The big kahuna of Californian theme parks is, of course, Disneyland, but preceding it by quite a couple of decades is Knott’s Berry Farm. Walter Knott started growing berries on his farm in Buena Park in 1920. This photo is from circa 1926 before their road side stand even had the “Knott’s Berry Farm” sign. At some point it became so popular that his wife, Cordelia, opened a tea room that eventually became a chicken dinner restaurant that’s still around today. The theme park started as a ghost town that Walter built to entertain the folks waiting to get into Cordelia’s very popular restaurant. The whole enterprise evolved into sprawling amusement park, but this photo shows how it got its humble start.
This is a 2021 satellite photo of Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s a lot more than a roadside stand now:
This auto-colorized version does a pretty good job.
Loved Knott’s Berry Farm as a kid. Much less commercial, at the time, than Disneyland. They actually had an attraction where you could pan for gold! Also remember having picture taken with an American Indian in authentic regalia including feathered headdress. Also one of my favorites is Walter Knott’s popularizing Boysenberries; a combination of blackberries, red raspberries & loganberries. Sad to think today the family has no connections to either the theme park or the jams sold in supermarkets –
When I was about 7 years old our family stopped at Knott’s Berry farm restaurant And Mr. Knott stopped at our table introduce himself. Our family name is also Knott. They discussed how my father and his family migrated from Liverpool in 1890 on the ship Cephalonia and settled in Rhode Island.
We did enjoy the theme park but it was very small at the time.