Beautiful Vintage Color Photos of Disneyland on Its Opening Day in 1955

After more than two decades of preparation and construction, Walt Disney’s biggest dream finally became true, as Disneyland opened for the first time in Anaheim, California on July 17, 1955. The public interest in the attraction was not little in the least, as an estimated 70 million people tuned in to watch the 90-minute live broadcast of the theme park’s opening on ABC.

Planted flowers forming design of Mickey Mouse's face.

In reality, however, that historic Sunday was far from perfect. In fact, the rush to complete construction led to numerous problems, considering that the park was not yet fully prepared to host such a huge amount of tourists. Even though the opening was intended to be limited to about 15,000 selected invitees, more than 20,000 guests eventually showed up and passed through the gates thanks to counterfeit tickets, which caused the theme park to be considerably overloaded. 

Such issues, nonetheless, barely had any impact on the attraction’s tangible charm. Within several weeks after the official public opening day, it was reported that Disneyland’s attendance had surpassed 1 million visitors. Here, a look back at the park’s opening day through 36 beautiful vintage color photographs taken by LIFE photographer Loomis Dean:

An elevated view of the park.

Opening day parade.

Opening day parade.

Children running towards the Sleeping Beauty's castle.

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Rare Photos of Marilyn Monroe Auditioning for a Play at the Players Ring Theatre in Los Angeles, 1950

In March 1950, Marilyn Monroe attended an audition for roles at the newly formed Players Ring Theater in Los Angeles. She didn’t win any roles at the theater, but she did win a role in The Fireball soon after.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage and married at age 16. She was working in a factory as part of the war effort during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures.

After a series of minor film roles, she signed a new contract with Fox in late 1950. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don’t Bother to Knock. She faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photos before she became a star, but the story did not damage her career and instead resulted in increased interest in her films.

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Rita Aarons Swimming in a Pool Festooned With Floating Baubles and a Decorated Christmas Tree, Hollywood, 1954

A vintage image shows Rita Aarons, wife of photographer Slim Aarons, on a lilo in a swimming pool decorated for Christmas, Hollywood, 1954. The Hollywood sign can be seen in the distance.

Slim Aarons (1916–2006) worked mainly for society publications photographing “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.” Taking pictures of the rich and famous both before and after serving as a photographer for the US military magazine Yank during World War II. His work has been included in the publications Town and Country, Holiday, Venture, LIFE and most well known for his photograph Poolside Glamour.

Closely aligned with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Aarons declined to join them in the founding of Magnum, leaving behind the world of black and white for sun-dazed glamour and frivolity. His intimate portrayals of the in crowd and jet set are rich in the wit and charisma that afforded Aarons such incomparable access to the highest of societies.

Inventor Preparing to Test His Self Propelled Aquaplane, 1935

The Shapson Aquaplane, invented by S. Shapiro, was demonstrated for the firs time on the beach at Santa Monica, California. The inventor is shown here strapping the Aquaplane onto Miss Margaret Travis. The Model is 44 inches over all and is fastened to the swimmer by means of straps and with each hand turns the cranks which revolve a small propeller that is located in the stern of the Aquaplane. A speed of 12 knots can be obtained.

When completed the new type Aquaplane would be five feet high and five feet wide. The buoyancy tanks would be 10 inches in diameter, made of bronze and would support 180 pounds. It was expected that life saving guard stations along the Southern California Beaches would add the new device as part of their equipment of rescue work during the coming summer.

November 23, 1889: The First Jukebox Was Installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco

Thomas Edison had announced the invention of the phonograph in November 1877 and, within a decade, the technology had found an army of manufacturers and distributors who wanted to exploit its commercial potential.

Realizing that the cost of purchasing a phonograph was beyond the reach of most consumers, Louis T. Glass and William S. Arnold of the Pacific Phonograph Company created their device to allow the public to pay to hear a single recording. Their invention featured an Edison Class M Electric Phonograph inside a wooden cabinet, which was fitted with four listening tubes resembling stethoscopes. Customers inserted a five cent piece in the slot to listen.

The first machine was installed at the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco, just two blocks away from the offices of the Pacific Phonograph Company. Although the bar closed within a year, the invention was incredibly successful. Glass boasted that he made more than $1,000 in the first six months of operation and, spurred on by the promise of such high earnings, the concept soon spread.

(Photo: Bettmann/Corbis)

The first devices were limited to playing back a single wax cylinder. However, following the introduction of recordings pressed on to discs, improvements were made to public phonographs that eventually allowed customers to choose from a broad range of music.

In the 1940s these devices, many fitted with carousels to provide a wide choice of records, had become known as jukeboxes. By this time up to three-quarters of all records produced in the United States went into jukeboxes, arguably making the ‘Nickel-In-The-Slot Phonograph’ the catalyst for the modern music industry.

Beautiful Photos Documented the Marriage Ceremony of a California’s Couple in 1957

A small collection of beautiful vintage photos from Devil Doll documented the marriage ceremony of her parents in California on June 23, 1957. These photos were taken by Don W. Jones Photography.

The bride, Oakland, CA, June 23, 1957

Mom and her bridesmaids (her sister, my aunt Jane, is helping with her shoe), Oakland, CA, June 23, 1957

The ceremony, St. Peter's Church, Oakland, CA, June 23, 1957

   Man and wife, St. Peter's Church, Oakland, CA, June 23, 1957

Posing by the altar at St. Peter's Church, Oakland, CA, June 23, 1957

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Slash Before the Hair: Pictures of 17-Year-Old Saul “Slash” Hudson Playing at Fairfax High School, California in 1982

Saul Hudson, better known as Slash, was 17 when these pictures were taken at Fairfax High School, Los Angeles in 1982. It was lunchtime on Friday, June 4, and Saul was playing lead with his first band, Tidus Sloan.

Slash is a British-American musician. His mother was African American, and Slash regarded himself as both British and black, “As a musician, I’ve always been amused that I’m both British and black; particularly because so many American musicians seem to aspire to be British while so many British musicians, in the Sixties in particular, went to such great pains to be black.”

Time magazine named him runner-up on their list of “The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players” in 2009, while Rolling Stone placed him at number 65 on their list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” in 2011. In 2010, Gibson Guitar Corporation ranked Slash as number 34 on their “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”, while their readers landed him number 9 on Gibson’s “Top 25 Guitarists of All Time”. In 2012, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N’ Roses’ classic lineup.

(Photos: Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

The First Air-to-Air Refueling, Long Beach, California, November 12, 1921

Aerial refueling allows aircraft engines to receive fuel while in flight and today is common for many large air forces. It is the equivalent of refueling your car by connecting it to a tanker truck while driving down the highway at high speed.

In 1917, a pilot in the Imperial Russian Navy, Alexander P. de Seversky, proposed increasing the range of combat aircraft by refueling them in flight. De Seversky soon emigrated to the United States and became an engineer in the War Department. He applied for and received the first patent for air-to-air refueling in 1921.

The first actual transfer of fuel from one aircraft to another was little more than a stunt. On November 12, 1921, wingwalker Wesley May climbed from a Lincoln Standard to a Curtiss JN-4 airplane with a can of fuel strapped to his back. When he reached the JN-4, he poured the fuel into its gas tank. Needless to say, this was not the most practical way of refueling an airplane in flight.

Wesley May can be seen climbing from the Lincoln Standard (lower left) to the Curtiss Jenny (upper right) — the rectangular fuel can can be seen strapped to his back as he dangles from the bottom of the Jenny’s lower left wing. (Photo credit: Peter M. Bowers Collection, Seattle Museum of Flight)

In 1923, the U.S. Army undertook tests at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, to test a more practical way to lower a hose from one airplane to refuel another in flight. In its tests, a DH-4B biplane outfitted as a tanker and equipped with a 50-foot (15-meter) length of hose and a quick-acting shutoff valve would fly above the receiver and lower the hose. The person in the rear seat of the receiver aircraft would grab the hose and connect it to the aircraft. If the hose became detached, the valve would immediately cut off the flow, preventing it from spraying fuel over the receiving aircraft and its pilot.

The first flight was made on April 20, 1923. The aircraft remained attached for 40 minutes but intentionally passed no fuel. The equipment was tested over the next several months with numerous fuel transfers. On June 27, the pilots made an attempt on the aircraft flying endurance record. By August 27, using this technique, one of the DH-4Bs established 14 world records with a flight lasting more than 37 hours.

Capt. Lowell Smith and Lt. John P. Richter receiving the first mid-air refueling on June 27, 1923. The DH-4B biplane remained aloft over the skies of Rockwell Field in San Diego, California, for 37 hours. (Photo credit: USAF)

This achievement prompted many private pilots to attempt aerial (or in-flight) refueling, primarily to establish long duration flying records. By June 1930, the record surpassed 553 hours in flight (requiring 223 refueling contacts). In July, the record was 647.5 hours in the Curtiss Robin monoplane Greater St. Louis early 27 days in the air. Pilots lived in the noisy, cramped, smelly confines of their airplanes for weeks at a time without ever touching the ground, occasionally climbing out on special scaffolding to service the engines in flight.

In-flight refueling of the aircraft Curtiss Robin.

Despite all this activity, the technology for aerial refueling had not advanced significantly and pilots still used the clumsy and dangerous dangling-hose method. In 1930, a Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron leader, Richard L.R. Atcherly, developed a safer and simpler method, called the looped hose method. In this method, the receiving aircraft trailed a long horizontal line with a grapnel at the end. The tanker trailed a weighted line and approached the receiver from behind and to one side. It then crossed to the other side, causing the two lines to cross and touch. The receiver aircraft then hauled in the lines and the hose from the tanker. The RAF continued to refine this system, including adding a drogue to the hose that created drag and assisted in unwheeling the hose in flight. (A drogue is a special type of parachute that, in this instance, was used to ensure that the hose trailed behind the airplane and did not flop around.)

From such humble beginnings, aerial refueling has become the key enabling factor of military air power.  Without it, the ability to hit targets anywhere in the world would be nearly impossible.  Another key benefit of aerial refueling is that fighter-bombers are able to take off with heavier loads and far less fuel, by then “tanking up” once at altitude.  This way, modern aircraft can take off with weapons loads that far exceed what was once possible.  Likewise, cargo aircraft can lift off with extraordinary loads and tank up while en route — for every pound of fuel that can be saved at take off, more cargo or weapons can be lifted off into the air.

Mickey Mouse Driving Personalized Car, 1933

Thousands of people in all parts of the world laugh and enjoy the antics of Mickey Mouse, the star of stars, but few know the painstaking and intricate work necessary in the making of the popular film. Scores of artists and sound experts work in the Mickey Mouse Studio just outside of Los Angeles, making thousands of drawings and sound accompaniments under the direction of Walt Disney, creator of Mickey. Here is Mickey at the wheel of his own car, bearing his personal coat of arms, at the studio.

(Bettmann/Getty Images)

Here’s another rare photograph of Walt Disney posing in the driveway of the Hyperion Avenue studio with performer Toots Novelle costumed as Mickey sitting on top of the Austin 7:

(Walt Disney Archives)

By 1930 it was obvious that the popularity of Mickey Mouse was only growing. As the studio met with great success Disney continued to upgrade the production value of the animation and introduce greater complexity and attention to detail. Watching these shorts now it’s easy to track the progress made from year to year, or even month to month, as the artists at the studio developed their skill and technical prowess.

40 Vintage Postcards Show How California Has Changed Since the Mid-1950s

At the end of World War II, many Americans began to move out of the cities and into the suburbs. In response to chronic housing shortages, the federal government offered generous home loans to war veterans, and tax benefits for home ownership.

Aggressive building of highway systems and the parallel rise in automobile ownership contributed to the development of communities well beyond urban centers. These and other incentives effectively jump-started the modern era of the single-family suburban home and the suburban revolution.

California was no exception. Between 1950 and 1970, the nation’s suburban population doubled (from 36 million to 74 million residents), with 83 percent of the nation’s growth in the suburbs. California’s abundant land, cheap labor, and mild climate put it in the vanguard of the new housing movement.

These amazing postcards from Alberta Mayo were taken by Frank J. Thomas that show street scenes of California in the mid-1950s.

Glendale. Brand Boulevard

Glendale. Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Arroyo Seco Parkway

Burbank. NBC Color Television Studios

Hollywood. Entrance to Hollywood Bowl

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Vintage Photos of the 1950s-1970s Los Angeles Art Scene by Frank J. Thomas

Frank J. Thomas (1936–2019) was an American photographer, typographer, and printer. In 1959 he and his wife Phyllis founded Tenfingers Press in Los Angeles, out of “a desire to print and publish small books for a limited public.”

1950s-1970s Los Angeles Art Scene by Frank J. Thomas

Their output over the next 21 years was eclectic, ranging from literary epigrams done in whimsical typography to miniature books to a history of California cattle brands.

These amazing vintage photos of artists, exhibitions and people involved with the arts were taken by Frank J. Thomas from between the 1950s and 1970s.

Robert Stack admiring a painting by Keith Finch, November 1950

Paul Wonner, circa 1950s

Jack Zajac, circa 1960s

John McLaughlin, circa 1960s

Paul Sarkisian, circa 1960

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Amazing Vintage Photos of Passengers Riding Mount Lowe’s Cable Incline in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

The Great Incline or Mountain Elevator was about 2,590 feet (789 m) long and rose 1,238 feet (377 m) in elevation, from 1,954 feet (596 m) at Rubio Canyon to 3,192 feet (973 m) at Echo Mountain. The incline started out at a slope of 57% grade and increased to almost 62% grade before dropping back to 52% grade and finished at 39% grade at the top. Because of the two major bends in the incline, you could not see the top from the bottom, or the bottom from the top. This meant that the passengers on the incline cars could not see the other car until both cars were near the passing tracks at the center turnout. After they had passed at the turnout they would again lose sight of the opposing car as the car traveling up went over the bend and onto the 52% grade.

The Mount Lowe Railway was born from a desire of the Pasadena Pioneers to have a scenic mountain railroad to the crest of the San Gabriel Mountains. There was already established a trail to the peak of Mount Wilson, but that trip was arduous and ofttimes required more than a day to travel up and down. Several proposals were floated to establish some sort of mechanical transportation to the summits, but they all lacked funding.

David J. Macpherson, a civil engineer from Cornell University and a newcomer to Pasadena (1885), proposed a steam driven cog wheel train to reach the crest via Mount Wilson. It wasn’t until he was introduced to the millionaire Thaddeus S. C. Lowe (arrived in Pasadena 1890) that a fully funded plan could be put into action. The two men visited Colorado to view the mountain railway to Pike’s Peak. Lowe was impressed with the trolley car systems in the city and thought that should be the way to go. This would make the Mount Lowe Railway the only electric traction rail line ever to be put into scenic mountain railway service.

Work was begun on the Great Incline with such steep grades that no mule could be flogged enough into negotiating it. Instead, materials were carried up on the back of laborers. Grading became a particular problem. While funiculars were usually considered to require four rails, two for the ascending car, and two for the descending car, there was not enough room to widen the grade to accommodate four rails. Over night the inventive Thaddeus Lowe came up with a plan to only use four rails where the cars pass each other and three rails on the upper and lower ends of the run, whereby the cars shared the center rail. The ingenious three-railed funicular not only fit, but it also reduced the amount of required materials. This three-railed design has been applied on other places as well (e.g. Angels Flight).

A great feat of engineering was realized with a trestle that was built to negotiate a 150-foot-deep (46 m) granite chasm across 250 feet (76 m) of track on a 62% grade. The trestle was named, as was customary in railroad constructions, for the chief engineer, David Macpherson, thus, the Macpherson Trestle.

Excavating for Mt. Lowe Incline, ca. 1890.

Workers completing the Incline Track about 3/4 of the way up to Echo Mt., ca. 1892.

Graded incline track installation, ca. 1892.

Incline trucks during construction, ca. 1892.

Incline workers at Rubio platform with hay, horse feed and lumber.

The Great Incline cable mechanism was engineered by Andrew Smith Hallidie of San Francisco cable car fame. It climbed 2,200 feet (670 m) with approximately 6,000 feet (1,800 m) of cable spliced into a complete loop which raised and lowered the cars of the Incline. At the Echo summit an incline powerhouse was erected to house the winding motor and gear works which powered the 9-foot-diameter (2.7 m) grip wheel. The wheel consisted of 72 clamping “finger” mechanisms which bit down on the cable creating a smooth, non-slip actuation of the winding cable.

The cable was a ​1 5⁄8-inch (41.275 mm) steel cable spliced in two spots, one below each of the incline passenger cars and looped in a continuous strand around the grip wheel at the top of the incline and a tension wheel at the bottom.

The incline grade changed three times from a steep 62% grade at the base to a gentler 48% grade at the top, but the cars were designed to comfortably adjust to the differences in grade. The incline was also equipped with a safety cable which ran through an emergency braking mechanism under each car and provided an emergency stopping of the cars within 15 feet (4.6 m) should a failure of the main cable occur.

Souvenir photo showing a group of visitors posing for the photographer at the top of the incline, early 1900s.

One of the cable cars, named ‘Rubio’ sits at the bottom with some passengers aboard and others waiting nearby, ca. 1893. Also on the left is the electric car which brought customers to the station from Mountain Junction.

A group poses in the car at the bottom of the Great Incline below Echo Mountain, ca. 1893. In the upper left corner of the group is Professor T.S.C. Lowe, the founder of the Mount Lowe project and the Mount Lowe Railway.

View looking down the Great Incline showing how the three-rail tracks widen to four at the center of the line, enabling the cars to pass each other, 1906. Note workmen on the right side of track.

A group poses in the car at the bottom of the incline and in front of the Mount Lowe trolley, 1893.

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