Bonus Sunday & Knott's Before and After part 5

Welcome to Bonus Sunday. Up first, from Friday’s Disneyland Album - TV Guide January 1955 - Part 3 post, here is the complete TV Guide. Loads of fun 1955 stuff in here!


TV Guide Jan. 15-21 1955 – 24mb






This one is for you Katella Gate:






Heading back for one last look at my recent trip to the farm, here is the current Knott's map. It's HUGE, which does make up for the flimsy tissue paper it’s printed on.






Lot’s of detail on this map, for the high resolution version click here (Link – 24mb)






More details on the back.






One last before and after I forgot in the previous posts. Here is Deadwood Dick’s Grave on 1950’s post card.






Deadwood Dick is still dead. They either did a great job “recreating” the wooden tombstone or it's the same piece of wood that’s been there all along.






I have not seen this vintage fire engine in any old photos, has it always been at the farm?






Now for a little bit of “what’s gone”. The issue of "what’s gone" at Knott’s could constitute an entire blog on its own, there is so much vintage Knott’s that is gone without even a trace. So, I’d like to bring up these “recent” missing attractions, as I seem to recall they were there not too long ago.

First and foremost, WHERE IS THE ORIGINAL BERRY STAND???? It was at the farm in 2002/03 I’m sure of it, the stand had an old pickup truck next to it and both we located near where the Church of Reflections used to stand.






I sure hope the berry stand was kept somewhere at the farm, at least backstage in storage.






And second in importance is the Little Chapel by the Lake. This was a trademark building for Knott’s Berry Farm. I know they took it out to build a roller coaster (Silver Bullet I think) but what did they do with it? This is depressing, it would be like taking the Bears out of the Country Bear Jamboree, oh wait…..






And last up, indulge me as I get just a little more depressed. This was the entrance to Knott’s Bear-y Tales. Unused and…






Un-maintained. At least sand and paint this please.






As fans of Knott’s Bear-y Tales remember, the attraction had you exit via a ramp the let you out downstairs in the arcade. Well ramp is still there.






Very, very unused. Oh the many times I ran down that ramp just to go outside and run back up the entrance ramp to ride this fabulous attraction again and again.






The arcade looks remarkably the same. The games have been updated (in technology and price) but otherwise this room is so unchanged it’s like visiting my grandma’s house.





Hopefully I have not lost any of my faithful readers with this Knott’s before and after reminiscing all week. I really was surprised at how much old Knott’s (mostly Ghost Town) still exists so I’d thought it would be nice to share.. Next week we’ll get back to some cool vintage Disneyland stuff.