It seemed like a good day to share some vintage Knott's Berry Farm scans. I hope you agree!
First up is this view from Old MacDonald's Farm, where you could pet a goat, watch a chicken play the piano, and talk to a mule that spoke in rhyme (Did I make that up? I'll never tell). The Farm opened in January of 1955. In the photo, you can see two goats on the roof of the "barn". To the right is a framed snow scene, does anybody know what that was for?
In the distance is an old prospector, panning for gold dust. "I'll strike it rich any day now, by cracky!" That's how you know he's authentic, because he says things like "by cracky" and "consarn it". I'm not exactly sure where this guy was located, was he near the gold mine where guests could also try their hand at panning for gold?
Here's a nice photo of one of the old San Francisco cable cars that Walter Knott acquired, they ran in an oval around the parking lot from 1955 through to 1979. Why go to San Francisco when you can just go to Buena Park?
There's more Knott's Berry Farm stuff for you, coming up.
In the 1st pic, it took me a while to figure out what that goat on the left is doing. I think it has its head in the air, scratching its back with its horns... maybe.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what that snow scene is for, but it looks like the other pictures/paintings have some sort of connection to the other animal attractions; like the piano-playing chicken and Matilda the rhyming mule? (Hey, if you can make up the mule, I can make up her name!)
I like that dugout canoe that the elkophile is sitting in. It looks authentic; like the real one we have in our local history museum.
I see they painted white stripes next to the cable car tracks, presumedly to warn guests not to get too close when the car is approaching. Of course, that wouldn't work today, people are more clueless now.
Thanks for the trip to Knott's, Major.
- J & B counting house (crosstown rival to Scrooge & Marley)
Major, that prospector was located behind the Grist Mill. That waterwheel in the photo was a functional part of the mill, and you used to be able to buy sacks of freshly ground corn meal inside. The Grist Mill is still there today, but now it's a shop. The large grinding stone is still inside, but it no longer turns. And the prospector is still down there in the creek. Or is that "crick"? They've turned him around, so now he is facing towards the mill. Here's a modern view, but the prospector is partially blocked by the railings of the bridge. If you turn the view around 180 degrees, you can also see the back of the mill and the waterwheel:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/maps/@33.8434912,-118.0007136,2a,62y,273.54h,70.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTiHLmcHIUovWg2LOUhZDmA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
J & B. Counting House, you are right, those white lines showing the width of the Cable Car would never work today. All of the idiots out there would be getting run over, and Knott's would have lawsuits up the wazoo! Sad!
Not only does that fellow in the canoe bring along his taxidermied elk head to keep him company, but he also uses it as a pillow whenever he wants to take a nap. Shortly after that photo was taken, he started mass producing them and went on television to hawk them. (They didn't work very well on water beds.)
Tokyo Man (With All The Toys)!
As far as lawsuits go, I'm all for The Darwin Defense. It's a legal loophole that states "If the injured (or killed) subject was being a complete moron, the facility is protected from all liability."
ReplyDeleteI'm of the opinion that we've let far too many non-swimmers into the gene pool.
Stu, I heartily agree! Survival of the fittest, and all of that. Or survival of the ones with at least half a brain!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I forgot to mention that Boot Hill is just to the right (and out of view) in that pic of the prospector. And those rocks in the distance are a continuation of the same ones that the Native American "Night Watch" figures sat on (also just out of view).
How charming Knotts is. I’m wondering when the amusement park business overtook the financial viability of growing berries? Did the berry Gorillas start saying “they ruin everything” when a corkscrew roller coaster replaced a random berry patch? I like how the asphalt near the cable cars goes directly up to the base of the trees. It’s a look. But how do the trees get water? The Darwin dumb dumbs just need to not leave their houses. They should be spending more time opening cookie packages that need special safety scissors to open them methodically over the course of a day to ensure safety at its best. I worry about the humans of the future and their inability to navigate the hard facts and all that. When we have to add a fence for the dumb dumbs here there and everywhere…talk about consarnit and dagnabbit…
ReplyDeleteI wonder where that cable car photo was taken.. along Grand Ave?
ReplyDeleteJB, who can know the ways of a goat? That one might just be acting nutty. I once saw a goat drive a car backwards all the way to San Francisco. Matilda is a fine name for a mule, I have no objections at all! I assume that the dugout canoe must be made of cast fiberglass to be able to survive sitting in water day after day, hour after hour, but they did a good job of making it look like weathered wood if so. And yes, imagine a time when painted white stripes were enough to let people know how to behave themselves.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I am disappointed to hear that I can no longer buy a bag of ground cornmeal at the Grist Mill, it was always nice to have a pocket full of the stuff for when I got hungry. Mmmm, corny! Thanks for the link to the Google Maps photo of the same prospector, I’m amazed that he is still there after all these years. Don’t knock the idea of using a taxadermied elk head as a pillow, the “MyPillow” guy is considering selling those. Buy one and get a free “Giza sheet”! (I’ve always assumed that he calls them “Giza sheets” because he finds the term “Egyptian cotton” to be objectionable).
Stu29573, I know what you mean, but I’m not sure I want to see guests smooshed by a cable car several times a day. Once, sure, but several? No thanks.
TokyoMagic!, I used to love Boot Hill, mostly for the grave that you could stand on and feel the heartbeat of the “buried alive” person beneath you! Such a crazy idea.
Bu, with land at a premium (just like Disneyland), I suppose it was inevitable that the berry fields would have to go if Knott’s ever wanted to expand. It’s a shame, though, I personally don’t remember anything very farm-like about Knott’s, as much as I loved it. Hey, some of those cookie packages are really hard to open! I often spend a half hour or so reading the instructions of a new shampoo, you can’t be too careful. Lather, rinse, and REPEAT?? I never knew! Don’t be too hard on the dumdums, they try so hard.
Andrew, I am just guessing (TokyoMagic! will know for sure) but I believe that the cable car was approaching Grand Avenue, and was near Virginia’s Gift Shop. Waiting to be proven wrong by TM!
ReplyDeleteI remember the piano playing chicken, the rest of the farm not so much.
ReplyDeleteThe prospector in the crick seems to have been close to the gold panning event. That whole area was quaintly themed with unrealistic figures and little me loved it. All my Knotts memories are pretty vague now.
Major, I never leave the house without a varied array of taxidermy, makes me feel safe.
You can still buy stone ground flour and watch it being made at the Bothe’ Grist Mill in Napa Valley. The fires came close, but the building was saved. Went by it the other day on the way to our case pickup.
JG
JG, glad to hear about the mill in Napa Valley. I tracked that fire’s movement in near-real-time since it was so close to so many things I remember from my younginhood and was pretty worried about the chances for the mill’s survival. Great memories of trying to visit it with my grandfather in ‘75 or ‘76 and discovering it closed. Tried to visit again in ‘96 and found it closed then, too. Come to think of it, I may never have actually been inside it. But I sure remember it being a landmark on our periodic trips into Napa Valley, just after the Berenger Brothers’ Rhine House as you head northbound on CA-29, IIRC (too busy to do any research today).
ReplyDeleteAll right, I couldn’t help myself. I did some research and found my memory was off. The former Christian Bothers’ Winery (now the Culinary Institute of America) was next up on that side of the road after Berengers.’ The Bale Grist Mill is about two-and-a-half miles further up 29. I did have it on the correct side of the road, though. And in the right valley. I’d have found it eventually.
ReplyDeleteOne of my great memories of the old Knott's was sitting at the Cable Car Kitchen, watching the cars stop and make their turn around. Knott's was such a laid-back place...and the price was right too. Now it's a confused mashup of roller coasters juxtaposed with Western backdrops. OK...got up on the wrong side of the bed today. KS
ReplyDeleteJG, I remember a piano-playing chicken, but I’m not sure if it was at Knott’s. From my recollection, the chicken plunked at several random notes, and maybe got a tiny reward of corn from a chute? Maybe I invented that. For some reason I never minded that the figures at Knott’s were more along the lines of folk art rather than attempts at realism - as you said, that made it quaint, and it added charm. I buy flour that has been ground with atom bombs, but that’s just my own preference.
ReplyDeleteChuck, it’s always a nail-biter to watch the progress of a wildfire when it is near anything that you love. My mom had to be evacuated from her home a few years back, and I remember getting her out at around 3:00 in the morning. As we pulled her car out of her driveway, I took two photos, thinking that they might be the last pictures of her home. The sky behind the hill that was just behind her house was glowing red! We spent that night in a Walmart parking lot, sleeping (or trying to sleep) in our cars, though the fierce winds rocked my car so much there was no way I would get any sleep. Meanwhile, there were fires all around us! Thank goodness my mom’s house was OK, though the fire did get very close.
Chuck, I have a few old slides of the Christian Brother’s Winery, though I never bothered to look up anything about it. So now I know it was in Napa! Interesting that it is now the Culinary Institute of America. A good repurposing of that place.
KS, your memories of sitting at the Cable Car Kitchen are wonderful! Did you go there after work, or while you were on a break? Or maybe you just liked Knott’s like the rest of us do! I feel the same way about the “mashup of roller coasters”, but at least a lot of Ghost Town is still there.
Tokyo Man...!, Ah yes, the My Elkpillow guy. Are water beds still a thing? I would think those antlers would play havoc on a regular mattress as well!
ReplyDeleteStu, Sure seems that way. [JB slinks off to learn how to swim in the gene pool.]
Bu, With packaging the way it is these days, even expert 'gene pool swimmers' have a hard time getting the consarn things open, by cracky!
Hey, the Major's right! I sound authentic!
Major, a piano-playing chicken was a pretty common sight at state and county fairs for a long time back in the '60's, maybe into the '70s. Are musically inclined chickens still a thing? And yes, it worked just as you described it: Plunk, plink, feed comes down the chute, peck, peck.
As far as the Knott's characters looking more like folk art, I agree, but what about those Disney pirates and ghosts? They're pretty exaggerated too!
Andrew and Major, I meant to say where that Cable Car pic was taken. It wasn't taken along Grand Ave. It was taken in a spot that would eventually end up being "inside the park."
ReplyDeleteIf you look off in the distance of that pic, you can just make out a wall. That would be part of the "El Camino Real" wall, that ran along the Stage Coach route. This would be the area that would eventually become Fiesta Village, and those buildings on the left would be what are labeled as "Jams," "Coffee," and "Film" on this map from the Vintage DL Tickets blog:
http://bp0.blogger.com/_3jV5FcVqpE8/R_LaE-NlG1I/AAAAAAAABBQ/euRRVQD9nqY/s1600-h/3+42+shops+front+300+dpi.jpg
If you look inside that red building on the far left in the Cable Car photo, you can even see some souvenir slides hanging on a light-up carousel type of display. This would most likely be the "Film" shop listed on the map. The reddish building in the distance has a partially obstructed sign, but we can see the word "Market." I believe that would be the building labeled "Jams" on the map.
JB, we posted at the exact same moment, so I missed your comment. I don't know if water beds are a thing anymore. They seemed to kind of be a thing for a while. Personally, I have a Sleep Number bed. (Lindsay Wagner is a "35"!) I'm guessing the horns on that elk wouldn't be too good for my bed either, or as you pointed out (no pun intended), on any bed!
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember Knott's having two of those poor little piano plunking chickens. There was one outside of the farm. I think that was to try and entice people to use their ticket or spend their money to come inside. Then I believe there was another one inside the farm. In fact, I think those kids in the photo, standing next to the red boxy thing that's sort of in the shape of a small refridgerator, might be looking at one of those chickens. They were displayed in something that was shaped just like that. Since we can't see inside the box, I can't be sure.
I remember looking at the chicken, just as someone put a coin in the slot for the chicken to play. After the coin dropped, I believe a red light bulb went on in the cage, and then the chicken ran over to the toy piano and started to peck the keys. His rendition of Beethoven's Fifth was absolutely incredible! ;-) But seriously, I remember the poor chicken just plunking at any of the keys, but nervously turning it's head after every couple of keys, to look over at a metal box on the wall. It would hit a couple keys and then it would look over there, then it would hit a couple more keys and look again. The poor thing was a nervous wreck. What it was waiting for was the food to drop into that metal box. I guess if the chicken could count, then it would have known exactly how many keys it had to hit before the food dropped. But it didn't know, so it was just waiting with every note it hit, for that food to drop. I hope that wasn't the chickens only source of food. What sick, twisted individual came up with that idea, anyway? And when the chicken could no longer pluck those piano keys, did she become someone's dinner in Cordelia's restaurant?
Chuck and Major, the CIA remodel Of old Christian Brothers is very nicely done. It’s a lovely old building and worth saving.
ReplyDeleteChuck don’t feel bad about not remembering the exact sequence of landmarks. I drive that road frequently for work and I’m constantly surprised. It’s neat that you visited back then, before everything went nuts.
Beringers is still a beautiful spot, it used to be a must-do back when there 50 wineries. But I haven’t stopped there for 30+ years, now reservations are required and they charge a LOT for tasting which used to be free. Napa is crammed with tourists, all wanting to be wine experts, it’s getting like Disneyland, every place is overbooked, costly and crowded. You can’t just run out between groceries and laundry and drop in on a winery any more.
There’s a mild rivalry between Sonoma and Napa, which is enhanced by Napa getting more expensive and exclusive every minute. Over here in Sonoma, we feel more easy-going and rural, but that’s slipping away more all the time.
Major, you should post those pics, I could help with captions.
I wonder when keyboard chickens stopped being a thing.
JG
JG, I was working at Knott's when they moved the animal farm from that location, over to the then brand new "Camp Snoopy" area. I know that the piano playing chickens didn't make the move, but what I can't remember is if they were still a thing at the animal farm, right up until that move. Hopefully, they had stopped that, even before that move. My memory of the chicken is from a visit when I was in junior high.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, after that move, the former animal farm location became Southern California's "hottest outdoor nightspot!" It was turned into "Studio K" with very little effort and very little money. Seriously, they even left some of the animal pens along the perimeter. Tacky! But it was a VERY popular spot for the teenagers. Tina Yothers was a regular! And it's success is what led Disney to once again, copy Knott's, by building Videopolis at Disneyland.
"I wonder when keyboard chickens stopped being a thing."
ReplyDeleteWhen banjo chickens got popular.
Haha! There's two lines you won't see anywhere else on the internet! Stuff that only ussuns can decipher.
ReplyDeleteSue, ha, ha! Hysterical! Now I'm picturing "Dueling Banjos" performed by chickens.
ReplyDeleteJB, ha, ha! Is it "ussuns," or "weesuns"? I guess theys both werk swell.
Tokyo, since the point of both of those colloquialisms is to be ungrammatical- yes, theys both werk swell. Swell 'nuf, innyways.
ReplyDeleteTokyo, thanks for that memory.
ReplyDeleteI think the keyboard chicken memory I have is from a fair or someplace like that, not Knotts.
Interesting that KBF would do a nightclub, Mr. Knott doesn’t look like much of a dancer.
Was it open to the outside, or did it require park admission?
Sue, JB, that’s a great image. There’s a hit record in there somewhere.
JG
I never saw a piano playing chicken, but I have seen the tic-tac-toe playing chicken in Chinatown in NYC.
ReplyDeleteI think people aren't much more likely to be run over these days as when these pictures were taken - the horse cars in DL and WDW run safely and the boardwalk tramcars at Wildwood NJ survive. I think the bigger problem is the lawyers who turn a minor trip and fall into a million dollar lawsuit and the risk consultants who just recommend preventing the suits that doom attractions.
JB, when I was a kid I thought waterbeds were the ultimate in luxury. Then I learned that they sometimes leaked, and their appeal faded a lot. Still, I wonder what it would be like to sleep on one! I am sure that any piano playing chicken had more talent that I did, even after my several years of lessons (forced by my mom). I apologize to my piano teacher, Mrs. Boyer, for being such a terrible student! The Disney pirates and ghosts are exaggerated, but it is intentional, so that they “read” immediately. But they do look pretty weird when you see clear photos of them!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, thank you for clearing up the location of that photo! I feel guilty making you do so much work, but don’t worry, you will be getting extra credit, and it will definitely show on your PERMANENT RECORD. Thanks also for the link to that vintage map, I sure love those things and like to think about what it would have been like to go to the park in the late 50s or early 60s.
TokyoMagic!, don’t you know that Sleep Number beds are sold by the Illuminati? I’m glad to know that Lindsay Wagner is a 35, it makes me love her even more, though I have no idea what “35” signifies. Does she like her mattresses firm? Or soft? Now that you mention it, I also hope that the piano-playing chickens didn’t have to depend on random customers for their food. You make the one you mentioned sound so pitiful and desperate! My younger brother had three chickens for a while, I never liked them. They gave me the willies. Then my niece had some when she was in 4-H, and raccoons killed them. She was heartbroken.
JG, I’d imagine that the floorboards of the CIA are redolent with the smell of spilled red wine. It really whets the appetite. I don’t have anything to add regarding that whole part of Northern California, since I have not spent any appreciable time up there. Someday! However, you may have seen all of the vineyards and wineries that are popping up all over San Luis Obispo, they have turned into a real money-making enterprise.
TokyoMagic!, maybe the piano-playing pullet was set free to roam over near Independence Hall, where it lived its remaining days in peace and happiness. “Studio K”, jeez, I don’t even know what that was. Sort of like Videopolis? But if it was good enough for Tina Yothers, it’s good enough for me.
Lou and Sue, at least they weren’t accordion chickens.
JB, I like the fact that all of the Junior Gorillas have their own secret language that outsiders can’t understand!
TokyoMagic!, I’m trying to picture HOW a chicken could play a banjo. Would they use their feet??
JB, I feel like I’m reading Li’l Abner comics.
JG, if I had to bet money, I’d guess that the chicken that I saw was not at Knott’s. And I doubt the dumb bird plunked out more than four or five notes. I guess this chicken was one of those avant garde musicians. Mr. Knott wasn’t much of a dancer, but Cordelia had the moves.
JG, I remember being surprised at all of the new (to me, at least) roadside wineries that had popped up between us moving away in ‘76 and my target of opportunity drive thru in ‘96. I can imagine how crazy it is today.
ReplyDeleteBack then a typical family trip to Napa included stops at Berengers’, Christian Brothers, Charles Krug (they had the best tour), and maybe the candle shop or this winery-turned-shopping center.
I am kind of curious how well I would be able to navigate today without some kind of reference. In ‘96 I just winged it without even a map, driving over from Fairfield and following highway signs. The first familiar thing was Vintage 1870, that winery-turned-shopping center, then the wineries listed. I stopped briefly at Robert Mondavi and took some pictures, but everything else was closed by the time I got there.
It was a gorgeous April afternoon, so I drove on up 29 past Calistoga and stopped in Robert Louis Stevenson Stare Park and took a quick side hike. It was almost dark when I got back to the car, and I kept driving north, thinking I’d find a crossroad to get me back to I-80.
I got a bit concerned when signs of civilization disappeared, and in desperation and not completely sure of where I was, I took a right, thinking that must lead east. The road was asphalt but got even more boondocky, and I thought I might have to backtrack all the way back down to Napa (assuming I didn’t miss a turn).
Then I turned a corner, saw the Berryessa Dam in the moonlight and suddenly knew exactly where I was. We’d camped just down the road on Putah Creek (John Fogerty’s “Green River”) back in ‘74, and finding my way to the interstate was easy from there. Kids today don’t know how sporty highway navigation could be in the pre-GPS era.
Major, it twern't nothin' a'tall. (Sorry, I'm not sure where to put the apostrophes in grammatically incorrect words.) Anyway....or should I say "anyways," I knew the locations, so I didn't have to do too much research. It was just a matter of finding evidence to back up my claims. And I knew just where to look for that map. VDT did a blog post over ten years ago, with many Knott's maps from various years.
ReplyDeleteJG and Major, "Studio K" was very popular, especially in the summertime. It did require park admission, but Knott's offered a discount admission price, in the evening. I think it was an "after 5 or after 6 price." Once that time arrived, we would see a steady stream of teens pouring into the park. It was like a very long parade walking by....a parade of kids dressed in the trendiest eighties fashions, with the trendiest (and in some cases, the most bizarre) hair styles. I guess you can make your hair do anything, if you use enough hairspray, mousse, or gel.
The animal farm at Knott's moved out of Fiesta Village in 1983. Studio K opened in that spot one year later, in 1983. Disney opened Videopolis one year after that, in 1984.
JG, as the Major pointed out, Walter Knott wasn't much of a dancer, but he was able to "moonwalk."
Major, Lindsay Wagner used to do the TV commercials for Sleep Number Beds. I'm a Lindsay Wagner fan, but that wasn't the reason why I bought one of the beds. After purchasing one, there were several occasions where I mentioned it to friends or acquaintances, and several of those people respond with, "Lindsay Wagner's a 35, what number are you?" I hadn't even paid enough attention to the commercial to know that she slept with her bed at "35," but I guess other people had retained that information. And just FYI, the higher the number, the more firm the bed is. The bed can be set anywhere from "0" to "100."
Ooops, those dates should be:
ReplyDelete"The animal farm at Knott's moved out of Fiesta Village in 1983. Studio K opened in that spot one year later, in 1984. Disney opened Videopolis one year after that, in 1985."
Major...Nope, I'd just pop over to Knott's now and then for some shopping and just enjoying the ambiance. It was SoCal when SoCal was laid back. Good days.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the comments about Napa Valley and remember just hopping from one winery to the next...before tourist buses and the wineries having the audacity to charge for tasting their product. And Hanns Kornell Champagne Cellars was a special stop for us for sparkling wines. With luck, Hanns would be walking the grounds. It was fermented
in the traditional fashion in the bottle...not in large tanks of today. Sadly he lost the enterprise in the late 80s as the big European outfits arrived. Robert Mondavi swooped in and bought their home when he faced eviction and told him and his wife they could stay as long as they either lived. Concentration camp survivor...it's quite a story. Will never open the one bottle I still have. Then again, it will never taste the same as when I bought it after all this time. KS