Greetings family, friends, and Theme Park buddies! Today I'm sending you the next in a series of vignettes about "memorable characters" that we have crossed paths with in the last seven or eight decades. The attached old postcard shows Walter Knott tying up his horse in front of the Ghost Town Print Shop in the 1940's......Bill
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Walter Knott, Publisher
A popular staple of western themed amusement parks and attractions was the vintage Print Shop complete with an old hand operated printing press and a collection of classic hand set type fonts where you would could get a souvenir newspaper printed with your name in the headlines (“Billy Visits Disneyland!”). Disneyland, Calico, Columbia State Park, Virginia City, and Knott’s Berry Farm had print shops, however Walter Knott took it a step further in 1941 when he began publishing his own magazine, Ghost Town News. Knott hired Nichols Wilson as editor for the single color, 8-1/2” x 11” , saddle wired publication that featured stories and photos of the old west, gold country towns, news of happenings in Ghost Town and Calico, and stories by well known writers and historians. Knott solicited advertising promoting competing attractions and restaurants from throughout Southern California for his “Good Places to Visit” section. The first 32 page issue of Ghost Town News was printed on the old press and sold for ten cents in the park and for an additional dime Knott’s would mail a copy to anywhere in the United States. It wasn’t long before Ghost Town News attracted national attention and soon articles began appearing in large periodicals and magazines about Walter Knott’s California Berry Farm and the founding of his successful family roadside attraction. Ghost Town News soon out grew the Ghost Town Print Shop was printed by a commercial printer and was published monthly for five years. At it’s peak the publication had editorial and advertising offices and a small staff in Los Angeles. Walter Knott’s vintage Print shop and Ghost Town News had an immeasurable impact on making Southern California and Knott’s Berry Farm a vacation destination.
On a warm summer evening in the 1970’s, while briskly walking to the park entrance along the covered walkway in front of the Berry Market, we passed a a thin elderly gentleman in a light jacket and brown fedora. It took a few moments after he passed us to realize that the inconspicuous fellow that we crossed paths with was Walter Knott out for his usual evening stroll around the grounds of his world famous roadside attraction. “Memorable Characters” by Bill Ralph
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