Balboa Fun Zone.

In 1906, Fred Lewis owned a tract of land on the waterfront in old Balboa, which is a portion of today’s city of Newport Beach. For years, he operated a boatyard, storing and repainting boats for the locals. In 1935, Al Anderson bought the old boatyard, located next to the Balboa Island Ferry Landing, with the intention of constructing an attraction of rides and game.The original Balboa Fun Zone opened in 1936, and was run by families, much like it is today.

Japanese Village and Deer Park.

Most deer at Japanese Village & Deer Park were sika deer, considered "divine messengers" by Japanese. Sika deer are found in several regions in East Asia and were native to Japan. Other species of deer at the park were English fallow and Indian axis deer.


The deer park had many pools throughout its gardens. In the background here, it’s evident that the Nabisco factory was very near to the deer park.


Japanese Village was landscaped in a traditional Japanese method with serene Koto Music, through hidden speakers and bamboo rustles in the breeze as you proceeded down the landscaped walks.

S.F. Cable Cars Saved From Retirement.

the Cable Cars antiques were fairly costly "for four cars in use since about 1873."Large crane lift's the cable cars from the truck beds and onto the new-laid narrow- gauge tracks.

Knott’s Berry Farm paid $3.040 for two of the cars in a tie-in bid; $1,150 for the third and $1,310 for the fourth.

Bud Hurlbut and his Calico Mine Ride.

In the 1960s, the Calico Mine Ride was added to Knott’s Berry Farm. The Calico Mine Ride would take foreboding-seeming trips into the depths of an Old West mine.

The Calico Mine Ride building was constructed at a cost of $3.5 million in 1960 dollars.

Disneyland Home Movies.

Carousel of Progress.

Below is a model-community of the future in "Progress City,on the second floor of the Carousel of Progress" presented by General Electric.


Theater was a two-level structure. On the lower level, an outer ring consisting of six theaters revolved around a core of stationary stages. The theaters made one sixth of a revolution after each act of the show.





"Carousel of Progress" where six theaters revolve around a hub of stages as "Audio-Animatronics" families enact the drama of electricity's contributions to better living.

Richard Nixon at Knott's Berry Farm.

The Durango, started out life at Jackson & Sharp in 1880 as a 25-seat chair car. By 1903, it had been rebuilt as a parlor car (with mahogany interior trim) and renamed Pagosa.



The cars were hauled to Knott’s by one of Jack Belyea’s trucks. No. 580 appears to be a heavy Sterling truck-tractor equipped with an engine-powered winch. The driver is wearing the standard uniform for truckers back in the early 50s and appears to be slowly lowering the car down the inclined trailer to the ground. Jack Belyea moved SP No. 3025 to Griffith Park and was no stranger to moving railroad equipment with his trucks and trailers. Note the railroad jack being used to steady the car as it slowly moves back down the trailer. The jack gets slid along the cribbing and prevents the car from leaning drastically towards the men in the event it derails

Way Outside of the O.C.

Construction of Anheuser-Busch California Busch Gardens was built at the cost of $3,500,000.

Busch Gardens occupied 17 acre site adjacent to the Anheuser Busch brewery.

Busch Gardens will surround visitors will be series of cliffs, waterfalls and forest Pier-supported pavilions are to be constructed 22 feet above water level, providing excellent view of entire area Busch Gardens project.

Skyway.

Skyway after the construction of Autopia notice no Matterhorn.

Here is the Tommrow land Autopia under construction.

Old Besty at Knott's Berry Farm.

Besty the old Borax engine circa 1942.Walter found it sitting it in the desert on a small piece of track so he moved it.This was an old wood burning steam engine that has been a favorite for the guest of Ghost Town.

Knott's Berry Farm Train and Passanger cars.

There aren't enough clues in this photos for us to identify the location, but the presence of the palm trees suggests it's a team track rather than one of the area’s big railroad yards. Santa Fe's San Diego line goes through Buena Park, Fullerton, and Anaheim, and both UP and SP had branch lines down to Anaheim. One thought is that after taking the D&RGW over La Veta Pass, the cars may have gone the rest of the way on the Santa Fe. (A possible Santa Fe routing would be Pueblo–La Junta–Las Animas–Amarillo–San Bernardino–Fullerton.) Walter Knott was a thrifty, pragmatic farmer, so it makes sense that to keep his trucking costs to a minimum, he would have routed the cars as close to the farm as possible


The passenger cars were shipped to California from Alamosa in September by railcar and carried the rest of the way to the farm by Belyea Trucking Company. By January 1952.


This is the Calico engine being restored by Ed Randow, standing here on the structure above the cowcatcher.