Disneyland's Main Street Tobacco Shop (1955) 

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)

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

Being able to have a cigar and coffee while my nieces and nephews scream around Disney land would make it 1000% more bearable

1950s: Disney sells tobacco but not alcohol in the parks. 2020s: Disney sells alcohol but not tobacco in the parks.

People forget that Walt’s dream wasn’t just a place built for kids. it was built for adults to bring their families.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

And yet today you can go to Knott’s berry farm and buy pipes,cigars,pipe tobacco and antique ashtrays. I picked up some boysenberry flavored tobacco today.

That's one thing about Walt that always puzzled me. The fact that he was careful never to be seen smoking publicly when the cameras were rolling, and in his persona as Walt Disney he never smoked. That would make perfect sense in todays world, and its a great idea. But in Walts day everyone smoked, and there was no stigma around it as such, yet he chose to not be shown to do it anyway because he knew even then it was a bad habit. Huge respect for that.

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?

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

Removing it out of the old cartoons is still revisionism.

Back in the early days? I bought a wooden box of four Disneyland cigars for my boss, I was 18 at the time and I bought them as a joke because it was a dovetailed wooden box with these nice Disneyland cigars in it. He was a cigar affectionado and when I gave them to him he laughed and said well maybe I can use the box for something and started examining the cigars he unwrapped one and had to use his little cigar cutter thingy fired it up and said it was a fine cigar. Couple days later he contacted Disneyland and Disneyland told him nope you had to be in the park to buy the cigars they were only available at Disneyland. He compared them to Cuban cigars! I think that must have been about 1978

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.

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).

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.

The "they didn't even have designated areas" bit in the intro makes me realize just how old I am. People really don't realize just how absolutely saturated everything was with tobacco smoke. It was EVERYWHERE.

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.

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.

Giving out cigarettes as part of standard rations during WW2 really gave a huge boost to tobacco use in the general society, because all of those soldiers came back from war addicted.

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.

In this age of a RU-vid 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!

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

I don't think that's just "some shop that sold locks" if it's Yale locks. A quick search says Yale locks' history goes back to colonial days. Their shop seems to fit in just perfectly next to an old tobacco shop.

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.

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.

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!_*

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

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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 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.

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.

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

My grandfather suggested to Walt to quit smoking for his health. (My grandfather was a ex-smoker.) Walts quick response was "are you a engineer or dr?". But Walt had 2 desks. One with a ashtray (lesser seen) and one without. So maybe he cared that some people didn't like that he smoked

I don’t even smoke but those pipes and lighters look dope AF. Awesome video

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").

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

I still remember our relatives smoking in my father's hospital room when he had his heart attack in the mid-1960s. There was a time when cigarettes, pipes, and cigars were ubiquitous. *"Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"* Was a common expression in the military or on civilian coffee breaks. I asked my father why he smoked when he was young, and Pop said, "We didn't know smoking was bad for you." In my little noggin, I was thinking, "How could you NOT KNOW inhaling smoke was bad for you?!" 🤔 When we Baby Boomers were kids smoking was a normal part of life; back in the day, it was as common to see someone smoking in a store or hospital as it is to see folks staring down at a cell phone today. (Smoking wasn't banned in American hospitals until 12/31/93)

One of the classrooms in my old highschool used to have a huge vent system. Turns out it was at one point the teachers lounge and the vents were to suck the smoke smell out of the room.

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.

"Hehe, the king has returned"

I remember when you could smoke on the airplane that flew you to Disneyland.

This is not only an interesting look into an obscure Disneyland shop and Disney’s history with smoking, but also a good overview of US smoking history in general. Well done, you’ve earned a sub!

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

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

So glad you're finally back!!!!

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

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

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.

Among my fellow pipe smokers Disney-branded briar pipes are still highly prized. My buddy Brian Levine, who hosts the Pipes Magazine Radio Show podcast knows anything and everything about Disney and smoking at Disney.

I can't imagine how much research this took to make. A+

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

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.

..about 1983-84...I was 19 or 20..I remember buying a cigar at the shop and smoking it standing next to the wooden Indian, and walking down Main Street puffing away at it....even took a picture...seemed "naughty"...even then...like the bad boys turned into donkeys scene from Pinocchio...

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

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

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 an excellent video; well done, no filter required, and with good taste. I believe you're 100% right that the legacy of Walt Disney is that we shouldn't be reckless with our lives and that the best lesson may be a bad example. Thanks again!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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 remember going to Disneyworld in 99 and still they had the remnants of the cigarette vending machines.

Part of what makes a Cuban cigar so nice is the soil of the region. This means that taking Cuban seeds and planting them elsewhere doesn’t quite create the same tier of cigar. This also meant that if you knew what you were doing before the embargo was lifted, you could buy cigars from neighboring islands to Cuba that don’t have any embargo and get a similar quality of cigar.

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

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

I'm usually not one for collectables, but man, a tin of Disney-branded tobacco would be a hilarious knickknack to have on display.

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…🙄😬🤣

Absolutely hyped this channel is back. Incredible content❤

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

Thanks for having the guts to insert the PSA. Loved watching it!

When Disney World opened in 1972, there was a tobacco shop. I bought a pipe there.

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.

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

Love you channel man, great perspectives and speaking voice.

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

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 😊

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

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

"That's a long walk for someone already short of breath." SUBSCRIBED. I loved the little bits of sarcastic passive-aggressive humor sprinkled throughout but doesn't become overbearing or overstay its welcome.

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. 🎉

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

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!

welcome back i love it! keep it up please!

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.

100 years from now we’ll be watching videos like this about cars and how crazy we were for letting people drive on their own.

If memory serves, poor Walt died in 1966, of lung cancer.