Everybody loves vintage Knott's Berry Farm photos! Like this first one, showing the Little Chapel by the Lake, circa July 1963. It sure looks pretty with the pink bougainvillea spilling over the edge of the roof. Inside the chapel you would have been able to witness an inspirational show in which a painting of Jesus would magically open his eyes. From what I've read online, many people remember this as an extremely moving and memorable experience. See the paper souvenir from that show HERE.
Also from July 1963 comes this photo of the Gold Mine. The richest vein of gold ore ever discovered! You can see the streaks of gold ore in the nearby rocks, and don't you worry, we will get to those eventually. But for now we're having way too much fun panning for gold.
That trough is full of the stuff! You could use a sluice to separate the gold from the grit and gravel, but that's for lame-os. I prefer the old fashioned, back-breaking labor of swirling some dirt around in the pan (in that icy glacial stream) until nothing is left but a few brilliant yellow flakes. Put mine into a little glass bottle, I'm taking my "to go".
Next, it's January 1963, and an elf of some sort is attempting to steal that old-fashioned car. Crime never pays, elf! I was actually heading over here to visit Dr. Molar, but he's closed. I wanted him to pull all of my real teeth so I could wear my Sears dentures instead.
And finally, from January 1967 comes this scene with a cute and patient burro standing outside that little shack. His owner has probably fallen asleep, hopefully not for too long. At least there's some clean laundry hanging out to dry, most folks around here don't wash their clothes more than once or twice a year. The lady to our right is about to enter that tunnel that leads to the gold mine seen in photo #2!
The entire family was caught mid-stride in this photo... all except Grandma. I think she stopped to admire the bougainvillea. (Thanks for using that word, Major. All I had to do was copy/paste; no need to look up the spelling!)
ReplyDeleteThe two ladies at the trough seem to be wearing traditional costumes of some sort, maybe eastern European?
The reflection in The Apothecary window shows that Mom is keeping a close eye on the elf in the stolen car. Seems odd for Knotts to have a grocery store-type, coin-operated ride. But evidently it got used, probably quite a bit. Despite the presence of the coin box, maybe it didn't require a coin to activate it.
I think there are three burros standing outside the shack. At least, I can see three pairs of burro ears here. I hope they were treated as well as the Disneyland horsies.
A nice set of Knotts photos, Major. Thanks.
JB, those cars did require a coin. There was even a change machine located on the side of the mini "Bank" building. The cars would jiggle up and down, and the wheels would spin. And if I remember correctly, that "shifting" lever next to the steering wheel made the cars jiggle faster ("Keep jiggling, Peggy! Keep jiggling!") Someone had a concession on those cars, but I can't remember the man's name. It was not Bud Hurlbut.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vintage Knott's pics, Major!
The little car concession guy was Emory Hoagland, with help from his father-in-law, Ross Yost:
ReplyDeletehttps://knottsinprint.blogspot.com/2013/01/coin-operated-model-t-cars.html
Some of the people in the second picture are probably no longer living, so we're watching the dead pan. (Sorry, I got nothin'.)
ReplyDeleteThe "Closed" on Dr. Molar's sign is advising you how to keep your mouth.
Knotts: Looks delightfully dusty...which I prefer these days. I keep on ALMOST going to Knott's on my travels out West. It certainly is economically a better option than "Casa De Rodent" down the block...I'm not sure how much of this "olde tymey" stuff exists anymore: clearly the chapel is gone...and that's always a good thing to do...tear down places like that...have fun with Satan, people...with such a robust bougenvilla ... I would love to have such a thing in my yard, however the NE does not support it. Perhaps a small indoor version....It seems that Knott's was very tactile with their attractions: panning for Gold and watching Jesus open his eyes. Some friends of mine got the little vials of gold and I was so envious. Those things were way too fancy or esoteric for the likes of us. The old laundry and the burro are sweet. Not sure about building codes and ASPCA back then or how any of this would be possible today...so glad to have some photographic reference. Grocery store rides are awesome, however...was also too fancy. I remember they were a nickel: which was my weekly allowance (sometimes) so it was either a Jolly Rancher "Stick", or a ride on Donald Duck. Candy was important, as it is now. Just GOING to the grocery store was too fancy- and one peep in there and you were out in the car with the windows up. Of course, later on...we would get sent to the local neighborhood grocer to pick up "provisions": Wine and cigarettes...not sure that's possible today either. The market is still there 100 years later, but probably not selling jugs of Chenin Blanc to 12 year olds :) Thanks Major for the morning memories!
ReplyDeleteThanks Major, I'm mainlining nostalgia with these photos.
ReplyDeleteWith The Little Chapel and Covered Wagon Shows, Knott may have been the first to utilize ultraviolet light in an amusement park attraction, some 15 years before Disneyland. Unthinkable today: the lakes and ponds of what would become Fiesta Village had no barriers, the pavement just ends in water. Well, outside the Little Chapel, you might keep walking past the edge.
It was a thrill to stroll through the dark mine tunnel, echoing with bubbling and rasping machine sounds, and see the two vignettes with miners (one of them smoking, though not a minor). And try to read "The Wreck of the Hesperus" without hearing the resonant tones of the guy in that shack..."snow white was her bosom".
When I was the age of the Model-T elf, I wanted to drink the red liquid in the Apothecary jar, which must have tasted like Strawberry Crush.
And meanwhile the little red devil is cranking away off camera, firing up the volcano.
And when these pix were taken there was no admission charge to see all this.
Time to spread toast with Boysenberry jam, and put Sons of the Pioneers on the turntable.
Stefano sums up my feelings.
ReplyDeleteI don’t recall the chapel at all, but the whole family is heading in there.
Love, love, love the Gold Mine. I always went in through the mine tunnel and out up the steps, after paying my respects to the little devil, offspring of Lady Pele’.
After one of the past discussions of the Gold Mine, I rooted out my little vial of gold. Now it’s on my home desk next to my Trader Sam tiki mugs.
Thanks Major, this is wonderful.
JG
It’s interesting that the gold panners are mostly adults, and the few kids are closer to tween/teenage. I feel that today it’d be all 3-6 year olds, splashing everywhere. Consarn it. I saw the liquids at the apothecary too Stefano. What if leeches are swimming in there?? Thanks for the Knotts-stalgic pictures, Major.
ReplyDeleteJB, “bougainvillea” is a tough one, but (for reasons) I’ve had to spell it enough that I have it down pat now. I see the two ladies you mentioned, they do look a bit “European” (maybe Eastern European?), but I can’t say for sure. Judging from the smile on that little girl’s face, the coin-operated car was a hit! I wonder if I ever rode on one of those kinds of things when I was a kid? If so I can’t remember. I’m not seeing three burros, but let’s not fight about it!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, the cars required a coin, but it had to be a “buffalo” nickel. Seems like an odd decision, but hey, society needs rules. I seriously wonder if the coin-operated car was literally just an off-the-shelf item, with no modifications for Knott’s?
TokyoMagic!, wow, I am impressed that you found that information.
Melissa, “dead pan”, a pun worthy of Wally Boag!
Bu, the dustiness of Old Knott’s was part of its charm. It wasn’t Disneyland and that was great! The Ghost Town is still there and still very nice - of course some things have disappeared, but it would be worth at least one visit if you used to like going there in the past. “Have fun with Satan”, advice I never thought I’d see on GDB! ;-) I still have a few vials of gold from when I was a child. Of course the water evaporated long ago, but there are crumbs of gold at the bottom - surprisingly dense, even as small as it is. I can’t imagine a store letting a kid pick up wine and cigarettes! I think it is safe to say that stores would not allow it anymore.
Stefano, I don’t know if I remember Knott’s when it did not charge an admission, even though it technically existed when I was very young. By the early 70s we lived near enough that we could go regularly, but admission was cheap, or else my mom would have never taken us as often as she did. I didn’t remember that there were sound effects played in the mine tunnel, but if so, cool! I do remember the devil at the crank, firing up the volcano - he was basically a “toasty roasty man” like you’d see in the popcorn carts!
JG, I remember as a little kid I was very scared to enter that dark tunnel to the Gold Mine area. My mom had to ask the nearby prospector (with appropriate bushy beard) if it was scary, and he said, “No”. It didn’t convince me! But we went anyway, and I’m sure I had fun panning for gold.
Kathy!, my only gripe with panning for gold is that they would take your pan away from you to hurry things up - and also to ensure that you didn’t slosh all your gold back into the sluice. Still, I wanted to do it myself!
"Bougainvillea" is one of those words I can spell but not pronounce.
ReplyDeleteTen quatloos to Major P. for working "slosh" and "sluice" into the wettest sentence this side of the Mississippi
It's a very good Knott's morning,
ReplyDeleteStefano hits it perfectly. This is the Knott's that I loved. The dichotomy of the hustle/bustle excitement of Ghost Town as opposed to the tranquility of the Chapel and the lake was refreshing even when I was a kid. Just a calm and sedate area to ponder and well, reflect. And now it's all gone except for pictures like these and our own memories.
The first few times we got to visit, there was no admission charge, just walk in and enjoy. Ride the trolley car from the parking lot, get off, wander around. Sigh.
Our boys did the gold panning thing a couple times, and I have consolidated their loot into one vial. (Major, I think I sent along a pic of that to you.) The tunnel into the mine was a can't miss thing for all of us. Melissa, I would guess that most of those people are no longer around. My dad absolutely loved the Covered Wagon Show. And there would be the older ladies in period dress spinning and weaving on the porch.
The little devil and the volcano fascinated us kids and our boys too. El Camino Real with the dioramas of the missions were interesting. The peek-in displays through Ghost Town were really neat, maybe crude by today's standards, but amusing, droll humor in a way. It seems that everything now is thrill me! what's next? thrill me! what's next? thrill me! Gosh, take time to slow down and enjoy the subtle things.
Or maybe I am just old. These pics were taken when I was 13.
Your blog here Major is a treasure. The memories it brings . . . .
W
Went into the Little Chapel once, maybe around eight or 10 years old. Yes, my Catholic grandmother was moved to tears, but I just thought it was a cool effect, although I have no idea how it worked today. Probably a miracle, I'm guessing. They also used to have an awesome stereotypical church with a steeple on site, which still held Sunday services, according to the sign out front. Knott's had a charm and easy-goingness all its own, and while very different from Disneyland, was usually just as fun to visit.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was very little I was thrilled when we got to pan for gold … the tiny little flakes in the plastic vile were like 50 gold bars to me. I remember asking my grandma to check on the little bottle throughout the day to make sure my gold was still there. One one trip I remember my uncles talking to the “gold pan miner” employee while my mom helped me reach the sluice box. I vividly recall him telling my uncles it is indeed REAL gold and that Knott’s brings it in from Alaska. Alaska?? Where’s that?? The man doesn’t know what he’s talking about because the water is bringing in the gold laden sand from that hill over there we just walked through to get to the gold pit…..
ReplyDeleteI would have bee. TERRIFIED of the transfiguration inside the little chapel had I ever seen it back then . I hade one of the little double door transfiguration brochures with the fluorescent eyed Jesus and even that seems creepy!!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I feel bad that I left out the word “slurp”.
ReplyDeleteWarren Nielsen (nice to hear from you), it’s hard to describe the charm of Knott’s to people who never saw it back in the days, perhaps “pre-Roaring 20s” (even though I liked the Roaring 20s area); on occasion my mom would drop a bunch of us kids off, and we would have the run of the place. I felt like I knew every inch of it, though I now realize that there was much I did not see. But we would hurry to our favorite sights and attractions, get cold boysenberry juice and hot french fries, and have an amazing time. I have planned to combine all of my gold dust into one vial (I love it when eBay sellers called it a “vile”), and have combined a few, but I still have others that I have not fiddled with yet. I only vaguely remember the models of the missions, and they made me think of my class project, in which I built a terrible model of the mission in Carmel. I sure miss those seemingly carefree days!
Steve DeGaetano, yes, I have heard that people actually used the Knott’s chapel for their Sunday services. I wonder how they decided on that? Maybe they liked the preacher. Or it was the closest church? I regret never seeing the Transfiguration show, it sounds like amazing theater, almost like a magic trick.
Mike Cozart, oh neat, I’m not sure I ever knew that the gold dust was imported from Alaska! It makes sense, I just watched someone on YouTube way up in the Klondike panning for gold, and they talked to people who mine for a living. They had jars FULL of gold dust! It was pretty astonishing. I used to hear that the dirt in the sluice was “salted” with gold dust, so of course I pictured somebody with an actual salt shaker full of gold, ha ha.
Mike Cozart, I guess if I was young enough I might have been scared by the “opening eyes” effect, it sounds pretty dramatic!
We went into the Little Chapel by the Lake when I was in Kindergarten. We were the only ones in there. My mom read us the words on either side of the doors to the painting, and then the lights went down and the doors swung open on their own. I had no idea what was going on and was absolutely terrified, rooted to the spot I was standing in in the aisle. We never went back, something I regret.
ReplyDeleteTokyo!, Thanks for the link. Wow, Hoagland and Yost built a "Little Car" empire! Who would'a thunk?
ReplyDeleteMajor, I'm not sure I see three burros either. But I do see three sets of burro ears, so...
JB, Knott's burro ears are just as popular as Disneyland's Mickey Mouse ears. Everyone wants a pair, especially with their name embroidered on the back.
ReplyDeleteFun day at Knott's. Thank you, Major.
Bu, based on the clips I've seen of some of the Knott's Scary Farm performances, you may be right...
ReplyDeleteMajor, I prefer phials of things. They're at least 27% fancier than vials.