Distinctive vine-covered portico of the visitor center.
I vaguely remember the vine-covered portico from this building from circa 1975, though I don't remember if it was a visitor center back then. The AVC shares the same parking lot as The Jolly Roger, and has the same address as The Jolly Roger. The information clerk told me that the The Jolly Roger dates back to the 1960s, and that the visitor center part of the building has always been there. The employees there told me about other old buildings of the Disneyland area, including Zaby's, which I hadn't known about before.
I remember this hotel and restaurant since at least 1975, and according to the Internet this hotel was built in 1955. The hotel has been remodeled since the 1970s, but I believe the front of the restaurant looks the same as it used to, and I definitely remember that the wooden side of the hotel that faces ACC used to have that same green color and those same bird-of-paradise trees (Strelitzia nicolai) as it does now.
I ate at this cafe for the first time in 2007. It's fairly small. There are nice sidewalk views of Katella, a banquet area upstairs, some nautical decor, and '60s style rock walls inside, but the decor isn't as extensive as one might expect from a restaurant of this name that has been around for so long. I'm told the cafe has a reputation for somewhat high prices for very average food, but I didn't notice that with breakfast.
The way it used to be... The peaked roof building of The Jolly Roger complex dates back to at least the 1960s. Photo courtesy of Synthetrix [3-28-07].
Jolly Roger Inn [1978] |
Another bland, modern hotel, notable to me only because it occupies the site of one of the last holdouts of small mid-century motels: the RuDimar Motel.
Due to camera failure and lack of time, I was never able to get good photos of the RuDimar Motel before it went out of business. RuDimar was there in 2002 when my camera broke, but when I got back to the area in 2003 with a decent camera, the RuDimar had been destroyed and this thing was being built in its place on the empty lot. That's not to say the RuDimar was any good, or that the Desert Palms is bad. One Internet forum member said RuDimar was a cheap, awful motel with cockroaches, and his wife wouldn't allow him to revisit. But other than Alpine Inn, it was the last small mid-century motel left on Disneyland's block that hadn't drastically changed appearance in decades. Now there is only Alpine Inn. No doubt this modern motel brings in ten times as much money as the RuDimar, and is ten times better in quality. But sad to say, whereas I would have readily stayed at the RuDimar, I would never choose to stay in this characterless hotel.
The way it used to be... According to address data, Desert Palms Hotel replaced both Waikiki Motel and Sir RuDimar Motel. Photo courtesy of Synthetrix [4-19-07].
Waikiki Motel [1975-1978]
 The Sir RuDimar Motel, where Desert Palms Hotel & Suites now stands. Photo courtesy of Synthetrix [4-19-07].
Sir Rudimar Motel [1978] |
Created: February 24, 2007
Updated: April 20, 2007