Town Square, 1956

Three vintage 1956 images showing Town Square and Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland. First up is the Fire Department and Bekins Storage.

Curtains are closed; wonder if Walt's in there?



A closeup of the horse-head above Bekins:



Here's the surrey with the fringe on top that you've heard so much about:



Check out those balloons!



The C.K. Holliday is ready for another spin around the Park:



Last one from this batch shows the Horseless Carriage on Main Street:



Rudolph Valentino is playing at the Main Street Cinema:



See more Disneyland Town Square photos at my main website.

Night and Day: The Monorail

Just getting back into the swing of things from the holidays, my first post for the New Year features three vintage shots of the Monorail. The first is an evening shot from August 1962.

The yellow Monorail during daylight, circa July 1963:



One more of the Yellow Monorail, from February 1971. How about those festive balloons? A+ to our vintage photographer for composition and color!



See more vintage and current Monorail photos at my main website.

Balloons in Fantasyland, May 1958

I really fell in love with this vintage image from May 1958. The joy on the guest's faces (at least on two out of three) as they hold the Disneyland balloon seller's goods. Today, he might get fired for this.



Note the handpainted details:



And a contemporary shot:



The light fixture looks vintage, but not the same one from 1958. And the handpainted details have been replaced with a less than thrilling grapevine.



A final detailed view of the Fantasyland ticket booth near the Carrousel:



See more Disneyland Fantasyland photos at my main website.

Fred's 57th Anniversary

Today's post honors the 57th anniversary of The Fred Gurley locomotive, whose namesake was President of the Santa Fe Railway from 1944–1957. Along with Walt, the two were responsible for the initial sponsorship of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad in 1955. In this September 1958 photo, the 2-4-4T Forney locomotive built in 1895 at Baldwin Locomotive Works is shown pulling into the station.



Another early shot, this one is from August 1958:



How about a balloon to celebrate today?



Flash forward to 2015, although it has a somewhat different paint job, it's still taking guests around the Park on a Grand Circle Tour.





A few from 2013; probably my favorite shots of The Gurley.







Happy Birthday Fred—long may you live!

See more Daveland vintage & current Disneyland Disneyland Railroad photos at my main website.

May 1964 Treasures, Pt. 1

This set of black and white images hold a special place in my heart for two reasons. First, the people in these photos seem to be having so much fun. Second, they are from the month and year of my birth. Sounds valid to me! Our establishing shot of Town Square shows that the Marine Corps families must be in da' house:



Shot number 2 is a typical site; a guest reaching into their purse/wallet. This lady has been charmed by the balloon seller and is adding to her stash of Disneyland treasures, which appears to already include some plastic flowers from the Main Street Flower Market:



More great images to come from this set!

See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my main website.

Vintage Disneyland: Barren and Low-Tech!

This 1950s image of the front gate at Disneyland looked like a lot of the other ones in my collection until I closed in on the little red truck barely visible in the center of the photo. I have no idea what this could have been for, other than possibly a delivery cart of some kind for the Disneyland Newspaper or perhaps some Park brochures. It sure is cute, though! And it's also fun to see RETLAW 1 pulled into the station, awaiting its next batch of guests for the Grand Circle Tour.



Compared to this contemporary shot, the entrance of the past looks positively barren!



This shot caught my eye because of the balloon seller's costume. Looking at the background, surprisingly he is standing in Tomorrowland, not Fantasyland. The costume seems very much out of place for the land of Tomorrow!



Let's take a closer look at the balloons in this January 1960 photo:



They look extremely low-tech when contrasted with the balloons sold at Disneyland today:



It should come as no surprise that I prefer the low-tech versions!

See more vintage & current Disneyland Entrance photos on my main website.