Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Overhead View of Disneyland September 22, 1954

It is now September at the Disneyland property and grading has started for the Rivers of America. The caption for the photo reads: The beginning of our cut and fill for the river boat ride in Frontier Land. I have circled the Dominguez house as well as the what I believe is the white house where Van France worked (and on opening day was center of operations for the CHP.)

A nice image of Ruggles China and Glass Shop in the early 1960s. The scary figure of the grandmother seen in Jordan's Perky Pickle and my pin up posts has been removed and the porch now has wicker seating and a table on the other side. Some early windows on Main Street can be seen for a painless dentist with no name and eyeglass shop for Nat Winecoff who was an early member and promoter of the Disneyland project who later tried to open Bible Storyland designed by Bruce Bushman and also opened Apacheland in Arizona. The Nat Winecoff window is no longer in existence from what I can determine from an online listing of all the current windows. Also there is the wild tree shaped horse ring sitting in front of the China Shop.

5 comments:

Chris Merritt said...

This is great info Patrick! I'd love to learn more about Winecoff - I have some Dave Constable art that he did for an unrealized African animal park (similar to Lion Country) he did for Winecoff in the 70s...

Anonymous said...

It always amazes me when I see just how much of the property was devoted to parking and other uses. Less than half of the acreage was actually used for fun stuff!

DisneyDutchman said...

Cool pics!! Love the accurate dating of the stages of the Parks Development!! DD

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the White House indication Matterhorn! Great photos. Do you (or anyone else reading) happen to have any shots of the "Wizard of Bras" shop? I have heard the spiel many times but never seen a photo of the shop. I know it didn't last long.

Matterhorn1959 said...

Tinker Bell- I think that Major Pepperidge on his blog has a shot of the Wizard of Bras, either that or Jordan on Perky Pickle.