More Hotels/Motels

Some additional local to Disenyland hotels and motels. Many touted their closeness to Disneyland and most were cheaper than the Disneyland Hotel.

Motel Receipt Magic Star - A 1965 receipt from the Magic Star Motel

Sandman Motel - The Sandman Motel which opened prior to Disneyland but this card is from 1957.

The Modernaire Motel - I loved the architectural style of this motel. It oozes 50's.

Magic Star Motel Soap Wrapper - Soap wrapper from the Magic Star Motel

Magic Star Motel Soap Wrapper - Soap wrapper from the Magic Star Motel

Tracking Buildings on the Disneyland Hotel Property

Today's posting shows an elusive, very early feature at the Disneyland Hotel. Work was done on an existing building on the property to convert it into the Disneyland Hotel's very first restaurant. It was called the Little Gourmet Restaurant and is mentioned in the Hotel's first brochure after it opened. I am not sure how long the Little Gourmet remained open for business as the Gourmet Restaurant was opened some eight or so months later. There was mention of this building being used as a storage facility in its last years. It was demolished some time prior to or near March of 1959 as I have photos of freshly dug ground from this timeframe. I have yet to find an interior photograph or menu or for that matter any item from the Little Gourmet Restaurant.

July 1955 - Richfield Service Station and Little Gourmet Restaurant buildings close-up. The Little Gourmet building (right middle) was an original ranch house on the Disneyland Hotel property and was converted into the first restaurant on the Hotel grounds. It was called the Little Gourmet and served customers until the (regular) Gourmet Restaurant opened some months later.

June 1960 - Little Gourmet is now gone. Probably removed around March 1959. See Fresh pavement square in lower middle of picture.

Miscellaneous Paper Items

I went through my Disneyland Hotel collection this weekend and made over 200 new scans which I will be sharing with you all. Hope you enjoy them.

http://www.magicalhotel.com

1956 Disneyland Hotel Menu

This menu is from November, 1956. The new restaurants had been open a little over 8 months at this time and were doing very well. Jack Wrather wrote several memos to the other investors that the restaurants had been doing much better than he had ever expected. In fact, the size of the restaurants had been expanded from the earlier planned drawings exactly for this. Jack had a forecast report done prior to the construction of the Hotel and it stated the restaurants had tremendous potential. In application, they even exceeded what was forecasted. They had good food in all price ranges and people beat a path to them.

Front cover of 1956 menu

1956 Menu - Look at those prices!!

Gourmet Restaurant placemat from the 1950's.

Parking Pass - 1950's Disneyland Hotel parking pass.

The reverse side of the colorful parking pass.

Walt and Jack Together

I found the picture posted below while conducting research for the addendums I am writing on the Disneyland Hotel book http://www.magicalhotel.com/. I do not know the date of the picture, any quesses with qualifying evidence? This picture was actually imbedded in a Wrather Corporation brochure from 1984. Walt definitely looks older than the pictures from the Hotel's grand opening in August, 1956 and he is dressed in a different clothing. My guess would be it was taken when the Monorail was extended over to the Disneyland Hotel.

BTW-the research was tremendously successful. I found at least four more pictures of Walt Disney and a member of the Wrather family together. Stay tuned as I will be posting these pictures just as soon as I get the scanned copies of them. The pictures as well as the new information I found are absolutely amazing.

Walt Disney with Jack Wrather at the Disneyland Hotel

1956 Disneyland Hotel Items

A mix of Hotel items for this entry. The postcard is very rare and is one of three originals I have from the Hotel. I have no idea how many different ones they produced and little is known about the origins of these. I heard they wanted to provide postcards for guests and used these black and white versions while the color ones were being produced but I cannot confirm this anywhere.

Original Postcard - When the Hotel opened, it used regular black and white photographs to use as postcards while the first color cards were being made. These are some of the rarest Hotel collectibles to find.

Dining Receipt 1956

Guest receipt tab from the Disneyland Hotel 1956

1956 Guest Card - Newspaper alert for guests staying at the Disneyland Hotel from 1956

1956 Guest Card - Newspaper alert card from 1956

Mystery Building

From the pictures below, can anyone identify the mystery building on the grounds of the Disneyland Hotel? I would think it was used to hand out towells, recreational supplies and maybe even refreshments and food. I have absolutely no information whatsoever on what it was. I do know that it was eventually replaced by the Plaza Buidling in 1966-67.

No mystery building in this 1956 picture, circled area.

The mystery building is circled. Does anyone remember what this building was used for? It was later replaced by the Plaza Building.

The mystery building is circled. I have no info on what this was used for, but I assume it was for recreational supplies, towells and possibly refreshments.

Was this where you got recreational equipment? Towells? Sunscrean? Refreshments?

1957 Still Shots From Film Footage

Below are some great shots that I captured from 16 mm film footage from 1957 at the Disneyland Hotel. There are some great shots of some areas not usually seen.

Disneyland Hotel 1957 - This would be where the Monorail would arrive in about 3.5 years

Interior Room - The interior of a guest room in 1957 at the Disneyland Hotel

1957 Hotel Arrival - Does anybody know what that tent is in the background at Disneyland?

1957 Lobby Area - Arrival at the Disneyland Hotel

Hotel Sign 1957 - Rare colr shot of the Disneyland Hotel sign

Exterior 1957 - Vintage cars and restaurant exteriors from 1957

More Movie Stills

Posting some more movie stills from the 1957 footage. There are some great shots contained within this footage. Check out http://www.magicalhotel.com for our website.

Entering the Disneyland Hotel Lobby in 1957

Walking to the pool, orange trees and lush landscaping along the way

Interior Room 1957 Disneyland Hotel - Television set inside a guest room at the Disneyland Hotel 1957

Hotel Grounds - The Disneyland Hotel featured orange trees aplenty on the grounds as exhibited in this 1957 picture.

Hotel Arrival - Lobby doors in background with embossed "DH" on the doors

Random Pictures

Just some random pictures from the Disneyland Hotel's past. Hope you like them.

September 1955 - Disneyland had been open for about two months and the mad rush was on to finish the Disneyland Hotel. Labor and construction strikes would slow the progress as well as a shortage of skilled laborers due to their work on Disneyland

1956 Pool Shot - Another angle of the Olympic-Size swimming pool

1959 Aerial - A very busy Disneyland parking lot and Disneyland Hotel from this July 1959 overhead shot.

1970 Aerial Shot - The Marina Tower had just opened and the actual Marina too. Initial Convention Center construction can also be seen on the left middle of this picture.

The Olympic-Size Pool 1956 - The fountains (shown in previous posts) are visible in the upper right of this 1956 photograph.

1965 Picture - If you look in the lower right corner, you can see the pit has been dug for the Plaza Building dating this photo to 1965/66. You can also see the Mini-Golf Course just beyond the Hotel parking lot near the top middle of the photograph.

Meeting Room

1957 Meeting Room