Deserted Places: California

Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2016

An abandoned Christmas theme park in Southern California

Santa's Village was a Christmas-themed amusement park that opened its doors in 1955, just 6 weeks before the first Disneyland. Built in the Skyforest section of Lake Arrowhead, it gave Southern California residents a chance to get a glimpse of a 'white Christmas' that would normally be very rare to experience.

Santa's Village boasted kiddie rides, including a bobsled, monorail, and Ferris wheel; a petting zoo; live reindeer; and shops that included a bakery, candy kitchen, and toy shop. Quickly, the 220-acre (0.89 km²) theme park became one of Southern California's biggest tourist attractions and its owner, developer Glenn Holland, turned it into a franchise, building two similar parks in Scotts Valley, California and East Dundee, Illinois (the East Dundee park reopened in 2011 under new ownership as Santa's Village AZoosment Park).

As years went by, competition became tougher and the park saw reduced attendance and revenue shortfalls. In the late 1970's the park went bankrupt. The Henck Family which owned the land took it over, expanded it and run it until it closed down on March 1, 1998. Three years later the park was sold for $5.6 million, and served as a staging area for local logging operations. The rides remained abandoned forming a ghost town along the Rim of the World Highway. The property was sold again in June 2014 to an owner who plans to operate it as a year-round tourist destination called SkyPark at Santa's Village. The new park opened on December 2, 2016.

Source

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

atlasobscura.com

Click here for the full post »

Monday, August 29, 2016

Inside Michael Jackson's abandoned Neverland Ranch

View on Google Maps

Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos, California, was Michael Jackson's home for 17 years. The King of Pop fell in love with the ranch when he first visited it while Paul McCartney was staying there back in the 80's. He later purchased it in 1988 for a sum variously reported to be 16.5 to 30 million US dollars.

Inside the 3,000 acres ranch, named by Michael Jackson after the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan, the King of Pop built a private amusement park, two railroads, and a zoo. The amusement park featured a Ferris wheel, Carousel, Zipper, Octopus, Pirate Ship, Wave Swinger, Super Slide, roller coaster, bumper cars, and an amusement arcade. Inside his mansion, Michael Jackson displayed his extensive art collection. The master closet also contained a secret safe room for security.

When in 2003 Michael Jackson was charged with multiple counts of molesting a minor (charges were later dropped), the Neverland Ranch was searched multiple times by police. As a result, Jackson stated he would never live at the property again as he no longer considered the ranch a home. By 2006, the facilities were closed and most of the staff were dismissed.

In 2007, foreclosure proceedings commenced against Neverland Ranch, however Michael Jackson remained the majority stake holder of the property. Until his death in 2009, the King of Pop came close to losing ownership of the ranch multiple times due to debt.

After Michael Jackson's death, the Neverland ranch has remained closed and has fallen into disrepair. The state of California was interested at some point to buy the ranch but those plans fell through. Today, the ranch is being sold for an asking price of 100 million dollars.

Source

For more deserted places, LIKE US on Facebook and FOLLOW US on twitter

(Click here for the full post)

Jonathan Haeber/flickr.com

themeparktourist.com

Saturday, April 13, 2013

The abandoned LA subway

The Pacific Electric 'Red Car' and the Los Angeles Railway 'Yellow Car' lines were LA's original railway and the ancestor of today's Metro Rail, operating from the end of the 19th century till the 1960's.

The Subway terminal building in downtown Los Angeles was built in 1925 as a terminus for the Hollywood Subway branch of the Red Car. The building ceased operation in 1955 when the Subway closed due to low ridership. The trucks were removed and the tunnels were sealed up. Years later, the terminal building was turned into luxury apartments.

Last year, blogger Alissa Walker took a tour of an abandoned part of the subway, starting from the terminal building, showing us what remains from LA's original subway.

Source