Thursday, May 29, 2008

Knott's Assortment, 1967

I feel lucky to have seen Knott's Berry Farm back in the days when it was still a charming, relatively small park. Pre-"Roaring 20's"! These photos are a bit before my visits, but it still looked a lot like this!

The Stagecoach is all loaded up and ready to go... I wonder if Knott's coaches tipped over like the ones at Disneyland did? Does anybody know how long they ran at the berry farm? Anyway, I love this photo, somehow it captures a feeling of lost Americana. When you think about it, the whole place existed because of Walter Knott's love and fascination with the old west and the pioneers who settled the country 100 years before.

(Chris Merritt and Outsidetheberm pointed out that this photo is flopped, I will fix it tonight - - meanwhile, my apologies!)


Sorry if this photo scared you! I believe that you saw this fellow after you exited the Haunted Shack. The door is propped open here, but I seem to recall that, when I went, the door used to open as you passed and the skeleton would say something to you... a friend of mine slammed the door shut, and I was sure that we were going to get in trouble! I'm not sure why a skeleton needs to be in an outhouse, but maybe that's where he died.


Thanks to the input from informed readers, I now know that this lady playing the calliope is Mae Mennes. I predict that the booping sound of the calliope is going to make a huge comeback (accompanied by barbershop quartet harmonies), all the kids will be into it!

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6 comments:

  1. The Viewliner Limited6:56 AM

    Very cool pics. I remember it like it was yesterday. The stagecoach was great.

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  2. Vintage Disneyland Tickets8:08 AM

    Super Knott's Pics, I remember it like this too (around 1970)... Somewhat unbelievably, the Stagecoach still runs at Knott’s today, it even loads at the same spot! I saw it in 2005 and I hear it's still there!

    2005 Knott's map, it's #60:

    http://bp3.blogger.com/_3jV5FcVqpE8/R_LUFuNlGuI/AAAAAAAABAY/kxaguQu4aIE/s1600-h/10+2005+map+closeup.jpg

    Thanks for the cool Knott's post.

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  3. Jimmy9:24 AM

    Nice work on Knott's. The calliope moved around a bit, from the location shown, to the front of the Birdcage Theatre. It also hosted a four string banjo player named Don Galvan.

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  4. Anonymous10:24 AM

    Yep, you're quite right, the outhouse door would open and the skeleton would deliver a quip of some kind à la cousin Orville in the bathtub.

    Because this was on a traffic path, I guess the skeleton got all kinds of abuse, and this later photo shows the door propped open with a barrier in front of him to prevent "tinkering".

    - Katella Gate (Google doesn't like me, it won't let me sign in again)

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  5. outsidetheberm11:20 AM

    Yes, the stagecoach still runs. The station location has moved slightly over the years - slowly shifting in a northwest manner.

    And yes, they've had mishaps and injuries. Will see if we can locate some of the articles we have on hand on this topic. Like always, it's just a matter of finding them!

    Great pics!

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  6. outsidetheberm11:57 AM

    Oh, and your top photo is flopped (sorry about that!).

    ReplyDelete