Hello everyone and welcome back. We’re kicking off the new era of this channel with a real doozy, the Disneyland tobacco shop. New videos will be posted more regularly again, old classic series’ and some entirely new stuff too. Stay turned and thanks again for all your patience. -Jack, TPSE (aka the channel formerly known as Park Ride History)

@falcon3503

3 ай бұрын

Cool video! But why did the name change from "Park Ride History" to "Theme Parks Shouldn't Exist"?

@TheTookinator

3 ай бұрын

I wondered about the name too. I enjoy your content, but that name isn't one that would have inspired me to subscribe.

@ThemeParksShouldntExist

3 ай бұрын

@@falcon3503 The new name has more to do with the anomalous nature of theme parks (and the unlikelihood of them even existing in history to begin with) than it is an opinion about the parks needing to go away or anything like that. I don't know if it's possible to run a KZread channel where you only talk about parks/attractions without still actually liking them on some level lol

@falcon3503

3 ай бұрын

@@ThemeParksShouldntExist That wasn't what I was thinking. When I got the notification, I thought to myself, "What the... I don't know who this is. "

@LiamP-597

3 ай бұрын

I think it's supposed to be like, this theme park stuff is so insane it shouldn't reasonably exist.

Back then, not having a tabacco shop would have been as crazy as having one today.

@ralelunar

3 ай бұрын

It would be like not serving coffee, in today's terms

@teamofsteve

3 ай бұрын

@@ralelunar exactly, people would probably have complained if a shop wasn’t available

@paganwheels1

3 ай бұрын

Or a film shop.

@muziktrkr

3 ай бұрын

I don’t see Disney ever opening a vape shop or selling cannabis but they’re in the business of making money, so anything’s possible.

@lIII0IIIl

3 ай бұрын

Everything that this statement involves is so very much true…

One of my favorite smoking related bits of lore is that at the local hospital, Nurses were forbidden to smoke in the operating room. Not the doctors though!

@valkyrie1066

2 ай бұрын

My mother told me the doctor who delivered me stank of bourbon and smoked in the delivery room. YIKES.

@thatonehumanoid7756

2 ай бұрын

That’s no good but I will tell you if I had to pick between a surgeon that smoked and a surgeon with withdrawal shakes I know which one I’m picking.

@angusorvid8840

2 ай бұрын

That's the way things ought to be. The men in charge making the rules for the nurses to follow.

@zsedcftglkjh

2 ай бұрын

@@valkyrie1066 What a Chad!

@irgski

2 ай бұрын

As I recall, in some episodes of Dr. Kildare the hospital had cigarette vending machines!

It might be noted that Walt loved a French Cigarette called Giantes. It came in a blue pack. They were not common or popular in the US but they were Walt's favorite from when he was a young ambulance driver in WW1 France. By having a shop in his park he had easy access to these smokes, which carried them for him. The shop carried many different brands of cigarettes from around the world. I bought a pack of Peace Cigarettes from Japan when I was 15 years old...yes..15...they had no filter and I got a mean buzz off of them. Just a little note from an old guy that grew up in SoCal and worked at the park in the 70's Thanks for the video

@chuckfinley4292

2 ай бұрын

See, now that is freakin cool! Having all the different cigarettes from around the world, I would go there today.

@ZeranZeran

Ай бұрын

That's awesome. Thank you for writing this man.

@christopherdixon786

Ай бұрын

...Gitanes? French for 'Gypsy' (I think). I used to smoke Gitanes International when I could find them. They were beautiful, had a charcoal filter and tasted like absolutely nothing else. Sadly I don't think they are made any more.

@robertjones1729

Ай бұрын

@@chuckfinley4292 you know alot of people would..i understand why Disney took smoking out of the park.but this was a gem..they also had a tobacco shop in Frontier land and the cigar store Indian us still there

@robertjones1729

Ай бұрын

One more thing..there is a green water system in DL that starts at the old Boat cruise in front of the Matterhorn that serves all the green water..from the Fairy boat ride,Castle moat,Rivers of America and the Jungle Cruise..the pump house is just behind the Jungle Cruise boat yard behind Main St..that filter had scheduled cleanings every half hour for all the cigarette butts that got thrown in .true story

It was the late 50's and my dad was a two pack a day guy. I can remember we always went in the tobacco shop when visiting Disneyland. My dad once bought a couple of corn cob pipes there, one for him and one for me (I was 7 or 8). I still have that pipe.

@nbaoldgirl

2 ай бұрын

That’s actually so cute and wholesome. I’m glad you still have the pipe 😊

@missourimongoose8858

Ай бұрын

That reminds me of when I was around 12 or 13 my dad started giving me cigars to light my fireworks with on the 4th of July lol

@chazmichaelmichaels88

Ай бұрын

That's a great memory. Thanks for sharing.

@user-yu5hf6vc9e

28 күн бұрын

@@nbaoldgirl yes addiction is a lovely thing isnt it throw the pipe away its a death souvenir that has brainwashed you and the rest of the world

Regarding your question about Cuban seed cigars; when Castro took over Cuba he nationalized the cigar industry. Tobacco growers fled the country taking seeds with them, sometimes smuggling them out. These growers ended up in places like the Dominican Republic and Tampa. So yes, Cuban seed cigars were and still are entirely legal.

@Thy_Boss

3 ай бұрын

Speaking of misapprehension, it's funny to me that a bunch of people nowadays would look at Disneyland's "old-fashioned Main Street," as Walt Disney put it, and imagine that it represented an idyllic, true-to-life United States in the 1950s, while what Walt was peddling here was, again, in his words, "old-fashioned" misty-eyed nostalgia for the cartoon version of a time already long past by the '50s.

@Sacto1654

3 ай бұрын

An interesting aside, the cigars that came out of the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica from Cuban seeds actually started to get really good, probably because they had access to more advanced agricultural technology from the West.

@stashmerkin9576

3 ай бұрын

@@Sacto1654 Dominican cigars are my favorite! You can't top an Arturo Fuente or a CAO. IMO the Dominican Republic makes the best cigars in the world. Not familiar with Costa Rica's output. I'll have to give them a try!

@m.hankins2210

3 ай бұрын

I prefer Nicaraguan but every year I search for Maduro Hemingways. Amazing cigar. ​@@stashmerkin9576

@DustyGamma

3 ай бұрын

​@@stashmerkin9576Could you give a reply if you do try them? I don't often buy cigars, so it'd be great to know someone's review of them.

Just wanna add as a tobacco pipe smoker. Mildly aromatic doesnt mean it doesnt smell, just that it smells mildly pleasant.

@spikespa5208

3 ай бұрын

Not a smoker. Would rather smell quality pipe tobacco rather than most cigars or cigarettes.

@twillison8824

3 ай бұрын

The smell of a pipe takes me back to my childhood. Our backyard was where neighborhood kids played baseball. The man who ran the funeral home next door would sit out on his back porch of an evening while smoking his pipe and the smell would nearly always be blowing our way while playing.

@MarquisDeSang

3 ай бұрын

I smoke pipe 5 minutes a day because life is good. Recently the FDA studies reported that smoking 1-2 bowl a day has no reported consequences on health. But don’t inhale the smoke.

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426

3 ай бұрын

@@twillison8824 This feel like a film scene. (In a good way.)

@jonstone9741

3 ай бұрын

"Smells mildly pleasant?" Don't kid yourself. Tobacco smokers create a stench in any room they're in. Nothing stinks up a room faster than tobacco smoke. It's like farting in people's faces.

This will never get read by most people, but I need to tell a story. One of the partners listed at 3:34 is Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. My grandfather was a dispatcher in a Southern California AT&SF rail yard at the time of the park's opening. Mom was five, and basically got to live on trains for five years. Disneyland was her second home, along with a Pullman car. Her memories and stories were plenty, and fun, and the "cigar store Indian" was a very vivid one, as was the tobacco shop, based on smell. She grew to understand why that wasn't a good scene, all around, and I miss her. I can't believe I am watching a video that talks about one of Mom's memories. That was very unknowingly kind of you. Great work on the video.

@URProductions

Ай бұрын

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing.

@michaelc4614

Ай бұрын

Cute little story sir.

@k.anderson5039

Ай бұрын

I’m jealous. Living on a train sounds cool

This is fascinating. I gave up smoking in the '90s, not because it was it was a health hazard, but because it was a WEALTH hazard.

@RossAllaire-wx4og

Ай бұрын

OR: why I'm finally trying to quit right now

@k.anderson5039

Ай бұрын

Cigarettes were $1.87 in 1995

@thekraemer1757

13 күн бұрын

Average of 8 a pck in NJ I couldn't afford it if I did.

@rick4115

8 күн бұрын

Agreed on the fascination. On the budget concerns.... You either smoke too much or don't earn enough.

This video brought back memories. Dad smoked Chesterfields and died in 1969 at age 40 from cancer. My first visit to Disneyland in 1972 featured the tobacconist shop. I've been in four Disney parks worldwide--the Florida parks, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland. I observed the changes from "smoke anywhere" when outdoors to the smoker exile colonies to no smoking at all. Now alcoholic beverages have replaced tobacco! I admit it--the Memory Hole treatment to older Disney shorts and features bothers me. That's despite my anti-smoking creds--lying about the past bothers me more because how can we learn from history when history has been falsified?

@TS-qd2uj

3 ай бұрын

Before you know it they'll replace alcoholic drinks with " light dosage" fentanyl shops just like the British Columbia government in Canada is trying to push for kids. It's in the news.

@markloveless1001

3 ай бұрын

Remember smoking on airplanes?. People didn't think a thing of it, though.even as a little kid I thought burning stuff in a closed air space was not a good idea.

@alancranford3398

3 ай бұрын

@@markloveless1001 About thirty years ago I flew on the Moroccan state airlines. It seemed as if I were the only non-smoker, that even the kids were puffing away,

@cokesquirrel

3 ай бұрын

@alancranford3398 That doesn't surprise me at all. I can't remember if it's a certain district in India or Pakistan But they show Kids that look as young as 7 or 8 years old find single cigarettes and smoking before school I lived in rural china In 2017 and 2018 and people smoked everywhere including hospitals and in the classrooms At schools

@FahimibnDawud

3 ай бұрын

​@cokesquirrel yea it was Indonesia..

Welcome back! Yeah, smoking is nowhere near as prevalent today as it was back then, but to go through such an effort as to erase it from Walt's actual photographs is just silly.

@wolfshanze5980

3 ай бұрын

The Woke knows no bounds.

@spikespa5208

3 ай бұрын

In every sense, it's a crusade.

@WR3ND

3 ай бұрын

I'm a minority of one.

@bobdollaz3391

3 ай бұрын

@coreadude, no one believes that propaganda, "woke" is anti white, Christophobic, BIGOTRY! Go cry about minorities mistreatment in places like China, Sudan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Etc......oh wait, you only care when the victimizer is hywte!

@theboyisnotright6312

3 ай бұрын

​@@coreadudeyeah people like you say that, but.... erasing the cigs from Walt's hand is where it ends up🙄

That "no smoking" short was probably the best anti smoking ad I've ever seen and it came out in 1951 it's crazy that Disney would try to hide that

@mikeakers3453

Ай бұрын

i don't know if you can find it now but actor, William Tallman,who played Hamilton Burger on "Perry Mason" from 1957 until 1966 made an anti-cigarette ad as he was dying from cancer. He said it was a battle he didn't want to lose. I believe the ad played for several weeks immediately after he died. It was very memorable and probably pretty effective. He was a very recognizable personality. In this era of mindless celebrity worship I would think it would be even more so.

I remember Disney had a whole army of people dressed all in white whose sole job was sweeping up trash and cigarette butts (mainly butts). Drop a butt on the ground and within seconds somebody would zip by and sweep it up. It was actually amazing how fast anything that hit the ground vanished. I was born in the 50's and remember as a youngster in the 60's that people smoked everywhere. Grocery shopping, Department stores, Airplanes, trains, Restaurants ect. Back in those days there was no such thing as a No Smoking section anyplace. Even in school we made ashtrays for our parents from clay for things like Mother''s Day and Father's Day.

@SteffiReitsch

2 ай бұрын

As a teenager back in the mid1960s, during the summer I worked at 6 Flags Over Georgia . We did the same thing: lots of kids were on the sweeper crew wearing a cute outfit. A huge amount of cigarette butts were thrown on the pavement and they were gone fast.

@sirclarkmarz

2 ай бұрын

My 4th grade teacher smoked in class

@eduardomendozajr6300

2 ай бұрын

​@@sirclarkmarz I remember in elementary school walking by the teacher's lounge during lunch time and there was a cloud of smoke with all the teachers and principals smoking all the way.. and that was a normal thing great time for them in the 70's

@dancooper6002

2 ай бұрын

It was a better age

@babecat2000

Ай бұрын

@@dancooper6002 For who? The past was full of racism and sexism.

The Tobacco shop at DL was briefly a hobby shop before becoming a sports store. Also, in 1955 to be a lessee on Main St your business had to have existed in 1900 (my great uncle visited the park on opening day as a rep for Wurlitzer and figured the park would survive about 6 months).

@ThemeParksShouldntExist

3 ай бұрын

the complete and utter lack of faith people had in early Disneyland’s survival is always hilarious to me - such an underdog tale. Thanks for the story.

@patrickmccleary1144

Ай бұрын

One of the few stores that wasn't associated with Disneyland if not the only store was the Golden banjo. I'll just leave it at that and people can Google The rest. But he had a maid named Hazel and he was an attorney.

@ZeranZeran

Ай бұрын

@@patrickmccleary1144 You mean the BBQ place? The Silver banjo?

@patrickmccleary1144

Ай бұрын

@@ZeranZeran yeah that was it.

@ZeranZeran

Ай бұрын

@@patrickmccleary1144 It looked amazing

I must say that this was the most balanced sociological examination of smoking of that period I've seen. And Iger overseeing the "removal," Winston Smith style, of all references to smoking in past archival images should have been a warning of the mind-control mentality the company was heading for.

I literally only watched this video because I'm a pipe smoker and I thought that was awesome that Disneyland/World used to have a tobacco shop. I wasn't expecting to be bombarded with how bad smoking is for you (yes, cigarettes are bad). You don't see tobacco shops much anymore. Wish I could get my hands on some Disney tobacciana. That would be neat.

@SuperFranzs

Ай бұрын

Cigarettes are much worse for you than other types of tobacco.

@Gecko....

7 күн бұрын

Sounds like you don't like being reminded that your hobby is slowly degrading your lifespan.

@SuperFranzs

6 күн бұрын

@@Gecko.... Yeah yeah. 1.2 times the chance of mouth cancer compared to not smoking. Cigarette smokers still have 8 times the chance of getting mouth cancer compared to the non-smoker. The chance for lounge cancer is the same between cigar/pipe smokers and non-smokers. It's the cigarettes which will kill you. I've chosen to accept a 1.2 chance of mouth cancer, and I am paying taxes on my tobacco to compensate society for it.

@SuperFranzs

6 күн бұрын

@@Gecko.... KZread keeps deleting my responses. Pipe smoking only increases mouth c*ncer with 1.2 times, while cigar*ttes increase it with 8 times. The rate of lounge c*ncer is almost identical between non-smokers and pipe smokers. It's the cigar*ttes that will k*ll you.

@imstupid880

Күн бұрын

What did you expect? We're part of a dying, if not dead, age. The only video you're not going to be shittalked in is a video by a pipe smoker.

It's crazy how much the attitude toward smoking has changed. When I was a kid, almost everywhere was a smoking area. Grocery stores didn't have end caps full of the stuff they were paid most to promote, they had ash trays at the end of every aisle. Some (but not all) restaurants had no-smoking sections, airplanes had nonsmoking rows at the front, and most people didn't smoke while pumping their leaded gas.

@JeffBilkins

2 ай бұрын

In hindsight it was crazy. At my first desk job we used to smoke in the office during work, in the last years before it got banned. There were non-smokers there who had to work eight hours a day five days a week just marinating in second-hand smoke. I also enjoyed the smoker carriages on the commute train, it was absolute pea soup dring rush hour.

@mikeyjohnson5888

Ай бұрын

Whoa, you unlocked a really old memory of mine shopping with my grandma when I was almost a toddler. I think it was a Winn-Dixie, possibly a Piggly Wiggly. While browsing the shelves my grandma stopped at the end, lit up, and used the ashtrays. The memory of the smell. A weird torrid pungent chemical smell filled my nostrils. I complained to my grandma who seemingly hadn't noticed. Turns out she had ashed on a pile of butts on the surface and they were just smoldering away. A stout grocery clerk quickly came over, and in a flash took a small trowel out of his apron and covered the embers with the sand in the ash tray and without saying anything left just as quickly as he appeared.

@gtrob1

Ай бұрын

​@@JeffBilkinsI just left a job that reinstated indoor smoking. The joys of working at a native casino

@techpriestalex8730

Ай бұрын

kids still smoke today things haven't changed they just aren't talked about.

@jasonberezowski2869

13 күн бұрын

Man, even when I was a kid in the very early 90's they still allowed smoking in the shopping mall. Right near the foodcourt there was two big ashtray containers filled with sand that people would butt out in. Of course, it wouldn't be long until this all dissappeared but I still remember it vividly, such as people smoking in mcdonalds, smoking and non-smoking sections in every restaurant.

I worked at Disneyland and we had the stupid "Disney finger point" which used two fingers. We were told during our "Magic training" that it was because pointing with two fingers was more polite, but the reality was that's how Walt pointed. Because he always had a cigarette in his hand.

@catherinelane5817

3 ай бұрын

While that's a funny point, it was also because pointing with one finger is offensive in some cultures and Disney took pains to be welcoming to cultures from around the world.

@Valchrist1313

2 ай бұрын

@@catherinelane5817 especially if it was the middle finger

@John-du2mq

16 күн бұрын

Should have asked them about it. "Can I get a cigarette to make it more authentic?"

In this age of a KZread dominated by cheap AI "documentaries", that are merely a script read by an artificial voice over pointless footage, this is a thoughtful and well-researched account of the early Disneyland, including real footage and photos. Thank you!

@GreenAppelPie

3 ай бұрын

It’s pretty obvious when the script goes 100% AI, repeating phrases, saying the same thing 3 different ways, randomly organized thoughts. I immediately unsubscribe

@romchompa6858

2 ай бұрын

Theylle soon be able to refine those AI videos and theylle begin to be indistinguishable, not long from now

@macswanton9622

2 ай бұрын

@@GreenAppelPieat least when the comedic veneer wears off~ the pronunciation breaks, I'd swear it's a 'bit' done for laughs

@sethd2738

2 ай бұрын

I equally appreciate your comment fellow robot consumer🤖🤷‍♂️🙈🙉🙊

@elchomper.1063

2 ай бұрын

That's your own fault. If you'd just sub to the channels that make decent documentaries that's not a problem. Been watching this stuff on KZread for over a decade not once has that happened.

In the early-2000s, I watched one of those "Smoker's Pole" butt collectors erupt in flames at Disney World. There were a couple kids screaming nearby and a couple staff kids scared to death. Glorious experience. Nothing damaged but the sidewalk as the thing melted. I wish I had photos.

I confess, I loved real tobacconist shops. Lovely colourful labels, the rich smell of the humidor and the jars of various blends of pipe tobacco. The leather pouches, the neat little pipe tools and lighters, and the arcane delight of the peculiar names for all the different shapes of pipes: Dublin, billiard, apple, bent, Canadian, the fish-tailed bulldog all the way up to the Oom Paul. I knew a one man business in north London, where the proprietor would show me how to shape the bowl and polish the stem on his lathes. At some point you have to say it may shorten my life, but it is worthwhile. When my (not smoking related) cancer comes back to finish me off, I'm going to buy a large stock of Dunhill Nightcap and go out in a haze of fragrant blue smoke. Mmm, latakia!

@1978garfield

Ай бұрын

My plan if I get any kind of smoking other than lung is to have a caner drag race. I will start smoking again and see which one finishes me off.

@thekraemer1757

13 күн бұрын

It was a sad day when the venerable Nat Sherman's in NYC closed. One of the finsaet shops in the world and very old school. Economics and 2020 did it in. JR in NJ is a big store and the entire place is a humidor. But it doesn't compare to the old timey places that were more like libraries.

I worked on the Disney lot in Burbank in the old animation building on the movies Tron & Something Wicked This Way Comes. This lovely older building had ashtrays inset in the walls of the hallways every 40 ft. to accommodate Walt and his habit.

@muziktrkr

3 ай бұрын

I’m surprised Walt didn’t own his own tobacco field by the time Disneyland opened, especially if the park was selling tobacco.

@catherinelane5817

3 ай бұрын

Is it wrong that I love that feature (despite being a non-smoker)?

@lrajic8281

3 ай бұрын

Oh, the wall mounted ashtrays were common, you reminded me! From hospitals, factories, department stores! And in every public restroom. Cigarette vending machines everywhere. Then it was changed. The vending machines were moved to close to the public restrooms. And wall mounted ashtrays quit being so available. Ashtrays were stands outside the entrances. Every restaurant or food stand had ashtrays on the tables, and we non smokers always moved those ashtrays off the tables. And match books were printed up fancy and free at all restaurants and hotels. Even personalized matchbooks of weddings were considered cool and standard wedding reception favors. To be a recipient of a matchbook was considered an honor, not even being a smoker.

@picahudsoniaunflocked5426

3 ай бұрын

Something Wicked This Way Comes is underrated. I keep expecting it to pick up in the cult film communities. TRON was, ofc, justly lauded. You got to work on some great films!

@BasedRanger

2 ай бұрын

​@@lrajic8281 I grew up in a state that had banned indoor public smoking very early on, so I never saw that growing up. However, it was still perfectly normal to smoke inside the home and the car with kids present, and there was still an old working cigarette vending machine down at the local car wash. As a 10 year old, I could still ride my bike to buy cigarettes for my mom from the shops that knew us. When I was 18, I moved to a midwest state where indoor smoking everywhere was still legal, and _everyone_ still smoked. I was shocked the first time I went into a diner and the hostess asked, "Smoking or non-smoking?" I was then shocked yet again when I saw matchbooks and an ashtray on the table. Then, inside of a mall, those old wall-mounted ashtrays, and folks walking about while smoking. But, by far, the most shocking thing was when I went to a grocery store, and realized that there were ashtrays mounted on the shopping carts! It was a smoker's paradise.

I actually managed to be at the park on the LAST day smoking was allowed on the property on any level. I actually made a group of people aware that they were they were a part of history, the park was closing in a few minutes, so they were genuinely some of, if not the last people to smoke in Disneyland. I was surprised all but two of them seemed to care, but those two were pretty excited to be a part of it.

@jeanallan8106

3 ай бұрын

When was that? I haven’t been to Disneyland in over 20 years. I remember my first day in the park lighting up after I got off a ride when one of the cast members informed me I couldn’t smoke there and pointed me to the designated smoking area. I was flabbergasted that they had non smoking areas outdoors. Oh how times have changed 😂

@vonshroom2068

2 ай бұрын

Well when you got banned from any other establishment before that it kinda is what it is and you move on you know? Smoking is bad but society has gone a bit overboard on it considering we're not bothering with any other carcinogens in our daily products. Its my main gripe with the whole thing, carcinogens are everywhere from skin/beauty products to actual food but don't you dare light that deathstick! Ah, well best not to start smoking as its a habitual adiction and those are the hardests to break as its something you've come accustomed to do.

@daveR0berts

2 ай бұрын

In Britain I remember being one of the first to break the smoking ban in work places when I was up early to milk cows 😤

@romchompa6858

2 ай бұрын

i started smoking at Disneyland when I was 17 years old, that was the best time to be going to Disneyland every weekend,

@nbaoldgirl

2 ай бұрын

That’s cool of you to tell them! I would’ve taken a huge puff and thanked you!

Throughout the 1970's, Disneyland provided cigarette machines throughout the park. I remember guests walking around smoking. Just don't do that on the rides. Around 1985, I seem to recall the machines had been removed, and cigarettes were suddenly only sold in 4 shops in the entire park. But, inside those shops, the cigs were prominently displayed and in mass variety. Then, around 1995, everything changed. Only 1 store sold them. It was called the "Villain Shoppe". You wanna buy contraband, you go to the villain shop. That wasn't advertised anywhere. You had to know about it word of mouth. Inside that shoppe, nothing indicated smokes were on sale. You asked the workers, and they pulled open a drawer under the counter, and showed you the merchandise. Very little variety on sale. If I recall, they then only allowed smoking in a couple of places inside the park, and I don't remember where. In 2005, that Villain Shoppe was gone. Cigs were no longer sold in the park. If you wanted to smoke, you got your hand stamped, you exited the park, and you smoked in the parking lot.

I just happened to be working at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World (just outside Main Street U.S.A. with Stroller Rental) in 2002 when I first started smoking cigarettes for the first time. There were still designated smoking areas inside the park for guests and backstage for cast members back then and in 2009 when I returned to work at Walt Disney World. In fact, I can remember selling cigarettes in the hotel gift shops (Disney's All-Star Resorts) I worked at that cost $11/pack, even back in 2009. By the time I returned to Disney to work for the 3rd time in 2021, they had removed the smoking designated areas, but I had already quit smoking in 2014.

Just FYI: Si Meyerson’s name is pronounced like the word SIGH not like the Spanish word for Yes. It’s most likely a shortened form of the name Sigmund or Sigismund. You mentioned he was a rag picker and a reseller in the Lower East Side in Manhattan at the turn of the century. That neighborhood at the time was almost a 100% Jewish immigrant neighborhood. The name Sigmund is a popular German and German Jewish name (Sigmund Freud being the most famous Si), and while not usually shortened to SI (“Sy” is the more common shortening of the name) is probably what it stands for. Hope this helps!

@suburbanbanshee

3 ай бұрын

Simon and Cyrus also could become Si.

@TheTrumpReaper

3 ай бұрын

I think Cy is another spelling, but I only have seen it as a short form of Seymour.

@skeletonfox

3 ай бұрын

He may have been Simon Myerson who wa a retail buyer and involved in various business enterprises in Los Angeles during that time. He went by “Si”. He died in Santa Monica in 1968.

@davidallen2077

3 ай бұрын

So...that mispronunciation begs the question: is the announcer a Bot or just a person of tender years?

@augustbutler9096

3 ай бұрын

Thanks that was annoying the hell out of me!

"Hehe, the king has returned"

I used to love visiting the tobacco shop on Main Street. Smelled wonderful.

you've made a great 38 minute non-smoking ad here. I'm going to learn about the disneyland tobacco shop somewhere else.

This was a fun watch. Growing up my family always took a picture with the Main St. Cigar Indian to the point where our Apple photos app keeps wanting us to label him as a member of the family because he is in so many family photos! It also sort of was like a measuring stick, watching the kids grow. We miss it because it was a tradition, but it was time for it to go.

@termsofusepolice

2 ай бұрын

Agree it was time for the wooden Indian to go. But did it really need to be carried off by men dressed as cowboys at gunpoint? Seems pretty tacky. But Florida marches to its own drummer.

@richardlea818

2 ай бұрын

@@termsofusepoliceDid they really do that? That’s absolutely hilarious in today’s climate 😂 I’m crying laughing right now

Just when I had given up all hope for 2024, the man, the myth, the legend returns when we needed him most.

My dad and Walt were friends and next door neighbors and used to sit and smoke their pipes together.

The Magic Shop was always my favorite as a child !😭❤Memories

Very excited that you are back, now the only return I'm waiting for is Rob Plays 😃

As someone who lives in Tampa, the second a tobacco shop at Magic Kingdom was mentioned, I was waiting on the edge of my seat expecting my hometown to be mentioned, and lo and behold it was. This was a really interesting look at how theme parks change to reflect the societies around them. Keep up the good work, Jack.

@johnmchugh8049

3 ай бұрын

Honestly : how far is the drive from Tampa , moving to the Orlando area and am very interested in Tampa

@RetroMuffin

3 ай бұрын

​@@johnmchugh8049 It's like one to two hours depending on traffic. Have done plenty of day trips to the Orlando parks from here.

@chucklebutt4470

2 ай бұрын

sorry you live in Florida, dude.

Great vid, thanks for positing. I rolled "Cuban" cigars at Epcot about 10 years ago. That was fun! Too bad tobacco has become such an anathema in recent years. (Alcohol kills more people every year, and always has, than tobacco. And where has Disney banned adult beverages anywhere?)

Thanks for this. GREAT STUFF. As a Pipe Smoker, the history on this is FASCINATING. I have a mint-condition pack of matches from the shop.

I hate say it, but as a smoker I kinda found the old fashioned clips romantic and fun. A kind of I hat is hard to replicate these days! Now Expense, planning, genie+, mobile ordering/reservations! It seemed easier to relax back then! And with a smoke if you wanted.!

@johnmchugh8049

3 ай бұрын

You gotta go all the way to harbor by the Uber pickup to smoke - it’s a bit more chill at the Orlando parks

The newspaper shot @ 7:06 is a 1952 edition of the Burbank Leader. The 2nd lead indicates Disneyland will be built in Burbank CA. the current home of The Walt Disney Studios. Not everyone knows that one of the original Disneyland possibilities was, what is now, Riverside Drive and Buena Vista Ave. in Burbank CA. Disney owned all the land but the Disneyland Concept quickly outgrew the area, hence the Orange County location. The addition of CA 134, a connector route from US 101 to I 5, took much of the land Disney would have needed, in any event.

This was well done. I can't wait for the one in 10 years where we're going and talking about removal of history.

Brian's a really cool dude. He's been a big shot at multiple large names in the pipe industry, worked on Main St in Disneyland, and helps organize the Vegas International Pipe Show. Glad you ended up giving him credit! Also, a neat detail on the Parker Pen Co: for a while, they also sold a variety of branded lighters (not made by them, just existing models with the Parker name slapped on in it and distributed by them). So they had a thumb in the tobacco pie as well!

It's nice that you're back with another obscure footnote in Disney history.

WELCOME BACK, JACK! You just made my day! (And this video is so well researched, I'm loving it!!!)

Additional comment: Despite being 'just' 45yrs old, I do actually remember a few proper tobacconist shops. Shops that sold nothing but tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, snuff, rolling papers, tins, humidifiers etc. etc. They closed around the beginning of the millennium. There used to be a couple nearby to me, one in Sutton, and one in Wimbledon... But the poshest, nicest one I went to was in Brighton. Beautiful wooden floors, shelves and drawers. And the gorgeous smell of all the tobacco... Mmm! I know the shop had been there for over 100+ years when I went there. I think it's closed now though. You could have a look at the different types in big jars and buy all the main brands in their usual packets but also LOOSE! You could mix and match too, blend them together and such... They gave away free cigarettes in packets of 5 and tobacco too, in tiny packets of approx. 5 rollies worth... *_Sigh!_*

@manatoa1

13 күн бұрын

Wonderful places. Cigarettes kind of got what was coming to them, but pipes and cigars really didn't deserve to get lumped in with them.

I have not been entertained by an informative KZread video in a while. Amazingly entertaining video and I loved your conclusion. I loved this video

My man really said, "It's been two years.....maybe it's time for a video!" Welcome back, fam!

@ThemeParksShouldntExist

3 ай бұрын

I was rewatching Pirates 3 the other day and heard Master Gibbs say “aye Jack the world needs you back somethin fierce” when they were in Davey Jones locker and it activated me to make a new vid like a sleeper cell

@nbaoldgirl

2 ай бұрын

@@ThemeParksShouldntExistThat’s hilarious. On that note I’m subbing to your channel 😂

Sometime in the 1970s when I was a kid, I purchased an oversized novelty cigar at Knott's Berry Farm, which my parents had to approve. I never smoked it. Never took it out of the rapper. I think I might have had it for about 15 years before it dissinigrated and had to be thrown away. Also, around 1990, I was an extra in a cigarette commercial starring Pierce Brosnan that was going to air in Japan.

@catherinelane5817

3 ай бұрын

Knott's is still selling its own Knott's tobacco line and still has a few cigars and pipes sold in the Gun Shop.

Love to see a well-researched and passionately presented video like this - really pulls the viewer in to any topic. Sick channel name and title cards too. I appreciate that slick integration.

Hopefully fun tidbits from Disneyland custodial. Trash can fires were a thing! All metal trash cans have hard plastic liners, that have plastic bags in them; the smoking sections would not have bags because people would throw their still lit cigarettes in them. Custodians would rub the cigarettes on the ground or put them into a cup of water to *really* make sure they were extinguished to prevent fires in their pans and cans. Ash tray trash cans were only really a thing in the Esplanade at first (the whole Esplanade was a smoking area), the ones in-park would have a separate ash tray. Later, the new Thunder Trail would get trash cans ash trays. Some custodians were displeased because the trash can ash trays weren't removable and washable. DL smoking sections changed a lot and a few were amusing. My favorite was the original pet cemetery alongside the Mansion before they settled on the old keel boat dock. It was too far off the beaten path imo. When the train was down (I think to accommodate for Star Wars), the whole Tomorrowland train station was a smoking area. It did work well, since the station is pretty isolated.

the name "SI" would be pronounced like "SY" rather than "SEE". the tone of incredulity running through this piece that smoking was actually a "thing" once upon a time is amazing

@suburbanbanshee

3 ай бұрын

Especially since public marijuana use is supposed to be okay in many places, but nicotine use is now the most evil thing ever. This is the most illogical timeline.

@mattkaustickomments

3 ай бұрын

@@suburbanbansheeit’s not so much the nicotine but all the carcinogens and pollutants that smoking foists on others. And they stink! As for marijuana, I think the redeeming factor is the THC. Pot also has a lot of tar in it and stinks too. I’ve seen no endorsement of publicly smoking it anywhere. No smoking has meant No smoking of anything.

I only smoked one cigarette while watching this. Thank you.

There was a tobacconist on main street at Disneyworld in Florida. It was always busy and probably one of the nicest shops id ever seen. I bought a Danish freehand there about 1975 thats still one of my favorites today. I wish I'd bought a Disney brand pipe with the Mickey Mouse logo on the stem. By the way, i was 16 years old when i bought that pipe and noone thought much of it.

Watching this first thing in the morning with my first coffee and cigarette of the day, cheers.

Great video, love the channel redesign! I remember pretty clearly before smoking was banned indoors in the UK and seeing people puffing away in the video is oddly nostalgic

Glad to see you back with an upload!! Interesting topic, look forward to your next one

I'm a huge fan of "Where We Parked" podcast and I'm glad I was able to find you, despite the name change! Your wry humor and painting a scene through words that I loved in that podcast I immediately recognized in this video. (Smoking dads in the 50s...) I'm so excited to watch more of your videos!

There is a tabacco and tea store at disney springs florida today. In fact ir is one of the few good things remaining there imho. I miss wall disney's disney. Today is something else. No magic no happyness no nothing.

I was the last person to smoke at Disneyland (while the park was open). I remember smoking at the section behind Thunder Mountain on the last day and it was right before closing. People started gathering around to have their last drag before they stopped it for good. We all waited for security to finally come by and kick us all out. We all gathered around and took a picture of all of us with either a cigarette or vape in hand, having our last one at Disneyland. I stayed in the back of the group to make sure I would be the last person to exhale smoke at Disneyland and it being a vape I was able to hold it to make sure. I know it's not a lot but hey, I was the last person to exhale smoke at Disneyland ("legally").

@mattkaustickomments

3 ай бұрын

I hope you have long had your last-last smoke since then. Would be a much prouder moment.

@dutchess406

2 ай бұрын

Wow that is a cool story yo

Brilliant! Love the work & time that went into creating this video. History is the past, learn from it, don't hide it.

Fascinating video, thanks for posting, I love the "seems Disney took over the lease when it expired" line -> i.e. they knew it was an absolute gold mine and couldn't wait for the lease to expire!

It's great to have you back! You always pick fascinating subjects that are very often overlooked in other theme park channels and this is definitely one of them. It was also very interesting to see in some of these photos of the shop through the years or Main Street at the time other curious things like Lon Chaney movies being shown next to it (I had no idea) or the elusive Intimate Apparel shop (the existence of The Wizard of Bras lives rent free in my head). Thanks for coming back! 🙌

I worked at Disney World while I was in college. Graduated in 1999 at that time you could smoke anywhere within the parks and they went to the designated areas January 2000 but it was loosely enforced. Overtime that became more common place but the resorts still had smoking rooms until June 2017 so it really hasn’t been very long since Disney made an effort to fully eliminate smoking on property.

i went to disneyland right before covid hit, and i was shocked to find that they had completely removed ALL smoking areas. people were gathered up in a fairly large group out front and off to the side near the hedges, smoking like their life depended on it. i was with a life long smoker, and we had to make a few trips all the way out of the park back to where the pick up area is for a smoke break. if you are all the way in the back of the park and decide you want to smoke, its like a 20 minute walk haha

I remember visiting the tobacco shop in the late 1960s when Disney World opened near Orlando. In Downtown Disney, a separate restaurant spot from the theme parks had a cigar shop with a small lounge. I think that shop closed shortly after I was there in 2014.

Great to have you back, always love your content!

People who scoff at how smoking was so normal clearly turn a blind eye to the vape industry these days

@mdalsted

3 ай бұрын

Turn a blind eye or genuinely aren't aware that it's still going...

@jarehelt

3 ай бұрын

Vaping saved my life. I would've never quit smoking without it. I was also able to quit vaping but only because I could control nicotine levels and ween off

@artrogue4150

3 ай бұрын

Absolutely ! i have the same story. Vaping is not nearly as dangerous as smoking Plus i was able to quit nicotine completely ! going on my 3rd year.

@4rumani

3 ай бұрын

And to marijuana.

@jarehelt

3 ай бұрын

@@4rumani you mean alchohol

I've never seen this channel before, but you wield your sense of humor surgically and I respect it, have a sub.

Great video, thank you! I’m a farmer in the middle of nowhere Kansas these days, but I grew up down the road from Disneyland in California. Dad was definitely smoking cigarettes wherever he felt like back in 98-99 & we never got in any trouble or even reprimanded. I recall graduating the 8th grade in 1998 & our school literally took a field trip to Disneyland, sure was different a mere four years later! The things folks got away with before 2002…🙄😬🤣

Welcome back, you were missed. Excellent video as always.

My girlfriend and I used to smoke trees in the smoking areas at Disneyland a few years back and it was nice after riding a roller coaster and feeling a little sick. We always felt like we were going to get complained to about it but never did. We would use the area by big thunder or kind of out front of the haunted mansion by the river. The section at DCA by the Grizzly water ride was so empty it wasn’t even a problem.

@boombapdoom493

3 ай бұрын

Like actual flower or vape?

@butterfacemcgillicutty

3 ай бұрын

​@@boombapdoom493probably a mix of tobacco with weed, it covers the smell a little bit.

@mjwbulich

3 ай бұрын

I was kicked out of the park several times back in the '80s and '90s for smoking weed. They even had security in the parking lot that would bust you if you went back to your car to smoke.

@DJVIIIMan

3 ай бұрын

@@mjwbulich There is a jail under Disneyland. How do I know? When I was 16, I was arrested by Disney security smoking weed in the bathroom adjacent to the parking lot. I had to call my parents, have them drive from San Diego to come get me and was banned from the park for a year.

Great Job on this doc. Watched the whole thing through,, easy to view.. entertaining and informative. !!

as one of the tobacco enthusiasts you mentioned, i am now looking for these pipes

Absolutely hyped this channel is back. Incredible content❤

Glad to see you're back making videos again, dude. Missed your stuff. I'm looking forward to some more Keep Epcot Weird stuff.

I love smoking history even though I don't smoke lol. It's pretty cool to see how intertwined it was in everything at the time. You could even smoke on airplanes back in the day. I can't imagine how often they had to change cabin air filters and air recirculation equipment lol.

Good Lord, absolutely amazing video. Thank you very, very much for creating and posting.

Glad you're back. I enjoyed that a whole lot.

This was a riot and brought back a lot of memories. I went to Disney with the family as a kid in 1976 and remember the era and all the smoking. It was ubiquitous. I also agree with your point about trying to airbrush history. Honestly, Disney should bring back the old-fashioned tobacco shop for their Main Street USA. If you are trying to recreate an American town circa 1900, there would have been at least one tobacco shop. So set one up. But do it as an historical exhibit with a detailed explanation of the history of tobacco, its use and the terrible effects on people's health.

@Eargesplitten-Loudenboomer

29 күн бұрын

lol that's a little too reasonable, we can't make stuff that easy.

I was a cast member at WDW in Florida in the seventies and I remember the tobacco shop on Main Street as well as being able to smoke pretty much anywhere in the Magic Kingdom as long as you were outside.

Great video! Love calling out the forums you got additional information from!

Good video and great to see you again! With regards to smoking: (and sorry for sounding like the devil's advocate here) but I personally think designated smoking sections should come back inside theme parks. It's a habit (almost as bad as beer and soda) but given that in most states, it's legal to smoke maryjanes (like in California) and most people smoke as a form of stress relief, I frankly think designated smoking sections should come back. Sure, keep the state legal warnings where appropriate and what not like potentially causing cancer, but at least the designated sections will have benefits: 1) It's where guests can relax 2) It's away from other guests who don't smoke 3) Guests can and will be able to safely dispose their used cigarettes/vaping cartridges after their done I know during Knott's Scary Farm, Knott's places a few designated smoking areas/zones like near their mazes or in/around Scare Zones. But after Scary farm, there's nothing. Not a sign, not a specialty bin, nothing

@4rumani

3 ай бұрын

No, fuck smokers

@ladyjane8855

3 ай бұрын

I agree. There are plenty of places off the beaten track at Disney World, away from kids.. I see numerous people smoking/vaping where they shouldn't at the parks these days

Wow banning smoking from Disneyland? Walt must be spinning in his cryogenic tube if he knew what you guys did to his park. Smh

I wish they would open up a Disney themed Head Shop at the parks!

Love you channel man, great perspectives and speaking voice.

I was literally thinking the other day how great this channel was and how I was missing new videos, so this is a very welcome surprise 😊

From second grade until 8th grade My family went to Disneyland. My father was a lifelong cigar and pipe smoker I remember going through that shop with him several times. I don't think he ever brought anything because he always said it was overpriced. I had totally forgotten even existed Until I saw this video clip We Visited there every march e from 1975 until 1982.

Excellent deep dive into an interesting window into America! Thank you!

Great video on a not always talked about subject. I liked how in depth this went. Good to see you back btw

I used to love the smell of that tobacco shop!

Most of the "out-of-place and unusual offerings" made there back then, provided cherished memories that will never be outdated nor taken away :)

So glad you're finally back!!!!

Welcome back! I am going on almost a year since my last history documentary, and it can be tough to get back on the horse because…life. Loved the video and your narrative style. Fine research work and presentation. 🎉

Love this channel! You’ve been missed!

I clearly remember buying a pack of Winston cigarettes at the Disney World tobacco shop in 1975. That was my first visit out of many ending in 2007 when my daughter was five years old. I was an old dad, having outgrown the Disney thing in my early 50s. Nowadays, I'd rather be in a fine restaurant, on a boat fishing or lounging on a beach with a cold beer.

Thanks to this video I ended up spotting (and taking a picture of) the statue on my last trip to Disneyland.

I like how Goofy was doing some real dirty stuff in those days, the one about his road rage feels especially of that era.

Great video with some details I was not aware of. Makes me want to add a Tobaconist in my VR Theme Park but with some sort of funny, mocking twist. Going to give this some thought.

@GabrielHodge

Ай бұрын

That would be super creative

In the 1800's medical practitioners directly linked to emphysema and general lung damage. While cancer would be a later association, they actually historically did accept that smoking was bad for you even if they didn't promote it. It was with the rise of agencies like the FDA that sought to put the blame on companies for users' health (not disputing whether that is right or wrong, just noting) that the tobacco industry really put emphasis on denying health issues. So yes, in the Disney era, they would have been aware that this wasn't a healthy habit.

@John-du2mq

16 күн бұрын

The FDA is so corrupt and they really don't do anything. We have probably the most poisonous food and prescription drugs in this country so what exactly do they so besides waste taxpayer dollars?

Fantastic video. This was informative and well-executed - real eye opener. Thank you.

Great vid, glad to see your back! It’s funny to me that you really see Tobacco in the parks as being so taboo. I would consider the Disney parks relationship with Monsanto, one of the most evil, destructive, companies in human history, to be far more appalling than a naughty little cigar shop or bra shop on Main Street.

@DanaTheInsane

2 ай бұрын

You’ve never worked in janitorial services. Idiots stick chewing gum everywhere. Revolting as they are, cigarette butts can be sweep up