Monday, December 15, 2008

Knott's Stagecoach, 1968

Here are three nice afternoon photos of the Stagecoach from Knott's Berry Farm, circa 1968. This first one is from a bit earlier in the day, notice the two cowpokes driving the coach are in their shirtsleeves. Those huge eucalyptus trees add a great "old California" feel to this image!


Now the drivers (did they really need two?) are wearing heavy coats. See that lady in between them? She was the photographer's pretty wife. Full discolsure!


The third picture shows the coach going over the underpass, which as you can see is the way to Old McDonald's Farm, the Indian Trading Post, and the Merry-Go-Round. The train is just visible to the left too. One last thing: what is going on with the back of that kid's head in the lower right? Is he wearing a hat made out of a rat skin, with the tail still attached? If so, I need one of those. Now.

6 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

One of the many "peek-ins" of the miniature California missions was there on the left in your first photo, Major. Gee, I wonder what they did with all of those miniatures? I know...the trash heap! All those trees have been cut down too. One of the saloon bartenders told me they did that after Disneyland had that tree branch fall on a popcorn wagon in Frontierland several years back. He said Knott's management supposedly got scared and cut down 30 of their older trees. Very sad.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Awesome sunny post for this raining Southern California day, thanks Major! I believe that underpass in the 3rd pic is still there, it looks a bit different with Roller coaster tracks all over the place and no trees, I think I just walked under it on my last trip. Tokyo, I was at DL the day before that tree fell in Froniterland :-( I've got a picture of it on its last day!

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, I would not be surprised if Outsidetheberm has some of those miniatures. If so, we might see them at his ranch someday!

TokyoMagic! said...

Yay! So there is a chance that the missions might have been rescued. I forgot that he has a soapbox racer and other "large" memorobilia items. I wonder if there's any chance that he also has the Haunted Shack, the Volcano and the Original Berry Stand. :-)

VDT, you are right...the underpass is still there. It has been redone though, and all of that rockwork is now gone. There used to be another underpass closer to the Fiesta Village rides, but that one was eliminated when Montezooma's Revenge was built and the Stagecoach route was changed.

Nancy said...

beautiful pictures today, Major. im a softie for horses : )

Anonymous said...

Re: "Is he wearing a hat made out of a rat skin, with the tail still attached?" I think that's a girl and she's wearing one of those over-sized 'combs' with which you pull your hair back, insert the comb, and flip it the other way to slide the 'teeth' back into your hair. I could never get my hair to stay put with them, so I have no idea what they're actually called... Still, I hope that helped a little because it DOES look very odd! ~Shady