And maybe they were! There's no way to be sure. As you can see, both were taken on evenings with dark clouds scudding across the sky. Scudding, do you hear?? 

The sun hasn't set, but those rain-adjacent clouds are making it feel later, so many of the lights on Main Street have been turned on already. This first one his helpfully dated "March 1973", and that feels about right. There's plenty of cold-weather clothing (California-style) on display. The leaves on the trees are pretty sparse, but that just gives us a better look at everything.

This next scan is from an undated slide, but like I said, it almost feels like it could have been taken mere moments from the previous image. Look at the flags, there's a stiff breeze blowing. Everyone loves wind! It's only about 4:35, but it gets dark early. Maybe the park closed at 8:00 PM, something that would leave me outraged!

Gold Mine, Knott's Berry Farm - July 1974

Somebody thought that the Gold Mine at Knott's Berry Farm was the cat's meow. They took four pictures of it! Seems a bit much, if you ask me, even though I loved the Gold Mine as a kid; it was always one of my favorite activities. 

I think it's interesting that they put the Gold Mine below ground level, digging down 8 feet or so. Was it meant to resemble an eroded creek bed, sort of like a well-worked placer mine? I appreciate that they went to the extra effort to make the area more interesting.

I have the feeling that a lot of the details on this stony hillside were not consciously noticed, but they still made an impression. Like that small forced-perspective mine tunnel. And all the splintery wooden structures, quickly built to provide minimal shelter for the hard-working miners. 

A family tries its luck panning for GOLD! I like how the prospector who helps them stands on a boardwalk above a creek; the water looks milky, like glacial runoff. Be sure to buy your ticket at the Nugget Shack! Notice the lanterns, for nighttime panning. 

As a kid I think I bought the fantasy of the Gold Mine completely. Look, you can see where the water comes from (an underground spring?), guided by that sluice to the water wheel. Guests paid a mere fifty cents, a bargain!