Thursday, July 17, 2014

59 Years Ago Today in the Little City of Anaheim Amongst the Orange Groves....

Disneyland had it's Grand Premiere with invited guests. July 17th is the birthday of Disneyland celebrated by fans and the company. Here are some images and items from that day. First up is the golden ticket that would get you into the park on that day 59 years ago...

Of course you also had to park the car in the parking lot and here is the parking pass.

If you were one of the lucky ones, you would receive a ride on the train pulling into the station as part of the broadcast Dateline Disneyland.

Or if you were part of the festivities, you would have this pass to get you inside the park.

One of the main happenings on July 17, 1955 was the largest at the time live broadcast. This required many cameras such as this one.

The cameras were there to cover all the stars that came out. Such stars as Fess Parker.

Gil Davis of Annie Oakley fame.

Debbie Reynolds and Ed Fisher.

George Reeves aka Superman.

Danny Thomas and family including Marlo.

Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen in costume.

Art Linkletter and his son.

Bob Cummings.

Of course Walt Disney was there as well. The first image is of Walt and California Governor Goodwin Knight.

And two shots of Walt being driven in one of the antique automobiles.

There was a grand parade with many floats and marching units.

The crowd followed the end of the parade.

To finish off the post, some random views of Disneyland on opening day.

Happy 59th Birthday Disneyland, looking forward to what the 60th will be like.

4 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

WOW, what an amazing post! Every image is a gem. Happy 59th to Disneyland.

Daveland said...

Fantastic post, Patrick - one of your best! Thanks!

outsidetheberm said...

What fun! So much to see here, Patrick. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

George Reeves looking cool. May we always remember him.