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.