Thursday, January 12, 2012

Entrance & Main Street, June 1968

The Mickey Mouse floral portrait is one of more famous icons of Disneyland, but it's looking pretty bare here... apparently it had just been freshly planted. Give it a week or so! What, you're not coming back in a week? The fence looks sad and naked without the colorful attraction posters that used to adorn it; I guess that they stopped displaying those around 1967.


Here's a lovely shot looking north. As much as I love the olive trees in the hub (especially at night, with their twinkling lights), they are obscuring most the castle here. The shadows are getting longer on this summer afternoon.


Turning to look south towards Main Street Station, the clock tells us that it is almost 5:30. I wonder what that banner over Town Square was for? I'm going to guess that it said "Disneyland Welcomes Major Pepperidge". Notice that the gas streetlights are already lit though it won't be dark for hours. Let's go to the Main Street Cinema and watch Lillian Gish do something old-timey.

10 comments:

Nancy said...

lovely pics....my kind of day at Disneyland!

what were they thinking i wonder when they removed the posters..."It looks to nice, let's get rid of 'em!" so sad to know they prolly got dumped in a room someplace :(

i have always liked the Freight Train, wish they still had it.

the olive trees definitely do obscure too much. i have always wondered what was wrong with putting the gazebo by the train station b/c those trees hide the Castle much more than that ever would have

thanks for a sunny start to a very rainy day here in PA :-)

dfan07 said...

Nancy, they still have the freight train cars, though they aren't in use all the time.

Main Street sure looks strange with those tall trees. The buildings look downright tiny!

Connie Moreno said...

First photo: What were they thinking? And look at the wall with all the chips in it.

Second and third photos: WOW. The majority of the guests still stay on the sidewalks. Ladies are still wearing dresses except for the young'uns, they are wearing slacks. Dig the red and white Polynesian shirt on that guy! Wish I could step into that Upjohn Pharmacy - I must have walked right by it 100 times and never went in. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Yes, those trees sure are amazing. The elms up and down Main Street did wonders for the ambiance before entertainment had the need to hack them back for the parade lighting overhead...

Anonymous said...

I walked over to Upjohn often as a CM to pick up those small bottles of vitamin samples!. Still have a few of those now...minus the vitamins.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nancy, it does look like the perfect June day, doesn't it? I assume that they got rid of the posters because they were dated (although there were new ones as well, so maybe not). I'm kind of glad that the gazebo was not left in the middle of the hub; you're right that the trees block the view too, but the gazebo would have done it even more.

dfan07, do they store those freight cars backstage?

Connie, I would have gone into the Upjohn pharmacy to see the leeches!

Anon, it must have been a hard decision to remove trees that got too large; everyone loves big beautiful trees, but they could overwhelm everything as some point.

Anon#2, I have a couple of those vitamin bottles, with vitamins! I should post them here.

David said...

I'm still amazed at how many people don't walk down the street. But then, I'm not a huge fan of walking down the sidewalk bumping into people, strollers and kids. The street is how I proceed all the time -unless a parade is going by.

Nancy said...

thanks, dfan07. i have not seen the freight train on any of my three visits that I can remember and its nice to know that it is still there

Anonymous said...

I'm starting to understand why I love this site so much - Major gives me a look back through someone else's eyes, and then I compare my Disney memories to their images - and my DL experiences come flooding back. Warm SoCal June evenings, popcorn and Dole delights, anticipating the rides, the people watching... thanks again for all of your hard work and passion for this place!

Bill in Denver

JG said...

Who could ever tire of Main Street?

Not me, for sure.

Also, What Bill in Denver said.

JG

Major, please post the vitamin bottle, it would be so great to see one again! Mine are all gone, but I remember how they tasted. I used to fill the bottle up again with another brand so I could extend my Disneyland experience.