Post #217420 by mbonga on Sun, Feb 26, 2006 1:27 AM

On 2002-09-04 20:09, Humuhumu wrote:
I've always been intrigued by the mini golf place right next to Disneyland.
...
Does anyone here know the place I'm talking about?

There used to be a miniature golf right across the street from Disneyland, on Harbor Blvd., on the northeast corner of what is now called Disney Way. I think the street had a different name in the 1970s. It's the street that Melodyland (church) is on.

When I lived in Anaheim in the '70s, I started attending Melodyland and I heard the other people in the youth group complaining about how their Melodyland youth outings used to almost always go to that miniature golf, and how tiring that got. Since I had always wanted to go to that miniature golf with somebody, I was so dismayed at having just missed that era of all their trips! I never did get to go, and now that miniature golf is gone.

The address of Melodyland I see online is 400 West Freedman Way, so maybe Freedman Way is the old name of that cross street where the miniature golf was. How that area has changed! It was nearly unrecognizable to me the last time I visited a few years ago. The entire Haster St. overpass area, the areas flanking both sides of the I-5 before it was widened, the entire area around the Howard Johnson's, all had the street layouts so drastically altered that the area didn't even look familiar, other than the HoJos itself, which mercifully was virtually unchanged in architecture and landscaping since the '70s, other than losing part of their back parking lot to the widened I-5.

Ah, the good old days. Back then things had character. There was a Polynesian themed motel just south of that miniature golf corner for a while, too. I used to be able to run down the dirt bank of Haster onto Disney Way. There used to be an attractive camper grounds area [Trailerland Park] on the southwest corner of Ball Rd. with many shade trees and lots of young honeys always running around there in swimsuits. A family Mexican restaurant. An old lady always doing gardening in her front lawn near the corner. Now it's all sterile, bland hotels, an extremely noisy and extremely wide freeway, a chain Taco Bell, etc. That's what I hate about "progress." In my opinion all those changes are "regress."

P.S.:
Look what I just found, after posting this message! A postcard showing Harbor Blvd. with Disneyland on one side and your miniature golf on the other! I can't quite read the name of it, though.

http://65.254.59.194/~vstapf/apc/25.html

Check out that site's main web page, too. Excellent collection of vintage Anaheim postcards!!!

http://65.254.59.194/~vstapf/potf.html

And indeed former Freedman Way = current Disney Way:
http://www.yesterland.com/otherlands.html

Addendum (2-27-06):

I'm told there was a second miniature golf near Disneyland, at the Disneyland Hotel. If I recall correctly, this was on West Cerritos Avenue, now West Magic Way, on the north side of the street across from the hotel's main entrance. Check out this vintage score card for that miniature golf course! I wish I had photos of it.

http://keeline.com/DL-MiniGolf/

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-02-26 03:12 ]

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-02-26 03:33 ]

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-02-27 02:21 ]