Who's ready for a trip to sunny Knott's Berry Farm? Let's go! These are from September, 1970, which is right around the time when I was lucky enough to go to KBF relatively often. It was close to Huntington Beach, it was affordable (compared to Disneyland, which was a once-a-year or MAYBE twice park), and we loved it.
Let's start with this picture of the Calico Log Ride (later the "Timber Mountain Log Ride"), which had debuted just over a year earlier, on July 11th, 1969. Famously, John Wayne and his son Ethan were the first official guests to plummet down that flume. The arches of El Camino Real are to the right, as is the train depot (which I assume was moved when the Log Ride was added?).
The Calico Mine Ride; it's not much of a hot take to say that this is one of my favorite rides at Knott's. During one visit, when my mom dropped me, my siblings, and assorted friends off to fend for ourselves (!), we decided to do the Mine Ride three or four times in a row. NO REGRETS. The ride operators thought we were crazy. I loved the squeaky sound of the trains on those tight turns, and the slightly-grotesque figures inside. I also loved the "underground" waterfall and the glowing caverns!
In spite of the unfortunate colors, I'm happy to see old #41, the Red Cliff, as it passed right through Calico Square (stopping for passengers of course), without so much as an electrified fence to prevent guests from being flattened. And yet, somehow it worked without incident (as far as I am aware)! A log is about to take the plunge in the background, is anybody famous aboard??
I'm away from home, and away from the blog!
1) Wow, this pic is sure crisp & clear! ("It's both! It's a floor wax and a desert topping!") The groovy mom and her daughter (front and center) are definitely today's vintage fashion award winners, right, Melissa? At first I thought mom's dress was iridescent. But on closer inspection, it's just green and blue, tricking the eye.
ReplyDeleteFor a minute, I thought that sign said "EL CAMINO RRAL". I had to chastise my brain for several seconds to make the second 'R' look like an 'E".
2) Another clear & crisp photo. That part of the rockwork that looks like vertical louvers, or drapes, bugs me a bit. It doesn't look natural at all. But I suppose there must be a reason why it looks that way. The lighting is just right for capturing all the details in this pic.
3) Take a good look at the train, Chuck... Now you can call in sick for the day. No work! Oh dear, looks like we have some competition for the vintage fashion award... The gal in red, next to the gal in blue pushing the stroller. Is she (gal in red) pregnant? If so, I'll give her a pass. If not, then Ohhh myyyy!
Thanks for the crispy pictures, Major.
^ dessert, not desert.
ReplyDelete"The arches of El Camino Real are to the right, as is the train depot (which I assume was moved when the Log Ride was added?)."
ReplyDeleteMajor, the train depot stayed in place through the construction of the Log Ride. If you look at the KBF Map Comparison post from "Vintage Disneyland Tickets" (April 2, 2008), you can see that the depot always sat right for several decades. However, in 1985, management decided to revamp the Ghost Town. (That's actually when they got rid of the corn on the cob and replaced it with the chicken chow mein that NOBODY ordered.) They felt that the depot didn't really serve it's purpose, because it was located so far from the tracks. So they rotated it 180 degrees, and moved it next to the tracks. Now the station is used the way that Disneyland's Main St. station is used, with part of the queue running through the station.
This 1985 Ghost Town revamp was also when they kicked Mott's Miniatures out of Jeffries Barn, and turned the barn into an entertainment venue. The "Ghost Town 1885" entrance arch signage was also added at this time, and the Ghost Town Firehouse was torn down except for just a few brick remnants to resemble "ruins."
Thanks for the vintage Knott's pics, Major!
The old Knott’s photos are always most interesting where the park looks less like a theme park and more like somebody simply kept adding convincing pieces of a town.
ReplyDeleteThat intimacy seems to be what people remember: the livery stable, the hearse, Boot Hill, the odd little details that had no obvious commercial purpose.
Modern attractions tend to explain themselves very efficiently.
Old Knott’s seems to have trusted clutter.
As a kid, it always bugged me that the train station was so far away from the tracks and add an odd angle. Looking at it again today it even makes less sense, especially with the train order board (that dark red signal thingy to the left of the station) in a position where the crew would not be able to see the signal as they pulled into the station.
ReplyDeleteHang on, Red Cliff - just three more years before they strip off that clown makeup and dress you up like the beautiful lady you were meant to be.
I love, love, love that long ‘70s hair. Thank you, Olga Angelinetta, Luciano Vito, and Olivia Hussey.
JB, I actually spent the last three days out sick and was just starting to feel a bit better this morning. This may cause a relapse.
Kuschelbock, yes - Knott’s felt a lot like a really fun museum rather than a carefully curated backlot. Both styles of theme park are wonderful in their own way, but Knott’s had a charm that was different from Disneyland, which is why I think they complemented each other rather than competed for decades.
Three photos capture the essence of old KBF. Major, like you, I visited this park at least annually through the early 70’s. The log flume and the mine train were the best, but we rode the train too. My Mom didn’t like the dynamite explosions or the flume drops, so she waited on those benches seen in photo 2. I always got to shoot a round at the shooting Gallery by the Mine Train exit. I won a gold (foil) medal (sticker) once for not missing once.
ReplyDeleteThe El Camino Real wall looks like a movie set, but the Mission San Miguel north of Paso Robles has a wall that could be its twin. There were (are) real places just like this.
The train never squashed anyone because we were all smart enough to get out of the way, unlike today, where idiots abound.
The Knotts trash cans appear to be disguised as crates or barrels.
On the wagon in photo 3 are a couple of milk cans. Before refrigerated tankers, dairies stored the milk in these cans to deliver to the creamery. Dad had a few cows before WWII and we still had a couple of these cans on the farm by my time, even though the cows were long gone. And the lady in stripes and blue slacks could have been my Mom, dressed just the same.
What a nice post, Major. Lots of good memories here, thank you.
JG
I was a bit of a Disneyland snob, but did visit Knott's after I started working for the mouse down the road. The photos ARE very crisp and clean! The rest of my DL SNOB KREWE...generally hung about and pointed out every scrap of trash and any "bad show" moments because we were soooo much cleaner...blah blah blah....looks pretty clean to me in these photos. What bad little brats we were. I visited the Mine Train during the haunted thing....which totally freaked me out...with humans in there shaking cans with rocks in them at you while covered in blood or some nonsense....and the Mine Train grotesques were covered with hefty bags....but some were wiggling on the inside as the "animatronics" were still on. It was a bit tawdry, and we all had a good laugh. I would like to see it all now...even though I think that they've junked this all up....and chow mein instead of corn on the cob? I don't get it, but I don't think I'm the target audience. I'm one of those people who cut the kernels off the corn....I have a beard and mustache problem....and I absolutely never liked chow mein....or is it mien? I honestly don't know and don't want to know...however, I am hungry for soup dumplings now....a rainy nor-easter has visited us this weekend....and I love me some good dim sum.....and soup dumplings are the best! I know a place in Korea Town if anyone is interested...and now I'm hungry for scallion pancakes too.....Back to Knott's : I love the train barreling through the crowd....everyone outta the way....since we have lived through it all, I suppose we don't need to behind a fence/wall/plexiglass/rocks/etc etc etc....Someone reminded me yesterday that "we are in a different time now".....we are? Is that why I'm behind a school bus that literally drove 10 feet to the next house? and 10 feet to the next?.....OK...I'm not down on safety...but I'll say In Boomerese: I had to walk 2 miles in the rain to school!!! and the same back! UPHILL! .....I gotta eat....Thanks Major, and enjoy your vacation!
ReplyDeleteJG, we always had a few old milk cans around the place, even though we never kept cows. Heavy suckers! Eventually Mom used them as planters. The picture reminds me of the days when the earliest train of the day was known as the "milk train."
ReplyDeleteLots of great early-70s summer clothes in this group, but I think my vote for the VFA goes to the leggy young lady under the word "Denver" in the third picture, in the colorful matching shorts set and sandals. She looks like a fun aunt.