Hello, Disneyland was a huge attraction for a couple of young kids from the Westside of Long Beach. We had access to the Long Beach Pike amusement area a few miles away, but this new place east of us was going to be something else... According to all of the articles we saw in magazines and newspapers, there were no comparisons. Getting there was simple. We drove to the closet East-West big street from our house (a couple of blocks) and turned right facing East. The street called Willow Street was a major street running from the beach area in Los Angeles’s South Bay Area (Sepulveda Blvd.) past the exit of Lion’s Dragstrip, past our house and headed East through several communities to reach Harbor Blvd, in the city of Anaheim. Cars file past the Disneyland sign in Anaheim, California, in 1959. Jnaki By the time the above photo was taken in 1959, we had gone several times as a family. Our first foray was in the Spring of 1956 and then a year or two later, again when something else was another attraction inside of the park. Our dad was a stickler about parking. He said the new amusement park was going to be crazy for attendance and especially for the huge parking lot in front of the main gate. So, we waited until one day, we all left early mid week and arrived to a fairly empty parking lot to spend all day enjoying the newest attraction to So Cal for us and a million other families. YRMV Today, it is not the best place to go due to the overabundance of folks from all over to see the fancy rides and a So Cal fixture in entertaining. Despite the competition from other amusement parks in So Cal, Disneyland is still crowded. But, technology is in the works… The old Autopia cars we loved so much as modified go-karts are now going through a changeover to all electric motors. Yikes! Thanks to our dad for the photos on the Autopia during 1955-56 Summer days in So Cal. Note: My wife and I just got back from a trip to a custom tile and stone slab store warehouse located across the freeway from Disneyland. As far as traffic, we could see the massive jam in all lanes of travel. We took a sort of “secret” road back to the coastal area by traveling farther inland to take a nice open area highway. By going inland, it did not add any more time, actually, the traffic vs the time going inland was faster due to little traffic and no stops. The usual flow of traffic was minimal. As we finished our visits, we took the freeways home as heading South, as it had much less traffic than heading North. So, driving on the So Cal roads can be hectic, but if one knows the time and dates, then it is a lot easier to drive and have fun. We left at 9:00 am and literally flew to the area of central OC. But, around 12 noon, the traffic was heavier, and if one knows where the bottle necks of the freeway systems are, then those can be bypassed. Two lanes into one makes traffic slow down, but once that is finished, then it flows at higher than normal posted speed. Freeways always have side roads parallel to the direction heading, so one must know those to keep moving in emergencies. YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
