Nature's Wonderland Railroad, 1966

All aboard the Disneyland Nature's Wonderland Railroad, circa 1966. This juicy vintage color shot shows the train pulling into Rainbow Ridge...or perhaps about to leave Rainbow Ridge. You pick.

An October 1967 view of the train crossing a trestle.



An April 1962 view of the train circling around Cascade Peak.



More Nature's Wonderland at my main website.

Wenches, Guns, and Pansies

By now, most Disneyland fanatics are aware of the upcoming changes to the Wench Auction scene on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (you can read about it here). This post will be sprinkled with some contemporary shots that I haven't published yet (yes, I get behind!), including the first juicy panorama shot.



There has been buzz for years about the Wench Auction scene being offensive because of its portrayal of women as sex objects sold by men. I get it...even though I'm a man, yes, I can understand it. What I never "got" in all the 46 years I have been on that attraction was that particular message; it never really occurred to me. Nope, it was just a fun scene showing some Pirates from the days of yore with a very saucy Red Head in the spotlight. Regardless of the hidden or not-so hidden subtext of the scene, to me, that Red Head was and always would be front and center and in control of the action.



What I DON'T understand is the crazy furor that the upcoming changes are causing. The banner that now reads “Auction, Take a wench for a bride” will be replaced with a sign that says “Auction, Surrender yer loot” and instead, the Red Headed Wench will be a gun-toting pirate. This will remove the "message" of the scene that degrades women; forget any kind of message it might send that carrying a gun is ok. Please people...one offensive item removal at a time.



Here's what I find truly offensive about the announcement itself: that in order to appease a very politically correct and sensitive public in order to keep the cash registers ringing, the Disney Corporation has to continually align itself with the lowest common denominator. Then, in an attempt to keep the "old guard" happy, they trot out a relic like Marty Sklar to say that Walt would be "ok" with this change. Folks, Walt is dead, and nobody really knows what he would think about ANY of the changes being made to his beloved theme park. So please...don't insult my intelligence with that crap.

Here are some of the amusing comments that have been made about the announcement. Misspellings and grammatical errors have been left intact for your reading pleasure:

So basically this what are world has become. We are going to change and censor our history just to be politically correct because a few overly sensitive Idiots don't agree what was and is real.

History? Do people really think that anything left at Disneyland is about real history?

A bigger priority should be changing the atrociously ignorant audio representation of the Polynesian gods in the waiting area of the Tiki Room.

"Me Rongo—God of Agriculture. My land so good to me, I got time for sport. I fly kite. Me number one kite-flyer. Too bad I don’t have key—then me, I find electricity."

Hang on people...I'm sure that attraction will be fixed in the very near future, too.

After 40 years people are now taking offense to this? There are too many overly sensitive fools running amok in society.

Replacing one felony with another. Brilliant!

it's about darn time. because of that ride, I spent my entire childhood and early adult life thinking it was OK to auction women off for marriage or servitude. I've since learned that this is wrong! Just because a cartoon pirate does something, it doesn't make it OK.

I'm offended they spelled your, "yer".

Yo Ho Yo Ho...A Neutered Life For Me...

Disney neutered the Star wars movies........now they are looking for new targets

And to think this was the country that got through WWI, The Great Depression, and brought down Germany, Italy and Japan. We have become a nation of wusses afraid of our own shadows.

Pc correct pansys need to shut their fat mouths and stop ruining everything for others

They censored other parts of the ride back when they added Jack Sparrow a few years ago, too. At this rate the cutlasses will be feather dusters and the muskets will be super soakers in another decade.

And my very favorite:

I guess they need to change the name to "Pansies of the Caribbean".

Amazing that with all that's going on in the world that people find time to be surprised about the Disney Corporation making this change. If you don't like it, don't go to the Park. Vote with your wallet. And if you are in favor of this change, get your ass over to the Park and ride this attraction. It would be interesting to see just how many of the people that vocalized their complaints actually drop money at Disneyland. In the end, who cares. The Red Headed Wench will always survive one way or another.



For more vintage and contemporary Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland photos head on over to my main website.

New Tomorrowland Construction 1966

Welcome to the construction site of "New" Tomorrowland. This was the Tomorrowland of Walt Disney's dreams, since it was the land that he had to give the shaft to at the last minute in order to stay on deadline and not borrow any more money from the banks.

Zooming in a little closer to this 1966 image, we can see that the Peoplemover is already in place.



Just one more step closer and we can read the sign: "we're building a new Tomorrowland grand opening 1967."



2 more construction shots from this batch to share.



Zooming in, could that be Walt in the blue cardigan? Let's just say it is and I won't argue.



In this one, you can see the Carousel of Progress attraction building coming along nicely.



The GE sponsorship logo is already prominently on display.



More "New" Tomorrowland photos at my main website.

Flying Saucer Battle of the 'Dos

Did I really need another Disneyland Flying Saucer vintage image for my collection? Probably not. But who could pass up this beauty showing two ladies protecting their bouffant hairdos with a scarf?



More Flying Saucer photos at my main website.

Pirates of The Caribbean Construction

This undated view is most likely from 1966, showing the early stages of construction for the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. On the left of the photo is the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. To the right is a gentleman taking a photo and on the far right, a young man exhaling. I hope he has his medical card; or maybe he was just waiting for Yippie Day.



More vintage and contemporary Pirates of the Caribbean attraction photos at my main website.

Surfing at Tourmaline Beach

I have always loved the water and the beach; one of the few native Californians, I just guess it's in my DNA. Last weekend I was finally able to do a surf shoot. Although I can't surf, I love watching someone catch a wave and ride it, finally diving into the water at the end after being one with that mini force of nature. Jason Coleman was kind enough to allow me to tag along early Sunday morning to document his journey. Although the actual surf shots were not great (which means we need to do it again!), I was pleased with the rest.

As soon as we arrived, Jason was scoping the water seeing where the best place to surf would be.



Then it was back to his vehicle to get his board and gear, returning to the beach for his morning surf.





Like any physical exercise, there's stretching to do...



meditation/prayer...



and then it's off to the waves.



Much of a surfer's time is spent waiting. And waiting. And waiting. When is that perfect wave going to come?



I wouldn't say the waves were perfect, but Jason caught a few decent ones. The mount:



...and the dismount.



We were only out there for about 45 minutes. Next time will be longer...with more actual surf photos!



And hey, breakfast was waiting! Gotta' get back into street clothes and head to town before everyone else wakes up on Sunday for brunch.



More photos of La Jolla at my main website.

The Anchorettes

Awhile back I was contacted by Jonathan Bullman, whose wife's great aunt was found in these photos from September 1957. She was with the women's softball team called The Anchorette's from Indianapolis and they were staying at the Disneyland Hotel for a national softball tournament.



They won the regional tournament and went on to the National tournament in California. The 1957 National Women's Softball Tournament was held in Buena Park and Anaheim that September. The Anchorettes would eventually go on to lose the tournament but she still talks about her softball days even 60 years later. She's the tall short-haired redhead in glasses (seen in the detailed view above, front row, second from left).



Another shot from the batch showing the Anchorettes' luggage outside the hotel.



Note the "DH" on the door, which of course stands for Disneyland Hotel.



More vintage and contemporary Disneyland Hotel photos at my main website.

Mr. Toad Mural Extravaganza!

One new one and a lot of re-hash for today (yes, still catching up on life!). First shot is the "new" one, showing two tots who have just experienced Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in Fantasyland. Of course, the real reason for attaining this photo is the view of the queue mural in the background! While we're at it, how about a shot from December 1957 of Donna Reed and Steve Allen also enjoying this dark ride classic?



And Jerry Lewis:



Vice President Richard Nixon and family:



The Audie Murphy family, circa 1956:



Here I used a little photoshop magic to get a better look at the mural (human distortion be damned!), circa 1958:



Last one is a June 1955 image of the exterior of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride:



More vintage and contemporary shots of Mr. Toad at my main website.

Night Bus

Most classic movie buffs have heard of the 1934 Frank Capra classic "It Happened One Night."



How neither one of its stars (Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert) was thrilled to be in it; how it swept the five major Oscar categories; and how Claudette Colbert had to be hauled off a train on the way to vacation to accept her award at the ceremony.



What most probably DON'T know is that it was based on a short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams, featured in the August 1933 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.



The artist for "Night Bus" is one of my favorite illustrators, James Montgomery Flagg, best known for his 1917 depiction of Uncle Sam on a military recruitment poster.



Here are the first few pages of the story, showcasing Flagg's vibrantly vintage illustrations.









More pop culture and vintage goodies at my main website.