This May 1955 image shows the Mission Santa Barbara, which was founded on December 4th, 1786. It was the tenth of twenty-one California Missions to be founded by the Spanish Franciscans. Over time three adobe churches were constructed on the grounds, each larger than the one before until the fourth and present church was built in 1820. Flash forward to 2002 and you can see this comparison image that I shot during my first visit there:
Walt paid homage to the Mission with the decoration of one of his stagecoaches, which was named The California.
It featured an illustration of the Mission on its door:
This 1955 Disneyland Stagecoach photo shows it in color:
Zeroing in for a closer look:
Just a little closer:
Two more 1950's shots of the California Coach:
The Arizona Stagecoach had a picture that looked worthy of a John Ford western:
The closeup view:
This December 1955 shot gives an even better view of the Arizona's illustration:
Which one would you rather ride in?
See more vintage & current Daveland Santa Barbara photos from my collection on my main website.
What a cool little detail. I didn't realize that the stagecoaches had the individual names, which does make sense when matching it to the coach illustrations. There's always some layer of detail I've overlooked about Disneyland. That's the beauty of the place. Always something new to discover. Nice update, Dave. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou never know where you'll find a Disney connection! Do you know whatever happened to the stagecoaches?
ReplyDeleteConnie - Not sure where they are. Hopefully they are around someplace being taken care of!
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