Early Playground at the Disneyland Hotel

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If pressed, I would date these photographs to 1957 or 1958. They depict the first playground facilities at the Disneyland Hotel and offered another fun activity for the kids who were guests at the Hotel. The area in which they were located would later become the southwest corner of the first Tower Building (later Sierra Tower) on the grounds. See the overhead drawing for the playground's location on the grounds of the Hotel. These pictures depict a typical 1950's playground with swings, a slide, hang bars, a Jungle Jim and lots of sand. Not unlike many other playgrounds sprouting up all over America as the baby boomer generation was being born. The playground was changed and moved over the years and I will present other pictures from later years in a future post. Early playground pictures like these are very hard to find. I want to thank Molly Wrather-Dolle for sharing these pictures with me. Molly is of course, Jack Wrather's daughter. Jack and Helen Alvarez were the original owners of the Disneyland Hotel along with Jack's mother Mazie.



Overhead drawing showing location of the Disneyland Hotel Playground - To give some perspective of where the playground was located in the mid-50's at the Disneyland Hotel. This area would become the first Tower Building at the Hotel in 1962.

Early shot of the first playground at the Disneyland Hotel 1950's - The Garden Structures are visible in the background of this mid 50's shot at the Disneyland Hotel. These images are very hard to find.

Disneyland Hotel Playground mid-50's - Rare shot of the Playground at the Disneyland Hotel 1950's

Very rare shot of the playground at the Disneyland Hotel mid-50's