Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Disneyland Hotel Mysteries

I still have not been able to find answers for several dates on additions to the Disneyland Hotel. Here are the questions I would love to resolve:

1. When did the Disneyland Hotel sign on West Street get added? I have very early shots Oct. Nov. 1955 and no sign is present.

2. What date did the fourth North Garden structure open for business and further, when did they start building it? I have shots with and without the structure. I know it opened by July 4th, 1959.

3. What date did the fifth and sixth North Garden Structures open? When did construction start on these? I have conflicting information and photographs between 1960 and 1961.

4. When was the Little Gourmet Restaurant removed from the premises? I have an aerial photograph from March 24th, 1959 and the ground where the facility was is freshly dug up. I also have a 1958 shot showing the building in place. Also, I have not been able to locate a picture of the Littel Gourmet Restaurant either exterior or interior. I am sure someone has one somewhere.

5. Some time in 1980-81, a North Garden structure was removed to make way for the Rose Garden and Gazebo. What was the closing date of this structure? I know by autumn 1981, the building was removed.

I'll add more mysteries shortly.

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Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Thank Goodness for Ebay!

Thanks to Ebay, I was able to acquire some old Southern California brochures this past week. Some times, you can find golden nuggets of information contained within these brochures. This happened to be the case with these. I was finally able to get an exact count of rooms in the 1959 configuration of the Disneyland Hotel....234. I had never seen reference to this number in any other paper item in my collection, at the Disney Archives or at the Wrather Archives. The material all state "now over 200 guest rooms and suites." Another mystery solved but another still unsolved. I would like to get the exact date this fourth structure started construction and was opened. I know that it was open on July 4th 1959 and I would have to assume that this was planned to coincide with the busy summer season. I tried finding building permits with no luck and I tried looking up the contractor, again, no luck. The next iteration would have two final North Garden Structures in 1960 making for a total of six structures, the largest pre-tower configuration. More mysteries, I don't have exact dates for these openings either. One more mystery....some time between 1980 and 1981, one of these North garden Structures was removed to make way for the Rose Garden & Gazebo on the grounds. I do not have the exact dates. I do know that it was removed by autumn 1981.

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