OMFG! I Can't Believe This Sold For This Much!!

I'm still reeling from this sale at Heritage, my Love and Rockets page just sold for more than $20,000!  Wish I had bought more of them way back in 1989... Thank you Jaime Hernandez for making such memorable and beloved characters, and selling me this piece of art so many years ago.

More Items up for Auction!

I've posted a bunch more items on the various auction sites.  I've got some CGC Peanuts comics on the ComicLink site starting on Oct 8, two nice pieces of animation on Howard Lowery's auction site this week, and a fantastic Jaime Hernandez page from Love and Rockets from 1987 up on Heritage, which starts accepting bids in late October.  Bid on my stuff!

Selling Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

As some of you may have heard on my other blog or through various social networking sites, I've been cleaning house and selling off everything that we don't have room for or just don't need/want any more.  I've currently got auctions running on both eBay and Heritage.  Check them out if you like movie posters and original comic book art.

RIP Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury passed away at the age of 91.  The man was a sci-fi GOD.  I had the pleasure of meeting him several times while I was growing up in Southern California, mostly at the dearly departed A Change of Hobbit bookstore in Santa Monica. 

My high school English teacher was good friends with him, and would always arrange a visit when her science fiction book club made the trek from Torrance to Santa Monica.

Haggis is ok, but ...

Back from our fabulous trip to Scotland, where much fun and great food was had.  We even had haggis, and despite its less than appetizing description, it is quite good.  But, when we saw these potato chips for sale, that's where I draw the line.

Disneyland Hotel Room Service Fold Out Menu

The last of my menus :-(  This is a really weird one, but weird = = cool.  A Disneyland Hotel room service menu.  Now that in and of itself would not be that interesting, except for the format:  It is a penta-fold menu, folded 5 times accordion-style, making this thing huge at 15x27 fully unfolded!  I love the art of Goofy with winged feet delivering your meal.

I could probably date this better than 1960s or 1970s based on the list of other restaurants at the hotel, but I don't have any ready reference material to do it, so if anyone can date this for me, feel free!

The list of items available is quite impressive, I'd love to see bottles of Disneyland Hotel Label scotch, bourbon, gin, vodka and rum.  Bet there's no character art on those labels.

eBay listing

1970 Disneyland Blue Bayou Menu

This is a rare menu, from the Blue Bayou restaurant in New Orleans Square.  I've seen some of these from later years (1980s and 1990s), but the previous owner was kind enough to date this 1970 on the inside.

This is a large menu, approximately 9x13.  I love the color of this menu, a color that I always associate with the Haunted Mansion rather than Pirates.  Nice to see that my favorite Monte Cristo was available even in 1970.  Who knows, I probably ate one in the summer of that year.

eBay listing

Disneyland Hills Brother's Coffee House Menu

This is a great vintage Disneyland menu, from the Hills Brother's Coffee House.  I don't really have any memories of this restaurant, we probably never went there when I was a kid since we stayed at the hotel and would generally have breakfast there.

Great red color on this menu, kinda like the Carnation menu from earlier, but this has a full page ad for Hills Bros coffee inside since there was nowhere near enough menu items to fill up the inside.  Again, this is a full sized menu, approximately 8x10, so larger than the Carnation menu.

It is difficult to date this menu with any accuracy, but at least we can ballpark it by the map of Disneyland on the back.  The monorail is present, but we still have old Tomorrowland, so sometime between 1959-1966 would be my guess.

eBay listing

1975 Walt Disney Studio Commissary Restaurant Menu

This is a very modern studio menu from 1975.  It is different from all the other menus I've seen so far in that it has a center opening; very unusual.  The art on the menu is of Mickey and Minnie in their pie-eyed personas as was very popular in the 1970s.  Just check out that typeface on the cover too!

This is by far the most recent menu I have ever seen from the studio, and the only one to bear an actual date - April 1975.

The interior has a large section reserved for daily specials, which on this example is still intact.  More retro character line art throughout.

eBay listing

1958 Walt Disney Studio Commissary Coffee Shop Menu

This is the last of the small sized (6x9) menus I have from the studio.  This features the same cover art as was on the Counter Service full sized menu from earlier in the series, although the art is a little less saturated in color - Mickey in particular looks a little pale.  This also uses the high gloss stock as we saw on the Temporary menu.

On this menu we see a return of the Fountain menu items on the back, and the interior art has some of the same elements as the counter service menu, just rearranged.  This is the first menu to feature any kind of date code, on the back as part of the Lord Menu Co. logo, there is the numeric code 1-58, which I take to mean January 1958.  The pricing also seems consistent with a 1950s menu.

eBay listings

1950s Walt Disney Studio Commissary Menu - Coffee Shop Temporary Menu

This is a strange one.  This is a small sized (6x9) menu for the studio coffee shop, but printed on the front is the phrase  Temporary Menu.  The cover features art of Donald and Goofy with a giant bowl of salad in blue line art, whereas all the previous menus had full color cover art.  Also, this is a high gloss paper stock, the first menu to feature that so far.

Inside and on the back, it is a very plain menu, with no other illustrations of any kind.  There is a mark inside that reads Lord Printing Co., L.A. -- Menus, the first time I've see that mark.  I guess the fact that it was a temporary menu is the reason for the lack of illustrations.  Perhaps the studio ran out of the regular menus, or was in the process of redesigning them and just needed something quick and dirty.  It is the only one of this type I have ever seen.

eBay listing

1950s Walt Disney Studios Commissary Menu - Good Morning

This is perhaps my favorite of all the studio menus, the Good Morning menu featuring a bleary-eyed Donald complaining 'What's good about it?"  This menu is from the 1950s, and it is much smaller in size than the previously posted 1940s menus, being only about 6 x 9 closed - half the size of the large 1940s menus.

This is also the first menu I've seen that is a true breakfast menu, every item listed inside is for breakfast.

I do also have a variant of this menu that contains more standard fare like the larger ones, featuring the same layout and art as the Coral Room menu from yesterday, just half as big.

eBay listing

1960s Walt Disney Studios Commissary Restaurant Menu - Coral Room

Third of the large size menus from the studio restaurant, now dubbed the Coral Room, features the same cover illustration of Mickey ringing the dinner bell.  The paper stock has changed somewhat, whereas before it was a standard card stock, this menu feels like coated paper.  Not laminated, but with some sort of gloss coat.

Inside there are lots of changes as well, including new character line art featuring characters from Lady and the Tramp.  There are also spaces to include daily specials, although in this example that sheet has been unceremoniously removed.  Again, no art or menu items on the back of this one.

LA county taking us for 5% tax now, obviously a recent increase as it is a sticker applied to the menu (damn LA county), that means that this is probably early 1967 as the 5% tax rates dates from 1967-1972.

eBay listings

1940s Walt Disney Studios Commissary Restaurant Menu

This menu from the Walt Disney Studio's restaurant is the variant that features Mickey ringing the dinner bell with Donald, Goofy and Pluto in the background.  I would guess that this was the standard menu for the studio restaurant during the 1940s.

Inside it mentions 2.5% sales tax, which is smallest tax rater I've ever seen on a studio menu.  Fortunately there  is an OPA ceiling prices statement dated 1943, which means this is during WWII, which coincides with the historical tax rate data I found listing 2.5% as between 1943-1949.

Interestingly, I also have a variant of this that only has the cover illustration; no contents of any kind. Perhaps it was designed for special occasions or to hold temporary menus printed on separate sheets. I've never seen another like it.

eBay listing

1940s Walt Disney Studios Counter Service Menu

I love this next one, the cover pictures Mickey flippin' eggs behind the counter.  Oddly enough, it is not a breakfast menu.  These 1940s menus are large in size, about 9 x 14 inches.

The back cover is cool too, as it features Donald as a soda jerk, with lots of ice creamy treats.

I recently found a historical list of California sales tax rates, 3% (as is printed on this menu) leads me to believe that this menu dates from as early as 1949, and based on the characters I'm guessing 1940s or 1950s.  How cool is it that you could get a Schlitz at the studio commissary?

I do have another copy of this menu that is slightly later as some of the prices are 5 cents higher, and some of the individual items have changed.

Oddly, some of the items on the fountain menu on the back have been blacked out - guess they ran out!

eBay listing

Holiday Inn Dinnerhorn Menu and Placemat

This one is a little odd, it is not really a Disneyland menu, but a menu for the Holiday Inn restaurant called Dinnerhorn.  But it looks cool, and is reminiscent of Disneyland, so I bought it.

  The placemat is a cool find, who would have thought to save those things.  Well, I guess I would but I'm crazy.

eBay listings

Disneyland Carnation Ice Cream Parlor Full Size Menu 1960

Over the years I've managed to acquire a bunch of Disney menus, both Disneyland and Walt Disney Studio.  I have decided to part with them, but thought I'd post them all here over the next few days in advance of their posting to eBay.  Get 'em while they're hot!

First up is this classic Disneyland menu for the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor.  You usually find the small, postcard size menus, but this is the full size menu you'd get at table service.  The cover has a date of 1955, but inside there is a numeric code that seems to imply that this particular menu is from 1960.  I love the prices on these old menus.

If you'd like to bid on this or any others, you can find them all here.