Midway at Seattle World's Fair 1962

Two slides of the Midway area at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. In the background can be seen the large Aquacade stadium where daredevil speedboat pilots and water skiers put on a show. Overhead is the Union 76 Skyway ride. The Seattle fair seems to have been slighted by historians and collectors, overshadowed by the New York Worlds Fair in 1964. However many of the fair buildings still remain, especially the Sky Needle and the Monorail. Several are now museums and some have been moved offsite and repurposed. Here is a nice website history of the fair and what remains Seattle Post Intellegience 1962 World's Fiar

Once again mining the amusement park slide collection purchase, this is a nice overhead view of what I believe to be Hershey Park, but I am not sure. It certainly does look from the East coast but it may even be in Ohio. I do like the spinning ride in the foreground and the wide expanse with the nice canal in the middle.

Yesterday was a nice visit to Disneyland and California Adventure. The Haunted Mansion was down as was the Mark Twain. I did ride the Rockin Space Mountain and it left me kind of wanting. The light effects were on too long, showing too much of the track. And the Red Hot Chili Peppers tunes was not one of their best....

Setting Up Carnival Rides Early 1960s

This was also in the collection of amusement park slides. I believe this gentleman is setting up carnival rides as he is working on a Roman Chariot to go on a caroussel. In the background can be seen a Ferris wheel and a small circular car ride. The carnival is held in a very scenic parking lot, overlooking some great mountains. This is one of the most dramatic shots I have seen, especially with the clouds in the background.

Flintstone's Float at a Homecoming Parade 1960s

This is a very fun slide of what appears to be a homecoming float for a college parade. Barney and Betty Rubble are aiming their prehistoric missile while Fred is at the back ready to launch the missile. I know this is not Disneyland or even amusement park related, but I saw this while going through a collection of slides that had amusement park slides and thought it was way too fun. I hope you enjoy it as well. I promise some more theme park goodies to come...

Clown Painting at Carnival Fun House 1960s

Wonderful image of a lady posing in front of a large clown mural outside of a fun house at some carnival or amusement park. It looks like the end of the fun house was a mirror maze. This one is for Chris and his love of clowns. By the way the blogging may be spotty as I am in California. If any of you are at the National Fantasy Fan Club show tomorrow I hope to see you there.

Souvenir Friday- Martin Musical Instruments Ad 1955

This was an ad that ran in a musical instrument magazine with the title Instrumentalist in 1955. Ad copy features the display at the Wurlitzer store of various musical instruments. The instruments were supplied by Martin for the display. The German Band musicians depicted in the drawing were also part of one window display. I love finding these items for companies that were at Disneyland tied their advertising to that fact.

Another image of Main Street, this time the side door to the Emporium. It is still before park opening for the day and a tired janitor is exiting the door. Growing up I do not remember the giant castle being over the door, I wonder when it was removed. I know the sign on the window is still up there, a nod to Walt's dad and his construction work at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

Overhead View of Disneyland Early 1959

It is now early 1959 and the Matterhorn mountain steel framework is dominating the skyline of the park. Lots of other construction can be seen in Tomorrowland. Several things have been circled, the Dominquez house, the gazebo over in Adventureland and the rarely used Holidayland entrance gate. Anaheim itself is still a sleepy little town.

Another view of the stores along Main Street, this time the Timex and Silhoute shop. Think of all the Mickey Mouse watches that were sold through this shop and how many families then went next door. The kids would pose for mom so she could get her silhoutte cutouts of them. I am glad that the silhoutte shop is still there and you can still get your profile cut out. It is one of the reminders of a main street in the 1890s.

Second Overhead View of Disneyland January 13, 1955

A closer view of Disneyland from the West side, showing the Rivers of America and an almost complete Jungle Cruise. In the background can be seen Main Street taking shape and all the way in the background is the new administration building made from the Dominguez House and another house moved and put together. The caption for the photo reads: 1/13/55- Development of Frontier Land river and Main Street. The Opera House (completed building) is being used as a Wood Mill for the manufacture of the facades for Main Street and Fantasy Land. All underground facilities for Tomorrow Land have been installed- construction of buildings will start this month.

For your enjoyment is a nice view of the Penny Arcade early in the morning before Disneyland opened for the day. The curtain door across the doorway reminds me of the pull down gates seen at shopping malls.

Overhead View of Disneyland January 13, 1955

Disneyland is just 6 months away from opening and the park is still looking very skeletal. No paving and just the framework for the buildings. Here is a close up on just Disneyland, note I have circled the Dominguez house.

Caption on photo reads: 1/13/55-DISNEYLAND and the surrounding territory with snow-capped Mt. Baldy in the background. To the left of the bottom half of DISNEYLAND is the thirty acre plot on which the $5,000,000 DISNEYLAND Motor Hotel will be built.

A Main Street view of the Wurlitzer shop. This is where the Disney Showcase is now, which is a retail store but in the 1970s was the place to look at models and artwork for coming attractions. I am willing to bet that many readers of this blog started their fascination with Disneyland and the Imagineers by visiting this shop. This was also the home to Dee Fisher who released a record album titled Echos of Disneyland. The album was organ interpretations of classic Disney songs and sounds very funeral like.

Overhead View of Disneyland December 17, 1954

The property is eight months away from opening and structures are starting to appear. One of the first buildings was the Main Street Opera house as it served as the lumber mill and was needed for the construction of the other buildings. Also Main Street is taking shape as well as the ride buildings in Fantasyland. I have circled the camera tower where all the overhead time photographs were taken (and which Walt climbs in one of the Disneyland TV shows) and also circled the Main Street tunnels in blue. Here is a Disneyland Satellite View image from the Disney Pix website for comparison.

To finish off today's post an image of the Main Street Cinema when it showed true silent films including such stars as Mabel Normand and Fatty Arbuckle. I have heard a story that Jimmy Starr, who was a movie and entertainment reporter in the 1920's to the 1960's, lent a bunch of early cinema items to Disneyland for their use. Jimmy also ran a store right next to the Main Street Opera House selling Hollywood souvenirs. When he was evicted along with most of the other small businesses, Disneyland did not return the cinema items. Jimmy in turn sued Disney and received a nice settlement for the items. In later years, the early cinema items were dumped when the Cinema went to showing just Mickey Mouse films.

Overhead View of Disneyland November 17, 1954

Time has progressed and it is now November 17, 1954, eight months before opening. You can see grading has really taken place and the Main Street tunnels are being built out of concrete, looking like drainage control channels. I have circled both the right entrance tunnel and also in the background the white house. Caption for the photo is 11/17/54- Development of Adventure Land and Frontier Land. Also, you can see the fifteen foot embankment that runs around the Park.

A nice view of the Carnation Gardens area with the sign and archway entrance. Many a wonderful band played on the stage to the left. This was also a place to get burgers, fries and ice cream, especially the Fantasia ice cream. I miss the quiet of the stage and the 1890's Ice Cream parlor outdoor ambience of the Gardens.

SOP Saturday- Spring Tonics of '61

A long standing Disneykand tradition was a cast member event gearing everyone up for the hectic summer season. I believe in a slightly changed form (the managers and senior leaders now just talk, and do not make fun of themselves and Disneyland) it continues today. The Management Development Team I believe was Van France and his University of Disneyland staff and of course funny man Wally Boag assisted with some of the jokes. Even Joe Fowler was part of the cast. The program was designed and the art is by Disney Legend Charles "Chuck" Boyer. I love the fun feeling of this program.

Souvenir Friday- Eleanor Welborn Sleeping Beauty Castle Ribbon Plate

The earliest manufacturer of Ceramic souvenirs for Disneyland was a little company located in Monterey California, Eleanor Welborn Art Productions. Started in her garage like so many California ceramic companies of the time period, Welborn in 1955 secured the license to produce souvenir ceramic plates, tea cups, salt and pepper shakers, ashtrays and other souvenirs for the new Disneyland park. Not only are the items with the Welborn mark definitely from the first couple of years of Disneyland's operation, the souvenirs also used the imagineering pre opening artwork for the transfer and graphics. This plate has the Welborn mark on the back, some also have a stamp for ASI (American Souvenir Incorporated) which seems to have been created just to supply souvenirs to Disneyland. Within a couple of years, Walt Disney was able to bring the merchandising into the company and under his control. And when that happened, Welborn lost the license.

The next overhead map in the series is this one showing Disneyland in relationship to the still sleepy Orange Grove town of Anaheim. Not much is around the park and the city of Anaheim is east of the Santa Ana Freeway. Caption for the photo reads: Relationship of DISNEYLAND to Anaheim and the general surrounding area. Photo is dated November 17, 1954.

Overhead View of Disneyland October 20, 1954

It is now October and the dirt work is really starting to happen. The Rivers of America have been carved out and work has started on the Jungle River Cruise ride area. The Dominguez house has been moved and can be seen on the far right of the photo and the stand of trees used as a windbreak show the line between Main Street and Adventureland. Caption for photo reads: By this time we had installed most of our underground facilities, sewer, gas, water and electrical.

A nice shot of the most underutilized building in Disneyland. I like the color seen in the umbrellas. I wish they would bring the Pavillion back as a restaurant instead of just the current empty shell of a building.

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.

Overhead View of Disneyland August 20, 1954

The land has started to be cleared and shaped into Disneyland. The caption for this photo reads: The white spots are the burning of the trees that had to be removed. With the removal of the trees, it is easier to spot the various houses that were on the property. I have circled the Dominquez house on the image. Some other interesting areas are the remaining trees for a windbreak that are still in existence between Main Street and Adventureland and another set of trees out in Tomorrowland area.

Here is another Main Street Store view, this time of the Pen Shop. Located on Center Street, the doorway that is to the left of the shop now goes into the kids clothing shop.

Overhead View of Disneyland July 16, 1954

I am starting a series of postings showing the evolution of Disneyland from purchase of property to January of 1955. The description for the photo is: 7/16/54- date property was purchased. The solid white line shows the 160 acre area allocated to DISNEYLAND. The dotted lines show the 100 acres to be used for our pony ranch, 400 unit Motor Hotel, and overflow parking. The road running diagonally from the upper left hand corner is the Santa Ana Freeway and the road down the right hand side is Harbor Blvd. Note: after a request I have circled what I believe is Ron Dominguez's family home in the left hand middle side of the photograph, to the right is another circle with the Dominquez palm location.

To brighten up the site since I have been posting a lot of black and white photos is this nice shot of the Security Office on Main Street. It appears this was located across the street from the Gibson shop.

More Disneyland Models

The first photograph is of Walt Disney holding a model of a Jungle Cruise launch with the concept artwork for the entrance to Adventureland in the background and some African masks anf an elepahnt model sitting on the shelf. I believe this image is from Disneyland: A Progress Report/Natures Half Acre shown on television in 1955.

The second image is of the iconic Disneyland model, Sleeping Beauty Castle. It appears the model was used to promote the Disneyland Television Show in ABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles. I believe this photograph may have been taken at a convention or maybe even the Los Angeles County Fair. The map in the background is a nice touch. This model has appeared in various retrospective museum shows.

SOP Saturday- Gulf Oil Gas Stations

What does Gulf have to do with Disney and a Disney SOP? In the early 1970s, Gulf was a corporate sponsor and corporate partner with Disney. Gulf constructed Total Car Care Centers at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Both of these new service stations were of a modern design that was to become the model for all Gulf stations across the country. WED was involved in the design of the service stations and the Gulf employees were treated as cast members. Not only were they gas stations, but information centers and repair centers. Gulf went further and sponsored the Walt Disney Story at Disneyland after Lincoln Savings had dropped the sponsorship. Gulf also sponsored the same attraction at Walt Disney World. And in a final tie in, Gulf published a premium Disney magazine available at Gulf gas stations with a fill up of the gas tank. This SOP is also unique in the colors and in the '70s style graphics. Some of the characters in the gas station attendant uniforms are definitely unusual, especially Pinnochio. The SOP was published in 1971.