Souvenir Friday- Disneyland Hotel Keys

Today's souvenirs are of Disneyland Hotel Keys. I have managed to acquire several different versions of the keys. An interesting fact is that the keys are all Yale and Towne keys. Yale was the official lock shop of Disneyland. Of course these days, the locks are all electronic and the card has cute Disney graphics.

Since it is February 29th, I would like to wish you all a Happy Leap Year. This is a postcard from my collection celebrating the same event 100 years ago! I believe the tradition is that girls can propose to guys on the day.

Esther's Photo Album #24 Final Pages

At long last, the two final pages from Esther's photo album. She definitely saved some of the best for the last. For those who wanted a close up of the Book and Candle shop sign, here it is:

The first image on the last pages is captioned Lou Miller Wardrobe. The sign in the window reads Madame Lulu Miller and Associates. Exclusive Tailors for Men and Women since 1955.

The next three images are captioned Employees Harbor Gate Entrance.

I am sure some of you have gone throught that gate many, many times in your life. The final image shows one of the photographs in the album with the handwritten caption by Esther.

For those keeping track, there are 105 different images in the photo album plus a couple of more postcards. All in all a pretty amazing document of what it was like to work on Main Street in the late 1950's. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Esther's Photo Album #27

Today Esther shows off the Emporium with several shots of the building. The first is captioned Ann Salisbury Emporium.

The next three show various angles of the Emporium. I like the view with the Crystal Arcade and the hanging Sleeping Beauty Castle. I also like the Disneyland Livery vehicle out. I rarely find any photos with that particular wagon on Main Street.

If you have not heard yet, Don Ballard the author of the definitive history of the Disneyland Hotel has a new blog. Take a stroll over there to check out the history and items from the Hotel. The Original Disneyland Hotel

Esther's Photo Album #26

As far as I know about Esther is that she retired from Disneyland and was running an antique store. The photo album was purchased from the store in the 1980s and traded to Dug Miller a Disneyland collector extradonaire who also published a fanzine. He then sold it about 2 years ago to me. I have not done any research but plan to do it sometime. I know she worked at Disneyland from 1956 to the early 1960s. Today's first picture is dedicated to Daveland. It is the stroller rental store from 1960. Located next to the printing shop at the Opera House. I have included a close up of the stroller so Dave can identify them when he sees them.

The next imag is captioned Phil Upjohn. I like the 1890s look of his outfit and the cast iron chairs for Carnations.

The next image is captioned Fred and Eloise Upjohn.

Esther's Photo Album #25

Esther did not caption any of the photographs today. The images are of the shops on Main Street in the early morning. Some wonderful Main Street images. The first is of the Candy Palace and the Coke Corner. I think a business college over a candy store would be tough as the students would be hungry every day.

The second image is of the Penny Arcade. I have shown a detail with a nice sign from the lamppost which I have never noticed before.

The final image is of the Carnation restaurant and Ice Cream parlor.

Esther's Photo Album #24

Coming back to open up the photograph album to the next page. The page is deveoted to the Coke Corner. The first image is of the restaurant with the Mad Hatter shop in the background. The shop is now a part of the Candy Palace.

The next image is of the Coke Corner from the street.

The last image is of Vera at the Candy Palace.

Some Machines at the Crystal Arcade on Main Street

Going away from Esther and her photo album, here are two close images of two different penny arcade machines in the Crystal Arcade. The first is of Esmeralda the Fortune Teller.

The second image is of the 10 cent price for the nickelodeon music machine.

And for those who miss Esther and her photo album, I will start back with more images tomorrow.

Souvenir Friday- Indian Trading Post Sign

Like most of you, I am a signage freak. I love the visual signs of Disneyland and will try to purchase Disneyland signs when I find them. This sign was purchased from a friend's shop a couple of years ago when one of their consignor's brought in a large collection of signage. It is a nice size, being approximately 10 by 12 inches and a classic piece of Disneyland which no longer exists. One side is the clock face, the other is that the store would not be open.

Esther's Photo Album #23

Today I am showing two pages from Esther's photo album. The first image is of the INA Carefree Corner. I like the sign for the Guided Tours.

The second image is a postcard. Esther's caption is Mr. Austin of Upjohn at the Left. I like the posed postcards and this one I always thought was posed with employees.

The next two images are of the employee's cafeteria which was located at the back of the Red Wagon Inn. The caption is steps to employee cafeteria.

And this is a close up of the water sprinkler sign. I would love to have this as it is specifically marked for the Red wagon Inn.

The next two are captioned Alice Employee Cafeteria. I assume she was like the school lunch lady and was the cashier for the cafeteria.

Esther's Photo Album #22

To answer Chris' question, I believe the photo album has about 100 images of Disneyland and Esther's co-workers. Today's has a guest from Frontierland on the pages. The first image is of the street showing the Ruggles shop, China Closet and other stores. I will have to look specifically for the clock the next time I am at Disneyland.

The next image is captioned Phil Ruggles China Shop.

The final image is marked Aunt Jemima Frontierland. She is posing at the Main Street Cinema with the classic poster on the column behind her.

Esther's Photo Album #21

Today's page in the album deals with the Timex Clock and watch shop. The first image is of the shop on Main Street.

The next image is captioned Vera. Nice selection of Timex watches in the window.

The final image is captioned Dianne. I wonder what ever happened to the large street clock. I also like's Dianne's radiant smile. She must have been fun to work with.

Esther's Photo Album #20

I think the local camera shop must have loved seeing Esther come walking in as she seemed to have taken lots of pictures. I am willing to bet that Esther used the Kodak shop shown in the images. Today's post feature more images of her co-workers on Main Street. The first two images are of Main Street in March 25, 1960.

The next image is captioned Ruth from the Gibson Card Shop. In the window behind her is a poster for character drawings.

The second is captioned Margaret and she is standing in front of the Coin and Pen shop.

The final image is of a lucky gentleman with two girls on his arms. The caption is Frankie, Herb and Nadine Camera Shop.

Esther's Photo Album #19

Coming back to the photo album from Esther are these three images. The first two are of the Gibson Card shop and Wonderland Music.

The last image are of the manager of the shop and his wife. Based upon the photographs here most of the shops were run by husband and wife teams or at least by a family. The caption for the photograph is Dorothy and Jerry.

Worlds of Fun Snapshots Early 1970s

An outpost of a theme park is World's Of Fun located in Kansas City, Missouri. The park celebrated it's 35th Anniversary in 2007 and I believe the snapshots to date from the first year. The theme is an update of Jules Vernes's Around the World in 80 Days with each of the themed lands dedicated to a different part of the world. You can check out the amusement park here. Worlds of Fun

Now on to the images showing the park in it's early days. The first two are the Dolphin show from the Asian section of the park.

The next three are some general park shots. The light post thing in the second image looks very cool, I wonder if it was a directional sign.

The next image is a wonderful jeep safari ride that must have been in the Africa section. The jeep ride is similar to rides that were at Lion Country Safari and also at Legoland in Carlsbad, California.

The park also featured classic amusement park rides such as this nice octopus ride.