Greetings family, friends, and Theme Park buddies! Did you know that at one time there was a Hopalong Cassidy theme park? I was a big time fan but had no idea until just recently. I hope that you enjoy this little vignette "Hoppyland" and the attached photos of me in full blown Hoppy garb (circa 1950) and an official autographed photo of Hoppy himself....Bill
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HOPPYLAND
Bar none, my all time favorite TV cowboy was soft talk’n and straight shoot’n Hopalong Cassidy. Hoppy was a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by Clarence Mulford who wrote a series of short stories and novels that went on to become feature films and a 30 minute weekly television show spawning a great deal of themed character merchandise. I had the required black hat, black Hoppy shirt, kerchief with an official longhorn slide, spurs, matching twin cap pistols, and could hardly wait to see what new adventure Hoppy would get into along with his trusted horse Topper and fumbling sidekick Gabby Hayes. Little did I know at the time that for a brief three years there was a Hopalong Cassidy amusement park in the Venice district of Southern California. For a partly $55 thousand bucks, successful film star William Boyd bought in as a partner on the struggling 80 acre Venice Lake Park with a plan to re-theme it as a western park and cash in on his huge popularity as western TV star. “Hoppyland” opened in 1951 with 15 acres of pony rides, a merry go round, Philadelphia Toboggan roller coaster, miniature train ride, twenty off-the-shelf” carnival rides, a quarter mile long pony cart ride, picnic grounds, baseball diamonds and a lake for boating and swimming. Boyd made frequent visits to the park promoting the “Hoppy Code of Conduct” encouraging kids to drink their milk, eat their vegetables, mind their manners and obey their parents. However because of superficial and nearly nonexistent western theming, competition from popular nearby Ocean Park Pier, dwindling attendance and the anticipated impact of Walt Disney’s multimillion dollar park scheduled for opening just a year way, Hoppyland quickly faded into obscurity to become Marina del Rey, and Hoppy and Topper rode quietly off into the sunset.
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