Monday, September 05, 2016

Knott's Berry Farm, 1950's

Like many people, I have a special fondness for Knott's Berry Farm's original Ghost Town. Cordelia Knotts' chicken dinners were so popular that wait times could be up to 3 hours (!), and Walter Knott wisely began to build his "old west" town to keep patrons entertained. Genius! 

When I was a kid, one of the buildings I always wanted to see was the Bottle House. Yes, it was made entirely of bottles, cement, wood, and the secret ingredient - plutonium. Wait, I mean "love", the secret ingredient was love.  Walking into the house on a sunny day (and let's face it, most days are sunny), one would be dazzled by the hundreds of spots of bright color transmitted through bottles of amber, green, blue, and clear glass. It's surprisingly magical. My memory is that it was often very hot in there too, but you can't have everything. The bottle house is now a gift shop.



There are no guests in this photo of the Butterfield Stage Station, but there are some ghosts (nine if you count the ghost of a cat). Say, Knott's should make a phone app like "Pokemon Go", in which guests can catch ghosts! There's a million dollar idea, free of charge. You're welcome, Cedar Fair. 

You can still ride a stage coach at the park, though the view is not quite as charming as it used to be. Still, Disneyland's coaches were removed 1958, so it's the only way to go!


18 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Yay! Vintage Knotts! Major, I think the person that took these was standing in the same spot for both pics. The first one is looking sort of northeast and the second one was taken looking southeast. If there had been more of the Music Hall (to the left of the Bottle House) showing in either pic, I think the photos could have been merged. Too bad the Music Hall isn't used to showcase vintage music machines anymore. I remember they used to have a wind up singing bird in a cage like the one that Walt Disney had in his office. Unfortunately, the Bottle House shop has now been expanded into that space. That Butterfield Stagecoach office/station is still standing today, even though they put a planter right in front of those windows where you used to buy your tickets for the ride. In your pic, we can see the sign that reads, "Tickets" just underneath that metal overhanging roof. And those giant logging wheels next to the office are now located out on Grand Ave. across from Virginia's Gift Shop. I'm kind of surprised that the wood hasn't rotted away after all these years. I like your App idea. I think it would have been better than removing all of the wooden figures from the Ghost Town peek-ins this summer for their "Ghost Town Alive" promotion? Was that even successful??? Let's see.....what could they call your App idea?

TokyoMagic! said...

I see now that I should have broken up my very long comment into paragraphs! And where is everyone this Labor Day morning?

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, ha ha, nobody else likes Knott's Berry Farm, I guess! Too bad, I'm going to keep posting Knott's stuff until I run out. I was pretty sure that those buildings were within steps of each other, but thank you for all of that great extra info. Is the "Ghost Town Alive" thing done? I heard about it on some podcasts, and it sounded pretty dumb in my opinion. Maybe people liked it.

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, the Ghost Town Alive thing ends this holiday weekend (maybe even yesterday), but the new Calico Stage show and "Snoopy on Ice" ended August 28th. How is that for giving up before summer is officially over? Maybe they just weren't getting the crowds in there this season.

I think people like vintage Knott's, I just think they are doing other things since it's a holiday. Or maybe they are all sleeping in.

TokyoMagic! said...

Oh, and they did the Ghost Town Alive thing back in 1985, but they left the wooden figures in the peek-ins and had "actors" walking around the area and sitting in front of the buildings. I think that was better. The first time I went this summer, I got there right at 5:30 and that is when the Ghost Town Alive thing ends for the day. All the peek-ins were empty and all the "actors" had left the area except for one woman that came over to harass me.

K. Martinez said...

I LOVE KNOTT'S BERRY FARM!!! I'm here this Labor Day, just slow to the draw. Keep posting that KBF stuff, Major. I enjoy it!

Major Pepperidge said...

TokyoMagic!, “Snoopy on Ice” in front of the Calico Saloon… as much as I loved the Peanuts characters when I was growing up, they felt totally out of place at Knott’s, to me. I want the park to be successful, so I hope attendance was OK this summer…

TokyoMagic! again, I agree, the 1985 version sounded better. I think it was the MiceChat podcast that had audio of interactions with the current Ghost Town characters, and while they worked their hearts out, it didn’t sound like something that I would want to be involved with. Leave me be! I’ve got rides to ride!

K. Martinez, relaxing on Labor Day is a terrible excuse!

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, the woman that came over to me saw me looking into an empty barber shop....I mean they had taken EVERYTHING out of it! She tried to interact with me by asking if I was looking for the barber and that it didn't look like I really needed a haircut. I asked her a "real" question about where all the wooden figures went (I had already looked into an empty Assay Office and Wing Lee's Laundry at that point). She mumbled something and then said "What, you like wooden people better than you do real people?

Chuck said...

I love KBF, too, but TM! already said everything I had to contribute to the conversation (and much better, with more detail). Although on reflection, I guess I do have something...wasn't there a bottle house at Calico, too?

TokyoMagic! said...

Major, Snoopy on Ice wasn't in front of the Calico Saloon, it was INSIDE the Calico Saloon. Actually, it was inside the John Wayne/Goodtime/Toyota Goodtime/Charles Schulz Theater. The new Calico Stage show this summer was "Circus of Wonders." The old stage was torn down and a new one was built where the Haunted Shack used to sit. I thought they should have made the stage "lean".....but they didn't do that.

Nanook said...

Oh, Major-

I'm out here, too. I was just so taken-aback at all the [original] KBF goodness in those shots, I was momentarily speechless. And thanks to TM!'s commentary - I now know a bit more.

And speaking of "other" commentary... I believe I owe you some before the day is out. Stay tuned.

Thanks, Major.

Irene said...

The reason I didn't jump in sooner was because I was at the finale for Ghost Town Alive at Knotts today!

You ask if it was even successful - YES! It was very successful. Got very good write ups in the press. I myself went once a week and interacted with all the actors. Today the Ghost Town area was packed with people to see how they were going to end it - and end it they did in a big way. A huge shoot out involving the train, the stagecoach, gunmen on the upper walk way of the saloon and a tower (he got shot and fell of course onto a mat but from our viewpoint we couldn't see that part) and then the bad guys rode out of town with their daddy who everyone thought had been dead for years - nope, alive and well and very much in charge! It was fantastic.

Also Snoopy on Ice in the theater was excellent as was the Circus of Wonders - a very different kind of circus that came to town on the train. Love how they incorporated the train into lots of things this Summer. Getting back to the circus - think of middle America in the 1920's and a rather strange bordering on creepy circus comes to town. There are some YouTube videos up of it.

So if Ghost Town Alive comes back next Summer (and I personally think it will), go and give it a chance!

Chuck said...

My dim childhood memories are correct - there is a bottle house in Calico.

TokyoMagic! said...

Since I'm not seeing a post yet for this Tuesday morning, I'll leave one last comment here. I realize that I switched pictures one and two when I left my first comment about which way the photographer was standing when taking the pics. It should be the opposite of what I said.

Irene, I'm glad to hear that the finale of G.T.A. was well attended. And now that it's over, they can go restore the Ghost Town peek-ins to the way they've been for the last 75 years!

Steve DeGaetano said...

I too love vintage Knott's. My memories of it in the 1970s and 80s are all the more cherished, when I think about how far the park has slid today--probably even farther than Disneyland in the "charm" factor.

Irene said...

TokyoMagic - I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the peek in figures are not returning! This has been confirmed by Knotts (sorry I can not locate the link to that right now). Instead there is going to be a large auction later this year that will include not only these figures but lots of other Knotts stuff as well. Here is a link to the information about the auction.
https://www.knotts.com/knott-s-berry-farm-the-auction

Anonymous said...

@Chuck, yes Calico had a bottle house, it was still there in 2013 at my last visit, serving as a shop for pet-related gifts.

There was one in Rhyolite also, I saw this one standing in 2010, and maybe others as well. These were "genuine" structures in that they were constructed by occupants of those communities as dwellings or businesses out of garbage materials, not as amusement park curiosities. Not sure if the KBF version was purpose built for the park, or if it was imported. Hard to imagine moving something like that, though.

Building materials were rare enough in the desert southern mines that whisky and wine bottles stood in for bricks, very few trees there. I haven't seen these buildings in the northern mines, but they might have since dissolved in the rain. The desert climate works wonders for preservation, but with trees to build with, maybe bottles weren't as valuable.

A number of buildings in Rhyolite were roofed with flattened kerosene cans, hammered out flat into big shingle shapes. I think most of these are gone from Calico. Use what you have, it's "sustainable".

It seems that a lot of KBF was copied carefully from Calico and other similar towns.

Great pictures today, Major. Thanks very much.

JG

Chuck said...

Irene - Oh. No. I fear the Four Horsemen may not be too far behind...