1957 New Car at the Disneyland Hotel

Here are some pictures of Jack & Bonita Wrather at the Disneyland Hotel with their brand-new 1957 Cadillac El Dorado.

Overheads

How about some overheads from various years?

February, 1963

August, 1966

September, 1968

October, 1972

August, 1975



January, 1982

Random Pictures

The brand-new Anaheim Convention Center 1967

The Spruce Goose & Queen Mary

Disneyland with the Disneyland Hotel in the foreground

A view of the Disneyland Hotel from the parking lot at Disneyland. Seems strange but, I miss that parking lot.

New Pics From the Vault Find

This one is cool because it has the LA Airways helicoptor flying over. This was taken just after this Tower opened for business in 1962.

This one is of particular interest. Notice the blue Monorail train. The postcard from almost the same view has a red Monorail train.

Hope you all like these.

Having Fun

Time and again I hear from the Wrather family that Jack and Bonita loved having fun especially in their various business ventures. The pictures below I think show just how fun it would have been to be an employee or a friend of Jack and Bonita Wrather. These were brochures they had printed documenting a road trip to help welcome their friends and business partners from New York City. John Loeb was in the investment firm of Carl M. Loeb, Rhoades & Company who were partners in numerous Wrather Company entities.

Now wouldn't this have been a fun trip?

For vintage Disneyland Hotel images, please visit: http://www.magicalhotel.printroom.com/


Our website for the definitive book on the history of the Disneyland Hotel is http://www.magicalhotel.com/

A Tale of Two Tents

I think I know what the tent is at Disneyland in the top photo. I have no idea what this tent was used for at the Disneyland Hotel in the bottom photo.

Anyway, I love aerial photos. It seems you always learn something new from them. In this case, I learned a tent was erected at the Disneyland Hotel in May of 1960. I will now have to find out what it was used for.

By the way, I have added 600 pictures to my Disneyland Hotel collection all of which are simply amazing. I would bet the majority have not been seen in as much as 50 years or maybe more. The two above being part of the 600.

For vintage Disneyland Hotel images, please visit: http://www.magicalhotel.printroom.com/


Our website for the definitive book on the history of the Disneyland Hotel is http://www.magicalhotel.com/

1956 Overheads

These aerial view pictures were all taken in 1956 and show the Disneyland Hotel surrounded by citrus groves. I had never seen these before. The first four with very similar views are from February 16, 1956. Additional buildings located on S. West Street (center) intended to house services for Hotel guests were under construction. The 7 month old Disneyland is visible in the background.

The next photograph is from November 2, 1956.

This photo shows all of Disneyland and just a bit of the Hotel at the left bottom. The caption reads: Aerial view of Disneyland amusement park located at 1313 S. Harbor Boulevard as well as surrounding neighborhoods in Anaheim; view is looking northeast. The Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) and Harbor Boulevard can be seen beyond the park (horizontally, upper middle) and numerous orange orchards are scattered throughout.

For vintage Disneyland Hotel images, please visit: http://www.magicalhotel.printroom.com/


Our website for the definitive book on the history of the Disneyland Hotel is http://www.magicalhotel.com/

Please Help Date this Photo

Can anybody help to date this overhead picture? Please provide evidence to support your year.

Update on Garden Rooms....Dateline September 10, 1958

I just started reading over some of the documents from a pile of roughly 1000 documents I scanned from the Wrather archives. The date of the letter is September 10, 1958 and it is addressed to a bank which helped Jack Wrather many times through the years with the financing of the Disneyland Hotel. The letter states, "we have just started a building with 36 additional units, making a total for the Hotel of 236." This building , the ninth of eleven Garden type structures would actually have 34 rooms making the total 234 rooms at the Disneyland Hotel. I know the building was operational by July 4th, 1959 from an overhead picture I have but I have no information on when it actually first opened. It all depends on how long it took to build this single structure. I do know that the litigation between Wrather and Alvarez is what prevented building further additions to the Hotel between 1956 and 1958. On August 8, 1958 the litigation's ended and Jack Wrather bought out Helen Alvarez from all of their joint holdings which included a 50% share in  the Disneyland Hotel. Based on this September date, expansion began almost immediately after the court cases were settled.

Another mystery solved....sort of.

For vintage Disneyland Hotel images, please visit: http://www.magicalhotel.printroom.com/


Our website for the definitive book on the history of the Disneyland Hotel is http://www.magicalhotel.com/

Two Story Buildings Room Count-Finally!

The Disneyland Hotel continued to grow in size and room numbers well into the late 70's. One thing I have never been able to get is an accurate count of room capacity per building for the original two-story guest accommodation structures. These structures were built between1955 and 1960 and totalled eleven buildings. I had room totals for multiple buildings but never actual counts for individual buildings....until now. I was able to purchase a Hotel telephone directory from the 1960's (some time between 1962 - 1965) which not only listed total rooms per building but it actually gives the room number and telephone extension of each room as well as all Hotel shops, services and offices.

 This first picture is from 1956 and I have inserted the room count on each building. I just love finding fascinating facts and information from the Hotel's history. At least, fascinating to me.

This overhead shot was taken some time in 1956, my guess would be June or July. The three North Garden structures were not quite finished as there is still construction going on as evident in this photo. The pool looks finished however it does not look like anybody is swimming. The pool opened late June/early July 1956.

This second shot was taken in 1960. The ninth structure (34 rooms) in the right foreground, was added some time in 1958 or 1959, I could never find the actual date. The last two Garden Structures that were added to the property are on the far right of the picture and contained 36 rooms each bringing the total to 306 total rooms by 1960. The Hotel would soon begin building up instead of out when the first tower was added in 1962.

Again, I have inserted room totals on the new buildings added in 1958/59 and 1960.

For vintage Disneyland Hotel images, please visit: http://www.magicalhotel.printroom.com/

Our website for the definitive book on the history of the Disneyland Hotel is http://www.magicalhotel.com/