Monday, December 21, 2009

Santa's Village

I grew up in Michigan but my family spent every summer in Santa Cruz, California (my dad is a professor and he taught at USCS, at their summer language institute). We looooooved going there, it's such a cool town and the campus is gorgeous. I have tons of amazing memories, but one of the most random ones is of a little place called Santa's Village. Santa's Village was a Christmas-themed, er...."theme" park built in 1958. The idea was to bring Christmas joy to children all year round. Kind of insane and yet....totally amazing! My brother and I were fascinated by the place (we would pass it on the highway whenever we were taking a weekend road trip) and would beg our parents to let us go. Sadly it was already shut down (I think it closed in 1978??), but one day they pulled over and we were able to sneak on to the grounds and wander around the cobwebby rides. My favorites were the flying Christmas balls (kind of like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland, only with xmas ornaments!) and of course all the little gingerbread houses.

I found a site that had photos—you have to see it to believe it.

[EDIT: I just asked my mom if we actually went inside, because I for some reason I felt like I actually was able to go inside when it was still running but then I thought maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. Mom confirmed that we actually DID visit Santa's Village in 1977, the year before it closed! She said somewhere there are some photos of us on the little train ride. Whoo hoo!]










"Residents of Santa's Village included Santa and Mrs. Claus, their elves who operated the rides and sold tickets. There was a baby petting zoo filled with goats, sheep, bunnies, ducks, deer and a Mexican burro. All the buildings were designed to look like log chalet-type structures, repleat with snowy roofs and gingerbread trim. The park had a gingerbread house, a elf toy factory, a lollipop tree and brightly colored gift shops. Around the village were tree-top tall wooden soldiers and candy canes. Santa himself had a huge mailbox to accept all the letters from children around the world."


IMAGES: Alameda Net
MORE ABOUT THE PARK: HERE
Apparently there is still a Santa's Village in New Hampshire.

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7 comments:

  1. What fabulous pictures- I want to go right now! Love that little elf with the pink tights, vintage fab.
    Marie @Lemondrop Vintage

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  2. Strawberry Lemonade...
    I think I am going to pass out!
    This is an overdose of CUTENESS!!!!
    Let's see...how many times would I have to type the word CUTE to express how insanely CUTE this is...just mulitply the word CUTE by 1000!
    XXOOXX
    Only YOU would know of such a fanciful place!
    I know you were in heaven when you got to romp around in the cobwebs!

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  3. I went there as a child with my parents. Boy these pictures make me so happy. One of my friends has a bunch of old brochures from this place. It's a shame they closed it.

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  4. thank you so much for stopping by at my blog and leaving such a lovely comment, alexandra!

    your blog is such a beautiful place too, i got to add it to my reading list immediantely!

    first thing that chaught my eye (and made me smile) was the pulliung dog in the banner! LOVE it! my brother used to have it when he was small and he gave it to my daughter. so we have the same at home.

    well, i think i have to take a big coffee... it will take a while reading and looking here...

    merry christmas to you!
    nic

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  5. I totally used to go to the one in New Hampshire! I loved to feed the reindeer from my hand.

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  6. It is so crazy to see sunny weather around Old St. Nick.

    But I love the matching mother daughter dress combo in the last photo. Awesome!

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  7. i used to visit the one in lake arrowhead all the time!!!

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