Two Knott's Berry Farm Brochures
I was in the mood to share some Knott's Berry Farm photos, until I saw that I had some vintage brochure scans that I'd done nine years ago. It's time to use them! They are variations on a theme.
First is the cover of a 1967 brochure. Coated stock! Color photos! Olde-timey typography! Jams and jellies! It has it all. 200 acres of parking? Is this heaven??
On the back panel we get a brief history of KBF, along with a photo of the family, including Walter and Cordelia. Nice! Daughter Marion, in red, became a key leader in guiding Knott's to its future. There is a mention of a $1 admission fee, I thought that Knott's did not start charging admission until 1968, but I am clearly mistaken, since the tiny date of "10/67" can be seen at the bottom of the brochure.
On the reverse, we see some of the restaurants and shops, as well as features such as the Bird Cage Theatre, Old MacDonald's Farm, and a genuine San Francisco Cable Car. Ding ding!
Next is this "6/72" version of the brochure. No more family photo, which makes me a bit sad. Cordelia would pass two years later, while Walter passed away in December of 1981. Notice that the 200 acre parking was reduced to 150 acres, this was due to the additions of Fiesta Village and the short-lived Gypsy Camp
We may have lost the photo of the family, but we gained some nice color photos of the park, including one featuring John Wayne and his son John Ethan at the debut of the Timber Mountain Log Ride, and a rare look at the Gypsy Camp, as well as the John Wayne Theatre.
10 comments:
MAJOR: have you busted another themepark myth!?? Admission began in 1968… but physical evidence in this brochure shows 1967. Maybe they announced it in 1967 and waited till 1968 to enforce it?? No … this time we really mean it!”
What a handsome pair of brochures... or maybe beautiful is the right word? Hi-res, sophisticated graphics!
In the second scan, that must be the gift shop at the top center of the page? It looks nice, but it wouldn't last ten minutes with little kids running around, picking things up, knocking things over. Maybe this was staged for the brochure photo.
In the last scan, I can't tell what the theming is in the Gypsy Camp. It doesn't look particularly 'gypsy' to me, other than the costumed CMs standing around. It almost looks like a frozen wasteland. What went on there?
A gnice Nott's Barry Pharm post, Major. Thanks.
Major, whenever I see that image of the interior of Virginia's Gift Shop, I have to laugh. It always reminds me of your funny commentary in your post from February 11, 2010. You posted the cropped "View-Master" version of that same photo, and your commentary was:
"Virginia's Gift Shop". "Where should I put this stuff, Virginia?". "Just put it onna floor and quit botherin' me"! I don't mean to be unkind, but that looks like a whole lotta tacky junk.
Oh, and note the Cable Car outside the window of that Virginia's Gift Shop photo!
JB, that photo had to have been staged. I don't ever remember Virginia's tacky junk strewn about on the floor like that. And as far as Gypsy Camp, it was themed to Gypsies! And Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" played on an endless loop, all day long! ;-) The John Wayne Theater (later the Good Time Theater, Toyota Good Time Theater, Charles M. Schulz Theater, and today, Walter Knott Theater) and it's Grand Canyon mural that faces Boot Hill, debuted along with Gypsy Camp. The "land" also had a John Wayne Museum, but was devoid of any rides. Maybe they should have built a "John Wayne Ride"?
As for the wall, it went up in 1968. Maybe this pamphlet was updated for 1968, but someone forgot to update the 1967 date on it? This post of mine from 2011 includes a photo of a letter from Walter Knott, to all of his employees. It's dated March 27, 1968, and he states, "The fence should be up about June 1." (Scroll to the image at the very bottom of the post, to see the letter):
A fence will keep the undesirable out.....plus, my family and I really want the extra money
First: happy belated JG! I thought I had posted, but I was dealing with my own gypsies yesterday: for real, and for another time...that being said: lets start with the set from the Planet of the Apes...oh wait: the gypsy camp. Very austere. Kind of like the ice tunnel at Universal...Don't know what to say other than...bring on Snoopy-Land. Moving on to the "Family Knott"...."The Knott Family Singers"....."They're gone!"....I guess they climbed the mountain over to Switzerland...oh wait...that's another family and movie...and agreed...Virginia needs some serious visual merchandising help. Some hairography wouldn't be so bad either. People love a bunch of stuff on the floor though, so I'm sure it did well. Was it 200 acres of fun? or of Parking Lot? $1.00 for a Ghost Town...seems nominal...and a quarter for kids? I dunno...I don't blame the Family Knott for this...that old stuff has to be taken care of, and new old stuff needs to come in...and we need to build RIDES! The berry stand is so charming and iconic, and even if it was falling apart, it should have been saved in some form...was it termites or TRE? or "TREMITES". People are sure in their "finery" at the Mrs. Knotts...the group in front is sitting in what I call "Sit Com Style"....let's all crowd to one side so the camera can see us. That restaurant was my Step Grandmothers favorite. My actual Grandmother had one reaction: "Shocking". Not sure why Chicken is shocking, but it was. I wouldn't mind a slice of Boysenberry pie right now, and I'm glad to say I will have a bumper crop this year...I mean....the Chipmunks with have a bumper crop this year. If I get a few, I'll be delighted. Thanks Major for the trip back in time!
C'mon Major, it says "over 50 acres of parking," not 200! It's 200 acres of fun! Which presumable includes the over 50 acres of parking fun.
Thanks Bu, good to hear from you!
Major, these are very informative indeed. I had no idea when admission began, but I do remember KBF without it. I must have been very young. It was odd to just walk right in, compared to Disneyland where paid entry was a ritual.
I’m confused over how much parking there was, but 50 acres sounds more plausible, and the later version is more honest, since 50 acres of parking is brilliant, it’s not the same amount of fun as the not-parking part, so it’s deducted from the full size of the park.
Thanks for the KBF stuff, Major!
JG
Mike Cozart, when you think about it, I’m the Mike Wallace of Disneyland blogs. I’m going to bust these myths apart (with a cigarette in an ashtray right offscreen)!
JB, “handsome” works for me! You aren’t kidding about that photo of the gift shop. I seem to recall that a Viewmaster photo of the same shop also have stuff strewn about. I would never bring my prize bull into that gift shop! The Gypsy Camp was just odd, I sort of love it for that reason, but it’s hard to believe that the concept got people so excited that they actually built it. I know they had a show with a guy “fighting” a trained bear, but beyond that, I really don’t know.
TokyoMagic!, oh yeah, Virginia’s Gift Shop, I couldn’t remember the name, and there is too much quality television on for me to bother doing research. Hey, cool that you can see the cable car outside the window! I didn’t really register what that thing was. While I agree (years later) that the stuff in the shop looks a little tacky, I also admit that I kind of love it. “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”, what a weird song. I don’t remember ever experiencing the “free admission” Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s hard to believe that it was really that way! And I can’t be too mad at the family for wanting to keep weirdos out, I wonder if teens snuck in at night and vandalized the place? You know how teens are!
Bu, ha, now that you say it, the Gypsy Camp does resemble Ape City. The PotA movie sets were built at Malibu Creek State Park, where I have hiked many times, it’s kind of cool to see still from the movie with kooky Ape City in the same spots that I’ve stood. Another reason to go to Malibu Creek is to hike up to the site where they filmed exteriors for M*A*S*H. As a young person, I was kind of insulted at the addition of Camp Snoopy to Knott’s. “I love Snoopy, but… at KBF??”. Admittedly I never set foot in Camp Snoopy because of my religious beliefs (joking). Remember that $1.00 in the 60s was probably the equivalent of $10 today, so I can imagine some dads grumbling as he forked over $4 for his whole family. And yes, WHY did your grandmother think the chicken restaurant was shocking? That would not be the word I would choose. I hope you get some Boysenberries!
Steve DeGaetano, you’ve forced me to confess that I can’t read.
Regarding VIRGINIAS GIFT SHOP: untill the late 1990’s there were 4 very large display windows ( floor to ceiling ) facing West that had very large - almost room like displays that featured themed gift vignettes of exactly that kind of tacky gift /decor. These were examples of things inside the west end of Virginias Gift Shop. I distinctly remember one window with a “African” theme … large wall paintings of lions … massive painted plaster / ceramic elephant floor statues … … one was an end table .. there weee lots of things … I just can’t imagine people really ever buying … eventually these large display windows were made smaller and the glass /ceramic displays like Walt Disney Classics Collection , lladro figurines from Spain , precious moments figurines ( where do they come from??) massive Capadamonte statutes from
Italy .. and all kinds of cut glass from Austria and Venice was consolidated into that area. Today the sales space displays Knott’s Berry Market items and “farmhouse” kitchen decor . Disneyland too used to sell all that same kind of Virginia’s Gift Shop stuff too : before the massive emporium renovation in 1988 you could buy table lamps , glassware and house decor that might feature a old time theme … like a Victorian couple walking statue … I remember a line of desk lamps in the Emporium featuring LGB train cars from Germany as the lamp’s base … the American bobber caboose was a popular seller as a children’s room lamp - these things were expensive ,the China Closet on Main Street too sold lots of “old lady ceramics” … massive ceramic flower baskets and vases ( it was all ceramic : including the flowers ) old timey electric lamps made to look like Victorian and county oil lamps were sold - many of these things were massive . And of course there was the rows and rows of Disney ceramic and bisque character collectibles . So in defense of Knott’s let’s remember Disneyland once also sold its fair share of tacky or over the top tacky as well.
Sorry I have more: as time change collecting tastes change too and i remember in the very early 2000’s Disney merchandising saw the writing on the wall and quickly LQUIDATED overnight things that were sold as higher end or moderate collectibles … Disney Annimation Art Sericells and Serigraph limited edition reproductions … Walt Disney Classics division was disbanded…and even general souvenir Disney character figurines were put out of production. Disney collector watches too … DONE. Souvenir music boxes and snow globes … all once big sellers overnight were unloved and unwanted by guests and Disney removed them from the parks quickly! We had all kinds of employee / cast completions and Disney gave us watches … we had weekly trivia game and win so many watches…. These were from series like Pooh watches that came in resin honey pots , or with figurines or wooden boxes … animators series that were signed by the animators who created the character in the watch .. etc .., I had two shelves in a linen closet filled with these prize watches and I gave them all away . When new they were 75.00 - 150.00 each but overnite Disney valued them as rare as beach sand and wanted there stock GONE!
Mike Cozart, I regret that I spent so many years away from Knott’s after my family moved to the east coast. We returned to CA several years later, but going to KBF was not a priority for some reason. I think partially because I did not drive yet, and we lived much farther away than when we were in Huntington Beach. It would have been so fun to have become as familiar with Knott’s as I was with Disneyland. The way you and TokyoMagic! are! I remember gift shops in other locations, there would be such a wide variety of objects, not just merchandise stamped with the name of the place. I’d bring my small amount of money and buy something. Anything! I still have some cheapie pieces that I bought from a school field trip to Washington DC. Anyway, I truly do with I had memories of Knott’s from when I was a bit older and able to appreciate certain things more. When I was a kid, I loved the place, but we ran around, had fun, and I didn’t really analyze what I liked or why.
Mike Cozart, I have a cousin who has an Alice in Wonderland cel that she bought at the Art Corner, at one point she considered giving it to me, and then somebody told her that it could be valuable! So I never got it. Oh well. I still don’t know if she sold it. Reading your description of the evolution of merchandise at the park seemed to parallel The Disney Store, which was so wonderful early on, with high-end, nice stuff. And then it devolved into princess items and toys for small children. Bummer. I have at least one nice Mickey Mouse watch (a Seiko) that I paid a chunk for, and never wore it. I doubt I’d get much for it on eBay, so it sits in a box. I’d love to know somebody to give it to who would appreciate it!
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