Not so long ago, Jane and I were examining every little detail of the
Western Museum inside of Knott’s Berry Farm. Amid all the fascinating
trinkets and curiosities assembled by Cordelia Knott, was a post card
with a picture of the Main Entrance sign which read “Knott’s Berry Farm”
followed by “Old Time Adventures”.

I smirked. When was this from? The 70’s from the looks of it. The
current sign over the Main Entrance reads “Knott’s Berry Farm” followed
by “America’s 1st Theme Park” in a rather corporate synergistic font.
You know, the kind of thing you might find on a coffee mug or ink pen
laying around the office. It’s just a little too slick for my taste.

I decided right then and there, I much preferred the old slogan: Old
Time Adventures. In glowing neon red, with that old western font, it
was the sort of branding that doesn’t exist any more. It’s the type of
tag-line, that modern-day competitive businesses (especially theme
parks) avoid like the plague. It’s an adverting agency’s nightmare. It
says your company is old and the product it offers is old. Even it’s
verbiage is provincial and quaint. Nothing says “come join the fun”
like admitting in big bold letters that you are stuck in the past.

Still, that’s why I go to Knott’s Berry Farm, I go for the Old Time
Adventures. The park is changing and much of the hard work that Walter
and Cordelia put into the place is being swept away for bigger and
“better” rides. There’s quite a bit of “old time” left in the farm to
be sure. You can still pan for gold, eat at Mrs Knott’s Chicken Dinner
Restaurant, wander the streets of a real ghost town, ride a real steam
train, ride a real stage coach, watch real can-can girls and see the calico
mines as well as timber mountain log flume. It’s all still there, beckoning
those who want to recapture their youth.

Some of it is gone though. The old Haunted Shack, Bearry Tales, Kingdom of
the Dinosaurs and most recently the Walter K Steamboat have all succumb
to the wrecking ball in favor of newer and shinier things. Some of
these buildings still stand empty, a sort of modern day ghost town to
accompany the real one that Walter Knott purchased and moved here in the
beginning. After the Knott family sold the park in the late 90s to
Cedar Faire and the specialty foods division to ConAgra foods, did
corporate America completely devoured Knott’s Berry Farm’s soul? Only
on the surface. Part of what makes the park unique is it’s organic
homegrown approach to just about everything.

There is a persistent rumor that Walt Disney never could understand why
people would stand in line for hours just to eat fried chicken. If the
rumor is true it seems to add some credence to the fact that some people
are immune to the Park’s charms. However, even Disney Imagineers admit
there’s an appeal. For instance, former Imagineer Eddie Sotto described
Knott’s Berry Farm as “more of a visit to grandma’s house with all the
mismatched decor and old paint [rather] than a slick ‘gotta see it
all…’ park experience”. If you want that kind of thing, it can be
found down the street in Anaheim’s more famous theme park. “There was
something about live chickens running in the parking lot that taught me
that reality can be a more compelling theme, and soul a better product
than faux paint and name tags.”

He’s right. You can still find old time adventures all over Orange
County and they are all compelling in their own right. The Orange
Circle is a bustling historic district that remains economically viable.
You haven’t lived till you’ve had a hand scooped shake from Watson’s
Pharmacy. The same can be said for downtown Fullerton and it’s historic
Fox theater. Then there’s the gleaming, carefully preserved retro white
architecture of Fashion Island that makes the place seem more like
Tomorrowland rather than a shopping and business district. You can even
catch a flick in the cavernous (and historic) Big Newport theater while
you’re there. There are many more joys to be had, but you better see
them quickly before someone knocks them down and builds a Starbuck’s in
their place.

Still, there is hope. Anaheim is a city with no downtown — we demolished
it in the early 80s — even so, that doesn’t stop the citizens from
showing their civic pride. Last night I watched the masses line up for
the historic Anaheim Halloween Parade. For one brief moment, I had
a twinge of bittersweet longing for my youth. That goes to show
that you can take away just about everything that makes a city special
and people will still have a grand experience. Some might even call it
nostalgia. However, I prefer to think of it as an old time adventure.

- A message from the cubicle of LipLash
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Posted Sunday, October 29th, 2006 at 3:00 pm . Filed under LiveJournal, None. Your trackback is welcomed.