The 2012
Orange County Historical Society Annual Dinner, held at
Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant this past Friday is the reason I haven't posted much lately. It was a big event, with almost 200 people attending, and it was a lot of work -- but
man was it a lot of fun! We started off with tours of the 1920s/30s areas of the park, led by historian
Phil Brigandi and third-generation
Knott's Berry Farm employee
Allen Palovik. When folks came inside, they were greeted with rarely-seen artifacts, courtesy
Jeff Shaddic, Knott's head of Park Decor. For instance, in the photo above, Allen is shown with a portrait of
Walter Knott painted by
Claude Bell. (Bell was famous not only for the life-sized concrete figures that now sit on benches around Knott's, but also for his giant dinosaurs in
Cabazon, California.)
All my photos that evening were taken either before the crowd arrived, or after they had mostly dispersed. So I thank
Betsy Vigus for the photo above which shows at least one corner of the room mostly full.
Mrs. Knott's chicken and boysenberry pie were even better than I remembered. And then -- after a few great old Knott's movies from the
Orange County Archives were shown -- our main program began. Our speaker,
Eric Lynxwiler, gave an outstanding talk on the history of Knott's Berry Farm. In about 45 minutes he told the story in a way I hadn't heard before, and he kept the audience in rapt attention. (Please also note Eric's amazing custom western shirt with a boysenberry print and
rhinestone boysenberries on the shoulders!)
Everywhere I looked, there were people I wanted to stop and talk with, but there wasn't time! Luckily, I'd already had a couple chances to talk with
Diann Marsh during her short Orange County visit. I was very pleased that she was able to attend. Diann did some excellent historical and preservation work in Orange County, and it was a real shame when she moved to Illinois. (Although I know the folks in Illinois feel quite differently.)
It was also nice to see that not ALL the good theme park bloggers were over at the re-opening of Disney's California Adventure. The photo below shows
Dave DeCaro of
Daveland photographing artist
Paul Von Klieben's original working maquette for one of Knott's first attractions: "
The Transfiguration of Christ." I was also pleased to meet
Mr. "TokyoMagic" of
Meet The World.
After his talk, Eric signed and sold copies of his book,
Knott's Preserved, which he co-authored with
Christopher Merritt.
For those of you who feel bad about having missed the tours, fear not. There's been so much demand, that we're saving the list of people who WANTED to go but signed up too late. I'm not sure when we'll do more tours, exactly, but certainly after the summer and
Halloween Haunt crowds have thinned out.
The photo above shows salvaged parts from the "Red Car" trolleys that were once part of the
Knott's Beary Tales dark ride. The image below shows a poster from the
Bird Cage Theatre in
Ghost Town. That was always a family favorite, although I wish they'd changed the shows a bit more often when I was a kid.
The evening really went great as far as I can tell. It's always hard to know how other people see a program like this when you're at the center of the whirlwind. So far, the comments I've heard have been positive. I'd love to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly from folks who were out in the audience. You all seemed to be having a good time, but I like to know if there are things that were especially good (so we can repeat them) or especially not-so-good (so we can avoid them next time).
Above is a shot of the original artwork from the old Knott's Beary Tales storybook, which was also on display. (Does anyone have a copy to donate to the Archives?) In the photo below,
John Waite --
Bud Hurlbut's right hand man -- and
Dana H. show off an amazing photo montage of the
Calico Mine Ride's interior, for which Dana recently won an award.
At least
some of the many people who put this event together are shown below, standing next to a painting by
Paul Von Klieben, which once hung in the
Steakhouse at Knott's. (Von Klieben was the artist who designed a good deal of ghost town and did many paintings you would instantly recognize and associate with Knott's.) From left to right are
Stephanie George (the event's director, producer, and unseen star),
me,
Allen Palovik,
Phil Brigandi (wearing his dad's old jacket from
Bob's Men's Shop), and of course,
Eric Lynxwiler. Thanks also to the other OCHS board members who pitched in to help, to
Heather Morales and
Carolyn Schoff for their help with our raffle, and to
Betsy Vigus who attended to so many details I would have forgotten. Special thanks to
Helen Myers and her family for
all pitching in and helping when we needed it most.
And thanks to everyone who attended. I know *I* had a great time, and I'm looking forward to next year's OCHS programs, events and annual dinner!
