Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park near Disneyland in Anaheim started out as a berry stand, then added a tea room which became a chicken dinner restaurant, and eventually a theme park. We can see the sign for the restaurant in the background of this 1960 color photograph. But it’s easy to be distracted by the buffet of late-50s American cars in the parking lot. According to someone who posted in the comments of a Tumblr that featured this photo, the cars are:
- 1959 Plymouth Belvedere convertible
- 1959 Plymouth Suburban
- 1957 Ford Custom
- 1960 Chevy Impala convertible
- 1959 Plymouth Suburban
- 1957 Oldsmobile
- 1955 Chevy Bel Air
- 1958 Buick
I love this parking lot photo. It truly illustrates the different designs and colorful cars of the era, so much different than the similarities that have taken hold since then. They all wear the popular white-walled tires. Even the long skirts of the women set the stage for the 1950’s. Thanks for posting.
Beautiful.
Thanks.
Gordon
I love the sign for the chicken dinners. I LOVED those dinners and always looked forward to them.
Notice how the cars are resting on loose gravel off of the paved roadway in those days. Still pretty common back then and there might have been wood poles lengths used as edge bumpers to keep drivers from crashing through the shrubbery wall. And you can almost bet there were Eucalyptus trees dropping leaves in many of the places found outside the greater city centers. The Orange Empire Trolley Museum in Perris maintained a similar look for their car lot in the past. (The name has changed and I expect they might have revamped the entrance frontage by now.)
Those cars all had such great designs. I wish they looked like that today. Bring back the wide whitewalls!!!