Sunday, May 4, 2008

Hortie-Van

No, I haven't run out of things to post! I just had illness catch up with me. We'll turn today to the Hortie-Van Manufacturing Company. I wasn't aware of this company, which was the official flag and bunting manufacturer for Disneyland (and several other things with which Disneyland has been involved, such as the Tournament of Roses Parade, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964-65 New York World's Fair), before an August 2007 post on Stuff from the Park. You can also see some of their handiwork in a December 2007 post at Outside the Berm. In my never-ending search through the easily accessible newspaper archives, I've found a few things on Hortie-Van which may be of interest.

The first item is from a section titled "A Business Biography...of Leading Firms in the Pasadena Area..." in the Pasadena Independent Star-News, from January 3, 1967. 1926 indicates the founding year.

The second is an advertisement from the May 14, 1961 Pasadena Independent Star-News.

The final item is another advertisement, from January 1, 1962, which plays up Hortie-Van's work for the Tournament of Roses Parade.

They appear to now be called Hortie-Van Innovations Manufacturing, still in Pasadena, and according to a comment left on Matterhorn's post, still doing work for Disney!

4 comments:

Matterhorn1959 said...

Nice digging. I like the connection of Disneyland to the Squaw Valley Olympics, with Walt Disney in charge of the pageant.

outsidetheberm said...

Nice work! Have not seen that article before. Thank you!

Anthony said...

I have some three Hortie van flags I got from my grandpa who worked there for 35 years. I can share photos if you would like 2 are american and one I cannot identify.

Anonymous said...

Here are 2 pics of a flag from the Frontierland enterance from Main St
by Hortie-Van.

http://mikes-collectibles.com/disney/Flag.jpg

http://mikes-collectibles.com/disney/FlagTag.jpg