Knott's Berry Farm, June 1966
Today's trio of fuzzy Knott's images all center around Calico Square... the heart of the old Ghost Town!
While waiting in line to ride the Calico Mine Train, our photographer snapped this picture with a giraffe's-eye view of Calico Square and the summer crowds. I love that the train is there, stopped to take on new passengers; notice also that guests are standing out on the balcony of the Calico Saloon... that's where I would want to be (if I wasn't about to ride the Mine Train). As far as I know all of those eucalyptus trees are long gone.
Yep, that's where we were in the first picture, up there in the covered area. You can see two of the Bud Hurlbut-designed trains. Two for one low low price. I'll bet that waterfall added a lot to the cost of this building, but it makes all the difference (and provided some cool mist on a hot day).
And finally, a father and child check out the "Red Cliff" locomotive, with an ex-secret service agent at the helm. Trains have helms, right? Don't bother him! He can kill a man with his little finger and smile while doing it. Note that the depot shows the population of the Ghost Town as 93. I wonder what that number was based on and if it ever changed like Disneyland's did.
2 comments:
nice to be on the Farm today. it never ceases to make me wonder about how the train was right THERE in the middle of the street. It is still that way today?
hoping to get there on our next trip TO Disneyland. :D
I love these pics -- Knott's was a special place during that time -- it still held a lot of it's unique charm. I have to say I much prefer those beautiful eucalyptus trees towering over the park rather than a monstrous steel roller coaster.
Nancy, the train still stops in the same place although they have added some fences and gates to keep guests from getting crushed under the wheels. It's not as if that ever happened because the train has a perfectly functioning cattle guard. In that era, people were trusted to be smart enough to stay away from the wheels of a moving steam train.
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