Knott’s Preserved Blog

Happy New Year!

Hopefully you and yours had a happy and safe Christmas. I figured the above photo would be good to share, as it was taken shortly after New Year’s Day, 1939, and shows the CDR prior to yet another expansion. By the end of the year, seating had increased to 600 - and that would only be the tip of the iceberg.

A couple of things - firstly, some of you have let me know that you are having trouble viewing the site, with text floating over the photos in some instances. By asking some questions - it seems to be an Internet Explorer issue. In all instances, when I suggested using Firefox instead, the website looked just fine - so I would suggest using Firefox or Safari as your web browser.

Second - I have updated the site with a new section - Promotion and Advertising (from the 1930s to the 1980s). It is a bit of a hodgepodge, featuring adverts, ephemera and images of various aspects of promotion. I’m especially excited to share some fun images of Dean Davisson - P.R. guru of Knott’s from the late 50s to the mid-70s. He’s a great guy and did a lot to promote the Farm over the years. Also be sure and scroll down to the bottom of each page - there are video and audio clips down there!

Lastly - I want to thank all of you who took the time to mention my book and website on your blogs - I certainly got a lot of responses from them! The advent of blogs over the past several years has delivered a wealth of new information about theme park history. I’m constantly amazed when a previously unseen image or piece of ephemera turns up, helping to answer some trivial question I have had burning in my brain. So, here are some links to other websites that can give you even more information. Not all of the links to blogs and forums below feature only Knott’s material - some of them focus mainly on DIsney - but I highly recommend them for furthering your knowledge on the history of the theme park. See you in 2010!