So Cal Historyland
Historic Knott's Berry Farm
Like most old institutions, Knott's Berry Farm has changed a great deal over the years. Yet if you know where to look, there's still lots of old Knott's left to be seen. Not just the big things, but little details you might otherwise miss.
In the 1920s, Knott's Berry Farm was an actual berry farm. Walter Knott ran the place with his cousin, Jim Preston. Around 1923 they opened their first roadside berry stand.
Eventually, Jim Preston moved to Norwalk, but Walter Knott decided to stay in Buena Park. In 1928 he completed a new building, complete with a nursery, a berry market, and a "tea room" where his wife, Cordelia, could serve pie and sandwiches. They called it Knott's Berry Place. The Knott home was out back, with Cordelia doing all the cooking in her home kitchen.
That 1928 building still stands, though you'd hardly recognize it after a second story was added in 1950. Today it houses the Berry Market and the Farm Bakery. The Chicken to Go take-out counter is right about where Cordelia's tea room was located. Step inside, and you can still see the outlines of the original building. In 1934, Walter Knott introduced the Boysenberry and Cordelia Knott began serving chicken dinners in the tea room. With the combination of great products, great service, and a creative marketing campaign, the crowds began to grow. The tea room was expanded several times, and in 1938 the Knotts completed a large new dining room just north of the 1928 building. It also still stands.
But still the crowds grew. Sundays were the busiest day, and Mother's Day was always the biggest day of the year. To give their guests something to do while they waited for a table, the Knotts began adding displays around the buildings. Knott's Berry Farm became a roadside attraction.
In 1938, Walter Knott and his crew built their first rock garden, with ferns, volcanic rock hauled in from the Mojave Desert, and decorative lighting. It can still be seen behind the Berry Market. Another rock garden is located around the corner, in the old patio area of the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Right next to the first rock garden, two other early displays survive - the old mill stream, and the George Washington Fireplace. Both were in place by 1940 or '41. The fireplace is a replica of one the Knotts saw while visiting Mount Vernon a year or two before. Another early display has been moved inside the park. Next to Judge Roy Bean's Jersey Lilly saloon is an old stagecoach, which has been at Knott's since 1939. It was originally located next to the volcano (now gone) outside the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. It came from Northern California, and the story is that it was once robbed by Black Bart, the famous highwayman who robbed dozens of stages, and always left little rhyming notes behind, signed "Black Bart, The PO-8."
In 1940, Walter Knott launched his biggest project yet - Ghost Town Village. There seems to be some confusion just how Ghost Town was built - so let Walter tell it in his own words, from 1942:
"Every time I have the opportunity to get away for a couple of days I like to visit the ghost towns of the west for we are continually seeking materials with which to reconstruct the ghost town here at Knott's Berry Place. By securing a building here, part of another there, an old bar in one place or something else somewhere else we add to the picture we are attempting to portray - a composite picture of the ghost towns of the west as they appeared in ‘49 and the early ‘50's. We are not collecting museum pieces nor is it the intention to build a museum. Our thought is to collect a town but as that is impossible we try to do the next best thing - build or reconstruct a ghost town that will be authentic and show life as it was lived in the early days."
Other buildings were built right there on the farm, not from old lumber, but from adobe bricks. Several of these home grown adobes still stand, including the front of the Auntie Pasta's restaurant (the old Steak House). Then there's the old fire station, in front of the Gold Trails Hotel. Built around 1948, it has been allowed to deteriorate into a picturesque ruin.
Ghost Town is full of pieces of historic Knott's Berry Farm (as the park has been called since 1947). Don't miss the peek-ins at the Assay Office, and the Chinese laundry. The old Silver Dollar Saloon next door is now a shooting gallery, but you can still see reminders of its bar room days, including a sign that says "All Nations Welcome, Except Carrie" - a pun on 19th century temperance crusader Carrie Nation.
Other activities that have been there since Ghost Town opened in 1941 include the blacksmith shop, where they still pound out horseshoes, the Pitchur Gallery with its bucking horse, and of course, Sad-Eye Joe in his lonely jail cell. He has been talking to visitors for almost 70 years now - and if you still haven't figured out how it works, far be it from me to tell you.
Upstairs in the Pitchur Gallery is another interesting piece of early Knott's Berry Farm. When the Calico Saloon opened around the corner in 1951, it featured a massive painting behind the bar of "Saturday Night in Old Calico." It was painted by Paul von Klieben, who was the resident artist at Ghost Town for more than ten years, and designed many of the buildings.
Make sure you visit the Calico Saloon for one of the live shows - running since 1952. Originally they were presented on the little stage upstairs, on the north side of the building. Later, a larger stage was built behind the bar, and "Saturday Night in Old Calico" was moved to the Pitchur Gallery.
In front of Ghost Town, the line for GhostRider starts through a portion of the old mine tunnel, built in 1948. The line continues on down to where the gold panning area was originally located. Along the way you pass an old arrastre - a primitive gold mining mill, turned by a burro, to break up the rock to recover the gold. Though moved, it has also been on display since the earliest days of Ghost Town. The gold panning today can be found in front of Boot Hill. Next door is the old Grist Mill, built in 1953. Though they now sell blown glass trinkets, the old mill with its huge grinding stones is still inside. It came from Yuba City, California. For many years you could buy fresh-ground flour here. As Knott's Berry Farm continued to grow in the 1950s, new displays were added. In 1956, a miniature El Camino Real was completed, running from the train station north to the far edge of the park at La Palma Avenue. Along the way were models of the 21 California missions. Today, you can still find an El Camino Real bell by the train station, and if you hop on the stagecoach, you'll pass the double adobe arch at the northern end of the "royal road." You can also see it from the line for the Dragon Swing. It wasn't until 1960 that Knott's Berry Farm got its first real theme park ride - the Calico Mine Ride. It was built by Bud Hurlbut, who brought the original merry-go-round to Knott's Berry Farm in 1955, and was only later sold to the Knott family. Hurlbut not only designed the mountain, but also built the miniature railroad engines in his own shop. The ride is virtually unchanged inside. And on your way in, notice how much of the line isn't visible from below - rumor has it, this was the first theme park ride with a "hidden" line to lure people in.
Bud Hurlbut built several other attractions during his 25-year association with the Farm. The best-loved is his Calico Mountain Log Ride (now the Timber Mountain Log Ride), which opened in 1969.
Keep your eyes open as you walk around Knott's Berry Farm and you'll see all sorts of other little pieces of the old days. From the plaques on the old trees telling you their name and species, to the old "Catawumpus" outside the Craft Barn (the old Livery Stable) which has been roaming around Ghost Town since the 1940s. The ore wagon near the entrance to Silver Bullet, and the huge logging wheels out front of the Farm have also been on display for more than 65 years.
Walter Knott wanted us to remember our history - the pioneer days of the American West, the birth of our nation at Independence Hall - now the theme park he created is also a part of our history. Look around, there's a lot to see.
© Phil Brigandi
"What do we mean by freedom? It is simply the right to choose. The right for people to think and choose for themselves. If you lean on government and government makes choices for you, you are most certainly not free." - Walter Knott