Today I am sharing photos of two very unusual Knott's Berry Farm souvenirs. They are both license plate toppers from PETLAND! OK, first of all, what is a license plate topper? License Plate Toppers are small porcelain (enamel) signs... that can be screwed over the top of your license plate. License toppers were very popular in the 1930's and 40's. These decorative items were attached to the top of a car's license plate and were designed to add a bit of style and flair to a vehicle.
And what, pray tell, was Petland? The Knott's Berry Farm Facebook page had a helpful history: The Petland pet shop opened at Knott's Berry Farm in 1954 and brought with it the Old MacDonald's Farm petting zoo. Within a few months, more critters found their way to the Farm in the form of 30 sea lions (30? I am skeptical)! In December 1954, the Knott's "seal pool" debuted, operated by Petland concessionaires Bill Yeager and Bill Smalls. The 130,000-gallon tank was described as the largest seal pool in the US and its rock work was sculpted by Claude Bell and Ross Yost. Guests could purchase sea lion food (Northern Herring) to feed the hungry and talented critters. The "seal pool" operated rain or shine from 1954 until its closure on February 3, 1974. No trace of the pool remains as it was buried, leveled, and covered in terrazzo for the Fiesta Village dance floor, which debuted the following May. NOW YOU KNOW.
This first license plate topper is a heavy sonofagun - iron, if you can believe it, and coated with porcelain enamel, the way many old gas station (and other) metal signs were made in ye olden days.
Somebody must have discovered a small stash of these, because I saw one on eBay, and it went for a lot of money. Then there was another, and that also went for a lot. By the time the fourth or fifth example went up, the price was a lot lower, and I finally got one. Hooray!
It seems funny to me that visitors to Knott's would want to buy one of these signs (as awesome as they are) and put it on their car. In this case, the topper was never used.
Is it "Pet Land", or "Petland"? Well I'm not really sure, though "Petland" seems to be the most common usage ("common" being a relative term). Anyway, it turns out that there is yet another Petland license plate topper; I think it's safe to say that this one is newer, because it is now stamped out of steel and painted - much less expensive to make. This one appears to have actually been used.
If you are wondering where Petland was, check out this 1955 map - you can see that it was over near the North end of the park (North is to the right), near the little lake.
I hope you have enjoyed these Petland souvenirs!
Major-
ReplyDelete"... a heavy sonofagun - iron, if you can believe it, and coated with porcelain enamel..." Classy-!
"Is it "Pet Land", or "Petland"?" Is it "Story Book Land" or "Storybook Land"-? Ahhh... the questions for the ages-!
Thanks, Major, for sharing those great signs. (I suddenly have a strong urge to partake of some Northern Herring-!) Yum.
I guess these "toppers" are the forerunner of today's license plate frames. I like that they came in Hershey bar brown and tomato red. I wonder if they have license plate frames for sale at Knott's these days?
ReplyDeleteThat fact that they got rid of all traces of the seal pool ("buried, leveled, and covered in terrazzo") sounds suspicious... and desperate. I think somebody wanted to dispose of "the evidence".
The Map: Wow, they had a big ol' dining room just for chickens! Did they have menus for the chickens to look at? "Yes waiter, I'll have the meal worms with cracked corn on the side." This is a pretty cool map. What went on in the Arena?
Unusual stuff today, Major. Thanks.
What a cool item! I wonder if Knott's sold other souvenir license plate toppers? I do remember feeding the sea lions at Knott's. And we can see the old "Monkey Cage" just to the left of Pet Land. Poor monkeys! Poor Sea Lions! Poor piano-playing chickens!
ReplyDeleteWhat went on in the Arena?
JB, Walter and Cordelia used to mud-wrestle each other in that arena! And they only charged guests .25 cents to watch!
I don't know Major, the toppers, and even the map, clearly have the two words "Pet" and "Land" separated...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, never heard of license plate toppers. I learned something new today!
Not sure I want to see Walter and Cordelia mud wrestling: and quite frankly it is an image that my mind can't unsee. I do like Pet Land Petland petland, etc. type places and often feel a bit bad for the animals who are getting loads of pellet food from those little machines: with their tummies so full...moving on...to seals: we had a few at the back of a fish store/seafood restaurant in their small pool...it was fun to throw fish at them...they wouldn't do "tricks" perse...but they did do normal seal type things...and they were super funny to watch with the bobbing of heads and shennanigans...they did some flips from time to time. They looked very happy: despite freedom being just a few steps away. In Cape Cod you can swim about with the seals: just know that a few steps away sharks are probably near and will mistake you for one of them. In La Jolla and at Pier 39 in San Francisco the big sea lions tend to take over and have become tourist attractions in their own right: do not approach: they can be aggressive: and despite their size they are pretty agile...and LARGE. Back to the Berry Farm: where are the berries on this map? Do we know when the farming of berries finally ended? I see there is a jelly kitchen: perhaps they were buying strawberries and such from other farmers who's land did not become a theme park? Plenty of FREE PARKING, and the Alligator farm is "over there". Gators aren't as cute and as funny as seals....but have their merits I suppose. I wonder if they have FREE PARKING too? Thanks Major!
ReplyDeleteI have seen these toppers before from other places or other themes, but had no idea they persisted so late. I wouldnt think cars of the 60’s & 70’s would have room above the plates, while it’s easy to imagine one on an old flivver.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember seals but I know there was a big seal pool at the Fresno Zoo so that might be what I remember?
Knotts seemed to be a big grab-bag of whatever was interesting to Mr. Knott at the moment, without much of a plan in advance. A cute little handy-hands-at-home place.
Thanks for this information Major, all good stuff. I’m glad you won that auction.
JG
PS: After all the various controversies, I am henceforth referring to it as Story Bookland.
ReplyDeleteJG
@ Bu-
ReplyDelete"...we had a few at the back of a fish store/seafood restaurant in their small pool."
A "...fish store/seafood restaurant..."-?? Do tell-!
Nanook, I do love the “bulletproof” quality of that iron & porcelain enamel example. That thing is SOLID. I’ve never had herring, but somehow I have the feeling that I wouldn’t love them.
ReplyDeleteJB, I guess you’re right, these are a precursor to license plate frames. “Honk if you love cats!”. “My other car is a Ferrari”. I liked Fiesta Village, it was pretty at least, but it is a bummer that they filled in the seal pool and ate all the seals. Presumably. “This hamburger tastes funny”. I don’t know why chickens can’t have a nice place to eat, they get darn few luxuries in life.
TokyoMagic!, I figured YOU would know about any other license plate toppers! These are the only ones I’ve ever seen. I do wonder what happened to the critters when these attractions closed. I hope they went to good homes. Correction: Walter and Cordelia used Jello, not mud.
Steve DeGaetano, that’s true, and now that I think about it, it is mostly the contemporary accounts that I used as reference that used “Petland” instead of “Pet Land”.
Bu, both Walter and Cordelia were what is known as “hard bodies”, they pumped iron six hours a day, so watching them wrestle was not as bad as you might think. There were seals on display at a little aquarium near Morro Rock, you could hear them for blocks; at some point we went to visit them, and they were gone. Apparently some folks thought that it was cruel to keep these mammals cooped up. Maybe they are right. Like the Knott’s seals, I have no idea what happened to them ultimately. I believe that they had been “rescue” seals, so I don’t know if they could be returned to the ocean. Yeah, swimming with seals, no thank you. Bad idea. White sharks just love a fat, juicy seal. And a human in a wetsuit doesn’t look that different. I do think they were still growing some berries on Knott property until at least the 70s, but maybe TokyoMagic! can tell us for sure. The Alligator Farm was fun, but I do remember the smell, which was NOT GOOD.
JG, people collect license plate toppers, and there are fascinating examples with FDR, Remember Pearl Harbor, I Like Ike, Repeal the 18th Amendment, and so on. Obviously the ones that are most graphically or historically interesting can go for big bucks. I love that Knott’s was an organic accumulation of so many different things, all free to anybody who passed by. It was ingenious!
JG, hmmm; I may have to ask the “Jeopardy!” judges to see what they think.
Nanook, yes, I have to admit that I am curious too!
Major, I remember the Morro Bay seals! My parents took me through that little aquarium when I was very young. It was a tiny cramped tank. I remember reading about the seals being moved out, but I don't recall if they were released or sent to another location. The aquarium has moved to Avila down the coast and the former location is now a brew pub which I have yet to visit, although I did get a sticker for my car window because it is called "Three Stacks and a Rock" Brewing.
ReplyDeleteJG
Major-
ReplyDelete"Correction: Walter and Cordelia used Jello, not mud".
Correction #2 - The Jello only lasted for one season. Boysenberries proved to be the preferred medium for the 'wrestling'-! (Although 'staining' did create another issue entirely).
“ I do remember feeding the sea lions at Knott's.”
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic, was that in the SEA LIONS DINING ROOM—when you worked there??
:op
Tokyo!, Mud wrestling... Thanks for clearing that up. I knew it was something like that. (Major says it was Jello, but he's wrong.......... Oh wait, he's never wrong! Now I'm confused.)
ReplyDeleteJG, "Story Bookland" is nice but I'll go with Storybookland.
Major, “This hamburger tastes funny”. Back then, nobody could figure out why... NOW WE KNOW!!!
Sue, about yesterday's pineapple on pizza: "Anchovies"?!?! Let's not get silly.
JG, it’s impossible to tell if those Morro Bay seals were happy or not, they sure got a lot of fish when I saw them. It did seem very cramped though, I would not want my whole world to be that enclosed. I’m aware of the Avila aquarium, but have never gone, even though we have a family friend who works there. “Three Stacks and a Rock”… not for long, apparently!
ReplyDeleteNanook, either way, the whole thing is too sexy!
Lou and Sue, I feel sure that I fed the Knott’s sea lions too, but like JG, I might be confusing them with other sea lions. Lots of parks had them, Japanese Deer Park, Marineland, and probably others.
JB, yes, I am never wrong, and don’t you forget it! As long as that hamburger was not made from Soylent patties, I would be OK with it. Anchovies… even if you get them on half of the pizza, the whole pie tastes fishy. Yuck.
Major, I love the license plate toppers. For some reason they remind me of when we visited Santa's Village in Scott's Creek, returned to the car and found someone had wired a cardboard advertisement to the bumper of the car (yes, they actually used bailing wire!). I can imagine one of these being bolted on to the plates of unsuspecting guests.
ReplyDeleteI know the 1955 map is just for reference, but I love how many of my favorite elements of the park are already in place. I didn't know the Cable Car used to actually go through the park like that! And the ambiguous route for the Steam Train must mean that it had an excursion route to Downtown LA?
JB, The Chicken Dining Room was for those too "chicken" to eat at the Steak House. :o)
"Walter Knott - your genial host." I love it!
ReplyDeleteOmnispace, too bad it didn't have a connection with - or better yet, running rights over - the SF&DL RR.
Ominspace, intesting, I have a stiff paper (not quite cardboard) little sign from Frontier Village in New York, it has holes in the corners as if for wire, I wonder if they did the same thing as Santa's Village in Scott's Creek? I'd imagine there are some car guys who would not appreciate having something wired to their bumper without their permission! I love those old Knott's maps for the very reason that you stated, it's fun to look at all the details of what is (and isn't) there.
ReplyDeleteChuck, I always got the impression that Walter K. looked kind of stern, as if he would not put up with any nonsense. Is it possible that he was much warmer than that? Maybe he was the *other* Uncle Walt.
Major, Oops! That should be Scotts Valley. (duh!) It was a long time ago, but the advertisement did seem like it was heavy colored card stock paper of some kind, (red?). The wire they used to secure it wrapped around the chrome bumper on my dad's new '68 Plymouth. He wasn't happy. Now I kind of wished I kept the ad, though it was trashed getting the thing off. Doing gimmicky things like that seemed to be the way of those times.
ReplyDeleteBoysenberries proved to be the preferred medium for the 'wrestling'-! (Although 'staining' did create another issue entirely).
ReplyDeleteNanook, and that way, they were also able to soak up a little "local color."
“ I do remember feeding the sea lions at Knott's.”
TokyoMagic, was that in the SEA LIONS DINING ROOM—when you worked there??
Sue, yes....and those darn sea lions could be SO demanding, barking out their orders at us. But we'd give them "bottomless" baskets of day-old corn dogs, and it seemed to make them happy.
I suddenly have a strong urge to partake of some Northern Herring-!
Nanook (again), and if you get tired of eating the herring, you could always start your own Herring Circus, like the one in St. Olaf, MN.
I do think they were still growing some berries on Knott property until at least the 70s, but maybe TokyoMagic! can tell us for sure.
Major, I'm not sure when Knott's stopped growing berries on the property. If I remember correctly, they had some land further north in CA, that they grew berries on. Or maybe it was someone else's land, who they just purchased the berries from. They have a small patch of boysenberries, across from the entrance to the Silver Bullet coaster. But they have two or three plants, which are supposed to be "original" to the farm, planted next to the roundhouse for the Calico R.R.
I do remember that they closed that Preserving Kitchen on the Knott's property, in the early 1980s. They built a new, more modern preserving plant in Placentia, CA. Then of course, they ended up selling that to ConAgra, who in turn sold it to Smucker's, and Smucker's just discontinued the entire line of Knott's food products, at the beginning of this year. I wonder if any of the Knott's grandchildren wish their parents hadn't sold off that part of the company? They actually sold that off, 2 years before they sold the theme park to Cedar Fair.