Busch Gardens Los Angeles

[Bk1870]

/\ It sort of does...just looks like a very nice zoo type place with a couple of rides.

 

Is that an arrow Log Flume?

[BudtheWeiser]

All ive found on houston so far is its short existence

Pasadena, California (1905-1937)

Van Nuys, California (1964-1979)

Houston, Texas (1971-1972)

[BudtheWeiser]

Found a beer mug from houston and nothing else hmmmmmmmm

[Gnome]

Old people always talk about how Busch Gardens LA was the Shizzz.

[PhillyGirl]

From a quick search I found:

 

As BudtheWiser said there were three park other parks...So, a total of 5 Busch Gardens have existed.

 

Pasadena, California known as "The Original Busch Gardens" (1839 - 1913), open to the public from (1905-1937)

 

For more info about the Busch Gardens in Pasadena, California use the following links:

http://www.pasadenahistory.org/thingstosee/buschgardens.html

And

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~draydar/

 

Van Nuys, California (1966-1979)

 

1963 LA Busch Gardens land breaking (8/14)

1966 LA Busch Gardens opened (5/26)

1976 LA Busch Gardens scaled down to and converted to "Busch Bird Sanctuary -Los Angeles" (December)

1979 Busch Bird Sanctuary closed and expansion of brewery began

 

For more info about the Busch Gardens in LA use the following link:

http://www.placesearth.com/USA/California/LA/code/buschg1.htm

 

Houston, Texas (1971-1972) specifically May 28, 1971 - Dec. 1972

 

There is not much more info on the Busch Gardens in Houston, only discovered that:

Chuck Caplinger Desert Art Studio & Gallery were in charge of the Design and construction contracts for Anheuser Busch, “Busch Gardens, Houston”

 

John B. Roberts Executive Vice President of Busch Entertainment Corporation and general manager at Busch Gardens Houston (also as well as Williamsburg).

 

Located a video of the park, that can be accessed via the link below. http://www.sixflagshouston.com/videos/

 

This is a huge file (28 MB of video footage of the defunct Busch Gardens Houston); so you may wish to download it to play it back locally. Added to "sixflagshouston.com" on 02/18/2006

 

To see a timeline, which provides specifics about Busch Gardens, use the following link: http://www.anheuser-busch.com/timeline/default.html

 

 

There you will find some of the info above as well as other item such as

- BG Tampa opened in June 1959...

- BG Williamsburg construction began in 1973, and opened 5/5/1975

[restoca]

Wow! Excellent research skills exhibited here! Certainly a factor in Houston's short life is the fact that a very popular AstroWorld had opened only three years earlier, featuring a much larger variety of rides/attractions. Back then the metroplex wasn't quite large enough to support both major attractions. There was also Sea-Arama marine park in Galveston, long before TX saw a Sea World (or England saw a Bananarama...).

 

I wish I had some photos. I can remember only some kind of (boring to me at the time) boat ride, and some kind of tram-type attraction, besides the usual bird(s) show and brewery tour (drunken birds/drunken humans?). Since I was only a child I will assume my foggy memory is due to the passage of time, not that my chaparones were unselfish at the Hospitliity House...

[themeparkmemories]

I was doing some browsing tonight and I came across this site:

 

http://themepark.sitesbyrob.com/galleries/busch.htm

 

Which had some amazing pics (looks like taken from an old viewmaster reel) including the pic below (sorry about the size). In that pic, which direction is the 405 freeway? I have very few memories of the park because I think I only went a couple of times and I was about 12 years old when it closed. I believe the bridge is still there, isn't it?

 

--Robb

 

I know this is an ancient thread but I wanted to provide an update. This pic came from my site and the link in Robb's OP is no longer valid. The newer URL is themeparkmemories.com. I've got lots of other fun Viewmaster pics sent to me over the years. Hope you keep the memories of Busch Gardens Van Nuys alive. Oh, plus other Southern California classics like Marineland, Enchanted Village, and Magic Mountain of the '70's(pre-Six Flags).

[RandallDuell]

Great site, TPM. Thanks for the update.

 

Be interesting (or, if long gone, would have been interesting) to chat with whomever came up with all of these parks-attached-to-breweries phenomenon back in the day!

 

Looks like there is more out there about the Houston version - located next to it's brewery off of 610/10.

http://houstorian.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/busch-gardens-1971-1973/

 

http://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2010/11/houstons-own-busch-gardens/

MORE pictures here: http://www.chron.com/entertainment/gallery/Houston-s-own-Busch-Gardens-17347.php

 

Interesting that there had been no admission charge to begin with, but they had to go to a giant $2.25!

[Nrthwnd]

Not so off topic, but I am glad Gilroy Gardens has held on so well through the years,

and still gets a good sized crowd every year. From what I have seen on trip reports, there.

[WFChris]

The area of the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena today has a lot of plant life, it is said that much of that is from it's previous existence as a Busch Gardens. In fact, there are still a couple of streets over there called Busch Garden Drive & Court. It's in my opinion a relatively unknown historic piece of Amusement Park History here in LA (where we have a notorious reputation for not preserving anything historic).

 

Just saw this thread pop up again and thought I would throw in my 2 cents

[cfc]

I remember a commercial from the 1970s featuring Ed McMahon, who shilled for the park with an "ice-cold Budweiser" in his hand. But I never visited the place.

[bert425]

Great site, TPM. Thanks for the update.

 

Be interesting (or, if long gone, would have been interesting) to chat with whomever came up with all of these parks-attached-to-breweries phenomenon back in the day!

 

Looks like there is more out there about the Houston version - located next to it's brewery off of 610/10.

http://houstorian.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/busch-gardens-1971-1973/

 

http://blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/2010/11/houstons-own-busch-gardens/

MORE pictures here: http://www.chron.com/entertainment/gallery/Houston-s-own-Busch-Gardens-17347.php

 

Interesting that there had been no admission charge to begin with, but they had to go to a giant $2.25!

 

we used to go to the Houston one really, really often.

 

I don't recall there being ANY "rides". . just maybe a carousel?

 

but boy do I remember the animal shows. (in particular the bird ones with the parrots and cockatiels).

[Geauga Dog]

A Busch Gardens with an Asian theme sounds like it would have been a great idea especially now that they have Africa and Old World Europe well represented.

[themeparkmemories]

The area of the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena today has a lot of plant life, it is said that much of that is from it's previous existence as a Busch Gardens. In fact, there are still a couple of streets over there called Busch Garden Drive & Court. It's in my opinion a relatively unknown historic piece of Amusement Park History here in LA (where we have a notorious reputation for not preserving anything historic).

 

Just saw this thread pop up again and thought I would throw in my 2 cents

 

Chris, at first I thought you might be referring to Descanso Gardens, but that is a few miles from what you are talking about. I seem to recall that the Busch family had a home in Pasadena and had gardens around their house prior to opening the brewery and subsequent theme park. I could be mistaken though.

[WFChris]

^That is correct, they did own property in the Arroyo Seco for their home, however the gardens they built around the home were open to the public. You can learn more about it at www.pasadenagardens.com/

 

And yes, Descanso Gardens has nothing to do with the Busch property, however (and completely off topic now) it does have some very cool history as well, particularly in regards to the time period of Japanese Internment Camps here in California.

[805Andrew]

I remember my dad telling me about this place as he visited it once in the 70s. I think he said it only had one train ride when he visited.

 

A Busch Gardens with an Asian theme sounds like it would have been a great idea especially now that they have Africa and Old World Europe well represented.

 

I always felt that if Busch Gardens ever opened a third park they should go with an Asian theme. Next to Sea World in San Diego would have been nice, or if Busch had bought SFMM when it was briefly put up for sale they could have re themed it as Busch Gardens Asia.

[coasterlvr]

i know i went a couple times as a small kid. the only thing i really remember is it's location. drove past last night even.

[StuckInSD]

I always felt that if Busch Gardens ever opened a third park they should go with an Asian theme. Next to Sea World in San Diego would have been nice, or if Busch had bought SFMM when it was briefly put up for sale they could have re themed it as Busch Gardens Asia.

 

Good luck getting any park built in San Diego. The hippies are going bonkers over Sea World as is and the San Diego Zoo would do everything they can to keep their zoo monopoly in SoCal.

 

If they really wanted to make a new Busch Gardens, they could try and buy out SFDK up north. It's already halfway there and it looks like Six Flags doesn't really care for it!