Busch Gardens Los Angeles

[robbalvey]

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

Busch Gardens Los Angeles

[lapseofreason]

EDIT: Now I see the railroad crossing. Obviously that is NOT the 405. Weird; looks like it's time to play with Google.

 

I have no idea, but I'll ask my husband tomorrow morning (he's lived in LA his entire life, unlike me) and see if he remembers WTF was up with that place.

 

 

-amanda

[lapseofreason]

OK, after a quick look on Google, this site says that the park was west of the 405 in Van Nuys:

 

http://www.westworld.com/~elson/la/history/things.html

 

 

hope that helps, I'll keep looking.

[SonOfBeastSucks]

I learned about the old Busch Gardens in LA on a different coaster website that I was a member of a few years ago. If it hadn't been for that, I would have never known that it ever existed.

[SLUSHIE]

My dad told me about it. They had a few rides, including a monorail type tour of the park and a hanging one for the brewery brewery.

 

From my understanding they took the idea of the park and applied it to their Williamsburg and Tampa factories on a larger scale. The reason they closed down the LA park is unknown. My guess is that the land that was available to them wasn't enough for them to be able to compete with the other parks in the area.

 

The land has been sold and now has a Home Depot and other stuff built on it.

[Canobie Fan]

http://www.themeparkbrochures.net/maps/1972/bgla1972map.html

[FLIPDUDE]

The land has been sold and now has a Home Depot and other stuff built on it.

 

It hurts me to read that.

[Guy T. Koepp]

I remember this place. It is just off the 405 freeway on Roscoe. You can't miss it Robb. It's to your right as you head South. You can still see where they had the hanging monorail along the front of the building. they now use it as tracking for ducts, pipe, conduit, etc.

 

When we lived in Oxnard, my Dad would pack the family in tha station wagon and drive us there like once a month. He said it was a nice place to spend a Sunday. I think it was the bottle of beer they handed each adult as you exited the brewery monorail tour. He loved that tour. He would ride it all day. My Mom would take us to tha shows and the log flume as well as the aviary. My dad would just ride the brewery tour over and over. We'd leave about 6 or 7 in the evening and Mommy would take us across the street to the "Lucky Lady" and have us wait in the car as she went in and got Daddy. It must be real relaxing in there as my Mom would have to practically carry Dad out. I remember helping her shove Daddy into the trunk area so he could sleep. He always smelled funny. Daddy would wake up every now and then, smoke a cigarette, flick the burning ashes at us, and tell us that we were taking him away from the promised land. I wonder what he meant by that?

 

Anyway, I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

Good times, good times.

 

Guy "Strollin' down memmory lane." Koepp

[jamesdillaman]

^ LMAO

[coasterguy618]

Busch Gardens LA looked pretty boring, but what else can get from a park in the 70's?

[ebl]

Oh, do I remember this park! In fact, that same aerial picture is my desktop on the computer at my other office.

 

Busch Gardens was a lot of fun, actually. Sure, it pales to what we have today, but the '70s was a more laid back time anyway. Busch Gardens Los Angeles may be the only park to have had two monorails at one time.

 

Robb, the park closed its rides in about 1976, changed its name to Busch Bird Sanctuary, and stayed open till 1978, so you were younger than 12 when it closed.

 

"The reason they closed down the LA park is unknown." (SLUSHIE)

 

From what I remember, it was for a brewery expansion; also, the park just couldn't compete with Magic Mountain, which was expanding by leaps and bounds in those days. There wasn't any more room for expansion or parking, either.

 

I have park maps from about 1973-75 that I should probably scan and can post here.

 

One note: That bridge over the railroad tracks is still there. I guess it was easier to just leave it up. When I go to San Diego on the train, I pass right under it.

 

Eric

[Jim Disney]

Good find Robb... I've always wondered about that place, but I've never seen any photos. Thanks!

[Guy T. Koepp]

I believe the park was originally created for the employees familys. I could be wrong. But I remember hearing this from a friend of mine whose father worked there back in the early 70s.

 

Or I could be full of it.

[DerekRx]

Busch Gardens LA looked pretty boring, but what else can get from a park in the 70's?

 

Of course it looked boring, think back....in the early 1970s there were only a handful of "modern" coasters, such as Matterhorn, Runaway Mine Train at SFOT, and Racer at PKI which didn't even open until 1973. I'm sure if they really wanted to, they could have stuck it out and added a few rides here and there, but it was probably just easier to close, especially with the growing brewery and the other parks opening up that would eventually steal their thunder. It would be pretty interesting to see how it would have evolved though, as both the other Busch parks are among my favorites because of the atmosphere and the quality of rides they have.

[Guest]

heres a now pics of it http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=12&Z=11&X=454&Y=4733&W=1&qs=woodly%7cvan+nuys%7ccalifornia%7c&Addr=Woodley+Ave%2c+Van+Nuys%2c+CA+91406&ALon=-118.4822807&ALat=34.1797488

[ebl]

^ There really was nowhere to expand the park. It never would have---or could have---expanded to the point of being a world class theme park.

 

It had a similar problem to what Knott's Berry Farm has now. Busch Gardens had residential areas nearby, as well as industrial buildings. The park was actually even more choked in than Knott's.

 

In 1976, as a last ditch effort to stay competitive, Busch Gardens added an "Old St. Louis" area with a funhouse, and a couple of small rides. There were plans for a "mini roller coaster," so said the park map, but that was never built. Unfortunately, I never got to visit this area because it wasn't open very long.

 

I did ride the Sky Trolley a few times, though. That's the greenish track that runs over the railroad tracks next to the pedestrian bridge in Robb's picture. It was an Arrow Development-designed monorail (like the other one that went through the brewery).

 

As Derek said (and I said earlier), this park never did get any big thrills because it existed before the big roller coaster craze of the mid-late '70s.

 

Eric

[Guy T. Koepp]

All joking aside. I remember this park real well. I loved the flume ride through the aviary. That fun house you mentioned was quite awesome. it had a great hall of mirrors. I also remember some miniature motorboats. They were on a track, but alot of fun. They had a great jumping fountain show out in the middle of the lake.

 

It was a very pretty park.

[ebl]

^ The Ya Hoo Flume Ride was rather small, but it was fun. In fact, the attendant at the top of the drop often let us ride down backwards. That was very...different.

 

This park was just under 10 miles from home, and we would often ride our bikes there and lock them to the fence near the entrance.

 

Eric

[restoca]

That aerial photo makes me wish I had visited. Looks like every square foot was utilized. Just down I-10 (1,500 miles!) was another Busch Gardens park at the brewery in Houston. I visited this attraction a couple of times. I remember a polar-themed penguin exhibit and the huge pagoda. Our brewery is still there, but the park didn't last long, maybe because AstroWorld had opened just a few years earlier. Here's the only souvenir I can find...

[ECZenith]

Wow, I never even knew there were ever more than two Busch Gardens. Learn something new everyday I suppose.

[PhillyGirl]

I knew about the Busch Gardens in CA because I lost a bet to someone when I doubted it's existance.

 

However, the TX location is news to me.

 

Does anyone know why these parks closed? I'm assuming it was financial.

 

Also, were there more then 4 of them? Was Busch Gardens one of the first major amusement park chains?

[ebl]

^ It appears that Busch and Six Flags were indeed among the first "chain" parks.

 

Busch Gardens Houston? Never heard of that one. I'll have to do some research...this sounds interesting.

 

Eric

[PhishyBrewer]

Does anyone know why these parks closed? I'm assuming it was financial.

 

If Anheuser-Busch had an issue with money, I'd be out of the job. No matter what, good times or bad, people will ALWAYS drink beer.

 

Anyway... Busch Gardens LA was closed to make way for the expansion of the brewery. The LA brewery is now the second largest brewery out of twelve within the United States. You'll just have to trust me on this.

[stew560]

Wow, that is so cool. I love "old" stuff like this!

 

I did a little Google Earth playing and came up with this...

[methos]

Any one have pictures of the Houston one? were their any others or just those and the current two?