Monday, January 22, 2007

Swifts Market House Side View

This is a nice side view of the Swifts Market showing the windows filled with Swifts Premium products and displays of the time period. You can clearly see tins of lard as well as other products. Above the display windows are a series of other windows, the famous Windows on Main Street. For those interested (and who among you are not interested?), I have posted close ups of the window. The information on each honoree can be found on the Laughing Place Website.

Robert Washo is the same person as Robert Wiskey (as the window reads now.) Robert was head of the Staff Shop that created most of the plastering and concrete work.

Bob Mattey was head of Disney's Underwater Special Effects department and later worked on Jaws. His window is not on the list and I assume no longer on Main Street.

All three of these individuals, Ivan Martin, Jack Rorex and Cash Shockey, worked on the construction of Disneyland. Jack Rorex was construction manager for the Walt Disney Studio in the 1940s and 1950s. He was the one in charge of building the large tank for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

For Bee Keepers, unfortunately the name cannot be seen or was never painted in honor of a person.

George Whitney was a member of the original Disneyland team and once owned an amusement park in San Francisco called Whitneys-at-the-Beach. George was in charge of Fantasyland.

This window is not on the list either and I cannot find any Larry Smith involved in Disneyland. Anyone out there know of a Larry Smith who would have been involved in Disneyland?

4 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Mmmm, I wish I had a nice can of lard right now!

Having your own "window on Main Street" is quite an honor, but I didn't realize that your name might be removed over the years. Bob Mattey is relatively well-known (mostly from his work on Jaws), it seems strange that his name would be gone now.

Chris Merritt said...

Wow - great early information!

WMM - thanks for the extra info about Mattey - I agree... He should have a window on Man Street!

Anonymous said...

The window still says William Washo and Robert Washo, stone masons, not Robert Whiskey. Sincerely, Jaimie Washo (Granddaughter).

Anonymous said...

That is at Disney World. I am not sure about Disney Land. If you have more information please post. Jaimie Washo. Same as above.