There's a lot of material to cover in this post, so let's get into it! Of course, dining has been a cornerstone of Knott's since its beginning. With the debut of Marion Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant in 1934, Knott's began its rise to power as a tourist destination, with the dinners famously commanding multi-hour waits.
The box with the "Record Days" totals is really fun. Unsurprisingly, Mother's Day reigns supreme, although there is a humorous Father's Day right in the middle. Thanksgiving also dips its toe in at the end of the list. The right column shows that the amount of dinners served had increased every year through 1961, which might be when this book was published.
The kitchen almost looks like an industrial assembly line! Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant remains legendary to this day, but I have to wonder whether the number of meals today remains consistent with the totals of 55 years ago.
The Steak House restaurant gets considerably more text coverage than the original Chicken Dinner, which is surprising. I believe that this restaurant remains in operation in some form, but I bet all of these creatively themed rooms are gone. It would be fun to choose where to eat your "swordfish dinner:" Garden Room, Indian Room, or Family Room? Blog reader "TokyoMagic!" has very generously shared some images and information regarding an auction that Knott's had a few years ago, which included some of the Indian pictures seen above.
TokyoMagic also shared that "Stack's Liberty Ranch," which is hopefully to be a theme park museum one day, acquired some of the Indian paintings in this photo.
Bringing the focus into the amusement area itself, the Chapel by the Lake exudes a "Spell of Peace." Inside, visitors could watch a short presentation called "The Transfiguration of Christ" that involved an illusion of a picture of Christ opening his eyes. Almost ironically, this tranquil area is now home to the super-intense Silver Bullet coaster.
TokyoMagic is back with more pictures, this time of the actual painting of Christ that was inside the chapel, along with the comment that Stack's Liberty Ranch also received many pieces of the Little Chapel before it was torn down. Thanks to TokyoMagic for sharing!
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| Quoting TokyoMagic: "In this photo, you can see the doors on either side of the framed piece of glass. These are the doors that would open at the beginning of the show, to reveal Christ and then close at the end of the show." |
Looking at these pictures, aside from the Ghost Town and Calico Railroad hiding in the back, you would be hard-pressed to label Knott's as a theme park. It all looks very relaxing. What happened to the cute Chapel by the Lake... was it just bulldozed? Looking online, it appears that the "Church of Reflections" was relocated, but what about the chapel? Notable is the mention of Paul Klieben, an artist who did much graphic work for the park.
This page has some of the great attractions that look like they were some of the things that made Knott's truly unique. An authentic streetcar in the parking lot? Why not?!? You also gotta love the gigantic redwood stump, with attached placards that I really hope told you what was happening in history at that time.
The Ghost Town logo here is pretty cool; I have to wonder if the park has utilized it on any modern merchandise as of late. The text here really sets a clear mission statement for the area, as well. Why go to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse when you can go see "The Old Prospector" at Knott's? (with his mules as an added bonus!)
Pardon my terrible job at stitching these two pages together - I know you'll get the idea! The panorama of this Ghost Town street is quite remarkable. Surrounding this image are some of the characters, lifelike and otherwise, that inhabited Ghost Town, including the infamous Sad Eye Joe, who is still locked up all these years later. In fact, I'd put my money on Main Street looking almost identical too!
Here are the final two pages to finish today's post. "Whether you're 8 or 80, whether you remember those glorious days, or you don't, you'll remember them forever, after a day at Knott's." Like Disneyland's Main Street, it's really cool thinking that people visiting the park at the time could've actually had personal memories of the historical period being depicted.
With an ending line like that, this book could've been done, but there's still enough left to fill one more post on this souvenir!
8 comments:
You really know your stuff. Much of Ghost Town is still there, but the area surrounding it surely has changed.
I was just thinking. If you're going to Disneyland this year, you should definitely check out Knott's Berry Farm too while your in the area. It's real close by to Disneyland.
Thanks for another great post, Andrew.
K. Martinez, I put a lot of work into this post, so I'm glad you liked it. And yes, I will definitely be checking out Knott's this summer, of which I am very excited!
It's funny - I don't think I actually ate a Mrs. Knott's chicken dinner until I was an adult. I clearly remember eating at the Steak House on multiple childhood visits. The first time, we had tried to go to the Chicken Dinner restaurant but my parents didn't want to wait in line to get a table and lose time we could be spending in the park, so we settled for the other sit-down place where we could get a table immediately. We had such a good experience that we just made it our traditional lunch place.
While the themed rooms were really neat, the original conception was amazing. Chris Merritt's Knott's Preserved has a great write-up of what could have been..
Hopefully, TokyoMagic! will be able to provide some info on what happened to the Chapel by the Lake.
I remember it scared the heck out of me when I was 6 or 7. We walked in to an empty chapel with no idea what was coming. Then the lights went off and the doors to a tryptych opened up in front while a voiceover started. I remember part of the presentation had red lighting, and I couldn't see where my family was so I froze in place, standing scared in the aisle. I remember being a little freaked out when Jesus' eyes opened.
I have since read what the presentation was actually about, and I now wish I had seen it when I was older and could appreciate it.
Major Pepperidge did a post on a vintage souvenir from the Chapel back in 2011.
If a copy hasn't found its way into your hands, I strongly recommend Chris Merritt's Knott's Preserved. Either edition is outstanding (although the first edition is definitely more expensive today), and several pictures from Major Pepperidge's personal collection are included.
Looking forward to the third installment!
Wow! Thanks for another spectacular, in-depth comment, Chuck! I love reading your memories of Knott's - you certainly have a very vivid memory. I do have a copy of Knott's Preserved, but I admittedly haven't looked at it in quite a while, which I will have to change. That's really cool that pictures from Major Pepperidge are in there; I'll have to take a close look at the photo credits! Oh, and that souvenir post was very interesting and pretty inventive. Blacklight keepsakes are the best.
In a Google search for Chapel on the Lake, I found video that appears to show the presentation. The description makes it sound like it was recorded after the attraction had permanently closed, which is interesting. Thanks for reading, Chuck!
Great "Part 2" post, Andrew! Yes, the Steak House building is still there, today. For some strange reason, when they redid the Knott's Marketplace (outside the theme park) in 1984, they changed the name of the restaurant to Big Jake's. I never understood why they would change the name. Then in the nineties, when they started construction on the Ghost Rider roller coaster, they took the restaurant, the original Candy Parlor, and the original Farm Bakery and made them all a part of the inside of the theme park. I think that hurt business for the restaurant, because people could no longer go to it, unless they bought a ticket to go inside the park. Actually, I think they might have had a policy for a while, where you could go inside for a limited amount of time to eat at the restaurant, but I think it was a complicated procedure. I believe you had to leave a deposit for the cost of admission to the park, at the main gate, in case some people decided not to leave the park after eating dinner. Needless to say, sales at the restaurant dropped off dramatically, once it was no longer outside of the park.
For a while, they changed it to "Auntie Pasta's," which was a pizza restaurant. I don't think it did very well in that incarnation, either. They tried "rebooting" it again as "Spurs Chophouse," but it still didn't do the kind of business that it did in those earlier decades. Today, it is mostly open only for special events, like Halloween Haunt and the Boysenberry Festival.
Most of those paintings of the Indian Chiefs from the Steak House's "Indian Room," went to Stack's Liberty Ranch during the Knott's auction, which was held a few years ago. He is currently in the process of restoring them and has promised that we will all get to see them again in the future:
https://www.facebook.com/380216488704521/photos/pcb.2676619109064236/2676597175733096/?type=3&theater
As for the Little Chapel by the Lake, yes, it was just bulldozed, sadly! Again, "Stack's Liberty Ranch" was able to acquire most of the interior furnishings (the pews, etc.) and I believe, even the stain glass windows. He is planning a recreation of the attraction, in the future. The actual painting of Christ was done on glass and was available at that same Knott's auction as the Indian Chief paintings, a few years ago. The painting of Christ was not in good condition, as most of the paint was peeling away from the glass. I have pictures of that from the auction preview and I can send those to you, if you are interested!
You are right about that section of redwood tree, listing the dates of important historical events like, "Columbus Lands In America" on the various rings of the tree. Unfortunately, they also got rid of that, when they redid the Knott's Marketplace back in 1984.
In that panorama shot of the Ghost Town's Main St., about half of those buildings have been replaced in recent years. The ones that have been rebuilt are, the Gold Trails Hotel, the Assay Office, the Chinese Laundry, the Barber Shop, and Goldie's Place. I did a whole series of posts on the tearing down and rebuilding of Goldie's place, back in 2010 and 2011:
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/search?q=goldie%27s+place+construction
I'm looking forward to your "Part 3" in this series, Andrew! And I'm glad to hear that you are going to have a chance to visit both Disneyland AND Knott's, this summer!
Enjoyed the extra in depth knowledge provided by Chuck and TokyoMagic! No matter how much I think I know, there's always something new to learn about the places I love.
Andrew, I can tell you worked hard on your article post. It shows. Great job!
TokyoMagic, thanks so much for all of the great info! How much you know about Knott's certainly does show. The background on the Steak House is interesting - I wonder why they moved the entrance to inside of the park in the first place. Maybe it wasn't doing great even then?
It's good that some of the decorations from the restaurant as well as the Chapel have survived. I wouldn't mind seeing your pictures of the auction, if you'd like! Was there anything else cool at that auction? Additionally, is "Stack's Liberty Ranch" a museum?
I'm glad that Cedar Fair has kept the look of the original buildings from Ghost Town intact. Nice attention to detail. I read one of your posts about Goldie's Place and will have to read the rest soon.
Once again, I really appreciate you chiming in, TokyoMagic! I'll enjoy Knott's all the more when I go in with all of this great historical knowledge.
Also, I'm glad that I'm giving you a way to learn more about Knott's, K. Martinez!
Andrew, it's possible that the restaurant hadn't been doing as well as it had in the past. I'm really not sure. When they changed the borders of the park for Ghost Rider, they did relocate the candy from the Candy Parlor and the baked goods from the Farm Bakery, out to the shops along Grand Ave., next to the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. They just didn't relocate the Steak House/Big Jake's.
Stack's Liberty Ranch is going to eventually be a theme park museum.
There were a lot of things in that Knott's auction......signage for various attractions, three figures from the original Knott's Bear-y Tales dark ride attraction, paintings, antique coin-operated machines. Personally, I thought Knott's should have hung onto this stuff, but apparently they were more interested in the money they could get for it.
I'm sending the photos of the painting of Christ your way!
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