Random Knott's Berry Farm
Howsabout two nice views of Knott's Berry Farm? This first one is from July, 1961; Ghost Town is busy - not too surprising for a peak Summer day. A number of parents (armed with children) are waiting for their chance to have a photo taken with one of the Native Americans. Thanks to endless movies and TV shows, everyone wanted to pose while wearing a feathered headdress. I've always wondered if guests paid for the photos, or if it was just a part of the KBF experience? It's cute the way the little girl to the right seems to be trying to decide if she is brave enough to approach the woman in front of her.
This next picture is dated "August, 1976". Two intrepid ladies prepare to "enjoy" the Sky Jump. Per Wikipedia: The Sky Jump boarded one or two standing riders anticipating the thrill of the drop into baskets beneath a faux parachute canopy. From the top, twelve arms supported the vertical cable tracks of wire rope which lifted the baskets. The 225' Sky Tower had opened that very year. I've seen other photos of this attraction, and those "baskets" that one would stand in look way too open, and frankly, kind of dangerous! Presumably it was all very safe, though.
17 comments:
As a kid we live to ride the SKY JUMP …. But then I would be terrified … and then there was that point it went to the top … lowered gently a few feet down then stop … like you are stuck ..and you’d realize how high up you were then .. you would plummet as you fell the air rushing thru the spindly cage basket and open grill floor. It was terribly frightening. I remember one time while a friend and I waited to be lifted in our basket this big buff man and his wife just returned .. he warned to operator “if you press that button one more time I’ll break your arm!!” At some point I wised up and refused to ride the Skyjump … I have no problem with the SKYTOWER .
It's amazing that, apparently, there were no fat people in 1961! Hardly anybody is noticeably overweight here, let alone obese. Different times. I wonder if Little-White-Dress-Girl's parents are the ones taking this photo? None of the people that we can see seem to be her parents.
I guess all the people that we can see here are in the queue for the Sky Jump. The two ladies in the basket must be mother & daughter; their facial features are the same. What does Mom have in her hand? Some sort of piece of paper.
Colorful Knott's photos, Major. Thanks.
That's interesting. I don't know if I've ever seen a photo of female Native Americans posing for photos at Knott's. We usually see Chief White Eagle, or Chief Red Feather, who I believe were related (brothers?).
I still miss the Sky Jump attraction! I was fortunate enough to go on a duplicate version of it (with the exception of the Sky Cabin observation car that travels up the center), at Tokyo Dome City, in Japan. I had to ride it multiple times, just to make up for all the years that it had been gone from Knott's.
Mike, now I want to know if the operator pushed that button, or if she let the man out? In those early years, they did take you up twice, but at some point, they changed it to just one trip up and down. During one visit, I rode with two friends of mine. I guess we were light enough to have three people in the basket. One of them had been on it before and we both talked another friend into going on it. She had not been on it before. She was a mess the whole way down....screaming and crying. When we got to the bottom, she was having a crying fit and was practically on the floor of the cage. I called over to the operator and asked if she could get out of the basket, and not go up for the second drop. The operator said, "Nope! Sorry! You gotta go up again!" I thought that was pretty mean.....unless there was some policy where they weren't allowed to let people out. But I would think they could do it as needed. What if someone was having a heart attack or a seizure? Hey, maybe people like her are the reason that they changed from two drops to one?
Thanks for the dose of vintage Knott's, major!
Speaking of being "light enough" for three people....I just remembered some other things about the Sky Jump, and "weight." I went to Knott's with a different friend, show was rather large. The operator asked for both of our weights, because there was a limit to how much weight there could be in the basket. She said that she didn't know how much she weighed, but I think she just didn't want to say, so they made us ride separately.
Later, when I was working there, I would sometimes be walking through the park to get to my work location, and I would see a basket up at the top of the tower, that wasn't dropping. One time, there was another basket up there next to it, with one of the ride operators in it, obviously conversing with the people in the other basket. I later found out that the baskets would sometimes get stuck up there, if there was too much OR too little weight in them! Yikes! If I remember correctly, the person telling me that said they would send an operator up in the next basket and instruct the people to jump up and down to get it "unstuck." Double yikes!
......those "baskets" that one would stand in look way too open, and frankly, kind of dangerous! Presumably it was all very safe, though.
Major, there was one incident on the ride. A teenager committed suicide by jumping out of the basket when it was at the very top. Unfortunately, it was on one of the park's "Halloween Haunt" nights. I was working that night and we were told that many of the guests didn't believe it was real, just because of all the gory things on display during the Haunt nights. "The Hanging" show is one example. That was in October of 1983, but the ride remained open for another 16 years, without any kind of alterations to the cages.
I went to Knott's with a different friend, WHO was rather large.
Sky Jump...NO...big bag of NO...not ever, never, never never....won't do it, not for a zillion dollars...not my bag, not my thing...and looking at this thing on the GROUND makes me feel sick....I looked at the first Knott's picture this morning, and thought..."oh, how lovely...charming Knott's!"....when I scrolled it turned to an anxiety ridden bag of NO! nooooooooooo! I WOULD be the one crying on the bottom of the cage in a fetal position, or "buff dude" with "I'll break your arm"....that being said: I like seeing photos of the kinder parts of Knott's, like Native Americans with headdresses and lines of laundry drying. I remember one day not so far away we visited a Native American shop across from Mission San Juan Capistrano: home of the returning swallows. As a kid I thought the whole place was rather magical...like Disneyland....(but we didn't have to pay to get in)...the bougainvilleas were winding and doing their canopy thing, like they do in many photos of Knott's, and the shop with it's exotic silver and turquoise jewelry and many other things I had never seen in my life. My "adopted" family took us there: I'm not sure my biological parents would even think going down so far to San Juan, while my surrogate family was always more adventurous. Like Knott's and a few more things in Orange County: (like San Juan Capistrano): there's a lot of history if you dig around. Thanks Major for the morning rabbit hole and the thrill ride: that luckily, I do not have to experience in real time.
I agree with Bu! I like the soothing 1961 pic, but have only a big bag o' NOPE for the Sky Jump. Here in Texas, we had the sit down version at Six Flags, The Texas Chute Out. It had a bench seat and a lap bar. I had friends that went on it, but I had more pressing things to do- like NOT going on it! They tore it down years ago, because I assume it wasn't scary enough for modern riders. I never go to Six Flags any more. Not my kinda park...
I’m with Bu and Stu. Can Not, Will Not. Sky jump…
I do like the pic of the old town, especially the laundry.
I have a pic of little me wearing the feather headdress, but it’s a Blurzle
JG
August 1976,my first trip on the Sky Jump. Spun around to see if the Magic Kingdom was visible, and sure enough the Matterhorn and surrounding big hotels could be seen briefly several miles away, just before the drop. Also my only ride on the Motorcycle Chase, which line took forever because an attendant had to manually tighten each rider's seatbelt. Regret I never rode the Airfield Model T ride --Knott's had five Model T attractions at that point-- because the publicity promised we would pass such fascinating sights as a 1920s Hobo Camp.
In the 1941 "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", a rare domestic comedy for Hitchcock, marriage-troubled Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery are stuck at the top of the Coney Island Parachute Jump for hours, at night in the rain. Nothing like dangling 200 feet above ground in a flimsy seat to bring about togetherness.
I liked the rock and book shop, under the GOLD MINE TUNNEL sign, and wish I had bought some geode. No Charlie Brown "I got a rock"; that would have been a keeper.
Thanks Major, I can smell the eucalyptus and funnel cakes.
Major-
It's not likely I'd ride the Sky Jump today [had it still been there]; but I certainly did back in the day. Kinda liked it, actually.
♫Com'on, com'on, let's reach for the sky. It's Knott's new Airfield, and now we can fly. Don't look down... you know why♩ Actually, that's part of the "fun". (Not all jingles are great).
Thanks, Major.
Mike Cozart, yeah, I’m not crazy about heights - I can deal with them, but I do get nervous! However, I am sorry that I didn’t get to experience the Sky Jump, I’m thinking that if I did it once, it would lose a lot of the fear factor for subsequent rides. Did the ride operator press the button one more time??
JB, eating habits were different in 1961, for sure, and people were almost certainly more active in general - more walking, kids rode bikes, etc. And don’t forget the magic of cigarettes! They keep the appetite down. I can only assume that the girl in the white dress was the daughter of the photographer, but can’t say for sure. I was hoping I could identify the paper in the older lady’s hand, but it’s too indistinct.
TokyoMagic!, I feel like I might have posted other photos of that same woman (the one to the right), or maybe I have just scanned slides but haven’t shared them yet. I think she might have even appeared on a Knott’s postcard! Very cool that you did a version of the Sky Jump in Tokyo, that qualifies for bragging rights. And ha, you and I both want to know if the ride operator let that “tough” man out. I love that he was so terrified that he was willing to threaten somebody else with bodily harm. Just suck it up, dude. On the other hand, if I had a passenger who was literally shaking and crying, I would want to be merciful and that that poor person out.
TokyoMagic!, I didn’t think about it, but of course the weights of the passengers would be pretty key to a ride like the Sky Jump. Never ask a woman her weight! I would think that it would be tricky to know when to ask somebody and when to NOT ask. Maybe it would be better to just automatically separate a pair when in doubt, though of course that makes the line go slower. I’m sure the ride capacity on the Sky Jump was pretty low. Wow, asking people to jump up and down to unstick their vehicle? OY! Oh man, so sad that somebody jumped from one of the baskets; and I can’t help thinking of the guests on the ground. Horrible for all involved.
TokyoMagic!, I knew what you meant!
Bu, I went on the old Maliboomer at DCA, which was a standard drop ride, and a friend from Europe was visiting. Our vehicle was still basically on the ground, but the wait was too much for her, and she started freaking out. But she freaked out pretty quietly, she did not make a scene! The longer we sat there, the worse she got. I think if they’d just shot us up with no wait, it wouldn’t have been half as scary for her. In fact she actually seemed OK once we finally did launch, and the gentle decent wasn’t so bad. However, she would never go on it again. Capistrano, I only went there once, in fact I was just looking at some photos from that day; it’s a lovely place, and my brother has a picture of himself with a dove (pigeon?) on his head.
Stu29573, somehow the bench seat and lap bar for the Texas Chute would have made the ride a lot more tolerable for me! Again, I would have tried the Sky Jump, but it really does look scary. I’d think that the “cages” would be at least a foot higher.
JG, I think of the MANY times I went to Knott’s as a child (way more times than Disneyland), and I think the only photo of me at the Berry Farm is with my siblings in a log from the Log Ride. Better than nothing I guess.
Stefano, wow, very cool that you even though to look for Disneyland - it makes sense that the Matterhorn would be visible from that high up, after all, it isn’t that far away as the crow flies. I would love to find a photo of that very view - but I’m not holding my breath. I always wondered if that scene in “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” was inspired by THIS EVENT!
Nanook, it’s funny, there are rides at Six Flags Magic Mountain that I used to ride regularly - and I’m pretty sure I’d skip them today. A sign of my age or something.
Once our SKYJUMP basket got pulled up into the air , we paid no attention to the buff man and his wife’s predicament as we had to deal with our own personal terror.
The lady in the sky jump basket is holding a ROARING 20’s GOODTIME THEATER show & area entertainment flyer . If face the theater show times and if a celebrity was appearing … and show times for the MARATHON DANCE PAVILION stage and listed other live entertainment ( mostly appearing around Charleston Circle) like the Spiffy Saxes , the Charlie Chaplin look alike … and there was a cop & crook ( stunt??) group etc… THE CLOUD 9 BALLROOM was sometimes also featured in the schedule when shows were done during the day like THE BERRY SISTERS ROARING 20’s MUSICAL REVUE. After a few years the Roaring 20’s entertainment schedule was combined with a single Knott’s Berry Farm Entertainment flyer.
STEFANO : the ROARING 20’s “Gasoline Alley” didn’t use a model T but the Arrow Development “BEARCAT FLYER” their version of 1913 STUTZ BEARCAT automobile. ARROW DEVELOPMENT offered several Antique Automobile styles including a FORD “T” , a CADILLAC , a STUTZ BEARCAT, a FRENCH TAXI and a 1909 Grand Prix Racer …. They also offered custom designed vintage automobiles but I’m not aware of any having been built - themeparks seemed to be happy with the production styles offered.
Interestingly the Gasoline Alley “BEARCAT FLYER” design would have been very out-of-date for the 1920’s …. STUTZ BEARCATS were still produced into the 20’s but we’re very different looking than the 1913 types Knott’s featured … oh well … what are ya gonna do call a cop?
Note that there are actually three ladies in the Sky Jump basket. There's a little girl looking away from the camera. That is...if she was really there...
I only rode this once that I can remember in October of 1976 (Mrs. Chuck & I are unsure if we rode this together in 1993 or 1995; I know we rode the Texas Chute Out in '95). I (a couple of weeks from my 8th birthday) rode with my mom and my little sister (Age 4) rode with my dad in adjacent cages.
I remember going up and looking straight down at the ground the entire time. My mom was trying to get me to look out at the view but I wouldn't budge. My little sister fell to her knees as the cage went up the first time, grabbed my dad's legs, and never let go. It's created a few awkward moments over the years, but they manage.
The ARROW DEVELOPMENT antique automobiles also included a ARROW FORD ROADSTER and a ARROW MAXELL ROADSTER as well as the FORD TOURING CAR , ARROW FLYER , ARROW CADILLAC, ARROW RACER …
And ARROW FRENCH TAXI
The lady in the sky jump basket is holding a ROARING 20’s GOODTIME THEATER show & area entertainment flyer.
Mike, in addition to the "razzmataz and all that jazz of the "Spiffy Saxes," don't forget the "razzle dazzle comedy" of the "Slapsticks," and the Dixie show band, "Bathtub Gin Gang"! And then of course, there was also Pepsi-Cola's Roaring 20s Revue, "Pop Your Buttons".
Those flyers were called The Good Time Gazette. As you said, they listed showtimes for the park's entertainment on the back, they also had a park map inside, and the cover was made to look like a mini newspaper with articles about what was new in the park, and also about whichever celebrity was performing in the Good Time Theater. I was just scanning a couple of those, last week. I'll be posting them in the near future!
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