Disney Way used to be called Freedman Way in the 1970s, and it used to have a few interesting businesses along its length, such as a miniature golf course, Melodyland, and Grand Hotel, which had an LAX airport service bus stop.
As of 4-22-07, this road is almost a scene of devastation. The former miniature golf course is now merely a dirt lot under high power lines, and this dirt lot runs all the way down to I-5. Disney's Pumbaa parking lot is on the north side of Disney Way, but is usually closed, and uses temporary lighted signs that are rolled into place when it is open. Other than one pair of benches, one map sign, and a lengthy hedge of eugenia bushes, this lot is nearly featureless. On the south side of Disney Way is a huge construction site that will one day be Anaheim Gardenwalk, but is currently just an unsightly fence with noisy machinery behind it. All in all, this is an ugly street at the moment.
The region where the power lines strip meets Interstate 5 is now unrecognizable from the way it used to be in the 1970s. I used to walk south down Anaheim Boulevard, which passed over I-5 in a curve of road, then I'd run down a dirt bank onto Freedman Way, unimpeded by fences, then walk along the power lines on my way to either Melodyland, Disneyland, or the airport service bus at Grand Hotel. I think it was in the 1980s that Anaheim Boulevard was widely diverted so that now it intersects Disney Way on the other (east) side of I-5, and the entire layout of roads in that region became unrecognizable from its earlier configuration. Anaheim Boulevard used to go over I-5, but now it goes under I-5.
Prostitutes used to be common throughout this whole area around Disneyland in the 1970s. Once when driving I picked up two young prostitutes hitchiking on southbound Anaheim Boulevard just before the I-5 overpass, they both got into the front seat, one showing a great deal of skin from the side of her blouse, then they got out on Katella Avenue just a block farther. Nothing was said concerning any transactions, though, so maybe they figured I was too young and naive to know what they were up to, or maybe they were just trying to get to where more car traffic was, on Katella Avenue. By the 1980s police pressure in Anaheim shifted the streetwalkers to Beach Boulevard around Anaheim / Stanton. That was when the AIDS scare reached its peak, and busybodies would stand on Beach Boulevard with placards announcing that such-and-such percentage of prostitutes tested positive for HIV, in order to scare off potential customers.
Melodyland used to exist where the Anaheim Gardenwalk construction is currently underway. In the '60s Melodyland was a theater, then in the '70s it converted to a charismatic church. The round theater building was retained so that the Melodyland church sermons were given on a circular stage surrounded on all sides with seats. Regular buildings at the back, near what is now Anaheim Plaza Hotel, housed additional church groups on Sunday mornings.
I used to attend Melodyland church from about 1976-1978. They used to show free Christian movies at night on weekends, have youth group and Bible study get-togethers at local residences in Anaheim, and go evangelizing on the street around the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue. I have many memories of such activities, but most of my stories are sad, full of tales of hypocrisy, avarice, exploitation, and general backwardness, which is maybe why I moved on to a different church after only a few years at Melodyland. I still have a tiny pink Bible that I bought at their bookstore, though.
The way it used to be...Melodyland [1982]
Melodyland Theatre [1968-1969]
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Grand Hotel used to be a large, tall hotel on Freedman Way with a great view of Disneyland from its top floors, roughly like Fairfield Inn is now. The length of it was aligned with Harbor Boulevard, no doubt to give the largest number of rooms a view of Disneyland. Around 1975 I once asked a maid if I could go into the guest room where she was working to take a photo of Disneyland from the window, she let me, and I took the picture. Somewhere I should still have that old snapshot from that old instamatic camera. Grand Hotel used to be called Crest Hotel, not to be confused with Crest Motel on Lincoln Avenue in the 1980s.
The way it used to be...
 Oddly, Crest Hotel wasn't listed in the White Pages, but had an ad in the Yellow Pages. Photo courtesy of Synthetrix [5-3-07].
Crest Hotel [1966-1967]
 Grand Hotel had a great view of Disneyland from its upper floors. Photo courtesy of Synthetrix [5-3-07].
Grand Hotel [1968-1969]
Grand Hotel [1978] |
Created: February 24, 2007
Updated: May 3, 2007
