Disneyland's Plaza Pavilion - Tahitian side 1959 - General Tiki

B bungy Member Joined: Dec 17, 2005 Posts: 77	B bungy Posted posted on Mon, May 22, 2006 9:43 AM Aloha! I am just back from this really hard job of dog sitting in Hawaii for a month.. It was a dirty job, but somewone had to do it!!! I hope this is getting to the right thread re: early Disneyland. I laughed and laughed about the womens outfits! Whenever I signed on as crew on a sail boat going to Hwaaii, I had to take along all that stuff in order to have it available if I had to FLY back to CA!!! The flight cost $99. and was 14 hours.. and all of us gals in dresses, hose, hats!! I just say thank you to all those flower children of the 60's that freed us!!! School was the same.. all these kids that complain becasue of their dress codes in this era, ought to be really grateful!!! Island Trade Store was in Disneyland at the very beginning in 1955. The main store was in the Bazaar, and took up 2 sections. One was tropical everything from decorations, to jewelry to shell lamps to tikis! The ohter was right across the way, and Dwight Long managed that one with all kinds of costume jewlry until he got his own Cameo Shop on Main Street. I can't remember the name of the man who started the Bazaar, but he leased the whole area from Disney, and sub-leased to all of us. It was the only shop like that in Disneyland. We paid 25% of our gross recepts as rent! Thatw as pretty high, but we had the highest volume of people there. There were seven shops in the Bazaar: Us, the Guatamalan Weavers, The Mexican Imports (thye also had shop in Frontierland, The Chinese, an Egyptian shop, a Hawaiian clohting shop with neat aloha shirts, and variuos other shops that went in and out of biz, like one that sold ant farms! When these went out of biz, we took over the spots and tried various other themes . Some successful, and some not. Jack Strenchengost (sp?) was the manager of the Bazaar, and poor Jack never had any friends because of his job! He was the watch dog.. and was always telling someone there what they could and could not do! The biggest problem was to keep us all from stepping on the toes of the guy next door. We all had to do high merchandising and some items could double for other store themes. The outside pix of island Trade Store was probably one of these extra stores we took over and re-decorated. I was there for only 2 years as manager, but frequently came back. I think Daddy had the shops for five years, and then Disney started not re-newing leases, and the Bazaar lost his and we lost ours by default! Today, I don't think their are any tourist areas shops not owned by Disney.. which is too bad, becasue there is no competition, and lots of items are the same now! Too bad they didn't invite all old timers back for their reunion, not just the employees! It would have been fun. Item: Since the Jungle Ride was so popular, most of the guys working on it were college students or pretty smart and lots of them went on to managemnet. I don't think any one can explain the fun that Disnyland was the first 2 years, until they started tightening up. There was just so much excitment going on.. and everything was s so new! I hope this reaches the "Thread"! Lots of Aloha, Auntie Bungy

Aloha! I am just back from this really hard job of dog sitting in Hawaii for a month.. It was a dirty job, but somewone had to do it!!!
I hope this is getting to the right thread re: early Disneyland. I laughed and laughed about the womens outfits! Whenever I signed on as crew on a sail boat going to Hwaaii, I had to take along all that stuff in order to have it available if I had to FLY back to CA!!! The flight cost $99. and was 14 hours.. and all of us gals in dresses, hose, hats!! I just say thank you to all those flower children of the 60's that freed us!!!
School was the same.. all these kids that complain becasue of their dress codes in this era, ought to be really grateful!!!

Island Trade Store was in Disneyland at the very beginning in 1955. The main store was in the Bazaar, and took up 2 sections. One was tropical everything from decorations, to jewelry to shell lamps to tikis! The ohter was right across the way, and Dwight Long managed that one with all kinds of costume jewlry until he got his own Cameo Shop on Main Street.
I can't remember the name of the man who started the Bazaar, but he leased the whole area from Disney, and sub-leased to all of us. It was the only shop like that in Disneyland. We paid 25% of our gross recepts as rent! Thatw as pretty high, but we had the highest volume of people there. There were seven shops in the Bazaar: Us, the Guatamalan Weavers, The Mexican Imports (thye also had shop in Frontierland, The Chinese, an Egyptian shop, a Hawaiian clohting shop with neat aloha shirts, and variuos other shops that went in and out of biz, like one that sold ant farms! When these went out of biz, we took over the spots and tried various other themes . Some successful, and some not.
Jack Strenchengost (sp?) was the manager of the Bazaar, and poor Jack never had any friends because of his job! He was the watch dog.. and was always telling someone there what they could and could not do! The biggest problem was to keep us all from stepping on the toes of the guy next door. We all had to do high merchandising and some items could double for other store themes.
The outside pix of island Trade Store was probably one of these extra stores we took over and re-decorated. I was there for only 2 years as manager, but frequently came back. I think Daddy had the shops for five years, and then Disney started not re-newing leases, and the Bazaar lost his and we lost ours by default! Today, I don't think their are any tourist areas shops not owned by Disney.. which is too bad, becasue there is no competition, and lots of items are the same now!
Too bad they didn't invite all old timers back for their reunion, not just the employees! It would have been fun.

Item: Since the Jungle Ride was so popular, most of the guys working on it were college students or pretty smart and lots of them went on to managemnet.
I don't think any one can explain the fun that Disnyland was the first 2 years, until they started tightening up. There was just so much excitment going on.. and everything was s so new!
I hope this reaches the "Thread"!
Lots of Aloha, Auntie Bungy

Post #233302 by bungy on Mon, May 22, 2006 9:43 AM