The Monsanto House of the Future is one of those quirky parts of Disneyland's past that has a number of fans and admirers. Over the years, Monsanto's reputation has been tarnished due to questionable environmental practices. Had this icon survived, it would most likely have become a PR nightmare for the Mouse! Today, the shiny white monstrosity can remain a nostalgic piece of lovable plastic.
Recently, I added a rare shot of the water feature underneath the house, circa March 1964, just three years before the house was hit by the wrecking ball. Literally.
Amazing how nature and plastics can live side by side, isn't it?
Replaced by a number of different "attractions" (intentional quotes), this area is now home to Pixie Hollow, where a water feature is still important to the decor:
See more vintage Disneyland Monsanto House of the Future photos on my main website.
The image of the water element is cool. Nice coloring and I like the reflective pattern on the plastic bottom of the house.
ReplyDeleteI do somewhat remember my parents dragging me through the House of the Future as a kid. I didn't find it interesting at the time and my parents didn't seem to be impressed. Never the less, it's fun to see vintage images of "House of the future".
I think I liked Alpine Gardens best for this spot. It was a nice simple area that provided a get away from the hubbub of the Park.
As for Monsanto, by the time I was a teenager in the mid-70s and started questioning everything, I viewed most corporate sponsored views of the future with skepticism.
When Disneyland was in design, much of the OC, Lakewood, Torrance, Palos Verdes and all points between were in a huge boom of building. Not only were there tons of model homes around that many families spent weekends traveling around to look at (even if they had no intention of moving), but there also were a number of areas that had 'feature' experimental homes. Most of the experimental homes charged a small fee to go through. There were things like the all electric Gold Medallion homes (Ronald Regan was a spokesman for GE and helped push that Gold Medallion campaign along). There were other feature homes such as the round home in Palos Verdes designed as a spec home but until it sold it was open for years for people to come through and ooh and aaahh at it's uber modern design and features. The Monsanto Home was along the lines of this 'look-y-loo' fad that was going on. While I didn't find a lot of the more static Kingdom attractions interesting, this one for some reason held interest for me and I always went through it from the time it was opened until I was almost into high school. I know it was the first place anyone could see a working microwave oven and that was a big deal. Remember, this was all before even The Jetsons were on TV! However that said, while I found some of the home interesting fodder for my dreaming of what I wished we might have in our home, I still put the kitchen in the Monsanto Home behind the one my auntie had just built- her's was filled with pink tile and pink appliances!
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