From one June 1965 image I have managed to expand it into 4 views. Ah, the glory of closeups. A closeup of the back of the Monorail station at the Disneyland Hotel.
The next three closeups show various buildings along Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue.
Anyone for a Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's?
Most amazing to me is the amount of school buses visible in the parking lot.
More Disneyland Hotel and parking lot photos at my main website.
13 comments:
The first stop to the Magic Kingdom as it was called back then. I LOVE the shots including the background building, mountains etc. What is the building with the red roof, several stories high, white "pillars"?
There's the Wilbur Clark's Crest Hotel under construction, later to be become known as the Grand Hotel. And of course there's the old Melodyland building. That was a whole other era of Anaheim. No thanks to that Grand Slam at Denny's. Love the Opera House, Bank of America and Main Street Station hiding behind the trees and foliage.
I remember seeing lots and lots of school buses in the old Disneyland parking lot before. In fact it was usually pretty common at amusement parks around May and early June. When I worked at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in the 1970's the end-of-school-year field trips were common and lots of school buses would be parked in the parking lot.
Anyway, this is the kind of stuff I love! Taking one photo and expanding upon it with zoom-ins and drawing attention to the various points of visual interest. Thanks, Dave.
Lot of Yellow Cabs too.
The color and clarity on this one is particularly amazing. I've always loved the parts of the old Hotel that look like they were built with an erector set.
Debbie V., I was looking all over the internet for information on the building you mentioned, but couldn't find a thing. It appears to be off Harbor Boulevard in the distance and even possibly on the other side of I-5 which is unfamiliar territory to me. If I do find any information about it, I'll definitely post it here. In meantime hopefully someone with extensive knowledge of Anaheim will chime in with the answer for you.
K. Martinez, I can't believe you neglected to mention the best part of the old Parking Lot...
What is the pointy semi-cone-shaped building? A tent? The Anaheim convention center before it was rebuilt?
Fifthrider, that's the old Melodyland building, which in 1965 was a theater-in-the-round. It was purchased by Christian Center Church in Anaheim in 1969 and was the center of a church and Christian education campus until 1998. It was torn down in 2003.
Chuck, you're right. Big fail. Those power lines and their Erector set towers are a beauty and what I miss most about the old parking lot.
Fifthrider, After Space Mountain opened up in '77 I used to refer to Melodyland as Space Mtn. Jr.
Thufer would have loved this post.
Photo 3: I was wondering recently where the old Melodyland building had been. I remembered it, but couldn't place the location on today's ground. These pics clear it up. It was a ghastly sight towards the end, the steep gray roof was blotchy with dirt. I guess the Garden Walk center and House of Blues new location is there now? The red-roofed hotel in front on Harbor is still there, but prime for redevelopment.
I seem to recall a miniature golf course along there somewhere also. Was that under the power line right of way? Seems like that could have been, since no buildings can go there, but landscaping and parking can? Does anyone else remember that? It's all bare soil now under the line. Moving that line is still my most admired moment of building DCA. Relocating HT power lines is non-trivial and hugely expensive.
Denny's is still there, heavily remodeled, but the Grand Hotel is now a big parking lot. We stayed at the Grand for our first visit with our kids in the early '90's. Chao's sign is just visible in the enlargement, seen edge-on, it's the orange stripe at the far left. Chao's is now IHOP. Chao's was the prime watering hole for Disney staff according to the CM oldtimers.
@Debbie V and K Martinez: In photo 5. the building with the red parapet above the flat roof line is now the Orange County campus of West Coast University. I don't know anything about this institution. The building is located on the west side of I-5 (Disneyland side), accessed via S. Manchester Ave. which is parallel to the freeway and intersecting with Harbor south of Howard Johnson's. Not sure what it was when it was built, but it's a great example of that mid-60's look. It can be found in Google Earth Street View. Looks much the same today, but the red color appears to be gone.
Dave, this is a splendid picture and a fine set made of your close-ups. Really enjoying this, and all the comments, thank you very much.
JG
I come to this post a week late but nonetheless it takes me back to a great era in Anaheim when the Park and the surroundings were still 'human scale' and a pleasant area just to go to. Thanks to JG's post, I now too recall a mini golf under those power lines at the corner of Harbor. And the low rise hotel off to the right was a Hyatt as I remember it. The West Coast University building was once (and perhaps originally since it was there for so long) Western Law School. KS
Disneyland was a highly popular location for grad night in the So Cal area, so the buses make sense here. Looks like these days they moved grad night to California Adventure.
I miss that Grand Hotel. Lots of memories there.
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