Knott's Berry Farm - Before & After part 2

A little late with part two, but better late than never.

Still comparing the before Ghost Town to the After Ghost Town, let's continue right next to the Blacksmith with “Old Betsy – Borax Mine Special” the little railroad car. Here an old black & white postcard. I would place it late 1940’s early 1950’s.






Here a neat color photo of Old Betsy from 1958, thanks Daveland.






Old Betsy as seen today, she has not changed much.






Here’s a close-up of kids playing on Old Betsy from December 1963, thanks again Dave!






Comparing this close-up with the December 1963 close-up above you really can see that very little has changed, even the painting on the building behind is the same!






Looking down the same street in the 1960 photo, you can see the mine “tower” (tall wooden tower thing on the right) and the “Bank” with the crumbled wall just beyond it.






The Mine Tower appears to be in the same spot and looks pretty original too.






The “Bank” now has the pan for gold attraction right up against it, this is not where it use to be and frankly, it’s pretty lame now.






The Miners’ bank as seen in 1960.






The bank today looks remarkably unchanged. Visit the "LetsTalkKnotts" blog (link) to see a great before and after post of this area.






The Birdcage Theatre as seen in 1960.






The Birdcage Theatre in 1967, thanks Gorilla’s don’t Blog for the vintage photo.






The Theatre looks great today, ready for show!






Red School house circa 1960.






The Red School house today, pretty close to original.






The Grist Mill in July 1961 (thanks again Dave).






The same structure today is the Glass Blower. I was unable to find the Glass Blowers old location.






Old Judge Roy Bean’s Saloon in the 1950’s






Undated photo (1960’s?) of Judge Roy Bean’s, thanks Dave!






Some additions to the front, but basically the same little Saloon it’s always been.






An old postcard showing a couple of very old wagons, I'm not sure where this location was.






Guess what? I found both of those wagons (at least it looks like them). This guy was just hiding in a corner near a bunch of twisted roller coaster tracks. Note: I did reverse/flip this image so it matches better to the vintage postcard.






This wagon was right near where the Church of the Reflection used to be. Fear not, I found the Church, you’ll see it in the final posts of this series.





Come back tomorrow for MORE Knott’s Before and After. Comparisons still to come; The Bottle House & Music Shop, Stage Coach launch, Mine Train, Log Ride, Fiesta Village, Roaring 20's and more.

Knott's Berry Farm - Before & After part 1

A strange thing happened last week on my way to the Park, I got diverted to the Farm. It just seemed like a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm was over due, so I did the unthinkable and bailed on Disneyland and went to the farm.

Using my AAA card, I was able to get a nice discount. It wasn’t crowded at all, so I was able to get quite a few photos. At first I was totally lost among the monster rollercoaster’s, but as I began to scratch the surface I was able to see a surprising amount of vintage Knott’s remains. There are a distressing amount of things that are gone, but we’ll get to that in a later post.





Since I was able to find so much Vintage Knott’s, we’ll break down these Before & After segments into a few posts. So let’s get started, keep in mind I didn’t have any of these before photos with me at the time, but that said, you’ll get a good idea of what remains.

The Chicken Dinner Restaurant from a 1960 guide book.






The Chicken Dinner as seen today - it smelled so good, truly amazing. Neat old Lincoln out front.







One of the entrances as seen in this April 1958 from Daveland.






The main entrance today. Very different.






Entrance to Ghost Town in July 1961, thanks Daveland.







Entrance to Ghost Town today, I like the old sign better.






The Gold Trails Hotel in an old black and white postcard.






The Gold Trails Hotel today looks very much the same.





Goldie’s Joint from an old postcard.






Goldie’s Joint today is remarkably similar to yesteryear.






Goldie’s leg in the 1950’s






Still kicking strong!






The Blacksmith shop in the 1950’s.







Still a functioning Blacksmith shop in 2008, even if it’s roped off now.






Check out the inside, talk about authentic! Even the phone is 100 years old!






Here’s a street scene from the 1950’s,






As seen today, the Livery Stable is gone and the Silver Dollar is now a shooting gallery.





This row of building contains a museum now.






The Museum was closed, but the row of building hasn’t changed much.






Hop Wing Lee’s Laundry as seen in an old photo from Stuff from the Park.






Hop Wing Lee is still pressing shirts inside!






Sad Eye Joe in the 1950’s.





Sad Eye Joe today. I was having a hard time taking the picture when Joe started talking to me, I thought it was a recording, but it was really someone! He told me to come up front to Goldie’s and get a good picture since I was having such a hard time!






Here’s the little card he gave me, who says’ Knott’s doesn’t do Vintage?





Just over from the jail is where you’ll find these gamblers as seen in a 1975 Souvenir Guide.






They are still playing today.





Come back tomorrow for part 2, more of Ghost Town Before and After.