Friday, August 17, 2007

The Little Boy Blue Motel --- Anaheim, CA

Here's the Little Boy Blue Motel located at 416 West Katella Avenue, near Disneyland. Among the many amenities available at this modern motel were:

Orthopedic Mattresses
Tubs and Showers in Each Room
Electric Air Conditioning
Heated Pool

Once you've had a chance to enjoy these modern features, It was comforting to know that the LBB was "Around the corner from Disneyland and Melodyland." and "Close to Knott's Berry Farm, (Movieland) Wax Museum, new Angel Stadium and beach areas."

In this postcard it looks like two middle aged couples are enjoying the pool area, but apparently forgot to pack their swimsuits. One might ask: Where are the kids and why isn't anyone in the pool?

Fast-forward 40 years. Once again, No child is present on this Summer afternoon. The colorful waterslides have been removed, and it seems like the adults have checked-out as well. Maybe they spent the day at Knott's Berry Farm?


The Little Boy Blue is one of the few Disneyland-area motels to retain both it's original name and layout. It still shares a pool with the adjacent Riviera (formerly Pyramid) Motel, and the funky diamond-shaped entrance archway continues to stand watch...

4 comments:

Synthetrix said...

That's a great old postcard of the LBB. I do not have one for that place in my collection. The sign had that same image of the happy boy blue on it as well. The Rip Van Winkle Motel was next door to this place if I remember correctly. I had quite the flashback when I saw it and remebered the little jr slide next to the big one. These days none of those pools around there have slides anymore. Too easy for a kid to get hurt and have their parents sue the place.
When I was a senior in high school, I had a couple friends whose parents were going through some rough times and the mother moved out and took the kids and they stayed at local motels. The LBB was one of the places they lived and also at The Princess Motel. I have been looking for a Princess postcard for years on ebay and have only seen one and it went for big bucks. At least more than I was willing to pay for it.

walterworld said...

Thanks for the comments Victor---

The Rip Van Winkle was actually across the street, at 301 Katella. It was next door to the Westward Ho/7 Seas Motel, which is now the Super 8.

When I do a post on the WH/7S (which should be soon), maybe I'll throw in my RVW postcard as well. Since it's was bulldozed in the late 90's I'll never get the 'Now' shot unless I want to take a picture of the new Garden Walk development.

The only PC of the Princess I've ever seen wasn't an actual picture of the place but was a stylized artist drawing. I did a screen capture of it and can e-mail it to you if you'd like...

Take care---

Synthetrix said...

Yep it was an illustration. Sure email me that if you have a moment.

Anonymous said...

Hi, my wife and I are on vacation from Australia and made the mistake of staying at the LBB in June. It must certainly be a far cry from it's glory days! I think I will still be able to smell the pungent odor of curry that is the LBB when I get back to Australia!!