Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Town Square and Main Street, June 1963

It's time for two more scans from a June 1963 batch. I'm not very confident about the "June" part, since you'll see ladies wearing long overcoats. Even with SoCal's "June Gloom" it's usually pretty warm by the time month #6 rolls around. Maybe this was February or March.

Anyway, Gram and Gramps are enjoying one of Town Square's numerous benches. Well, Gram is anyway, her feet are tired. Gramps stands as straight as a poplar tree; "I'd sit, but my back doesn't bend". I'll bet he didn't put up with much nonsense. The Disneyland Railroad is stopped on the other side of the station, and a boy with mouse ears imagines the carnage he could cause with a genuine cannon. 

Time to wander up Main Street to see what's cookin'. Unlike most people, these folks are walking right in the street. What gives? They're not alone, at any rate. 

What's in the hands of that mother and her daughter?

Hey, it's a 1962 gate handout! So much for these being from 1963.


Nanook said...

I must agree [some] of the clothing seems to indicate temperatures other than what one would expect in June. But, all that patriotic bunting and flags does give a hint of possibly a time around the 4th of July... Oh, the questions.

Thanks, Major.

TokyoMagic! said...

Well, I would have missed them if you hadn't provided the close-up. But there they are, plain as day.....hostess pants! However, I've never seen someone so young wearing them. How bizarre. And the little girl has a babushka, too.

I guess in that first pic, grandma told everyone in the group that she would "watch" their coats, purses, cameras (and blanket?) What a good egg, she is! And I said it on November 16th, but I'll say it again, grandpa looks a little Walter Knott-y.

"Lou and Sue" said...

Twinsies In pic 2 - walking in the street, on the right.

Chuck said...

Looking over Grandma's right shoulder in the first photo, you can see people wearing a cowboy hat, a babushka, and...a beekeeper's net? What is that thing? It kind of reminds me (but not quite) of the thin, plastic, babushka-like wraps my grandmothers would wear to keep their hair dry in the rain.

On the bench behind the little artillerist is a guy puffing away on his pipe.

Late June & early July of 1962 saw daily high temperatures of 72-73 degrees and lows in the high 40s - low 50s, so these pictures could have been taken around the 4th of July 1962. I'll suggest July 1st since that was a Sunday and there are a lot of people dressed up.

DrGoat said...

That fellow does look particularly dour, and I'm getting some Wallace and Gromit vibes from Grandma. Kind of Yin and Yangish. I think those folks over Grandma's shoulder are from the Polish part of Texas. A little bit of country, a little bit of Pierogi. Nice photo Major.
You're right Lou & Sue, mysterious Asian twins. Boy I'd like to transport right into that photo. Maybe will some day, you never know.
Thanks Major. Do you remember where you acquired these photos?
PS, Watch it kid, you'll shoot your eye out. Or the door of the firehouse. Hope everyone is well and weathering the holiday season.

Stu29573 said...

In the first pic, Grandpa had just given the order to Junior to blow up Main Street. He then turned away as hit diabolical plan unfurls. Grandma grins as she enjoys her stash of stolen coats. Truly these people were evil.

JC Shannon said...

That man in pic one could be my eighth grade algebra teacher, Mr. Posner. He didn't have a sense of humor either. Did someone spot a UFO over the Matterhorn? Check out all the Men in Black in the second photo. "Nothing to see here folks, just some swamp gas and a weather balloon." Thanks Major.

Irene said...

Just like TM said - the first thing I thought of was Walter Knott about Gramps in the first picture! I have seen very few pictures of Walter Knott giving us a smile. He always stood straight and tall and looking very serious!!! And yet, thanks to him, we have much to smile about :)

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I suppose this could be one of those “June Gloom” days, but those are usually warm, even if they are overcast. It’s possible that 1962 had a colder June than one might expect.

TokyoMagic! I was thinking, “That little girl doesn’t have a babushka!”. And then I saw the other little girl in the background. So “hostess pants” are just Capri pants? I like the girl’s red sneakers. There’s a little boy with red sneakers too, what does it all mean? Grandma was probably happy to have an excuse to sit for a while, even if it meant “guarding” a pile of coats and purses.

Lou and Sue, do you think those two ladies went shopping together and both bought the same style of dress? And they both decided to wear them on the same day? It’s a little weird!

Chuck, that almost looks like one of those scenes you see in movies, with actors walking around in costume. Everyone’s on their lunch break; “I’m shooting a John Wayne picture”. “I’m playing the mother of a student in ‘Leave It to Beaver!’”. My grandmother had one of those thing plastic babushkas, only I thought hers was extra weird because it was sort of a translucent beige (“flesh”?) color. WHY? Did you just do a general search for SoCal weather, or do you own a copy of “Jason’s Disneyland Almanac”? I need to get my copy, which is at my mom’s house for some reason.

DrGoat, the man is so thin! I wonder if he did some sort of physical labor most of his life? A lot of the older men in my dad’s family were farmers, and they stayed thin into their 80s and 90s. Coming up, you’ll see a photo of Skinny on a Flying Saucer, with a smile on his face, so maybe he might have been less of a curmudgeon than it appears. I probably got these on eBay, the source of ALL things. I just finished my Christmas shopping yesterday (last item: an electric leaf blower from Home Depot), so I am THRILLED to be done.

Stu29573, ha ha, it’s true, we just assume that grandma is watching those coats. What happened to the women who wore them? Nobody ever saw them again. The Disneyland RR went through a tunnel, and when it emerged into the sunlight, the women were gone. Sort of like Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes”.

Jonathan, oh boy, it sounds like you had a doozy of a teacher! I had an algebra teacher who talked about the Battle of the Bulge (which he fought in), and he wrote on the chalkboard so hard that he was always breaking the chalk. I was so scared of him that it was one of the few times I got a good grade in math! All those suits, Chuck is probably right, this had to have been a Sunday.

Irene, I thought of Walter Knott too, another older gentleman who doesn’t look like he suffered fools gladly. Maybe Walter loved to laugh and was lots of fun! But it never appears that way in photos. You wouldn’t think that he would be the kind of person that would want to build a place for people to enjoy themselves, but, as you said, he brought us that wonderful Berry Farm!

Anonymous said...

The elderly gentleman looks like two men I remember. The first one had the farm next to us and looked just like our example this morning. Same glasses, same gray suit.

The second one was the minister of a little church in the next town, who we knew socially. He had a little more hair, but the same suit, posture, and expression.

Some great images and research here, thanks everyone.


"Lou and Sue" said...


Major, it isn't weird from a girl's point of view. In my younger years, I twice shopped with my girlfriends and we bought matching dresses. And, yes, we wore them at the same time. It's a "sister" thing, even though we weren't sisters - just best of friends. (I'm sure Melissa will agree.) It would be worse to wear "the dresses" on different days - as it would look like you were trading the same dress back and forth. And that I learned to stopped doing, after one of my other friends returned my dress with new permanent armpit stains. Eew!

Major, if you and your friends bought matching dresses, that would be weird! ;)

Chuck said...

Major, I looked the weather up at The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, yes, “farmer” and “small town minister” both fit! This guy isn’t messing around. I wonder if he enjoyed his day at Disneyland? This is yet another case of wishing we knew something about the person (or people) in the photos.

Lou and Sue, I guess I can see that… hey, girls go to the restroom in groups, why wouldn’t they buy clothing that way too! As for your friend returning a dress with armpit stains… YUCK! Too bad you didn’t have an incinerator to throw it in. While your friend watched. Hey, ever since the grunge movement, nobody bats an eye at guys who wear skirts. Right? RIGHT??

Chuck, I had no idea that site existed. Interesting!