1958 Gems

A few images today from the Summer of 1958 when the Columbia first hit the waters at Disneyland and Alice joined the other dark rides in Fantasyland. First shot appears to have been taken on the steps of City Hall facing Town Square.

In this shot taken outside of the Market House on Main Street note the bunting on the lightpost and the sign promoting the Columbia.

The Skyway floats over the recently opened Alice in Wonderland dark ride:

Our 1958 guests scored a ringside table at the Golden Horseshoe:

Not sure if our guests took a spin on the Columbia or the Mark Twain, but the next two shots were taken from the decks of one of those ships:

A closeup of the dock where guests boarded a raft to explore Tom Sawyer’s Island:

Here a group of guests wait for a raft to take them off Tom Sawyer’s Island back to the mainland.

Note the cast member dressed like he steppe off the set of "F-Troop”:

I hope those of you in Southern California are staying cool and safe from the fires!

See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.

Audie Murphy Goes To Disneyland, Pt. 2

In part 2 of the 1956 Audie Murphy series we begin in Town Square. First stop for the day is getting that all-important Disneyland stroller. Little James Shannon was too young to walk around the Park on his own! I attempted to zoom in to get a better look at the fence that would announce Edison Square and International Street (neither of which would ever come to fruition), but unfortunately, it’s still just a bunch of garbled grain. Sorry!

However, a closeup of the Journal Cover and a Scrooge McDuck illustration (talking about saving money came) out just fine!

Here’s the happy Murphy family heading down Main Street doing just fine with their stroller (note they didn’t need the double-wide variety back in 1956!).

Here are Audie and son Terry inside the Market House:

Let’s play Romper Room: I see mustard, Highland Syrup, and C and H Sugar. Not quite sure what the product on the middle shelf is.

I wonder if you got a prize for guessing how many jelly beans were in the jar?

Good old-fashioned Log Cabin Syrup - the syrup of choice for pancakes and waffles in my house every Sunday breakfast!

Looks like Terry is about ready to give his final tally!

See more vintage and contemporary photos at my main website.

Yale And Towne at Disneyland

When one of your most loyal readers says he was unaware of something from vintage Main Street, you of course have to do a post focused solely on that thing. In this case, it's the Yale and Towne's Lock Shop, which morphed into the Yale Lock Shop. Open on day one, it appears to have dropped off the Park brochure by 1965.

The Dapper Dans outside the shop in 1960:



More photos and info can be found at Stuff From The Park's blog:

The Yale Lock shop featured a display of locks and keys from ancient times to modern times. Additionaly a guest could get a souvenir key with the Disneyland castle on one side and Yale logo on the reverse. Yale is still at Disneyland as all the doors use Yale and Towne locksets.



1955:



A closeup of the shop from 1955:





More recently it was the Disneyana Shop:



And is now "The Book Rest," aka part of Starbucks:



More Main Street photos at my main website.

Market House Interior, 1962

Another one that pretty much caused me to crap my pants when I saw it. You just don't see vintage interior shots of Disneyland, due to the inability of most cameras of the day to get a decent photo without using a flash. Anyone remember those annoying flash bulbs? I digress. Love the interior signage, but especially digging this young man in the hat. He is too cool for school.



A few years back the charming turn of the century interior made way for Starbucks. Gotta' have a good cup of Joe when you're taking the family to the Park.



More Market House photos at my main website.

Trip Report, Pt. 3: Halloween at Disneyland

Waiting in line to get in, I saw the Monorail pass by overhead outside the entrance turnstiles. The Mickey and friends gigantic pumpkin heads were placed above the entrance gates again this year:



Inside the park, the Fred Gurley was ready to take the first guests on a Grand Circle Tour.



Festive Halloween Bunting was draped all over Town Square:



The winking Mickey was a popular photo stop for guests:



This is the first time I had noticed this Elvis-inspired pumpkin on Main Street, U.S.A.



You could find this pair above the Carnation Café entrance gazebo:



Starbucks was open for business, and I did my best to get some interior shots before the masses swarmed in.



Trust me...they swarmed. I kept thinking that if I returned later, there would be fewer people. Wrong. This was the best opportunity I had all day.



The party lines were still there:



As was the checkerboard:



Even the vintage stove:



The difference was that now they seemed more like props that were merely for display, not for use. The chairs by the checkers were constantly full, but nobody seemed to pay much attention to the game board. I did like these Tiffany-style lampshades though:



Other interesting light fixtures and semi-vintage looking signage could be found:



The oddest part of the whole thing was the faux book shop, which looked more like a library.



In this dark corner with the vintage phone, there was a very cool looking (possibly) vintage print. Most people would probably not even notice it, as the door next to it is permanently closed.



Let me save you the trouble of squinting:



Across the street is the Penny Arcade, which has become the Candy Arcade:



There are still a number of vintage arcade machines, shoved together up front:



I wonder how many of today's generation even know what to do with these?





Last one for today is a LAAAAARGE panorama of the Partners Statue in Central Plaza.



Tomorrow, we'll venture past the rope!

See more vintage & current Disneyland Halloween photos on my Halloween web page.