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View Full Version : Disneyland-area hotels in the '70s



Wiggler
04-20-2005, 11:09 AM
Does anyone remember the Magic Lamp hotel? We stayed there a lot in the 70's and I was just thinking of it. It must be gone now. There were a string of low budget hotel/motels along that street facing Disneyland. I remember the hotel with all of the topiaries in front, too. I am showing my age! Disneyland holds the best memories of my entire childhood. ;)

Osky
04-20-2005, 11:15 AM
Does anyone remember the Magic Lamp hotel?

Isn't it still there on Katella? The Magic Lamp Motel?

PDDsufferer
04-20-2005, 11:31 AM
When I was about 4 we stayed at the Space Age Motel - I still remember the cool blue plastic sparkly doorknobs...those doorknobs and the teacups are about all I remember of that trip!

DisneyGirl8696
04-20-2005, 11:32 AM
Yes - it is still there in a way - it is now the Annabella (which also consists of the old Magic Carpet Motel that was next store). We stayed there a lot when i was younger and then stayed again about 9 years ago when my DD was an infant. It was in total disrepair. We checked in to a corner room that was dark and dreary with bars on the window. Outside the window was a lot of garbage and cans. It was filthy and with my new baby i didin't want to stay there. We tried to find another hotel but everything was booked due to conventions and it being mid June. They did give us another room that had been remodeled recently and it was much better - but after that experience i swore never to stay there again ... i would like to try now that the Annabella is there-i hear it's nice,

Does anyone remember the Muskateer hotel? It was cheap and did the job for sleeping and showering. It was on Katella - i think it's a car rental or something now (i think it was next to the Alpine). We stayed there every year and my family got to know the lady at the reception desk so well we would call her personally and ask for cheaper rooms. You could walk right over to the Katella entrance and you were in the parking lot and hop a tram to the main entrance.

DisneylandForever
04-20-2005, 11:37 AM
Didn't they have a hotel on Katella called the "Cosmic Age?" It had the cheesy big 70's 'stars' everywhere, and all the bushes outside where shaped like animals. OMG! I can't believe I remember that.

3894
04-20-2005, 11:45 AM
The Jolly Roger, all the way!

Klutch
04-20-2005, 11:47 AM
When I was about 4 we stayed at the Space Age Motel - I still remember the cool blue plastic sparkly doorknobs...those doorknobs and the teacups are about all I remember of that trip!

I remember that place! I always looked intently whenever we drove by the area. Although quite cheesey by today's standard, I thought that hotel looked cool. I'm pretty sure it had lots of topiery out front.

I never stayed in any of those hotels because, back then, we lived only a few miles away.

richas
04-20-2005, 12:49 PM
We used to stay at the Space Age place and also the Candy Cane when it was decorated with candy canes! Also remember the Hawiian themed one!

passthepixiedust
04-20-2005, 03:00 PM
In about....1983 or 84 I stayed in a hotel across from Disney, it was the "Grand" hotel. I remember it as being very tall, but am not sure what it is today or even if it is still there.

pirateabbie
04-20-2005, 03:21 PM
We used to stay at the Conestoga hotel. So many wagon wheels....

Wiggler
04-20-2005, 06:25 PM
I remember the Muskateer! Those hotels were so themed in those days! I also remember the Peter Pan and Razamataz! We stayed at the Heidi once, and it was sooooooo dirty, I had an asthma attack and ended up in the hospital! Those were the days when people had pets in their rooms, shag carpeting, and smoked everywhere!

Opus1guy
04-20-2005, 06:58 PM
You'll find lots of cool photos about old Anaheim hotels at this web site:

http://www.synthetrix.com/

Click upper right: "Photos Of The Forgotten." Be sure to check out the "Postcards of the Past" one in there for many pages of shots of classic Anaheim hotels of the past (and some pretty classic hairdos of the past too!).

Since I grew up in this area during this period, a lot of stuff on that web site...I can really relate to!

spectromen
04-20-2005, 07:13 PM
In about....1983 or 84 I stayed in a hotel across from Disney, it was the "Grand" hotel. I remember it as being very tall, but am not sure what it is today or even if it is still there.

It's gone and is now a parking lot owned by Disney :(
I had really hoped it would get renovated but instead there was a sale of all the contents right after it closed. This was in 1996. I was so sentimental about the place, I bought a full hotel room's worth of furniture and set it up as my master bedroom, lol! What can I say, it was my first home - and it didn't look half bad! Most if it I've now sold off except the hotel logo-imprinted garbage can, which I still use to pick up my dog's...well, you get the picture :rolleyes: Looking back, I just wish I had bought one of those beautiful crystal chandeleirs from the ballrooms - you just don't see that stuff in hotels anymore around here.

Wiggler
04-21-2005, 04:36 AM
Thanks so much for the link, Opus1guy! Those were some fantastic old photos! I remember Japanese village! I was very young, but we have photos!

vmjess
04-21-2005, 07:43 AM
We stayed at the Conastoga Inn too- My Dad used to say pretend you are in Frontierland! All the wagon wheels and covered wagon stuff.

We also stayed alot at the places between the Disneyland Hotel and what is now Paradise Pier Hotel- one had all the topiaries. Stovall's Inn I think...

crazi4dlr
04-21-2005, 08:13 AM
Does anyone remember the Magic Lamp hotel? We stayed there a lot in the 70's and I was just thinking of it. It must be gone now. There were a string of low budget hotel/motels along that street facing Disneyland. I remember the hotel with all of the topiaries in front, too. I am showing my age! Disneyland holds the best memories of my entire childhood. ;)

Stayed there everytime we went to DL in the 60's and 70's. great motel right across the street on Katella. Mom and Dad wouldn't stay anywhere else. Miss those days.

Terri
04-21-2005, 08:30 AM
You'll find lots of cool photos about old Anaheim hotels at this web site:

http://www.synthetrix.com/

Click upper right: "Photos Of The Forgotten." Be sure to check out the "Postcards of the Past" one in there for many pages of shots of classic Anaheim hotels of the past (and some pretty classic hairdos of the past too!).

Since I grew up in this area during this period, a lot of stuff on that web site...I can really relate to!


Wow...what incredible memories! I had to email the site to a couple of friends of mine from high school (we went to Katella Hi). I used to live in an apartment right behind the Space Age hotel. We used to bowl at the WonderBowl and walk through the hotel to get there and back from my apartment. That was 1980-1982.

DisneylandForever
04-21-2005, 10:31 AM
In about....1983 or 84 I stayed in a hotel across from Disney, it was the "Grand" hotel. I remember it as being very tall, but am not sure what it is today or even if it is still there.

I remember that one too!

I also remember that the Paradise Pier used to be the Pan Pacific. And before that, it was The Emerald of Anaheim.

Hawaiian Cinderella
04-21-2005, 12:18 PM
Thanks for the link Opus1Guy...it brought back a lot of childhood memories. I remember going to that Japanese Deer Park before we moved to Hawaii in 1969.....also remember Harbor Blvd. to look like those old pictures not all sanitized like it does now.

passthepixiedust
04-21-2005, 06:44 PM
Thanks, Spectromen and DisneylandForever, I was beginning to think I had imagined it ! I have looked for it online (wanting to go there again) but as I was just a kid when last there, I thought maybe I was not remembering it correctly.....

OMG Spectromen ! You furnished your room ala hotel ? That is AWESOME !! First home nothing ! I'd do it still ! (very kitchy, you know !) Very sad about it being gone.....

I did find it on the link here though. And yes, the hairstyles are a riot !

Opus1guy
04-21-2005, 07:45 PM
I was once told by an engineer at the Disneyland Hotel back in the days when Jack Wrather owned it...that structurally The Grand and Disneyland Hotel's Sierra Tower were identical twins. The Grand changed some things cosmetically, but apparently under the surface...they were pretty much clones designed and built by the same firm.

They may have even been located on directly opposing sight lines.

That's what he told me at least.

daannzzz
04-22-2005, 06:44 AM
I used to stay at the Tropicana Motel (Still there) and the Mecca Motel (Now the Park Place Inn) as well as numerous stays at the Magic Lamp. I do miss all the fun a quirky themed motels but the area is much prettier now. I hope that some of the new developement adds back some of the themes. Anaheim could be a much more fun area if some of these developers used some imagination.

spectromen
04-22-2005, 07:20 AM
I did find it on the link here though. And yes, the hairstyles are a riot !

The Grand was even one of Disney's "Good Neighbor" hotels. Apparently Disney wasn't such a great neighbor since it chose to RAZE the place instead of remodel it! :crying:

Speaking of hairstyles - the Grand had a dinner theatre incorporated into it. During the furniture sale, I went to almost every floor of the hotel looking for odd items that might be tucked away in maid's closets, elevator service areas, etc. Well, sure enough on one of the higher floors there was this little alcove and I went peeking around. What did I find? A box of wigs, obviously leftover costume pieces from the theatre downstairs! Being a guy, I had no use for a long haired wig but I crave any and all hotel memorabilia, and I knew they'd ask where I found the wig if I took it down to the cash registers in the lobby, so what did I do? THREW it off the balcony of one of the rooms, so it would land near where my car was parked. Yep, got down there, furniture purchases on the hand truck, and wheeled right by and snatched it up. How's that for tacky theft?

By the way, I have lots of pictures, stationery, and even a couple theatre programs from the Grand if anyone wants pictures. The tower really does match that of DLH's Sierra Tower, I'd never thought of that before!