From the always-interesting Shorpy website comes this color-popping shot of a 1956 Dodge Custom Royale parked directly in front of the entrance to Disneyland. Disney’s theme park opened in 1955 so it was still fairly new when this shot was taken. Long gone are the days when you could just drive up to the entrance and drop people off. (Oh boy, wouldn’t it be great if we could still do that?) In fact, could we ever? This photo looks like “movie parking” – when Doris Day needs to go to Bergdorf’s, bingo, she finds a parking spot right out front – so maybe this was an advertising photo for Dodge. What do you think?
** UPDATE ** – This Kodachrome photo was taken by Maurice Terrell.
Tammy B says: “Definitely a drop-off zone! I went here as a little girl in the 60’s and we’d get dropped off here or sometimes park and either take the trams in or walk if our parking spot was closer. I loved it when we parked in the Tinkerbell or Minnie Mouse areas. In the Indiana Jones queue you can see an Eeyore sign as a homage to the fact the queue sits on what was his parking area.”
Maggie CK says: “My MIL’s family built and owned the Alamo Motel just south of Disneyland. They would come inside the park on most weekdays to do their banking at the bank on Main Street (visible in the background, to the right of the train station). Having grown up a few blocks away, I remember these days fondly, and I definitely can recall the entrance looking like that. You can still drop people off at a plaza east of the entrance, but they’ll definitely have a bit longer walk. My kids grew up walking in from the parking lot out front (where DCA is now). Even as toddlers, we rarely used a stroller for them. They slept very well at night.”
That red brick building looks almost exactly like the courthouse in my little hometown in northeast Ohio.
“Movie parking.” Great term.
Oh yes! Growing up in Fullerton in the 70’s, Disneyland was basically my back yard. Me and my friends went frequently. My mum would pull up right there and drop us off while she went on about her business, then come and pick us up much later.
Lucky you, Joël!
Thanks for sharing this vintage photo. The colours are interesing-very squeaky clean which I thought was always an advantage in films and commercial adverts.
Again thank you for sharing this.
This photo makes me wonder why cars and colors of today are soooo boring.Cars of the 50s were so beautiful and oh those colors just made you happy to look at them. We sure could use some fun colors and designs today.
A couple friends and I were discussing this just last weekend. A year or two ago I also was thinking of this in terms of people’s clothing when watching some Carol Burnett Shows from the 1960s and looking at what people were wearing in the audience. So I decided to buy my new clothes in more vibrant colors. Pants included!
I suppose the 1950s colors, especially cars, were a reaction to the war and post-war 1940s.
I am so glad that you did that Martin and that you were able to find bright colors to wear. I sure wish we would once again see cars with beauty like that Dodge. In 56 my Dad had a pink, white and gray Dodge that looked much the same and I loved that car.