January 1963, and the USC band is playing in Town Square. Victorious from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, it would appear that they were given the honor of a concert at the entrance to the Park, still decorated for the 1962 Christmas season.
Over near City Hall, the former Disney Police Department has been stripped of its name with a blank sign above the door.
The Tour Guides were not allowed to take over this building yet; instead, they had to make do with the little gingerbread booth on the right of the detailed image below. Note that the light posts in front have been painted all black. How gloomy!
That was the easiest way to cover up the original white lettering that alerted guests that “the fuzz” could be found inside:
At some point between January 1963 and April 1965 (the photo below), the Guided Tour letters finally gave a designation to this Town Square building.
See more Disneyland Town Square photos at my main website.
As a child, Sundays were my favorite day when it came to breakfast. Mom always made pancakes (sometimes she would do waffles or French toast for variety). As you can see by the look on my face, I was pretty happy with the pancakes!
At Disneyland, in 1957 they held their first Western National Pancake race. Look at #3 giving it her all as she is about to cross the finish line!
Women in matching checkered aprons, headscarves and a rainbow of running shoes limbered up Tuesday as they prepared for the centuries-old pancake race in this English country town. At the word “Go” they sprinted through the streets, trying not to drop their pancakes as they roughly traced the path taken by a harried housewife in 1445, who legend has it heard the church bells signaling the Shrove Tuesday service and raced off with her skillet. The tradition has been repeated over the centuries — not only in Olney but across England and even in the United States, where the Kansas town of Liberal copied the idea and has been trying to outrun their friendly British rivals for 75 years. The race is held the day before the start of Lent, the Christian period of repentance and sacrifice before Easter. Celebrated as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday in other parts of the world, the name Shrove Tuesday derives from the English word meaning to seek forgiveness or be granted absolution. Runners must flip the pancake at the start and finish.
The 415-yard (380-meter) sprint itself may be a form of penance ahead of Lent.
Because Disneyland had an Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen restaurant, naturally Aunt Jemima participated in the parade/event herself:
This image from November 1962 shows Aunt Jemima leading the parade with Minnie and Mickey Mouse:
In the back you can see two of the Three Little pigs with a sign behind them:
Pluto is carrying the sign announcing the 6th annual Western National Pancake Races with Goofy lagging behind. Unfortunately, I do not have any shots of the actual race from 1962.
At Disneyland, Riverbelle Terrace (the former Aunt Jemima’s) was the usual place to get pancakes when at the Park:
For a more upscale experience, you could have these at Steakhouse 55:
For variety, Storytellers Cafe provided Mickey waffles:
It looks like Pluto liked waffles as much as I did!
Is your griddle out now?
See more Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A. photos at my main website.
Recently, a friend sent me a link to a YouTube video titled, “Disneyland’s Abandoned Police Station — And the Mystery Hiding Inside” from Hey Brickey! The video breathlessly begins with the ginger-bearded Brickey dramatically discussing the topic:
Friends, you have walked past it, in fact every single one of us has ignored this building. Just through Disneyland’s left entrance tunnel, there is a building that almost nobody notices. This building was the Disneyland Police Department, and when Disneyland opened 70 years ago, it opened with a real Police Force. As we learned, there were real crimes happening! But how could one of the very first buildings that you see when you walk into the Park end up being one of the least documented buildings in Disneyland’s 70 years?
Wait a minute…a Police Department building at Disneyland? How did I not notice this before? Brickey goes on to give my site a nice little credit:
When you have an idea for a video, and you go over to davelandweb.com, probably the largest public collection of vintage Disneyland photos and you realize good old Dave doesn’t have any photos of the Disneyland Police Department, you know you’ve struck obscure gold!
One of the photos Brickey uses from my collection in his video is this previously posted shot of a Security Officer at the Park in Town Square.
I ended up going down a rabbit hole one evening that lasted until midnight, as I combed through every shot I could find of the Disneyland Police Department office which was on the left-hand side of City Hall in Town Square. It’s really not all that shocking that this small portion of City Hall was rarely photographed. In 1955, who would enter Disneyland and say, “Hey, I can’t wait to photograph the Police Department!” The answer would be: nobody. As Walt intended, guests were focused on the Castle as soon as it came into view in Town Square. A tree planted in front of the Disneyland Police Department made it nearly impossible to capture, and if you only have a roll of 20-24 exposures on your 35mm film camera, you’re not going to waste it on that! Here’s what I found in my collection, beginning with this image from July 1955:
Yup, Brickey is right! There it is, with a Mickey Flag waving proudly over top of it and guests walking securely by it without any fear!
Also from Summer 1955. Notice the sparse landscaping.
Just behind the souvenir booth, we see the Police Department, also obscured by a tree.
Summer 1955:
This detailed view shows a Security Officer in front:
A little further right, just in front of City Hall is a Keystone Kop. While I appreciate being alerted to this building by Brickey, his video does have a few fallacies to it.
He attempts to say that the Keystone Kops were basically undercover cops. Not really; they were professional musicians. No overlap there, folks.
This 1955 3D image cuts off the Police Department:
Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, by stitching the left and right into one image, the Police Department is now visible:
The detailed view:
From October 27, 1956:
1957:
You can see that the light posts in front had “Police” written on the globes:
Still there in September 1958:
September 1958:
From December By December 1959, the sign had been blocked out:
In this April 1965 shot, you can see the Guided Tour Office was now roosting in the building:
A contemporary shot of the building, looking very much the same:
Here’s the video from Hey, Brickey! It’s a very fun and informative video; just make sure you do a little fact-checking before taking every word as the Gospel.
On another note, Stack’s Liberty Ranch, keeper of multiple theme park treasures, has put out an APB for former employees or guests who have interesting stories about days gone by in local theme park history. Check out the Stack’s Liberty Ranch Facebook Page and contact them through Direct Messages if you have a story (or know somebody else who does).
See more Disneyland Town Square photos at my main website.
Walt Disney was into sustainability years before it became a buzz word. Once the 1960 Disney feature, “Babes in Toyland” was wrapped, the soundstages had to be cleared for the making of the next studio film. Rather than discard or waste storage space for the elaborate sets and props from “Toyland,” Walt had them moved over to his Anaheim Park and converted into an attraction for his Main Street Opera House.
From December 1961 through September 1963, the sets on display included Mother Goose Square, The Toy Factory, and Forest of No Return. These two December 1961 images show the signage in front of the Opera House beckoning guests to come inside.
From May 1962:
This August 1962 image is the best shot in my collection of the signage in front.
From 1963-1964 the Opera House became the Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters, as seen in this September 1963 image:
The next two shots from February 1964 show that the little guard booths in front of the Opera House from “Babes in Toyland” remained.
May 1964:
…and November 1964:
In 1965, the Opera House finally got a real attraction of its own, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, seen in this August 1965 shot:
Below is a screenshot from the 1960 film, showing the sets from Mother Goose Village:
Side-by-side comparison shots from the Devlin family, who visited the inside of the Opera House and posed by the sets from the film:
See more Disneyland Opera House photos at my main website.
