Frontier Village - The Lost Parks of Northern California
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- Howdy, pardner! Do you remember Frontier Village, in San Jose? Come back in time with Kris Rowberry as he rediscovers the beloved park that was lost to the sands of time in September of 1980.
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went there as a kid many times and Santa's village off hwy 17
Man I miss those days
went to both back in the day
Grew up in Oakland. Frontier Village was my favorite amusement park. Loved the stagecoach ride, the canoes, the train, the fishing pond, especially. I still feel the same sadness I felt when it saw the commercial way back then sayings, "Frontier Village Amusement Park is closing, forever". I was just 10 years old. I will forever miss that place.
I went to Frontier Village many times as a young boy, loved the gun fights, canoes, I think I even panned for gold. I have been back to the property a couple times as an adult, and with an old park map, was able to visually put bits and pieces into place.....very cool, and time well spent. About 5 years ago, I visited the Winchester Mystery House, and to my surprise, there was an old piece of Frontier Village sitting off to the side in one of the many rooms on the house tour...as I recall, it was a ticket booth. That put a smile on my face, and brought back some great memories of the times I spent at Frontier Village with my family. It's quite clear that Frontier Village still lives not only in our hearts, but also physically in many places.
My mother worked for the chamber of commerce. And when I visited the Winchester mystery house as an adult I saw the bathroom was sealed off in glass. I recalled my mother saying that someone on a tour used the bathroom and left a souvenir for the staff. LOL!
It must have been cool sitting there like you were a guest of Sarah Winchester back in the day and you blew up her bathroom!
I heard of people who would sneak into Frontier Village at night to drink beer, after it closed. I would have loved to have done that.
San Jose was great back then. Now it’s a nightmare.
I was lucky to go there as a small kid in the 1960s, as the place seemed much larger to little eyes. I was also fortunate to go there in 1978 and '79 when the company I worked for held their annual company picnics there. The railroad tracks ran right across the entrance to our reserved group site (there were several). My BUTT definitely remembers the stagecoach ride. Unlike the ones you see delivering passengers in western movies, the park's coaches had no suspension, and you felt every rut and bump on the dirt trail.....P.S....(I STILL have my spin-art I made there displayed in a Frontier Village-labeled cardboard picture frame from the 1960s).
Nice job; it's extremely tough to try to capture what this place meant to so many of us who grew up here. It truly was a special place that passed into history way too early. I'm not sure it could be recreated today even if the land was available; so much of it was due to the staff and management and the attitudes they brought to the endeavor. People these days don't seem to work that way much anymore, with an inherent sense of community and service. But an excellent job hitting the high points. :-)
Different crowd today. Back then we still had a horse track and livestock contests at the county fair. There was still open space here and there, and some orchards were still operating. I doubt the blue-tooth crowd would think much of it. Really, it was fun at any age, but you had to be a small kid to enjoy it best and feel the magic. Those six-shooters firing blanks during the gunfights were LOUD to a little boy, and the park seems huge and almost endless to tiny eyes.
I too went many times to Frontier Village, as a kid. I panned for gold, and my brother loved to fish as the little place they had for fishing. The thing I remember the most is how beautiful the whole setting was. The beautiful trees throughout the park wasn’t lost on me, even at such a young kid. My family eventually moved from San Jose, to Scott’s Valley, where they had Santa’s Village. I LOVED both of those places, and both are gone. Yes, it was a different time, that kids these days may not find enjoyable, but for those of us that were fortunate enough to experience Frontier Village, and Santa’s Village, they’re both etched in out memories of the fun simple times. Kids were more active, people hardly had to lock their doors, and you came home when the street lights came on.💕
As a kid I really loved the Lost Dutchman Mine ride.
I always used to love Frontier Village, I didn't realize that it closed so soon after we moved to AZ. I was young when we'd go visit, but I will always remember fishing there. That was the case only time I ever got to go fishing. I was the best at it!
My heart was broken when I found out it was gone. My brother in law doesn't understand, but he's way older than me so I say poo poo to him. Besides, my sister used to work at the Disney Store so they are into Disney Parks. I am too of course, but I still miss places like Frontier Village and Santa's Village.
When I was little my family drove to Frontier Village. I was anxious to get there, and got excited to see a sign on the freeway that said Frontier Village. It turned out we were not there yet, and the sign said Frontage Road.
I used to love this place. I actually preferred it to Marriott's Great America and I LOVED The Demon.
God I miss Frontier Village, I remember the fishing pond and the gravity thing, and the shoot outs. Happy that this video exists, a lot of people i know who grew up in CA didn't even know this place existed.
One thing I remember about the pond is that you'd hook a fish almost as soon as your hook hit the water. Those fish were HUNGRY. You probably didn't even need bait. ;-) . Went there in '67 and then again in 78 and 79, before the Hanna Barbara characters appeared.
Yeah I always wondered how they got those fish so hungry. Maybe they were Herring which are about the same size.
While visiting Alaska I was surprised to see how easy it was to catch Herring with simple little lures reminiscent to the chopped corn they gave us at the pond in Frontier Village. In Alaska we would nab dozens of Herring within minutes of finding a school using sonar. Just drop a line into their midst and bam they are hitting it.
Man I miss it too. Was only 10 when it closed, and was super sad.
El Sito Mysterio
This was my childhood. I sure to miss those days!!!
My biggest memory going there as a kid in the 60's was crossing the wobbly suspension bridge over the water. I thought for sure I was going to fall off into the water! It probably wasn't quite as wobbly as it is in my memory, but I always gave a sigh of relief as I got safely across.
I loved bouncing on that bridge. You had to hold on tight or you would fall.
I went there back when it first opened up, I was a young child. I came back with a cloth flag pennant, I still have it put away in a flat file along with a really old Giants, A's, and Cincinnati Redlegs pennant,
Took my daughter there many times in the 1970s. She was born in 1973. Her favorite thing was the fishing. It was a really neat place for kids.
That was super interesting! Most ppl didn't even know we had an amusement park like that in San Jose!
Many didn't know about Santa's Village in Scott's Valley either. At least the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz is still around.
I'm lucky enough to have visited both. Santa's Village was right behind where I lived on Navara drive in Scott's Valley. When I was a little kid we would sneak in to the back maintenance area when it was closed. We found a huge pile of letters to Santa just lying in a lot in the back. It was how I figured out he wasn't real :)
@@331Grabber oh wow what a way to find out about santa 😂
@@331GrabberDamn! That's messed up. They could have at least his them in an office lol
@@nlee4566
Yeah. It was literally a small asphalt lot where the maintenance equipment was stored and worked on. The letters were just in a big heap off to the side. We went through some of them. I remember "reading" them. Though I think I was 6 years old at the time which means I saw it in 1978 or so.
Loved it so much. I went in the 60s and 70s. We got locked up in the Frontier Village jail by the sheriff for being bad and walking in the mine ride through the exit doors.
I LOVE this!! You guys did an EXCELLENT job!!! Thank you sooooo much!!!!!!!
Thanks again, Shaughnessy McGehee, for your help on this labor of love.
My dads company used to have the summer company picnics their.
There (their)
It's hard to describe just how great Frontier Village was but this video helps a lot. I went there a few times when I was a kid and teen. I caught a nice trout in the Rainbow Falls Trout Pond. They would give you a fishing pole and a cup of corn for bait. You could see so many trout in there, it didn't take long to catch one. I liked all the rides, The Lost Dutchman's Mine Ride, the stagecoach, the canoes, the train and more. It was always fun to see the shootout between the marshal and the bad guy. The marshal would win and the bad guy would get taken away in a wheelbarrow. They had a shooting gallery, archery, burro ride and more... Thank you for this video!
i was very young when my parents too me to frontier village. THE Most vivid image of my young life was when a rather cavalier person put on a "show" about the effects of guns... he very clearly pointed out that what he was about to do was fire a gun and his point was that THIS was effect "of a blank". he said that a real bullet would do much more damage.
he pointed the gun at a paper plate stapled to a post and fired at about 6 feet. the paper plate exploded! wow so vivid
My family LOVED Frontier Village!!! I caught my first fish at Frontier Village. Great memories.
So did I. Had never been fishing before that.
I use to visit every summer while I was in daycare in Oakland. Frontier Village, Santa's Village, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Marine World. These were the trips we looked forward to each summer.
Dont forget great America and happy hollow!
I remember spending every summer there
I loved that place.
This was my family's go-to amusement park through 1980, and my dad and I were practically in love with the place, especially the Apache Whirlwind, which in those days offered as much of a thrill as I could desire. It was a true theme park, not a carnival-style park like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and unlike Great America was affordable for us. When Great America opened at the Bicentennial, it seemed to me so sterile and impersonal in comparison to Frontier Village's beautiful and intimate setting, and I felt rather bitter that that place should doom my beloved park to closure. Now, as time has faded my memories and as Great America's landscaping has matured, I'm rather fond of the newer park, and it is to my 9-year-old foster son what Frontier Village was to me, his favorite place anywhere. But back then, when I was 8-12, Frontier Village was to me second only to Disneyland. I love that so many people still remember the place so fondly.
My favorite ride after the Whirlwind was the Lost Dutchman's Mine, with as I remember a little building next to it with a bust or busts whose eyes would seem to follow you as you walked by, and after that the Round-Up spinning ride. The burro rides, canoes and stagecoach added a different kind of thrill that no other park of my experience had or has. My sisters and I never caught so many fish as we did at Rainbow Falls the one visit my parents permitted us to try; I recollect catching so many they filled our freezer! I'm afraid it rather spoiled me for real fishing, as no patience or skill was required; the fish just bit. The antique car driving ride was super: I remember the route had a billboard for the Winchester Mystery House, which years later I found interesting because while working as a guide at the Winchester house, I discovered that my manager (wish I could recall his name) had worked at Frontier Village. He told me the Apache Whirlwind was still (in 1988) in operation in, as I recall, Arizona. I wonder, what became of it later?
Thank you so much for giving me a trip down memory lane.
Here in 2019!! I remember Frontier Village as a kid... What great memories.❤❤❤
I remember this place also. We were fairly poor growing up, so it was a treat to go there. I remember going there, but never got to eat there, because my parents couldn't afford it. We would leave the park, go back to the car for lunch, and then go back in again afterwards.
I was so young that I can only remember the fish pond which was stocked to the gills (sorry) with trout. There was more trout in the pond than water, so I suppose they wanted to be sure everyone could catch a fish who wanted to. Still one of my earliest and fondest memories with my Dad... circa 1965. Thanks for posting this... nice job!
The Lost Mine Ride was my favorite!
I was born in 1961 but we didn’t move to the Bay Area until I was 4 but even then we never went to Frontier Village. No money for things like that. I was in 8th grade and one of the radio stations (I think it was KQED) would send you up to 8 free tickets if you requested them and sent in a SASE. Each of these admission tickets came with 2 ride tickets. So I did that and we would take a few of the Pastor’s grandkids because if you went on a ride with one of them, the older person didn’t need a ticket. We would pack a lunch, so all it cost was gas to get there and back. I know we went quite a few times over the years and I was off to college when it closed. I was really disappointed because it was such fun. It would have been nice to take my kids there. At least we had the zoos and Happy Hollow.
Great show! I loved Frontier Village. Even after Great America was built, I loved it so much more than Great America. There was a laid back and relaxing feel to Frontier Village that I got even as a kid. It was much more enjoyable to be there over a cement amusement park like Great America, even though Great America had a lot of great rides. It's too bad so many others did feel the same and let Great America take so much business away from Frontier Village.
It's amazing to think that people moved in to houses next to an existing park knowing what they were getting in to, then complained about the noise and traffic. That would be no different than someone moving in near an air port then complaining about those same things. It's too bad that they had to ruin a special place that so many families enjoyed. I was there the weekend before they closed and again the day before they closed. If I didn't have to work on their last day, I would have been there that day too. Lot's of great memories from that place. I need to go take a look at the park that is on the site at some point. Unfortunately I haven't been down in that area in well over 40 years.
UPDATE TO MY ORIGINAL POST: A couple weeks ago (October 2023) I decided to make a stop in at Burke Junction to ride the train. To my surprise, the train was no longer there. It looks to have been closed for some time. The small station was still there but looking pretty worn. The tracks through the station and across the entrance to the parking lot were still there, but the rest of the tracks were gone making me think that the train had been sold and the tracks went with it. I was pretty bummed after seeing this video and thinking I could get the chance to ride that train again and had hoped to take my niece and grandson to ride it at some point. I am curious to know what happened to it and where it went...
I remember frontier village I literally grew up down the street from there ❤️ So many awesome memories I went to minor elementary school down the street we would go there for field trips So sad it’s gone
I lived just down the road (mile and a half away in Edenvale) I went to Edenvale elementary and then Caroline Davis jr. high then to Oak Grove High class of 74. Alot of class mates worked there also.
I live literally live right behind FV so cool
Had many birthday parties there when I was a kid in the 70s. I have many photos of me and my friends from those days at Frontier Village.
What a fantastic trip down memory lane! I still remember the Kitty Hawk ride from decades ago. It's so sad that Silicon Valley has lost Frontier Village, Marine World and Santa's Village with Great America (Marriott's Great America to those of a certain age) soon to follow. Thank you for creating this great video so that we can remember what we lost, and maybe serve as inspiration to stop destroying our history.
One of the fondest memories of my childhood. Went there for many of Dads and Moms company picnics from Safeway. Also spent many family picnics there. Such an awesome park with tons of shade and the western feel was spectacular. They don’t make them like this anymore.
lived walking distance to this park, so many great memories
It was a fun little place. I had my 6th or 7th birthday party there. Definitely had one of those never ending childhood fun days that seemed to go on forever. The stagecoach scared me. The cars were the best IMO because everything on TV in the late 70's was about car chases. The gunfight was startlingly loud. I seem to remember them doing the fight out in the common area. Not in a attraction/seating area. Might be wrong about that. When it was time to leave, it broke my heart a little. I think I went back one more time in 1980. I remember the Hanna Barbara characters and some damn good fried food :)
I LOVED this place as a kid.
Thank you for these films and the many memories. In mid 60's when I was around 7 my good friends parents took 6 or so of us down from Hayward for my good friends Birthday Parties for a few years - We loved Frontier Village ! Lost Miner Ride was our Favorite R.I.P F.V.
The Lost Dutchman's Mine Ride. As a kid, just hearing the creepy music coming out of that cave gave me goosebumps.
I grew up in San Jose, but I was born about 15 years after Frontier Village closed, so I never got to visit it sadly. But my dad went to Frontier Village once: when he and his family first moved to San Jose back in 1980, only a few months before it closed. He was 18 and his younger brother (my uncle) was only 10 at the time. I can't imagine how lucky they must've been.
I was born in 1985 so I had no idea it ever existed. All I know is Happy Hollow as a very small kid.
Amazing job on this.
Thanks, Scott!
I grew up in San Jose in the Sixties and seventies. I went to Frontier Village many times! This video brings back some awesome memories. Thank you for this video!!
Wow! I was there probably in the late 60s. It was awesome. My kids think I’m crazy when I try explaining it to them lol
Great memories! I'm from San Francisco and remember coming down to Frontier Village in San Jose. Nice drive out if the city. Even though we had a little Frontier Town adjacent to Playland at the Beach. Didn't last long. Many people don't remember it and there isn't anything on RUclips. It makes me wonder if it even existed. Oh, well.
TheShizue777 There is a video called "Playland at the Beach at the San Francisco Public Library" on you tube. Go to 5:24 this may lead to more.
I lived in San Jose and never got to see Playland. I DID get to the Village a few times.
I was 4 months old when Playland closed. Though I grew up going to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Glad they moved Laughing Sal there. Older friends used to tell me of Playland and how it was kinda creepy and scary and fun at the same time :)
Growing up in San Jose, we went to Frontier Village more than a couple times. My sister worked there for a couple of summers as a "ride" operator at the archery range. Thank you so much for letting us know about the train still in operation, especially since we live in Sacramento now, Cameron Park is just up the road. We're going to take the grandkids to ride the train!
Great job on your video!
I went there within two weeks of closure. A charming park. It is missed!
I was born and raised in 1984 in san jose ca, I wish there was still frontier village around but that's very unfortunate
I remember panning for gold when I was there... How San Jose has changed since then...
I miss it, I loved it there
I remember coming here with my dad, when I was younger. We even went fishing. He caught a fish, but I didn't. It was fun all in all
I think Knott's Berry Farm was more of an inspiration for Frontier Village than Disneyland.
When are we getting new Lost Park Episodes...love the show!
Next up Great America. RIP
Loved Frontier Village! Grew up in the 60's in San Jose, so MANY fond memories 💕
Thanks for the video
I lived just down the road (mile and a half away in Edenvale) I went to Edenvale elementary and then Caroline Davis jr. high then to Oak Grove High class of 74. Alot of class mates worked there also.
I remember the spooky water cave ride! "Watch out! Beware!"
The Lost Dutchman's Mine Ride.
Was just talking about how the cars you could drive were my favorite ride.
Fond memories of my father taking me fishing there.
Me too!!
Thank you for this video. My father was in charge of maintenance and construction at Frontier Village so I basically grew up there. A nice trip down memory lane.
My 1st time ever panning for gold and I was hooked for the rest of my life into gold mining.
Frontier Village, that's where the action is,
The fastest fun in the West.
Thrills and excitement and things to do,
You'll find everything from A to Zoo...
Just something I noticed, but at 5:46 did she say "pacific?" Lol and than later she talks about singing and roping! Lol Made me smile! I only went a couple times because I was 4 almost 5 when it closed. I still have pictures with my head in the cutouts and with the Fred Flintstones and Hanna Barbera characters.
Great Episode.
My dad worked for FMC, and they had their annual picnic at Frontier Village. I was 6 yrs old. We lived across Monterey Road in Edenvale. Now I'm 60 yrs old. It was so long ago, but I loved that place. We saw the movie Bullet with Steve McQueen at the Frontier Village Drive In.
OMG I went there
I remember going their with my next door neighbor s when I was a kid.From Castro valley to San Jose.It was like the best thing to Disneyland becaise I didn't go their until I was 22 LOL.
@M Redmond I'm 48 now and when I was kid that place was awesome .Those were some good times.
How sad. Now it's just tech companies and crappy, over-priced, ugly houses.
I spent most of my youth there! it was a blast. we were usually there every summer except when we had day camp on the grounds. So many good times there, it was so sad to see it go.
Wow! I used to be taken there by my parents in the 1960's. We would always go with my cousins who lived in Santa Clara. Good
times!
I loved frontier village, went there when i was 4 years old. 1981
It closed in Sept of 1980.
You must have been there in 1980 before it closed.
loved the gunfights the best place to go as a kid!
My daddy used to take me here. 😌
Crazy that's me in the yellow t shirt driving 1:09😊
Fun times! When I was 12 we got dropped off! My parents would come back later to pick us up. The canoes, fishing pond and shoot out! Happy Holllow too, irt has barely changed in over49 years! I've brought my kids and granddaughters to play...the Dragon is still there!
Amazing video
Frontier Village and I started at the same time and sadly it was over when I graduated from high school and because of another park that started five years earlier in 1975 Frontier Villages days were numbered.
We went there from our Montevino Dr. home in 1976.
Wanted to go there, so badly, but my folks weren't into any parks outside of Disney. Got my license shortly after it closed. Just missed it. Thanks for this.
They've got everything from A to Zoo at Frontier Village, the fastest fun in the west...
I wonder if those miners from the Lost Dutchman Mine ride are in storage somewhere.
Oh. Too. Frontier village was where I saw a demonstration of what a blank in a gun does to a paper plate at five feet! It was obliterated! Good times! I was five
W🤯W! Great show! Enjoyed watching it Thanks!
We went there to see Mitch Miller in the 60s and he never showed up.But I did not care I was riding the old cars.😊
Does anyone remember some show (that was probably hosted in the saloon) where a bunch of kids got rounded up and each one was given a kazoo, and we all got up on stage and had a big mass kazoo jamboree?
Love This :)
When they put in the trout farm I loved it!
If you caught a trout over 15” it was free. So I wouldn’t put the bait on the hook and the trout would bite the hook then spit it out.
I just waited until a fish that looked over 15” grabbed the hook and I’d set.
I love catching fish but I’m not big on eating them. I’d rather put them back to catch again.
Also I would put a pencil eraser on the two pronged hook they use so I wouldn’t hook them accidentally.
I would be in there half the day and bring my mom a free fish every time!
MY BROTHER FREAKED ON THE LOST MINE AND BROKE A SPIDERS LEG OFF LOL
19:36 - correction: turn RIGHT on Branham, then LEFT on Saddlebrook.
Haha he said left
@@xChromerSatanasx He said "turn left at Branham lane, and then right on Saddlebrook." That's backwards.
@@KevinSterns lol 4 years later, were you locked in a meat locker or frozen?
@@KevinSterns I don't even remember, last time I lived there was in high school GUNDERSON HIGH 1985 hahaha. Haven't lived in San Jose since 2010
they try to expand but they were met with hostility. and lost to Great America.
fast forward, if you look at Great America, Levi Stadium, and the future development of that area, it was also met with hostility.
16:19 I totally remember that commercial! Too bad people never listen and have to lose something to appreciate it. Elitch Gardens in Denver was so much better as the neighborhood amusement park it had become by the time it would relocate near downtown Denver. The new location was more like what Marriott's Great America was and too commercial and having totally lost the charm of the original park which was more like Frontier Village. I have to wonder why they would opt to build suburban neighborhoods near an amusement part, even more bewildering, what those moving into such neighborhoods were expecting knowing there is an amusement park nearby but yet complaining and getting their way. When the new Denver International Airport was put in, there was nothing around but then suburban housing started being built around it and the idiots knew that airports are noisy but yet they successfully sued the airport for noise. Worse still, they won. I guess stupidity pays in our society.
Who remembers Report Card Day? The fastest fun in the West!
I remember.
I remember the stage coaching ending up at the flying lady. I wonder where it went after the flying lady closed.
Pinball Machines were 10 cents a play!
And some of them were 3 plays for a quarter.
What a shame! I caught my first fish at Frontier Village at the age of 2. It scared the shhhh outa me. Literally! I had never seen a fish out of water before that n never wanted to again. Ugliest thing I’ve ever seen! My sister lives right across the street in the frontier trails condos. I remember Hayes Mansion being fenced off for years… frontier village is definitely missed by many!
Hey we still got Happy Hollow!
And a wonderful place it is, too!
Such different times they gave severance packages to the employees that’s classy
Been there done that
Yes, the park for those who couldn't afford to go to Disneyland
Complete bull
Does anyone remember "Indian (Injun) Jim?" I am interested in who played the character and whether he did television in the mid-60s?