March 1956

Sorry about the "missing" photos yesterday. My webhost company performed the dreaded deed a few days ago...they "upgraded." Everytime they send me an email announcing an "upgrade," I cringe, as I know it means I will get screwed in the pooch with at least 2-3 days of downtime. This has been no exception—they pulled through again. Hopefully the bandwidth problem has been resolved. Moving on to the latest Daveland series, I now present you with a mega-series of March 1956 images; the slides are all date-stamped March 8, 1956, and I will attempt to present them in the order that they were taken so that you can experience this day at Disneyland as it was seen by this fantastic photographer. The first image fittingly shows the entrance to the park. When was the last time you saw this area so barren? Today, unless you get there 2 hours before opening, you will not find the entrance this empty. I have included a closeup of the ticket booth/hours sign. What?!? Disneyland closed? It can’t be...what am I to do with my Mondays now?!? Another thing missing today is the level of dress; you can tell that this mom and kids are wearing freshly pressed clothes and took a little extra time that day to get all gussied up; back then, going to Disneyland was a special occasion. Looking around today at the park guests...well, not so much. This is more a statement on our culture than it is on Disneyland. Slobbery abounds.



The venerable Main Street Train Station; also looking empy, with apparently a little maintenance still going on (ladder on right). This is the first time I ever noticed the yellow trim on the building as well; I believe this pallette has been slightly subdued these days. The hand cart has not yet made its debut here.



See more vintage Disneyland photos on my regular website.