The above quote is from my mother’s diary. Rex was my father. My mother, Bettie Lu, was a clerk in a Woolworth five-and-dime store in Los Angeles. My father had returned from slogging in mud, cold, and fear through England, France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. He was taking advantage of Uncle Sam’s G.I. Bill to get a degree in Radio and Television from the University of Southern California.
They enjoyed their experience because Knott’s Berry Farm was a special place, created by a special man – Walter Marvin Knott. I was too young to make this trip, but I made others with my parents, wife, daughters, and friends. Ghost Town was Walter’s vision, expressing his passion for the Wild West.
The Wild West of Walter Knott started at the Colorado River and “expanded as far west as a man can travel without getting his boots wet.” It wasn’t Deadwood, Virginia City, or Tombstone. It was Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Bernardino, and Calico where success was defined by net worth, not by notches on a six-shooter. As the 19th Century surrendered to the 20th the business of the Wild West changed from dime novels and wild west shows to motion pictures, radio, television, and a theme park, that featured a ghost town, in Buena Park, California.
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Gary A. White
