Growing up in Southern California had its plusses and minuses. One of the really good things was having some great family theme parks nearby: Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. We had strict family rules about each of them. 

Disneyland

We were restricted to one visit to Disneyland per year. It was a big deal, of course. At that time Disneyland sold individual tickets for rides, and we were each allotted one book of tickets. There were five ticket levels, A through E. A-tickets (which cost 10¢, as I recall) were for boring rides like the street car or the train. B-tickets would get you on the merry-go-round, and C-tickets would get you on a moving car ride like “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan” or “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”. 

The E-ticket rides were the most exciting. My favorite was “Rocket to the Moon” – you’d enter this spaceship, buckle up, and the ship would take you to the moon. There were “windows” top and bottom where you could see the earth get smaller and the moon get bigger as you approached. Unfortunately we never got to actually land and get out on the moon. Later on they added more e-ticket rides that we loved: the Matterhorn bobsleds, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the Haunted Mansion. 

Knott’s Berry Farm

We had fewer restrictions on Knott’s Berry Farm. My grandparents would take me several times each year. It was closer to Whitter, and easy to get there and park. It was also free to enter. The only rule I remember about Knott’s Berry Farm was that we were limited to three rides. That was hard, choosing which rides to go on and which to reject. These were some of my favorites:

• Panning for gold – you’d go down into this little canyon where they had a stream coming out of the rock, with a wooden sluice set up to direct the water. They would hand you a metal dish and you’d run it back and forth under the water where they had a bunch of pebbles and dirt. The idea was to catch the gold as it came out of the mountain – it was heavy, and would sink to the bottom of your dish. We always found gold – the ride admission guaranteed it – and they’d put it in a little glass vial you could take home. I wish I still had some of those…
• The Haunted Shack – this was my favorite, I think. Peggy didn’t like it, which may have added to its appeal for me. The “ride” was a walk-through a series of rooms which were built on a very steep slope. They used that slope along with optical illusions to fool people into seeing impossible things, like water running uphill and chairs that would stay when placed halfway up the wall.
• Feeding the seals – you’d go up to the counter in this little shack and purchase a wax paper envelope that contained a few slimy fish. Then you could go over to the seal pond and throw them at the seals, who always seemed hungry. They would snatch the fish out of the air, fighting with each other, and making loud honking sounds. Great fun.
• Old MacDonald’s Farm – this one lost its appeal as we got older, but when we were little it was fun. There was a horse-driven merry-go-round; the poor horse had to walk in a circle all day, and we kids rode on benches that hung on chains. There was a chicken who would play a little toy piano if you put a dime in the slot. It was a real chicken – not sure how they got it to do that.
• Train ride – a huge steam locomotive pulled a few old-fashioned train cars which you boarded in Ghost Town and it took you on a loop around the whole park. There was a loud whistle, and the steam engine noises, just like in the movies. The main attraction was the train robbery – every trip got held up by armed bandits who came through the train car, scarves covering their faces, demanding money from the passengers. They would fire their pistols in the air to scare us. But nobody ever lost their money – the good guys always managed to shoot the bad guys dead before it came to that.

Bird Cage Theatre

California Mission model

There were a lot of other things to see and do. We always went to the Bird Cage Theatre, to see the melodrama, where you would cheer for the hero and boo/hiss at the villain. On the way up to the seal pond & merry-go-round we always stopped and looked at a series of models of the Catholic mission buildings which had been built along the El Camino Real (a road that paralleled the California coast) back in the early 19^th century. This was part of California history.

As we grew older Knott’s added more and more rides, gradually trending away from the Old West theme and moving into more of the thrill rides. The first of these was still set in the old west: the Calico Gold Mine ride, a roller coaster in a mountain. I loved this ride, which wasn’t too different from Disneyland’s Matterhorn bobsleds.

Back in those days you paid for each ride separately – admission to the park was free. If you were a customer of Mrs. Knott’s jam, you could pay for the rides with jam jar lids. I think that most rides cost three lids.

Pictures in this post were obtained from the Orange County Photo Archive. Click on any picture to make it full-screen.