Thirty-five years ago I spent the summer working for a mouse, and this was the sign that greeted me every day as I arrived at the park. Although this photo was taken in 1976, the same sign with "America on Parade" was there when I worked there in 1975. This photo was taken during the offseason when the park was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and had pretty limited hours on weekdays. This was also back when corporations could rent the park for private parties that started after regular park hours. That's why you see "C.S.E.A. Party" on the sign.
I was a sweeper at Disneyland, spending the entire summer working the area around the Haunted Mansion. During June and July I worked Fri-Tue, 1:30 - 8pm. In August, during the busiest time of the summer, my hours were expanded to 1:30 - 10pm. I've written previously about my experiences as a Disney employee during the summer of 1975, and if you're interested you can find that post here.
The sign shows "America on Parade", the parade that was developed as part of the bicentennial celebration. It ran in the park from June of 1975, right before I started, until September of 1976. That parade became part of my daily routine because at about 3:30 each day I had to report out to the Hub near the entrance to Frontierland to meet my foreman and the my parade clean-up crew. The last units in the parade spit confetti out all over the place and it was our job to go down the Main Street with push brooms and big vacuums to clean up all the confetti. We usually had the entire route clean within 10-15 minutes.
One of the wonders of communications technology today is I was able to do a quick search and actually found a website that has the pictures of the parade units and the story of that particular parade, which replaced the Main Street Electrical Parade for two summers. I also found a YouTube video with 8mm film of the parade. There's no audio (other than the noise of an 8mm film projector), but you can still see what the 1975-1976 parade looked like:
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I was at a Conference there in 1985, I think it was--I think a big reception for us by UNIVAC (SPERRY? What ever name thy used that year) may have been the first time alcohol was served in the park...first time I had heard of it anyway.
My parents, especially my mother loved the "Electric (Light?)" parade.
I remember when that was way out in the middle of nowhere--and Knott's Berry Farm was surrounded by miles and miles of berry farm. (And the most interesting thing for travelers was the chicken dinners and berry pies at the restaurant, and the little re-located ghost town out back.)
I remember traveling on US101 going to San Diego, seeing the big overpasses being built out in the middle of some of those fields.
Turned out they later built the Santa Ana (Not "San Diego" I'm pretty sure.) Freeway under them.
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