MY VINTAGE PURPLE TOILET PAPER COLLECTION

FLEA MARKET FRIDAYS #57

Yep it’s official, I now have a vintage purple toilet paper collection! They say you gotta have two or more of a similar item before it’s a collection. I just bought two vintage packages of toilet paper and I guess I’m now a toilet paper collector. Normally I only pick up old packaging with fun character graphics or kid related products, but I flipped when I saw two purple packs of old toilet paper for sale! Wow! Who would save such a thing? The fun about collecting vintage advertising is asking, “How did this survive?”

Holy Purple People Eater! Let’s take a look at this purple TP that would look plum snazzy in the bathroom of Batman’s foe The Joker!

The first is a 1964 Northern four pack with lavender colored rolls.


It says it has 650 sheets per roll. That’s plenty of paper to teepee the neighbor’s house on Halloween or use to make a purple, excuse me, lavender Mummy costume. (Sorry. Tomorrow starts the annual Halloween countdown and I’m kinda in trick or treat mode.)

The next one is a Kleenex Boutique Tissues package from 1974.


I guess toilet paper technology advanced ten years from the Northern pack days. This one is 2-ply. Was this a 1970's innovation? Did they even have 2-ply back in the 1960s?

Ooh, check it out! It has a soft'n spirited starburst pattern.


This Kleenex pack has an offer to order your very own Latch Hook Rug Kits!

Yes, something for the whole family to enjoy until it’s sold at a garage sale in 1984.

Keeping with the purple/lavender theme, here’s a Cannon Monticello ad from 1972.


This bathroom probably has a roll of purple toilet paper just out of frame!

Oh and by the way, if you see a house covered in purple toilet paper this Halloween, don't blame me 'cause I'm keeping these packages under wraps!

REMEMBERING 9/11

It’s hard to believe that ten years ago today, peace and freedom were attacked and the world changed forever. That dreaded day might have started with a senseless act filled with hatred, but it ended with a nation of people that locked arms and stood strong.

I just want to repeat what has always been at the bottom of this blog -

REMEMBER TO BE NEATO COOL TO EVERYONE!

If only the whole world could be neato cool to one another, then maybe the word hatred could be removed from the dictionary.


(The top photo was taken in 1978 and is a slide from my collection of "found" slides. The bottom photo is from our NY trip in 2008 when we visited ground zero.)

OUR D23/DISNEYLAND ADVENTURE: PART 4 TRON

Greetings programs! Rejoice! We’ve finally arrived at part four and that makes it the last Disneyland post. My twelve year old Tron loving self would have loved seeing all the cool Tron stuff at D23. Of course my 41 year old self enjoyed it just as much.

Hockey helmets off to the D23 folks who designed and set up the Tron room.


The original character costumes came to life in this black lighted environment complete with sound effects and Tron-esque voices.


Tron costume worn by Bruce Boxleitner.


Flynn costume worn by Jeff Bridges.


Yori costume worn by Cindy Morgan.


Ram costume worn by Dan Shor.


Unfortunately the Barnard Hughes costume wasn’t on display, but I did manage to buy this production piece. It’s a photo study of Dumont’s costume played by Hughes. This should make for a nice display with the note he sent me.

I’m not into Disney pins or Vinylmation, but I wasn’t able to resist these items.


At the D23 Expo, I was lucky and snagged a limited edition pin set signed by Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan. I’ve never had the chance to meet Bruce to get his autograph, so this was the next best thing. He and Cindy both attended the Expo, but his signing time conflicted with a panel. I met Cindy a few years back.

The Vinylmation is of Flynn and was the only one in the set from the first Tron.

Like I said, I’m not into pins, but I bought the Penny Arcade set just for the box. I had no clue this Atari tribute box existed and I about zapped out when I saw it displayed in one of the Main Street shops in Disneyland. You get three random pins based after classic Disneyland attractions and cult Disney movies. The design of the pins are fantasy Atari games and they’re packed inside a smaller box that’s shaped to look like the cartridge. Of course I was hoping for a Tron and Rocketeer. I was lucky and got a Tron pin along with an Astro Jets pin and a People Mover pin. If only a People Mover video game really existed! If you want a set, visit this site for info here.


I was glad to see that ElecTRONica was still open in California Adventure. We entered the Grid and this is what we saw.







If I had a bucket list when I was 12, then “Play Video Games at Flynn’s Arcade” would have probably been at the top.


Well...I got to scratch that off my imaginary list on this trip. I was envious of all the cool kids who got to visit Flynn’s Arcade when it was set up for the San Diego Comic Convention.

We walked in during the day and the place was empty. We played a bunch of classic vids for almost an hour including the imaginary game from Tron, Space Paranoids! So cool they recreated an actual working game for the arcade.

Here’s some of the games in the arcade.







I’m a neon junkie and I love old neon signs. So, neon signs based after some of my favorite games in neon form was almost too much. I managed to hold the camera long enough without going into fits to snap these next shots.










Afterwards we tried some blue lemonade at the End of Line Club and joined the Tron dance party!







Laserman was totally rad! Take a look at his performance here.



After one more game of Tron, it was time to head back to Disneyland for souvenir shopping and a few more rides! Oops, I mean attractions.

Boy, you know what? After working up these Disneyland posts my feet hurt. Hmm....it was just like I was there again.

Thanks for stopping by and surviving this retelling of our vacation.

OUR D23/DISNEYLAND ADVENTURE: PART 3 DISNEYLAND

Oh boy, more vacation photos! Aren’t you thrilled? Don’t answer that.

You can have your D23 Expos and your California Adventures and your other Disney Resort stuff ‘cause all I need is Disneyland. Sure, all that other jazz is fun too, but you just can’t beat the happiest place on earth!!!


We like this new entry sign that’s kind of a homage to the original DL sign.


Yeah, who needs the present day when you can live in yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy all at once at Disneyland!


We usually have a strategy when we visit the park and this time it was a beeline to ride the new Star Tours first thing.


Most updates and add ons to attractions usually fall short or feel out of place. (Pirates of the Caribbean anyone?) This is not the case with Star Tours. As much as I enjoyed the original, this new one is way better. It now has more than 50 different adventures. The queue is also improved and it was a good choice to put the old pilot droid Rex (voiced by Paul Reubens) in mothballs. Now C-3PO pilots the ship.


Our ship was almost taken over by the Empire when two Stormtroopers boarded. Thankfully, someone put the ol‘ Jedi mind trick on ‘em. They went about their business and moved along.



The coolest thing about the new Star Tours are the Fastpass Gonk Droids! I’ll never look at my Power Droid action figure the same!


I always have to check to see if the little Rocketeer popcorn turner is still there. Yep, he’s still working that popcorn!


Howdy! I’m getting ready to drive the streets of Autopia!


We were bummed that the Matterhorn was closed. That’s the “first lady’s” favorite attraction and this sign made her very sad.

At least looking at this, always makes her happy.


This on the other hand makes me scared! Look away! Look away!


I love the work of Mary Blair and It’s A Small World attraction, but I feel like this sun is staring deep into my soul.


With each visit, it seems we always spot something new. I’ve never noticed the nifty stone plaques outside in the queue line for Mr. Toad Wild’s Ride.


Everyone is a big fan of this dynamite chewing mountain goat from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and we are too!


We met Frontierland’s famous fiddler, the one and only Farley! He entertained us with his rendition of the Orange Blossom Special!


It’s always funny when you spot a real life animal in the park. This big bird was perched at the entrance of Frontierland and I heard many people ask, “Is that an animatronic bird or a real bird?”


I think this pirate might be a zombie pirate. I didn’t ask, but he sure had zombie pirate like symptoms.


How ‘bout that? The line is short for Haunted Mansion. Hey, let’s go!


I think she has the best job in Disneyland!


Zoinks! I broke the Haunted Mansion law and used flash photography. I hope a ghost didn’t follow me home because of it.


This glitchy photo of the bride turned out really spooky looking. This was the first time we saw the new bride. It doesn’t take away from the attraction, but her heart beating was much more creepy. The whole ax murderer thing is kinda silly and feels a bit out of place with the rest of the grim grinning ghosts. Not to worry, HM is still my favorite attraction!


This is the most famous hippo in the world. I wonder how many trillions of photos exist of Mr. Hippo.


Hey, a blurry shot of the backside of water!


Sallah told us to take heed, but we didn’t listen. How could we? The Indiana Jones Adventure is one of our favorite attractions! Too bad the last Indy movie wasn’t based after this attraction. It would have been a better film.


We’ve never been lucky enough to find Shrunken Ned the Jungle Witch Doctor awake. The past couple of visits he’s been out of order. On this trip we found Ned alive and ready. For a half-a-buck, he gave us some witch doctoring advise and a souvenir prescription card.


We had to be brave and walk past this scary tiki to order a Dole Whip. It was worth the risk so we could enjoy the pineapple treat inside the Tiki Room.


We tried our best to cram in as much Disneyland as we could in one day. Time was running out for us.


We did manage to find 13 minutes for another tour of the Haunted Mansion!


After souvenir shopping on a crowded Main Street, we finally had to call it a day...a magical day. Oh man, I did it. I really used the word magical. I promised myself I would spare all of you Neato Readers out there from using the word magical. I guess it proves you just can’t talk about Disneyland without using that word, magical!

Check back tomorrow for Tronland!