Knott's Berry Farm
I've chosen a selection of vintage Knott's Berry Farm scans for today. First up is a pair of photos featuring the Antique Auto Ride (later the Tijuana Taxis). The slides are undated, but I'm going to guess that they are from the early 1960s, based on the boy's buzzcuts. Two steering wheels helped to prevent tantrums and tears. The Antique Auto Ride had two different kinds of vehicles, Maxwell Speedsters and Ford Model T Runabouts. The blue car below is a Maxwell.
Next is this photo of the Church Of The Reflections, though nobody knows why it had that name. This slide was so washed-out that you could hardly see the image, but Photoshop helped. Hey, there's the train!
And finally, next to Old MacDonald's Farm was the Seal Pool. Full of seals, ya see. They ate little anchovies all day long; the guy to the left is hoping he can get Sammy to leap up for his treat. But Sammy has his pride. "What am I, a funny clown to you? I'm an artist!". All of the trees and blooming bougainvillea make the park feel very pleasant.
5 comments:
Major-
More fun images from Knott's.
"Two steering wheels helped to prevent tantrums and tears".
I think when I open up my next daycare center I'm going to name it Tantrums and Tears.
Thanks, Major.
Buzzcuts, blue jeans, and stripy t-shirts; the boys' uniform of that era. It was for me, anyway.
I've always liked (evergreen) magnolia trees, as well. Especially their dinner plate-sized white blossoms. We had a deciduous magnolia at our previous house. It had many nice pink blossoms, but still couldn't compare to the glossy-leafed, huge blossomed variety.
I think I like the blue and gold Maxwell car better than the Ford. Probably just because of the color combo.
That's a nice photo of the U.S. Post Office, and surrounding buildings. Colorful, good lighting... very Ghost Town-y. Funny how such a short-lived endeavor like the Pony Express persists in our knowledge of history.
All the pleasant surroundings and pretty plants almost makes one forget about the small, cramped, inadequate living conditions of the seals.
Thanks for the Knott's pics, Major.
The car ride actually had three different names. The first one was Merry-Go-Round Auto Ride (because it was located next to the Merry-Go-Round, in it's original location). Bud Hurlbut ran both attractions. He designed the layout for the auto ride, but you are right about Arrow building the cars and the track. The layout was really nice, because it had different elevations and went over bridges and through tunnels. When Knott's got rid of the attraction, for a 1987 revamp of Fiesta Village, Bud moved the ride over to his own park in Riverside, CA (Castle Park). I've ridden it at Castle Park, and while it's nice that it still exists, it now has a flat layout instead of various elevations. Each steering wheel had it's own working horn when it was at Knott's. When I rode it at Castle Park, I honked the horn, but the ride operator seemed surprised that I knew about the horn. He said that the car I was in was the only vehicle with a working horn. And yes, I might have been a little too big to be riding it, but I rode it with three other adults (all in separate cars). One of those adults was John Waite, who worked for Bud Hurlbut for years, both at Knott's and at Castle Park and was involved with developing Knott's earliest Halloween Haunts. When he wants to go on a former Knott's/Hurlbut attraction, you don't say, "I'll sit this one out!" Plus, I wanted to relive my childhood. Wheeee!
The Wells Fargo building was/is the "backdoor" to the General Store. The stagecoach ticket office was located one street over, across from the Stagecoach loading area. The building is still standing behind the Bottle House, but the windows have been shuttered and the space used for storage, for decades now.
Thanks for the vintage trip to Knott's, Major!
For most of its life that US POST OFFICE was just a facade , but for a short time it operated as a official US postal office where letters and parcels could be shipped and the dozens and dozens of postcards and souvenir pre-printed letters could be postmarked and mailed.
Santa’s Village locations in Dundee Illinois and Santa Cruz featured the ARROW Ford Model T & Maxwell antique auto ride system …. They were fairly common around the country as it was one of their less expensive offerings. After 1964 the larger AAROW antique auto systems debuted and were sold into the 1980’s . The Roaring 20’s Airfield “GASOLINE ALLEY” attraction was one of the later offerings.
Knott’s before any coasters marred the skyline. Charming.
I think your slide of the Church of the Reflections is backwards. The lake was to the north and the tracks were to the west of the church. Compare with this 1962 map (more vintage Knott’s maps here).
The Seal Pool must have had a net electrical charge. That would explain why it’s filled with seal ions.
Thanks, Major!
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