Thursday, February 02, 2012

Knott's Berry Farm, June 1962

More fun from Knott's....


Granny is falling hard for Handsome Brady, and who can blame her. He's the strong, silent type, and he doesn't even smell bad. And I'm guessing that the sack next to him is full of gold dust. GOLD!


The Chicken Dinner restaurant is what made everything else possible at Knott's. Who knew that people were so crazy about fried chicken and pie? I like this twilight photo, with the warm lights inside luring us like moths to a flame. Meanwhile, I'm not sure when I started loving vintage station wagons so much, but I would gladly own either one of those babies in the middle.


The Wagon Camp was where many a performance took place. Cowboy music, square dancing, jello wrestling, stuff like that. Those stone benches were formed by millions of years of water and wind and UFOs.


Hmmm, I'm not sure what that building is behind these folks. The Saloon? If anybody knows, please share!

14 comments:

Connie Moreno said...

These are great and made even greater by your wise (crack) remarks!

Katella Gate said...

There's that "Sodaville" sign again. Makes me thirsty. Obviously an army experiment with subliminal messaging.

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, that's the north side of the Gold Trails Hotel (the opposite side from where Handsome Brady and Whiskey Bill sit). These people would be facing the bottle house. The General Store would be just to the right of them and the entrance to the Covered Wagon Diorama Show would be to the left. There is now a jewelry stand sitting in the street (Market St.) in front of this walkway and railing.

Anonymous said...

Ok. You can have the station wagons. I'll take the classic old Mopars. Right after dinner.

Anonymous said...

Granny may be falling hard for Handsome Brady, but she's clutching that purse like it's a lifeline...she knows you shouldn't trust anybody named Handsome.

Love those shoes!

Bill in Denver

Major Pepperidge said...

Thanks Connie!

Katella, I am in the mood for a Moxie. You can have a grape Nehi!

TM!, I knew that YOU would know where that photo was taken! You know Knott's like the back of your hand!

Anon, what the hell does Mopar mean, anyway? I am serious, I have heard the term but don't know.

Bill in Denver, Granny is sweet on Handsome Brady, but she's no fool.

Anonymous said...

@Major...Mopar was the brand name for Chrysler parts, the car on the left with the big medallion is a Chrysler Imperial...a very cool car indeed.

Not sure what the etymology of Mopar is... contraction, sland, whatever, but it was official, stamped on the parts etc.

Also, great pics. Now I want Chicken Dinner to be a winner.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, so "mopar" basically means a car with Chrysler parts? Somehow I thought it had to do with 60's & 70's muscle cars. If only there was a website called Wikipedia so that I could do my own research! ;-)

I always want a chicken dinner, although I am also partial to chicken strips. Mmmmm!

Anonymous said...

I could be way off...I always thought that MoPar was sort of a southern dialect/slang saying More Power, sort of dragging out the "power" into "par"? This was Chrysler's way of promoting their car parts that were better than the competition - with more power. Maybe I should have researched this before revealing my humble midwestern background...

Bill in Denver

Katella Gate said...

Thankfully somebody has invented Wikipedia in the last few hours, and populated it with numerous articles since Major's posting earlier today.

It tells me that the word was invented in the 1920s by Chrysler and is a contraction of MOtor PARts.

Major Pepperidge said...

All I can say is thank god it does not stand for MOre PARrots, because those things squawk like devils.

Katella Gate said...

You have no idea Major... I live next to a guy that keeps a full sized Norwegian Blue on his back porch in a cage and it squawks so loud it raises the dead in the cemetery across the street.

It's very disappointing. Not only is the bird very unenchanted and non-tiki, but the pre-resurection dead just aren't as much fun as the Haunted Mansion makes them out to be.

Clearly, the Disney touch at work.

Chuck said...

See - THIS is why I try to come here every day! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Debbie V. said...

I LOVE that picture of the cars parked in front of the Chicken Dinner restaurant. Seriously I am saving it for a desktop right now. It's cooling off, there's a little breeze, The smell of eucalyptus and fried chicken - I'm in heaven! THANK YOU.