Thursday, April 05, 2007

Transportation: Main Street Style



Today’s post is for Amazon, who has re-emerged from hiding. My first 1957/58 photo shows the interior of the Horse-Drawn Trolley, which oughta’ get Amazon drooling. And for those of you who need to get to Central Plaza a little quicker, you can always hop on this snazzy red beast:



Whatever you do, don’t pick this Carnation Truck (March 1968) as a mode of transportation: it’s a quick ride to nowhere.



If you wait too long to pick a vehicle, you may just have to walk instead. If that‘s the case, you may need to rest at the Coke Corner while grabbing a hot dog and refreshing Coca Cola. This shot is from August 1958.



UPDATE: A few months ago, I posted a floor plan for the Golden Horseshoe and recently discovered that it was the set design for the 10,000th Show (1961) which aired Sept. 23, 1962 on NBC’s “Wonderful World of Disney.” Many thanks to Gene Sands in helping to confirm this.



And while we’re on the subject of Golden Horseshoe, here are a few recent pics I took there,



including two for Amazon:





See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.

4 comments:

  1. Hi-Ya Daveland, Thanks for the shout out! I was just wiping my chin when I read that part about me drooling. Look at that craftsmanship! Again, another nice plus; they didn’t have to put the advertisements inside the Horse-Drawn Streetcar but they did! Guests visiting who would remember these vehicles would expect to see those small ads. Did they have to do it? No, but they did and that is what sets Disney apart.

    The other thing I noticed in that photo is the African American family walking down the street on the left side. In the 1950’s “Jim Crow Laws” were very much in effect. I love that Walt was forward thinking enough not to allow segregation, which was socially acceptable, to creep into the Park. I was not alive at that time, but from many of these old photos I see that Disneyland was a place where the “brotherhood of man” appears to have been embraced and accepted.

    PS thanks to for solving the mystery of the Golden Horseshoe schematic. I thought that looked like the TV show celebrating their World Record.

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  2. Love the picture of the Horse Drawn Streetcar, with the ads.

    I believe that "Jim Crow laws" were something that you'd find in the south (i.e. states that used to allow slavery), primarily. However, even in Southern California I'm sure that there were many people who were not welcome in restaurants and other places. Awful!

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  3. Anonymous4:06 PM

    Take it from an 'old fart' who lived in Southern California in the 50s, segregation was not socially acceptable in this state. This was not Alabama (a totally different sad story). Our family owned a cafe - never saw anyone with money turned away. Were there rascists? Sure. But Jim Crow? C'mon. What are they teaching you whipper snappers?

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  4. If you can’t put your name on a comment, then please don’t be dissin’ the ones that do. And even if you do put your name, let’s be kind to one another. Thanks!

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