Knott's Berry Farm, November 1972
I decided to take a break from Disneyland, and head just a few minutes northwest, to beautiful Buena Park and Knott's Berry Farm.
These are from November, 1972; some of you long-time Junior Gorillas might recognize the woman in some of the photos, a sometimes-unsmiling gal dubbed "Linda". See her HERE! Hard to believe that I posted those nine-plus years ago.
There she is, Linda herself, at the end of Main Street, with Stage Road and the Livery Stable behind her. Note the sign directing guests to the Bird Cage Theatre. Love the windmill. Goldie's Place would be to our right. Linda doesn't look exactly happy, but she doesn't look angry either. That's a good thing.
Well well well, it looks like Linda bought something, and it's big. What in the world could it be? Looks like a framed painting. Anyway, she and her husband walked through the Livery Stable in the first photo, where Boot Hill (to our right) is located, and where that painted backdrop attempted to hide the John Wayne Theatre. If you look closely you can see the "Night Watch" family sitting atop that little rise.
And finally, here's one of my favorites, a rare shot of a hearse with an eerie green light inside. Hey, there's a body inside... and it's sitting up! Oh wait, it's laying back down. No, it's sitting up again! He needs to make up his mind. While I remember seeing this feature fairly vividly, I am not entirely positive as to where this scene was. Inside the Livery Stable? That sounds about right, but I'm sure I'll be notified in the comments.
Of course I will have more Knott's Berry Farm pix for you!
26 comments:
Major-
The hearse is always a favorite-! As for 'Linda'... what can I say other than she needs to take a tip or two from 'Ginny', so as to improve her elocution and deportment-! There - I said it.
Thanks, Major.
1) I didn't know Linda was at Knott's, too! I thought she was only at Disneyland. And who is that walking next to her? Why, it's Katharine Hepburn! Or maybe Kate Mulgrew, with her 'bun of steel'. Linda looks like she's about had it with all the picture-taking. Ginny, she is not!
I'm afraid to think what that photographer on the right is doing. He's got some serious gear.
2) Somehow, Linda looks right at home in the cemetery. Her mood matches her surroundings. She reminds me of Wednesday Addams. Maybe that's a desk-top guillotine in the wrapper.
That painted backdrop does a good job blending in. At least in this 2D photo.
3) Ooh, eerie indeed! I'm picturing it with different colored lighting, like blue. I think this green light makes it look the eeriest. That gauzy scrim adds to the creepiness.
Nanook, haha. I see we both compared Linda to Ginny. Inevitable, I suppose.
Thanks for the melancholy Linda pics, Major.
That hearse was definitely in the Livery Stable and gave me the willies every time I saw it as a kid, although I always insisted on going to see it! I’m a glutton for punishment I guess. Thanks for yet another excellent post, Major.
The Hearse with the rising passenger in these photos was inside the Livery Stable. later in the 1990’s it was relocated to a covered porch on the backside of the restrooms facing the Butterfield Stage boarding station. While it was protected above , it was basically outside. The body still sat up. It was displayed with a another hearse in white and silver intended for children. That same hearse in with the body is now located - Precariously along the edge of the stream that runs along Boot Hill ( behind the grist Mill ) The body still rises …. When it’s working. The other hearse in todays image was on display for many decades. It used to have a small speaker that emitted a funeral organ and recorded eulogies. The wooden hearse rotted away and vegetation overtook it until one day all that stood was a mysterious audio speaker still playing the Boot Hill background organ. At one time Knott’s Berry Farm owned several horse drawn hearses. Some were pulled from regular park display to be used for Knott’s Scary Farm.
At one time … in the 40’s and 50’s original Horse drawn hearses were easy to obtain … and inexpensive. They were rather common as hearses saw light , gentle and infrequent use compared to other wagons , coaches and carriages. Hearses were also very well maintained because they were so expensive when new. So western towns and historical museums etc. in the 50’s , 60’s 70’s could obtain real hearses inexpensively as macabre and morbid things were not widely popular with vehicle and carriage collectors. Now today that’s all changed . Original horse drawn hearses are rare and highly coveted by collectors and command premium prices for fine examples.
Based on these and the previous pics of Linda, I think she has issues! At least when it comes to someone taking her picture.
I think she's holding a large framed autographed photo of Cordelia Knott, killing chickens out behind her famous chicken dinner restaurant.
I have no memory of the Livery Stable being a "walk-through." They must have sealed up that back door, when they converted the livery into a "dance barn." That happened in 1980, with the popularity of the film, "Urban Cowboy." They even installed a bucking bronco machine, just outside of the barn.
During the time that I was working at Knott's in the eighties, the two hearses were always located where Mike described, on the backside of the Ghost Town bathrooms....just across from the loading platform for the Calico Stage Coach ride. About ten or so years ago, they moved them over to the walkway alongside the stage coach route and train tracks, where the models of the California Missions were originally located. They still had a semi-protective roof over them. Then in 2017, they auctioned off the white one that was built for a child-sized casket. The black one seen in this post was then moved over to the spot that Mike described, in Boot Hill. Mike is right about the rising body only working sometimes. I believe the last time I saw it, it wasn't working. Also, it is no longer underneath a semi-protective roof, so it is probably just a matter of time before the elements take their toll on it. Unless Knott's management has another auction and decides to get rid of it, too. They DO ruin everything, don't you know!
Here's a pic I took of the same hearse, in 2007. The body was still in the casket, it just can't be seen very well. Both hearses were in this location all through the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Again, I believe they were moved in the early 2010s. The white hearse is the one that was used for children. That's the one that was sold at the Knott's auction in 2017:
Knott's Hearses
I just added two pics of the hearse, in it's current location (on the edge of Boot Hill). These were taken in 2017, ten years after the first pic. Again, the body is still in the casket, it's just difficult to see since it wasn't raising up. Use the same link as above and scroll down to the last three photos.
When I build my own theme park I'm going to fill it with antique hearses....(I don't get it, but as a kid I would have been completely captivated...now...it creeps me out.) I will go to Knott's next time at the OC rodeo and check out the green man myself. When I die, please park me on the backside of public restrooms...eeesh...it all is just tooo much. Loving Linda!...or as Linda's are known on the East Coast: "Lin-Der" as in the singing sensation "Madonn-er" or Sitcom Rhoda's sister: "Bren-Der". BTW: the R off- glide to these names are derived from cockney with other regionalisms that made their way to the NE from across the pond. (Now we know.) Linder looks kinda pissed actually. Tri Pod man is trying to get a photo...but she is having none of it. Maybe she's upset because the Popcorn stand is closed? Maybe she heard TM saying that they recycle the popcorn from the day before? Maybe she wanted to go to Disneyland and they couldn't make their way through the bramble of boysenberries? "I went to Knott's and all I got was this life sized photo of Mrs. Knott?" Glad they wrapped it up carefully. Question: was there actually souvenirs for sale with photos of the Family Knott? Like small statues and things? I'm surprised they haven't exploited the Partners statue like that: that's what I need..a statue of Walt on my mantle...I wouldn't mind a bust of Walter Knott though...it would be more obscure. I do have a few random busts here and there in my house...one is of Snoopy...perhaps it was from Knotts. I saw it at an estate sale for free and had to have it. I'm going to gold leaf him to make him shiny. Snoopy is da bomb. Do they say that anymore. I was chastised recently for saying "Does he have the hots for you?". I was told it's something your grandfather would say. Wow...can I say groovy? Will anyone know what I mean? Now that we speak in hieroglyphs and acronyms I'm not sure. GTTM. Groovy to the Max. Thanks for the Knotts photos this am Major. I now have a reason to see the restrooms festooned with hearses...or hearsi...(?)
Linda does not like having her picture made.
“Phooey on youee,” Linda. Be a better sport about this, your family loves you and wants to remember you being happy.
I don’t recall the corpse/hearse at all, maybe I was too young to see such a thing?
Or the wall mural either, for that matter.
Major, thanks for these unfamiliar views.
Did you hear about the undertaker who married the snake charmer?
Their towels were marked “Hiss” & “Hearse”.
I’ll be here all week, try the veal.
JG
Linda! Our old friend Linda and her rusty suede jacket! Nice to see you again, kid! I think in the second picture she's stolen a tombstone and is trying to sneak it out of the park in a paper bag. That's why she's annoyed at the photographer. He's also a terrible getaway driver, but he's got great sideburns and the best record collection in town.
The weathered boards of the Old West look great on an overcast day. Very atmospheric.
When I build my own theme park I'm going to fill it with antique hearses.
You've heard of Hersheypark - this summer, grab the kids and head for Hearseypark! We're just dying to see you! (Not to be confused with Hearsaypark; rumor has it that place is a craphole). Be sure to say hello to proprietor William Randolph Hearse!
I love the story Roy Disney told about how the local undertaker hired him to wash the hearse, and little Walt would tag along and pretend to be the body in the back.
...or as Linda's are known on the East Coast: "Lin-Der"
I always noticed that when Groucho would talk about his youngest daughter, it sounded like "Melinder."
These pictures put the "Ghost" in Ghost Town. I loved Knott's on a rainy day, the wooden buildings and eucalyptus and pepper trees gave off heavenly (otherworldly?) aromas.
Linda is seconds away from a "Carrie"-like jump scare. She likes that kind of thing.
The gallows humor at Knott's then was much better than the Halloween Haunts: the wreath was a mordant send-off from Goldie herself; after rising the corpse turned his head and revealed a bloody bullet wound to the temple; the undertaker intoning the hearse eulogy was a nasally wiseacre--"Cover him up, boys".
I remember a disappointing visit in 1991; at that time bougainvillea had collapsed the hearse roof and it was silent. I reached over the fence and took some of the funerary curtain and a shard of the wood, and have them to this day. Memento mori, you know.
Cool pictures! I'm especially enjoying the hearse info and comments, as I don't remember any of this fun stuff.
Thanks, Major.
The last time I tried to take a break from Disneyland and go to Knott's, it rained. And rained. And rained. And Knott's never opened that day. I ended up hanging out in the hotel lobby with all of these weird characters that were trapped there, too. It was like being in an Agatha Christie novel (minus the murder and Belgian detective).
I don't remember the hearse at all, and I know that would have stood out in my mind as an absolutely terrifying thing when I was a kid. But I don't think I ever went into the Livery Stable until I visited as an adult 1993. Oddly, I do remember walking past the Livery Stable and seeing the doors open at both ends back when I was a kid.
Nanook, hey, we all have our bad days. Well, not you, but the rest of us do! I’m going to cut Linda a break, maybe she’d just found out that “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” had been cancelled.
JB, Linda was also at Universal Studios! Stay tuned for those someday. I want the photos taken by the guy with the fancy tripod and camera, imagine how good those were. Linda loves a cemetery, they are so peaceful, and (hopefully) nobody sasses you. What’s not to like? The green light is perfect, I never knew if the guy sitting up was supposed to be a reanimated corpse, or if he had been declared dead prematurely.
Bloefeld, back then we went to Knott’s a LOT, and I’m sure we always stopped by to see the hearse. We were “monster kids” after all, and loved anything spooky.
Mike Cozart, I don’t think I ever saw the hearse with the animated dead guy (?) in any other location, but there was a LONG stretch where I did not go to Knott’s, so that’s not surprising. We moved to the east coast, and then when we came back I somehow never made it to Buena Park. I don’t recall the hearse for the child’s casket, that’s pretty weird. I hate that they are letting the hearse rot away, how hard can it be to put it someplace where it is protected from the elements? Nobody cares, clearly. Imagine how cool it would have been to own a beautiful antique horse-drawn hearse!
TokyoMagic!, maybe Linda was sad that the “ABC Comedy Hour” was cancelled. Or “Me and the Chimp”? Or “The Osmonds” TV series? No wonder she’s not smiling. 1972 was quite a bit before your time, so I’m not surprised that things had changed by the time you started raising hell! ;-) Just think how simple the mechanism must be to raise and lower the body, and yet they can’t even keep that working. Argh.
TokyoMagic!, thank you for the link to your photos! Gosh I hate that they just leave those things out in the open like that. If I owned an antique hearse, you can be sure that I would take care of that baby. Sometimes it would be nice for a little nap.
Bu, now I want you to build your own theme park! “Buland”? “To all who come to Buland, you better behave yourselves, or else!” (a smattering of confused applause). Please make a “hard facts” comment so that I can make cheap jokes based on it for years to come. Linda is taking the blog by storm, everyone loves her. I can’t recall if she is smiling at all in the Universal Studios photos, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I wonder if Linda and the man who took her photo got married (or were already married), and if it lasted. I want her to be happy. I’ve seen a few old postcards with Walter and Cordelia, and there are souvenir menus that have brief bios of the Knotts clan, but otherwise I’m unaware of any merchandise that celebrates the family. A Snoopy bust? Is it carved from the finest Italian marble? Why gold leaf him? Spray paint is way easier. I still say groovy, and I still call people “honky”, so make of that what you will.
JG, I must admit that there are plenty of photos of me looking less than happy, when in fact I was probably having a pretty good time. I must have a generally unpleasant expression on my face most of the time, I guess. I don’t remember the wall mural either, 1972 was about when we moved away from California. I assume it is long gone by now. Your undertaker joke is worthy of Wally Boag!
Melissa, I would love an original Knott’s Berry Farm “Boot Hill” tombstone, that would be a cool souvenir. Now I need to steal one, and if I am caught, I’m going to tell them that “Melissa told me to do it”. Plus I eat a lot of junk food and can’t be responsible for my own actions. I would go to Herseypark, though I’m not sure what the rides would be. Maybe a flume ride, only you lay down in a coffin? A Ferris Wheel - same deal? Oh yeah, I remember that story of Walt playing dead, such a funny “little kid” thing to do. I lived on the east coast, but I don’t remember ending certain words with “er”. Is that a Baltimore thing?
Stefano, as I sadly found out recently, they do not even open Knott’s on a rainy day now. My plans were scuttled! Admittedly it would have been pretty miserable, as it was a heavy rain with lots of wind. I love the idea of a hand popping out of the grave to grab Linda! She might not be so crazy about it though. I’ve never been to the Halloween Haunt, but it looks pretty intense. I’d love to check it out someday! Whoa, the hearse roof had collapsed from bougainvillea?? That’s no good.
Lou and Sue, my knowledge of Knott’s is so slight that it is fun for me to hear all of the lore from our Junior Gorillas!
Major and all,
Love pics from Knott's. Everything about Knott's (to me at least) was cozier and more intimate. The Livery Stable was pretty neat with all the old rigs and tack displayed. My dad, an old South Dakota farmboy, always walked out of there with a big grin. Memories. It's been a lot of years since I was at Knott's, and I suspect I would miss what used to be. Those hearses left to the elements? Criminal in my book.
Linda is a very attractive young lady. Especially without having a ciggy-butt in her hand. (Ginny, take note)
Someone in a previous post (featuring Ginny) wondered if maybe she was an aspiring model type and was getting pictures for her portfolio. Perhaps, but Linda here and in her previous post in 2013 (Really? That long ago?) looks more like a typical high school-early college kid having a fun day with her Sweetie, mugging for him and the camera. Nothing really staged, just moments in time and expressions caught on film.
Thanks Major, and thanks to everyone for all the 'extra' info.
W
We should call our spooky theme park "Graveland!" We can cash in on Elvis fans who can't spell very well!
Tokyo!, thanks for the link to the hears shots. In the last photo we see a miner panning for gold... Man, talk about stiff jeans!
Warren, nice to hear from you! It’s been a while! I did love Knott’s back in those days; in fact a friend of mine has never cared for Knott’s and I just don’t understand it. Sure, Disneyland is the “Tiffany” of theme parks, but Knott’s had so much fun and charm. Nice that your dad enjoyed the Livery Stable so much. I think there was a big Regina music box in there too (for some reason), I seem to remember hearing it play with these large metal disks. Yes, Linda is pretty, too bad she seems so unhappy, or appears to be anyway. Did you click on the link to that 2013 post? Linda looks pretty mad! I HOPE she’s just acting!
Melissa, I was going to make a comment about Elvis fans sho can’t spell very well, but have decided to keep it to myself.
JB, yes, that miner has been there since the 1950s. I believe he’s still there. You’d think he would lose hope.
"...that miner has been there since the 1950s. I believe he’s still there."
Ask for him tomorrow, and you shall find him a grave man!
Chuck, sorry I missed your earlier comment, looks like you left it just one minute before I left some of my replies. Your sad tale of your scuttle Knott’s trip is a sad one, and the idea of being stuck with a bunch of weirdos in a hotel sounds like a true ordeal. The only thing that might have made things better is if you’d had a chance to meet an Imagineer, but what are the odds of that happening? Slim to none, I’d say. For some reason the hearse and its occupant never scared me that much, and I was scared of everything. I didn’t want to walk through the short tunnel to the “gold mine” where you would pan for gold because I was certain that something was going to GET ME.
Melissa, you can make more money digging graves than you can digging for gold. I can't tell you from personal experience.
Major, I’d say the odds of meeting an Imagineer are better than you might think. After all, Andrew went to Knott’s and met Tony Baxter. I think the idea deserves more merritt than you think.
That tunnel terrified me for the same reason. I vividly remember the day when I finally mustered the courage to walk through it and found out my fears were unfounded. Mrs. Chuck was so proud.
If that guy’s been down in the creek since the ‘50s, he’s not a minor anymore - he’s a senior citizen.
Major and all,
Thank you, Major. I visit every day, sometimes real early, sometimes real late. Just not as knowledgeable or comedic as the rest of the gang here.
And the tunnel to the Pan For Gold was the best. I loved that tunnel. Dark, inclined, flickering lights, creepy with little side tunnel teasers. It was great.
W
Chuck, that story of the hotel in the rain is terrifying. I can only imagine the kind of nuts that would hang out in a Disney hotel lobby.
Warren, don’t be a stranger, you reminded me of that tunnel I had forgotten.
JG
Chuck, listen, it’s all well and good to think about running into an Imagineer, but this is the real world! Andrew got very lucky, I admit. ;-) As for that tunnel, I remember my mom going up to an old prospector and asking him if it was scary, and he said “No”. I did not believe him. He had not earned my trust. I’m afraid I am going to have to start charing you $8 per pun - I got the idea from my friend Elongated Muskrat.
Warren Nielsen, I’m glad you check in! And you don’t have to be hilarious, it’s just nice to hear from you. I know what you mean about these folks, they are pretty sharp. Man, I know I eventually went through that tunnel, but I didn’t remember that it was as cool as you described it!
JG, just the thought of what Chuck went through is bloodcurdling. Like an Edgar Allen Poe story mixed with an H.P. Lovecraft tale.
Stefano, thanks for jogging my memory about the guy in the casket turning his head after he raised up! Until you mentioned it, I had forgotten about that detail.....and also about the bullet wound!
JB, "In the last photo we see a miner panning for gold... Man, talk about stiff jeans!" Ha, ha! Even worse than the original "shrink to fit" Levi's!
Bu, you remembered my Knott's popcorn story! I guess it's a little hard to forget! Yep, the Knott Family was CHEAP! There....I said it.
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