Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Disneyland Maps in High Rez!

Do check out all of the extremely high resolution goodness of some vintage Disneyland maps! 1962, 1964, 1976, 1983, and 2000.

One thing’s for sure… it’ll make you wish that Edison Square and Liberty Street had been built. I still think they’re tremendous editions that would be wonderful in the park today.

Have a look!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Disney Cottages

I found this interesting little article that I thought to share. It’s about the eight Disney-leased cottages in Los Feliz. Something you don’t hear about very often.

“…this property is significant in the history of Hollywood. When Disney's artists lived here in the 1930s, they produced the world's first full-length animated feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," using these buildings as models for the dwarfs' cottage.”

For more photos, check out this Flickr stream.

cottage1

Aren’t they charming? :)

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Enchanted Tiki Shakers

“Mon ami! I am always ready, as you say, to put on the…” flavor!

Tiki Front

Yes, though quite difficult to work into a nice table setting (but fantastic for an outdoor summer barbeque), these little tiki gods of flavor are just about as nifty as they come. They don’t represent any of the main tikis out on the lanai of the Enchanted Tiki Room, though they look like they could very well be related. I suppose the gods of salt and pepper weren’t as worthy as the gods of wind, rain, and earth balancing. But here at the Sacred Tree, we think they’re just as important! After all, what is a good mirepoix without them?

Tiki Back

In actuality, they appear to be replicas of Easter Island Moai, which were carved out of stone. Here they are painted to look somewhat like weathered bamboo or wood, which is a very nice effect that ties in a bit more with the tikis of the attraction,

Made of a fairly hard ceramic and glazed to oblivion, these shiny little gods are like a little mid-century time capsule, in my opinion; very late 50s –mid 60s. Early Gilligan, I will call it. Tiki Top

On the back, in a fine tiki font reads “Disneyland” so that you may better explain their presence between the plates of chicken and mashed potatoes.

On top, there is a convenient “P” or “S”, so you don’t get confused in the act of spicing, since the gods are identical.  On the bottom is one of the familiar old “Disneyland” production marks. Oddly enough, not in the common green color of the period.

Tiki Bottom

I think they’re a fantastic piece of Disneyland merchandise history, and absolutely nothing you would see nowadays. I very much wish odd little pieces like these were still for sale in the parks. I miss Adventureland stores being well stocked with odd artisan pieces from other countries. It made the land feel so special and very realistic. No shots or bug repellant required!!

“Farewell, and aloha to you!