At first glance, these photos may seem like your typical vintage Disneyland entrance photos. But then…I do my signature zoom. Here, we can see that attendance at the Anaheim park has hit 5,000,000. Although this shot is undated, thanks to the number we can narrow it down to 1957/1958. And who doesn't enjoy seeing the Kalamazoo Handcar up close?!?
From the same batch, this shot looks almost identical:
except it provides a view of the Disneyland flag waving over the station:
It's harder to find shots of this side of the Main Street Train Station. Once guest are done taking photos in front of the Mickey Floral and they cross under the station, they are typically focused on getting to the attractions in the park, not hanging out at the Train Station.
Zooming in shows a rarely seen vintage Santa Fe poster:
This entrance shot from August 1961 has a lot going on.
First, we see a man who looks like a farmer picking up what appears to be a produce box. What's the back story on this one? Heck if I know.
When I zoomed in to look at the prices at the ticket booth I saw what appears to be a Harvey Girl:
Compare with this shot of Judy Garland dressed as a Harvey Girl in the 1946 movie of the same name:
This October 1959 shot yields a few fun details as well.
Something about this worker's setup just doesn't seem safe!
The Timex clock in the tower is getting a bit of work done:
Still need more Main Street Train Station shots? Daveland has you covered! Visit my main website to get your fill.
Speaking of Harvey girls, it would've been cool if the Plantation House was split like the Plaza Pavilion/Tahitian Terrace complex with the shared kitchen was. It could've been called "Swift's Plantation House" on the river side with its antebellum façade and "Harvey House" on the track side with it's southwestern stucco façade. Being that the location was close to the Frontierland station, it would've been a cool ATSF connection.
ReplyDeleteAs for the produce carton, I think only that farmer would know the backstory. Dead men tell no tales!
Looks like a tram driver and the man standing next to him are cleaning up a fluid spill...maybe oil from one of the trams. Box probably was used to hold the sand or cat litter they are useing to clean the spill.
ReplyDeleteIn some blueprints of the main Street Station there shows a snack bar window in the bay opposite of the ticket window --I wonder if the cast member working the snack window was dressed in a Santa Fe RR Harvey Girl costume. The Plaza Pavilion Restaurant -Part of Westernland at Tokyo Disneyland uses a Harvey Girl costume, but in a deep-blue cloth rather than black.
ReplyDelete-Mike
Mike Cozart - Cool info on the Westernland Plaza Pavilion. Thanks for sharing it.
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