Category: Ghost-town

Weaver's Cottage KBF

2/27/2023

The Weaver’s cottage, now Sarah Marshall’s house. This building is a true historic structure in Ghost Town and was originally a neighboring farmhouse, moved to Knott's Berry Farm by Walter Knott.

Old Time, Goodtime Theatre Performers

2/24/2023

This wallboard featuring the major players of the Goodtime Theatre’s 1915 attractions. You may already know Houdini, but the others are all quite real performers from vaudeville history. The name you should know though is Jim Lewis. He was a vaudeville star, famous for gurning and for playing characters older than his age. By the time he was an old man, he found his way to Walter Knott’s Ghost Town to become one of its original street characters, Sheriff “Dad” Lewis

Indian Chief - General Merchandise Store, KBF

10/17/2022

In a previous post, we visited the twin fiberglass Indian Chief's of Disneyland. Now we visit with the wooden Indian Chief of Ghost Town.

The Cigar Store Indian was said to be the most popular trade sign, but other businesses used trade signs too. An Indian was chosen for a tobacco shop because it was Indians that introduced tobacco to early explorers of the Americas. These Cigar Store Indians, standing outside shops, served as an indicator to the Native Americans that the shop owner inside would trade with them.

The store is part of the larger Western town recreation known as Ghost Town, and the building, erected in 1944 and still stands in Ghost Town today.

Ghost Town Barber Shop - KBF

9/5/2022

In 1940, Walter Knott’s construction crew began to build a “ghost town” out of buildings and materials salvaged from all over the western part of the country.

“We are continually seeking materials with which to reconstruct the ghost town here at Knott’s Berry Place. By securing a building here, part of another there, an old bar in one place or something else somewhere else we add to the picture we are attempting to portray—a composite picture of the ghost towns of the west as they appeared in ’49 and early ’50s. We are not collecting museum pieces nor is it the intention to build a museum. Our thought is to collect a town, but as that is impossible we try to do the next best thing—build or reconstruct a ghost town that will be authentic and show life as it was lived in the early days.” —Walter Knott, 1942

Hop Wing Chinese Laundry - KBF

8/26/2022

The Hop Wing Chinese Laundry and its interior diorama were completed in 1941. Like most of the wooden figures along Ghost Town's Main Street, Wing Lee was carved by folk artist H. S. "Andy" Anderson. The Assay Office, Chinese Laundry, and Barber Shop "peek-ins" were rebuilt in 2009, and the original carved wooden figures by Andy Anderson were restored.

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Weaver's Cottage KBF

Old Time, Goodtime Theatre Performers

Indian Chief - General Merchandise Store, KBF

Ghost Town Barber Shop - KBF

Hop Wing Chinese Laundry - KBF

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