This color film offers a time-capsule look at a family vacation to Southern California in the summer of 1956, including a trip to Disneyland (celebrating just over a year in operation) as well as other landmarks and tourist attractions of the region, including Mission Santa Inés, Pea Soup Andersen’s, Wayfarers Chapel, and Marineland of the Pacific (TRT: 24:35).
Disneyland’s City Hall on “Main Street, U.S.A.” A wagon, “Bekins Van & Storage Co.” A horse-drawn trolley car, a carriage, and a fire truck wagon near the entrance of the theme park. “Disneyland Fire Dept.” (0:06). The Main Street Cinema’s marquee advertises Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Banky. A marching brass band in red uniforms. A cigar store Indian Native American stereotype statue outside a tobacconist shop (0:57). A Carnation milk and ice cream truck. A head-on view of the Disneyland Band (1:50). A circus wagon. Dining areas of “The Pavillion” with shade umbrellas. A sign: “See Prof. Keller’s Jungle Killers” (2:13). Log structures of Frontierland, thatched roofs of Adventureland. “Tiki’s Tropical Imports” (2:50). A passenger boat on the Jungle Cruise and the area surrounding the docks (3:18). Pedestrian parents and children. POV aboard the Jungle Cruise. Real alligators and false, ear-wiggling hippos (4:02). A sign for Adventureland. More Jungle Cruise footage: A fake rhino, elephant, lion, giraffe, hippo, and waterfall (4:18). A racist stereotyped figure of an African native (5:05). The Adventureland Bazaar (5:34). Sleeping Beauty Castle. The Mark Twain Riverboat (5:41). Couples dancing in pairs on a dancefloor (6:21). Our apparent host wears a hat and sunglasses. The Gullywhumper, one of the Mike Fink Keel Boats (6:51). A young boy holds a Frontierland cast member at gunpoint (7:24). The Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad (7:40). Signs for “The Plantation House, Chicken Dinners” and “Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen,” with a racist archetype of an antebellum “mammy” figure. The exterior of the “Miniature Horse Corral” and passing pedestrians (7:55). Closeups on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Fantasyland (8:30). A carousel. The Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship (9:00). The Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride. The Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland (9:34). The star woman tourist poses for a photo (10:13). The Mad Tea Party spinning teacup ride (10:17). Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Autopia (10:30). The Astro Jets, the Space Bar (10:47). Window shopping. The Swift Market House, “Fine Tobacco, Tobacconest.” Maxwell House (11:11). “Site of International Street, Grand Opening 1957.” A red flag with the face of Mickey Mouse (12:18). A historical landmark sign: “Mission Santa Ines”. Outside the historic Spanish mission in Solvang. A belltower, or campanario, tombstones, archways. A large cactus in a parking lot (12:42). A topiary in a field (13:49). A Solvang parking lot flying a Danish flag, a bakery, a hotel. A photo-op sign: “Andersen’s Pea Soup Restaurant” (14:27). The Solvang Windmill (15:23). The Santa Barbara County Courthouse, palm trees (16:04). A sculptural fountain of a man, woman, and dolphin. A coastal staircase, beachfront homes (16:53). Mussels. A wishing well. Flowers in bloom (18:11). Lloyd Wright architecture in Rancho Palos Verdes: “Wayfarers Chapel, Church of The New Jerusalem” (19:47). A scenic Pacific Ocean overlook (21:00). Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles. Plants, residential gardens (21:10). Marineland of the Pacific, “World’s Largest Oceanarium” features a trained seal performance. Seals balance balls on their noses (22:05). A meadow of flowers. A pelican. Penguins. A trained dolphin basketball show (23:14).
Disneyland opened on July 17th of 1955. By the time of this footage, many modifications and additions had already been made, including the new Tomorrowland Astro Jets. This footage was shot sometime between Junior Autopia’s opening on July 23rd and the closure of the short-lived “Jungle Killers” show in Fantasyland on September 7th of 1956.
Mission Santa Inés, Pea Soup Andersen’s, and Wayfarers Chapel remain open to tourists of the present day, while Clifton’s Cafeteria has undergone periods of closure and renovation. Marineland of the Pacific closed abruptly in early 1987 after being purchased by the owners of SeaWorld San Diego.
