New Orleans vs. New Orleans Square, Pt. 2

I had to cover food; anyone that knows me is aware that the restaurants have a heavy bearing on whether or not I like a city. Antoine’s in New Orleans was one of my favorites, but I had noticed the quality had definitely deteriorated on my last visit. The front of the restaurant could have been part of the inspiration for Disneyland’s Blue Bayou. Below is a shot of a delicious steak I enjoyed at Galatoire’s; probably one of the best I have ever eaten.

And dessert...the cheesecake was incredible. When I travel and dine, I do not count calories. That's what the daily routine is for.

New Orleans is known for its beignets and coffee that you would get at the world famous Café du Monde:

At Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, I once enjoyed these Mickey Mouse shaped beignets at the Café Orleans. Good...but not quite as good as their New Orleans cousin.

The exterior of the Blue Bayou Restaurant at Disneyland, one of my favorite places to dine at Disneyland. While the food may not necessarily be out of this world, the experience and atmosphere help make up for that.

Their Monte Cristo sandwich was a staple for me until they changed the recipe and made it a bit more healthy. The fried cheesecake was also a casualty of that trend.

The nearby Mint Julep “bar” offers a refreshing non-alcoholic version of the southern beverage.

When Walt wanted a VIP supper club at Disneyland, it’s not surprising that he picked New Orleans Square as the location. While the city of New Orleans may be known for its decadence and partying, many of the restaurants have a very strict dress code not found out here in Southern California.

A lamb chop from my dinner at Club 33.

Speaking of partying, here is one of the most famous tourist traps in New Orleans, Pat O”Brien’s. It is known for its radioactive red Hurricane drink.

Club 33 added a jazz lounge/bar of its own back in 2014. Very few watering holes in New Orleans are this refined and sedate.

Still, it’s a fun place to sip and savor a beverage while at Disneyland.

Overall review of the food comparison is very similar to that of the architecture and atmosphere; if you want the deliciously decadent artery clogging experience, go to Louisiana. If you prefer your food sanitized and a little less greasy with drinks that are less potent, go to Disneyland.

Will there be a third post in this series? Of course!

See more New Orleans photos at my main website.

New Orleans vs. New Orleans Square

One of my favorite cities in the U.S. is New Orleans; my favorite section of Disneyland is New Orleans Square. Although I love both of them due to some similarities, they are definitely different beasts.

The first thing I like about both is the architecture. Walt himself loved the real city, and his designers did a wonderful job of capturing the look of the buildings, the balconies, and to some extent, the atmosphere. One is kept clean; the other not so much. Interestingly enough, New Orleans is designed (for the most part) on a grid with squares, including its most famous, Jackson Square.

At Disneyland, there is no square in New Orleans Square. Instead, the pathways curve around and make you think the area is larger than it actually is. Brilliant design!

The nooks and crannies of both places draw me in as well. At Disneyland, the now inaccessible Court of Angels was a favorite haunt of mine.

New Orleans is full of these little courtyards; they’re just not maintained quite as well, which is probably preferable to me. Something about that Great Expectations decay really gets me!

Both places are full of life, people, and creative activity.

New Orleans is just a lot more edgy and unexpected. I like that, too.

Lots of great music to be enjoyed; Disneyland’s is scheduled:

…and New Orleans’ is typically random and not quite as polished. Again…totally fine by me.

More on this topic tomorrow! See more REAL New Orleans photos at my main website and New Orleans Square.

Temple Tuesday: Where's My Ornament?

This 1940’s image shows Shirley Temple at her Brentwood home, touring around the driveway for the publicity cameras in the miniature gas-powered Dreyer Racer car that was gifted to her by her beloved costar and dance partner, Bill Robinson. That tight smile tells you she was really wanting to hit the gas and race down the street!

Zooming in, you can see that the hood ornament was missing. Was it broken? Removed for safekeeping?

This shot found on the justacarguy blog shows Shirley and Bill driving around the Fox Studio lot when she first received the car (hood ornament visible!). Bill is holding on for dear life, as according to all accounts, Shirley was built for speed when behind the wheel of this car!

From the Museum of American Speed website comes this information on Floyd Dreyer, the man behind the racing car:

Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, a major race car builder throughout the 1930s, began building “Dreyer Racers” which were miniature race cars for children in 1933. The cars were powered by various small 4-cycle engines and used parts off production cars as well. At first, he was building them just for his own children but, as word got out, people starting coming to Floyd to build cars for their children as well. These cars became very popular and soon Floyd realized he had another revenue stream for his business. The price for a Dreyer Junior Racer was $150.00, but Floyd rarely sold one for that much. He sold one to a man with no legs, which he used as a motorized wheel chair. Child actress, Shirley Temple, bought one of the small cars and it appeared in an ad which Temple did for Quaker Oats.

Years later, Floyd was watching the Academy Awards Show on Television when a special Oscar was given to Shirley Temple. During Temple’s introduction, film footage of Temple at home as a child, driving her Dreyer Junior Racer was shown. That was quite a pleasant surprise for Floyd!

When the car was auctioned off in 2015 by Theriault’s, this was the photo used in their catalog:

From the catalog description:

SHIRLEY TEMPLE'S CHILD-SIZED GAS-POWERED TETHER RACING CAR

The metal racing car with painted white enamel finish with Shirley Temple's name on each side, red leather upholstered seat, hood ornament, horn, brake handle, and a unique round license plate from Fox Studios at the front. Excellent condition with restoration to finish. Ranking at the top of Shirley's childhood possessions - and memories - was her model racing car, a gift to her in 1936 from "Uncle Billy Robinson" (Bojangles). In her 1988 autobiography Child Star, Shirley wrote "painted pure white with a red leather seat and chrome hood ornament of a leaping antelope, it was powered by a one-cylinder unmuffled lawn-mower motor...On my first solo run of studio grounds, Uncle Billy crouched on the back, showed me how to start, and we leaped forward. Veering into a nearby Fox publicist, I snagged a long tear in his trousers. My first traffic accident." Eventually the studio ordered the car removed to her own home where Shirley was "restricted to racing a circle around her own driveway, and soon lost interest".

Realized Price: $34,000 Presale Estimate: 10,000+

How the car looked when I saw it in person in Santa Monica:

WITH the hood ornament!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Monday with a Crocodile

The Crocodile from Peter Pan is not a character you see frequently walking around the Park. This recently acquired September 1962 shot shows Captain’s arch nemesis hanging around Fantasyland near the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship Restaurant.

Digging back through the archives I also found this shot from July 1962 which includes Peter Pan:

The Crocodile was also part of the show “Fantasmic!” on the Rivers of America:

I captured this daylight shot of the croc awaiting the night to fall:

While looking through my collection I came across this previously posted March 1968 gem of Mr. Smee:

The highlight for me though is the lady with towering bouffant hairdo in the background and the nails for days!

See more Disneyland Character photos at my main website.

Motor Boats and The Viewliner

This undated 1950’s image of Disneyland was taken from the dock of the Motor Boat Cruise attraction and affords a rare view of the Fantasyland Viewliner station. Why so rare, you ask? Because the Viewliner barely lasted a year before it was removed.



To give you an idea of where the photo was taken, here’s a May 1958 view from the Skyway, showing both the Motor Boat and Viewliner attractions:



A detailed shot of the Fantasyland Viewliner station, with (appropriately) the Blue Fantasyland Viewliner parked at the station.



Another view of the same area from the ground:



A detailed view of the station:



…and the Motor Boat Cruise dock, as well as the regular Disneyland Railroad Fantasyland Depot:



For Motor Boat Cruise fans, here’s an August 1958 shot:



I can just here the little girl now. “I don’t see mom and dad, Tommy. Full speed ahead!”



I believe the track seen in this portion of the photo belongs to the Viewliner:



Got enough to last you for the weekend? I sure hope so!

See more vintage Disneyland Viewliner photos at my main website.

Snow in San Diego!

Yes, it’s true. Snow can be found in San Diego! Or at least the nearby hiking trails of Stonewall Peak in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, located just outside the quaint little town of Julian. Apparently, the Sunshine Tax that San Diego residents pay for living here doesn’t cover this part of town. No complaints here; it was a beautiful change of pace.

The trees provided some Tim Burton-esque scenery.

Once up at the top, the temperature changed greatly along with very gusty winds.

The steep climb up the staircase was a little unnerving; I put a lot of blind faith on the rail as I held onto it for dear life!

The views were stupendous, though. Definitely worth it.

Had to borrow the hat when it came time for my photo.

On the way down I encountered this screaming tree. Very creepy…very cool. Probably a refugee from Snow White’s (formerly) Scary Adventures.

Did we get pie while in Julian? The road was completely log-jammed with tourists who had been going stir-crazy, so the pie had to wait until I got home and I purchased one from the frozen section of the local grocery store. It still tasted delicious!

See more Stonewall Peak photos at my main website.

Bubble Crazy

Call me crazy, but I do love that bubble at the top of the old Monorail! This September 1962 is a postcard-perfect view of it, along with the Matterhorn and the Skyway overhead.

BTW: I'm also crazy about the original round buckets, too.

I have to give equal time to Monorail Red’s bubble; this one is also from the 1960’s: 

The bubble was only located on one side of the Monorail, even though they traveled both ways, as you can see from this 1960’s image shot from the parking lot.

See more Disneyland Monorail photos at my main website.