Knott's Berry Farm- Before and After Part 4

 1970s

I thought I would post another then and now shot of Independence Hall at Knott's Berry Farm. This first shot shows the building and the long walkway leading up to the entrance. I apologize for the quality of this picture, as the prints from this set were badly damaged. I tried to make the sky more blue. The original picture had green skies.

2010

And a more recent picture. The walkway is still there, but shorter. I had my back up against the wall of the Soak City water park. It's a shame that this once quiet and peaceful area of knott's is surrounded by a tacky water park. In the summertime the lawn here gets full of people in their swimsuits running around. But worst of all, it really make getting good pictures of the building difficult. The attraction itself is worth that annoyance as it recreates the original Independence Hall quite accurately.

Visit the official Knott's Berry Farm website here.

Tags: Knotts Berry Farm Ghost Town Independence Hall

Chris and Pitt's

One of southern California's great Bar-B-Q restaurants, Chris and Pitt's has a very unique architectural style; Create a the log cabin look and feel without actually building a log cabin.What you get is a terrific looking little Bar-B-Q place just off of the 405 freeway in Bellflower. The first Chris and Pitt's restaurant opened in 1940 by the young Greek immigrant Chris Pelonis. While many other Chris and Pitt's opened throughout California, only four restaurants are still operating today. The Bellflower location is known as number 4, and numbers 5, 6, and 15 are also still around. Along with the restaurant chain, Chris and Pitt's also has their very brand of Bar-B-Q sauce which is available for sale at select grocery stores.

A view of the corner of the building. It must have been quite an undertaking to paint all of the logs on the side of the building. Although they aren't real, it does give a nice country look to the building located in the middle of Southern California.

The rest of the building. There's not much parking in their lot, and it gets really tight with today's larger cars. I would recommend parking on the street or in their satellite lot across the street.

The Chris and Pitt's BAR-B-Q sign.

Another sign detailing the parking situation.

Chris and Pitt's BAR-B-Q No. 4 is located at 9839 Artesia Blvd Bellflower, CA 90706.

You can visit their website here.

Old Towne Mall- Carousel Gift Shop

If it was the early 1970's and you found yourself in the Old Towne Mall looking for that perfect gift for your loved one, then the Carousel Gift Shop was just the place for you. This picture shows the plethora of items for sale here. They have all of the typical seventies gifts; owls, mushrooms, caricatured statues, pictures of bread and wine, and lots of pottery. Notice the excitement in the faces of the shoppers as they browse their wonderful selections.

This is another view of the store, located right at the cable car entrance on the north side of the mall.

Here you can see the cable car in the background. You can also see the amazing carpet in the store. I like the quick transition from brick street to deep red carpet.

This ad touts the Carousel Gift Shop as not only the largest Hallmark card and gift shop in the southland, but also as the most beautiful. Many of the stores' names were relevant to the theme of Old Towne, as the Old Towne Carousel was the centerpiece of the mall.

All Old Towne Posts are located here.

Tags: Old Towne Mall Torrance California

Catalina- Captured German Machine Gun

Located in a small park in Avalon, Catalina is this World War I German machine gun which was donated to the city of Avalon in 1925. Notice the helmet mounted at the base of the gun.

This picture shows the plaque at the base. CATALINA ISLAND POST NO. 137 AMERICAN LEGION.