Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Freedomland Ticket Book & LP - Part 1

Welcome to Freedomland U.S.A. As if Freedomland itself wasn’t a complete and blatant copy of Disneyland, even the ticket book was quite similar. This rare book is missing the tickets (anyone have any????) but you can still see the obvious resemblance, even the “Welcome to” font on the front message sheet is the same as Disneyland’s!






I’m guessing the two red lines represent the Santa Fe Railroad tracks and the Ore Buckets path. Let’s see Freedomland had; a Santa Fe Train, a sky ride, a horse drawn trolley, a miniature car ride, a Pepsi Cola Music Hall, a fort, a sternwheeler, a river cruise, a mule pack ride, a horse drawn wagon and a futureland. Sure sounds familiar…






No mysterious date codes here, in fact, no date at all! The price for a child book is right in line with Disneyland’s early 1960’s pricing. New York City Amusement Tax? New York is about as amusing as Los Angeles.







My vintage collection is VERY light when it comes to Freedomland. I’ve got the ticketless book you see above, I’ve got a great 16mm amateur home move from 1961 that you’ll see someday, and I’ve got this neato record.

This LP was actually still sealed and yes I just removed the 50 year old shrink-wrap and it felt great, if not a little crispy.






They claim Freedomland is even larger than the fabled Disneyland. Maybe, but where are you now Freedomland? Apparently the music on the LP is the actual music that was heard on each ride.






I love this inner sleeve - it's all in the details.






The LP itself is in fine shape, having never been played. It doesn’t appear to be warped or damaged. I would have recorded the LP for you, but I’m feeling a little under the weather (cue the violins) so it will have to wait until Bonus Sunday.


6 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

Can't wait to hear the LP. Hope you are feeling better!

Katella Gate said...

You have me looking forward to hearing that soundtrack. Talk about "A voice from the tomb" I just hope the music is better than the attraction posters, but Freedomland is up against the Sherman Brothers... so no breath-holding here.

The Exaggerator said...

Freedomland was star-crossed right from the start, plagued in large part by bad press following a stagecoach accident just days after its 1960 grand opening as injured ten visitors ... not to mention losses running over $5 million/year as forced a major revamp in 1963 which saw the San Francisco area closed, thrill rides added and staff let go wholesale.

Unable to cope any further, Freedomland closed at the end of the 1964 season; the site is now the Co-Op City apartment complex in the Bronx section of New York.

jedblau said...

I have three ticket books with some various tickets attached. I will scan so you can post.

Major Pepperidge said...

Well, I've been busy the last few days, and missed all my favorite blogs. I love Freedomland stuff! Even ticketless ticket books are rare. Awesome!

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I've been reading about the date codes in this kind of publications and I think you should add more information about it because it's an important point behind all this matter.