Friday, May 04, 2018

More Rescued Slides

I'm getting down to the last few rescued/restored slides from a July 1961 batch that had turned various shades of pinkish orange. Today's examples are nicer than usual!

First, an image of the Monorail station (and more), "before"...


... and here's the "after". So much vintage Tomorrowland goodness. Down below, folks wait for their turn to take a "Journey Through Liquid Space", while others take the "speed ramp" up to the Monorail station platform - they're not going to have to wait very long, because that beautiful red Monorail is just arriving. In the upper right, Skyway buckets (in mostly warm shades of coppery brown and orange) head to (and away from) the Tomorrowland Skyway terminal. The Autopia's Richfield Eagle is heading straight toward us; in the distance, the little Tomorrowland Station (with train!). 


I suppose I should have posted this one first, since it was actually taken just before the previous image, but... who cares, really?! 


It's a lovely sunset photo over Fantasyland. We can see one of the caterpillar vehicles from the "Alice in Wonderland" attraction, and there's the Mr. Toad façade in the lower right. The Pirate Ship is just peeking into the frame from the left, and one of the Fantasyland food stands (Fan 1 or 2? I can never remember which is which) is beneath the striped tent. The Rocket to the Moon can be seen from this elevated vantage point, and if you look carefully, you can even see the distant red Monorail to the left


17 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Some 'yummy' images you've got here. Let's make that Fan 2.

Thanks, Major.

Chuck said...

Love those General Dynamics posters - and just about everything else - in that first photo. And I won't quibble with the second photo's yumminosity, either.

Anonymous said...

I would have loved to have been there...but since I was born the next year, there might have been logistical difficulties...

K. Martinez said...

"up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky." Now THIS is Disneyland! What a pair of pics!

Now it's true if you look carefully you can see Monorail Red, but if you look recklessly over to nowhere in particular you can see the mural inside "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" facade.

Thanks to GDB, waking up to vintage Disneyland every morning is like a little slice of heaven. Thanks, Major.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, thanks!

Chuck, yeah, I do love those General Dynamics posters. I’m still kicking myself for not buying a lot of 4 of them years ago. It wasn’t cheap, but they would probably go for 4 or 5 times the price today.

Stuart Powley, same here, it would be just a little while until I would be born. My earliest memories of the park involved the “New Tomorrowland”, so I would have never seen this wonderful version of that land.

K. Martinez, if only we could see that mural in “Toad” a lot more clearly! But it’s kind of a blur when I zoom in. Irene’s brother Bruce took a nice photo of the later Toad mural, so stay tuned for that.

Anonymous said...

I can see a caterpillar, the Rocket to the Moon, and the Tomorrowland Train Station, the Toad Mural is a distinct bonus.

I don't really recall the old Skyway buckets, but I do remember my parents comments about the new square ones being better, so that was a sign that I had probably ridden a round one the year before. Mom said that they went the first time in 1955 and that I went with them to the Park as a newborn, so I had several visits under my belt that I can't recall at all. I have looked and looked and cannot find any sign that Mom and Dad took any pictures of these early trips. I keep hoping there's a box somewhere untouched, but it's an ever-fainter hope.

Good stuff, Major. These make for a good Friday.

Best to all.

JG

Patrick Devlin said...

I'm struck by the insect-like yellow legs arching down from either side of the Richfield Eagle, the better to snatch up miscreant young guests with.

Nice work on the restorations, I'm curious, Major, how much time invested do these two shots represent for you?

I'm reminded of the feeling I used to get when seeing those General Dynamics posters: I thought it bizarre that they'd be there, because, hey, GD was just a few miles from our house down in San Diego. Why are their posters here? I was very young, OK?

JC Shannon said...

Well Major you have hit a homer with these snaps. There is so much going on here I don't know where to start. You did a smashing job of depinkifying and bringing us back in time. I love the red Monorail, it was always my fave. I really like a pic that includes any part of the TWA Moonliner and the Skyway at the same time. We even have a glimps of the Lagoon. What a great way to start the weekend! Thanks Major. @Patrick, General Dyanmics Electric Boat Division was the original corporate sponsor of the Submarine Voyage.

Melissa said...

Depinkificationarianism!

Only in Tomorrowland can you see so much action in one little picture. And Fantasyland is a Symphony in Stripes.

Tom said...

Another amazing job at resurrecting slides from the pink death! And these are glorious shots too; they definitely needed to be saved from doom. The first shot is my favorite - lots of motion, lots of action, great angle. Thanks for sharing them!

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, yeah, that’s part of the fun of these, they are so busy and energetic. I probably never experienced the round buckets, but they look like they’d be very cramped for somebody with long legs. Like you, I can find NO family photos from Disneyland, even though we went plenty of times.

Patrick Devlin, it’s the circle of life. The mother eagle has to feed the babies. These slides don’t take that long to restore; I don’t think they were very dusty, and that’s usually the most time-consuming part. There was enough color information beneath all of that red that restoring it went pretty quickly - maybe five minutes? And then I try to reduce the grain, and sharpen the image just a bit.

Jonathan, I had never heard that it was General Dynamics’ “Electric Bat Division” that sponsored the Submarine Voyage. Very cool piece of info!

Melissa, stripes were definitely a great way to add some visual interest to all of those plywood flats. It’s kind of surprising how well it worked.

Tom, thanks, I’m glad you liked these!

Major Pepperidge said...

Jonathan... ha ha, "Electric BOAT", not "Electric BAT". That would be a cool division too!

JC Shannon said...

@Major Yes they built the Nautilus, Seawolf and the George Washington - the real ones not the Disney versions. Not to take anything away from the Submarine Voyage, I loved it as a kid, and it was one of my favorite rides.

Melissa said...

"Electric Bat Division" is when Dick Grayson uses a calculator to do his math homework.

Nancy said...

Magical for sure!! ;) Beautiful work on these....thanks for taking the time to do this, Major

Bill Cotter said...

Very nice restore jobs!

Clyde Hughes said...

What excellent slides (not to mention your restoration of them)!
Thanks!