If anyone has access to an old record or tape with those lost songs, please get in touch with the North Lincoln County Historical Museum. We would love an opportunity to preserve and publish that lost media if possible! northlincolncountyhistoricalmuseum.org
I sure miss the Oregon Coast. Glori and I live in Colorado now and haven’t been back in a long time decades. Just don’t have it to go anymore! Maybe before we die, we will make it home again
The Pixie Kitchen was my FAVORITE RESTAURANT on the Oregon Coast. As a child I would ask and be taken there for my birthday. The memories of their bringing out a cake and singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY along with playing on the playground still warm my 72 year heart! :)
I lived in Oceanlake in the early 1960's and I had dinner at the Pixie Kitchen every week with my mom and brother. It was a great family restaurant. We joked that my big brother could eat them out of business because he really loved the fried chicken. This is a fond memory and the coastal town was a great place for a kid to grow up. In winter it was nearly deserted. We lived a few blocks from the beach.
Well, this made me cry...every Easter Sunday, starting in the 50s, our family made its way from Portland to the Pixie Kitchen. It looms large in some of the best times in my childhood. This was so well done! Beautiful work! When you spoke about the appetizer tray, all I could think about were those incredible Fish Balls and that Blue Cheese dip!!!
This brought a bit of a tear to my eye as well. Our family would go to Lincoln City often and, invariably, go to Pixie Kitchen each time. As a little boy, I LOVED the collection of pin ball machines in the basement! And, a little latter, the "Museum" next to the arcade. The fish ball appetizer was incredible! And I loved the warmed crackers that would be next to them. I had no idea, until years later, they were just Wheat Thins right out of the box! I remember the food was great! And big portions! They would always give me a little teal bag after dinner with the restaurant info ink stamped on the front with four or five jelly beans and a little plastic toy inside. A teal bag for boys, a pink bag for girls. I had several of the Pixie Kitchen/Pixieland coins in my room at my parents house. But, sadly, both the coins and the house are long gone.
Oh man as an Oregon resident I had no idea this is how Lincoln City came to be! This was such an interesting story. I just wish I could’ve gotten to try Pixie Kitchen’s food. Thank you for this video!
I remember growing up in Salem in the early 1980s and my dad would drive us to the beach, Lincoln City. We'd drive by these billboards that would say come to Picieland with cartoon drawings of pixies. I told my dad, I wanna go there, he said something like it's not there anymore. I was bummed, but later I learned the history of Pixieland from a PBS documentary. It was established in the late 60s and finally went belly up in the mid 70s. I had just missed it.
Also fun to mention thats why Lincoln City also has a huge golf resort, to keep its town alive. I went for a job interview there after culinary school and everything was super expensive looking for a coastal Oregon town.
Let me tell you it was crazy to see my aunt being interviewed at the very end of this film! I was already going to send this to everyone I know because it's beautifully done, touching, and informative, and part of Oregon history not many of us new generation know, but now I can also bribe them by saying Aunt Myrl is in it! :) Thank you so much for your work preserving this history!
I'm speechless. What a beautiful tribute to the lives of an ordinary couple doing their best to make something from nothing. The quality of this documentary is staggering, utterly professional in every way. The script allowed the daughter and son-in-law to relate their bitter memories of the Forest Service's actions of the early 1970s while also telling the story of the damage being done (collectively) to the estuaries and wetlands of the area. The degree of polish and shine on every aspect of the documentary -- music, editing, pace, script -- is something I'd never expect to see on YT. My hat is off to this channel and all of its content! You deserve 35M subscribers, not 35K.
Agree 100%! I specially appreciate the balance of giving voice to the 2 sides of the story (commercial development vs environment conservation), presented factually without drama. Very professional.
I just called my mom because she was born in the area in 1962 She says she remembers pixie kitchen and pixieland and she says "Oh my gosh, I haven't thought about that in so long"! And continued to list her favorite parts It was fun listening to her excitement :)
I love how you got the daughter and the son in law included on this to talk about their experiences. Running an amusement park is hard, but clearly he did everything right in terms of getting some experienced experts and a solid business model together to make a go at it.
I remember me around age 10 and we'd go by Pixieland at least every year and often stop by for lunch and walking around to enjoy the displays. Over the years after we'd see the place fade away. Neat memories. Nice to come accross this documentary.
im just mad at the evil environmentalists they ruined the states growth and development theyre a bunch of bullies this is why theyre so hated cause they bully u
We used to go there in the early 70’s and then we moved to Rose Lodge around 79. By then it was all barely visible. I loved that amusement park. The restaurant was open for a few more years and had a great arcade downstairs. Thank you for sharing this with us! Excellent video!
I grew up in the Newport/Toledo area in the 80s and have always wondered how Lincoln City got to be as long as it is, and why they call their high school Taft High. I've driven past the site of Pixieland hundreds of times and would never in a million years have suspected a major theme park was once there. Great Documentary, you always make the best documentaries about Oregon's hidden history. Fascinating...
Here in Coos Bay they call the high school Marshfield High. The town down here used to be called Marshfield lol. But they merged with like Empire and Eastside and it's all just Coos Bay now, North Bend got left out though. Happened more in like the 30s here though instead of the 60s.
It's surprisingly common for many small towns to become one big one.... Kelso and Longview were originally 20-30 separate small boom towns which were more like neighborhoods but named and on record as towns, and the areas still carry the names locally to describe the different areas of town or the schools tend to carry the names of the small towns or founding families.
Wow, What a wonderful documentary film. You should get an award for this one. You even brought in the information that no one wants to talk about with the politics of the times and the surge of environmentalism that changed the Oregon way of life. That was also during the same time of the timber wars. Politicians learned how to make more money from lobbyists than from businesses and residents and the "little guy" paid the price. Good for you. This is a part of Oregon history that got swept under a rug. I am an Oregonian and still live in the area. We have lost so many dreams along the way.
I remember going there in 1973 on an Oregon costa road trip, wow what a fun blast from the past. Thank you Peter! I hope the Enchanted Forest stays around for my two year old grand daughter to take there, at least they're on I-5 and survived Covid. So few small amusement parks still around.
I drive past The Enchanted Forest all the time (I’m a truck driver) and yes, there are lots of people visiting again, especially on the weekends. Wasn’t sure if they would survive the Covid shutdowns.
The Enchanted Forest was a real treat. We rarely got to visit despite living very close. I absolutely loved that place and have wonderful memories of it. My favorite things were the rabbit hole/tunnel that took you to Wonderland and Snow White & The Seven Dwarves cottage. I want to go back one more time as I haven't been since the 'roller coaster' was added and other new (to me) attractions. I live on the east coast now and trips back home unfortunately don't include places like this, so I'll need to make an exception!
Thank you so very deeply.my grandparents lived in pixieland with the "30" year lease ,at least until it closed in 85-87.so many years visiting them there&had several family reunions in the rec hall&swam in the pool &beach&flying kites& going to sambos,pixie kitchen &..of course mo's after a day at tact crabbing to hopefully have the crab Louie with family visits to the coastal community filled with so many good childhood experiences ..thank for this much needed remembering of a era filled with magic,fun family filled years ,now fresh and just a hour it seems but was 35 good years .I am blessed -grateful to your story..
This is an Amazing documentary! I loved it! I live in Ky., but I truly wish I had gotten to take a trip to the West Coast back when I was a kid… and gotten to eat at The Pixie Kitchen and go to Pixie Land. Watching this has me feeling totally nostalgic for those bygone days of my childhood. These types of places, and the whole family / community atmosphere, environment, and unity are just so rare these days… or just don’t even exist anymore. It’s a sad, sad loss. I remember growing up - we ate dinner as a family every night, and once a week we would have some kind of family outing - whether it was a dinner out, a trip to the lake, a drive-in movie, a carnival or fair (when there was one around), driving around town to see decorated houses during the holidays, or whatever -> all that really mattered was that we did it as a family!!! We were never financially able to take a big/long trip, like Disney Land or anything like that (I am the only member of my family who has ever even been on a plane)… but we did things as a family - that’s what mattered…. that’s ALL that mattered! I remember even doing super simple things like sitting together at night during the X-Mas season - we would decorate the house as a family, and sit around together at night with the lights out… in the quiet… and just watch the lights on the Christmas Tree. I really think that is missing in most of society today, and it has caused irreparable damage to our culture and society. It’s not anyone’s fault alone, it’s a great many things - like stagnant wages making people Have To Work More just to afford to live, rising prices of housing food and healthcare, single parent homes, lack of discipline for children, schools that don’t teach anything except the test, and - of course- Technology separating us All from each other! I know I sound like an Old Fuddy Duddy / Boomer (even though I am Gen-X) / and like I am out of touch… but honestly - I think a lot of what is wrong with the world right now is that we have lost the connection with others… especially the people that we Live and Grow Up With! I am the last surviving member of a family of four. I do watch what’s happening in the world around me, and I do believe that the connection between people, especially our own families has been lost for most people and it has / is / and will continue to cause harm to all of us. I don’t know how to fix it… I don’t even know if it can be fixed… all I know is that It Should Be Fixed! Alright… I will step down off the soap-box now.
I remember driving by Pixieland on our way to the coast as a kid and I always wondered why was it shut down and abandoned. I remember thinking how much fun that place must have been. Very interesting documentary...Thanks for posting this.
My former father in law was the train’s engineer for awhile around 1973 or so. My children loved the train, and especially that Grampa was the “driver”! Nice memories. That would have been just before the worst of the decline brought on by the USFS. We’ve often wondered whatever happened to Pixieland, since we could never find a hint of where it had been. Now we know. Thank you for a lovely film and a walk down old memories.
Pretty sure the USFS was acting at the will of "we the people" in protecting the land. Indeed, as the film made clear several times, the economic downturn really liked the park - like it did my Dad's business at that same era.
one detail missed: After the Echo Mountain wildfire in 2020, the old pixieland parking lot had the brush cleared off and it was used as a staging area for the salvage logging operation to clear out the fire killed trees.
It's surprising that all of the knee jerk environmentalist didn't demand that those trees be left standing for the beatles and the next fire. I'm bitter about the people who won't allow our grasslands and forests to be managed properly the results are obvious in the past two years of fires in the West. The first people's had a tradition of managing grasslands and Forest lands but of course the settlers stopped that when they came to this country. Because they thought the land was beautiful as it was and didn't care that the First Peoples had been managing it for generations. We are supposed to be stewards of the land but that's not being allowed.
The first real job I ever had was being a busboy at pixie kitchen when I was 14. I also later lived at pixieland. And then of course I graduated from Taft High School in 75. It's so nice to see all those old shots. Thank you!
@@halfkinrainbolt7041 You probably know Vicky and Cindy Bartels then. My stepsisters. Their mother ran the motel right across the street from pixie kitchen up on the hill there in Ocean Lake. We had 82 in our class of '75. Good to hear from you!
@@william_mac The Bartells sound familiar but we always stayed in the motels on the ocean side so we could watch the surf. Would we have gone to school together?
@@halfkinrainbolt7041 '73 was my first year at Taft High. I was a Sophomore. I only went to Taft the last quarter of that year. But my Junior and Senior year I was there the entire year. I was on the wrestling and football team in 74 and 75 and worked as a box boy at the old Safeway store where the casino is now. Vicki, my step sister graduated in 72 from there. After my graduation the summer of 75 Safeway transferred me to Dallas as an assistant produce manager. So anyway I lost touch with most of my friends that were around wrestling and football there. Last time I was there in Lincoln City I went to my 40th graduation reunion. There was probably 10 or 15 of us there. In terms of the last 20 years I live about 450 miles due east of there now near the Snake River in North Central Idaho.
I remember going to Pixieland twice in my youth, when my parents lived in the Portland area. I still have a Pixieland arcade token in my memorabilia, all these years later.
I grew up near Salem and visiting the coast was one of the best things about growing up in Oregon. I'm almost 49 years old and was beginning to think I had imagined the Pixie Kitchen from when I was so young. I'm so glad I didn't! I never knew about the amusement park and yet it seems we passed it all the time. Thank you for this lovely documentary and trip down memory lane.
I just watched this ! How fun my summers were spent on the Oregon coast growing up . We never got that far south we hung out in Seaside . I’m sure my parents and grandparents spent time there. I swear I’ve seen pictures and recall gifts they brought back to us grandkids. I took a gasp when I heard where the log flume is ! I live less than 20 mins from Lagoon and even have grandkids that work there . Thank you so much for the incredible history .
Shared this program with a U of Oregon friend from many years ago. He had actually visited the area during his teenage years (growing up in Salem). He enjoyed the program very much. Thanks for putting this together.
This was fantastic… This is by far the BEST and most complete video I’ve ever watched about the Pixie Kitchen, thank you for putting this together!! Mom moved us to the Willamette Valley south of Portland in 1980 from LA. By the time we’d settled and gotten comfortable driving around the country and back roads compared to big city drivig in our new area Pixie Kitchen was gone. I remember hearing about it and passing it when we’d go to the coast but never stopped to eat. Mom always thought (not knowing any history of it) it was just a run down, gimmicky, hole in the wall and refused to stop. I’ve since learned a lot about it and love what it was. A few years ago we stopped at Granny’s Attic antique shop in LC, they had/have a section dedicated to Pixie Kitchen Memorabilia. We bought a set of the PK postcards and a print pack shown at 52:30 they were out of tshirts and menus at the time, but we plan to go back at some point and purchase those too if they are still available. We also need to go to the museum. I didn’t know they had so many pieces from Pixie Kitchen!!
Oh. My heart. This was such a wonderful memory. Visits to pixie kitchen and pixieland live in our hearts with love and joy forever. I have loveingly collected original menus (reprints dont include the open/close fish mouth on the crease) and ceramic pixie figurines in the original boxes. I set them in a table top sand "box" - like the tables at pixie kitchen for family gatherings. Always brings on telling of the delightful memories that are family lore now. I LOVE this real story and interviews - even the heartbreaking parts. Thank you!
Thank you Peter for telling an amazing story. We owned Neskowin Beach Golf Course, just over Cascade Head, from 1962 to 1978. The glory years of the Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland. We ate at the restaurant probably once a month and visited the park numerous times. So much fun to spend a day there, instead of working on the golf course. Pixieland is where I grew to appreciate scones, thanks to Fisher Mills! Thanks again for reviving my memories!
I am going to assume that Stan Carbaugh was your dad. My dad was an Elk as was he. Dad told several stories about Stan, but the only one I remember was joshing him about renting canoes at the golf course as it was low terrain and a lot of it was under water in the rainy season. Worked at Pixieland summers of 67 &68. See previous post. Also loved the scones and ate lots of them. A couple named Stan (different) and Rosie made and sold them. Brion
@@sti4fun indeed! Stan was my father and we had to close the golf course from November 1 until it dried out the following spring. We were known to take the drift boat out onto the course, checking for storm damage.
I’m from Utah. I’ve been on that log and train ride countless times, out here. Who would have known where those originated from without this video? Thank you for sharing! Great research and very interesting!
Growing up in Portland my family would spend every summer vacation in the 20 Miracle Miles… My awesome parents took us to Pixieland for my birthday one year… it was amazing 😁
Thank you so much for this. I was born in 1970 in Corvallis and my mom would always take me to Pixie Kitchen in the summer. I got to go to Pixieland when I was 4 and still have pictures. What a wonderful flood of memories this wakes up 🥰
This is Memory Lane For Me! I spent most of my summers and many weekends growing up on the Oregon coast in the sixties. I always remember calling it Lincoln city, I was only 7 evidently when that became its name according to what I learned here! My parents went all times of the year as they loved going to watch a good storm. We lived inland, south of Portland, and it took an hour and half to drive to the coast, before newer highways went in. I remember driving through the Tillamook burn and my father commenting on a log truck that had three logs on it and him saying, "they sure are taking them small these days." Of course those three logs filled the truck! We were used to following those old trucks on those narrow winding roads that carried that old growth harvest. We had many lunches at the Pixie kitchen. I remember several funny mirrors and loved watching the moving characters of the display. I also remember the go-carts and the doll museum across the street not far from there. Ten cents to get in the museum and it had a life size wax figure of Queen Elizabeth in a glass case and a live talking myna bird. Does anyone remember the sign near the kitchen that said - this is the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole? I moved to the coast as a teen and went to Taft High School in the early seventies. The senior class sold donuts and coffee to the people waiting in lines for gas in 1973. My memory is that Pixie Land always seemed unfinished and never quite the big thing they hoped it would be. I did ride the log flume a few times, (it was rather slow except for the one drop,) and the train around the mostly empty park some. It definitely seemed like a marsh land, and was rather boring. I don't recall much there, I'm not sure if I remember grunikin land! Maybe we stopped going after the first soft opening. I remember Tom McCall. He promoted bumper stickers that said, "Don't Californicate Oregon". I did not know about the whole forest service theft but it doesn't surprise me. Oregon was always progressive towards saving the environment, even at the cost of people or their livelihoods. Too bad that concern didn't extend to limiting all the toxic dioxin sprays, 24d and 245t they allowed Weyerhaeuser to poison us with. I finally had to leave the coast in 1979 because I was bleeding to death from the poisons. Walsea county, just south of Lincoln county had the highest miscarriage rate in the nation in the late seventies. We were second. The president of Weyerhaeuser said, "babies are replaceable and that women should plan their pregnancies' around the spraying cycle." No Joke. I miss the Oregon of my early youth.
Great job on the video. Went to work at Pixieland summer of (had to be) 1967 as a general laborer. Helped finish (re)building the train tressel. Dump truck hauling fill for the trailer park tried to go under it with the box up and tore several hundred feet of it down. Then worked with 3 other guys as track gang ballasting and leveling the track. Following summer my job was relief operator one day a week each for log flume, shooting gallery, Grunnyken (spelling) land, Jungle gym and kiddie rides, but the most fun job was the relief driver for " Little toot" on the engineers day off. Originally fired with coal, can still smell the smoke if I think about it, and after I was long gone, propane. It was a true steam engine. Renamed "Little Pixie" if memory serves me correctly. I was there for the beginning of most of the rides. Would go to the opera house on lunch breaks and take in the old time melodramas that were put on. Lots of found memories of those days. You could make another vidio just on the smaller rides and places you did not mention, the go cart track, whale boat rides, candle store (and two other small stores but memory fails me), ice cream at the Darigold barn (they served a float or split in a huge glass goblet, must hold over a quart and I still have two of them), and, I doubt if they ever were recorded, the melodramas at the opera house. In your post you are looking for a recording of the theme; I have it clear as a bell, but only in my mind. Must have heard that music a hundred thousand times. Played continuously from an oversize 4 track tape (who remembers those) that was in Grunnykin land and a player that was with the Merry go Round (a true historic wooden ride). Again great vidio that sure brings back lots of memories. Brion sti(the number 4)fun(the number 2)@yahoo.com
So much effort to create fun and happiness for kids and adults, and to bring up the economic growth of those beautiful cities and towns, lost to the passing of time and incomprehensible laws. The building of the new highway, minimizing the affluence of tourists, the sudden interest in ecological recovery and the increase in oil prices, all lead to the downfall of a dream. That's the way life goes. Fortunately, there are still many people who enjoyed the dream in all its splendor. May they find ways to allow the new generations to know that time of the Oregon coast. Great work, @Peter Dible. Great sources of information. Thank you for sharing this interesting documentary.
Thank you for a wonderful documentary of pixie kitchen and pixieland. As a young boy we lived in Portland Oregon, we would often go to the coast for the weekend. My grandfather had a motel in South Beach Oregon called Blair's bungalows. We couldn't go past pixieland without stopping. I've seen a number of shows at the Opera, log rides, and sat on the train as well. I still have some wonderful memories of pixie land and the pixie kitchen. I never knew until now why the Park closed. Thank you again for a wonderful and memorable documentary.
WOW this was an amazing memory jog! I got to go to the Pixie Kitchen a couple times when I was very young. I still have vivid memories of the interior and the view but haven't actually seen it in decades. This was fun. Thank you!
As I watched this wonderful documentary, I had this feeling that something about the whole place had an eerie familiarity. So I dug through my parents' old photo albums, and sure enough, I found a picture of our family standing in front of the Pixie Kitchen backyard display with the waterwheel in the background. I must have been 10 years old at the time. Thanks for that journey in the Way-Back machine!
What a history !! Our family first visited the Pixie Kitchen in 1966 while vacationing the Oregon coast . Excellent video and truly a " learning experience !!"
Thank you so much for making this wonderful documentary! My wife’s dad took her to the Pixie Kitchen and it was a memory that was all but forgotten by her until I came across your film! Thank you!
I used to live in Lincoln City when I was younger. My grandparents ran the hotel (was an econo lodge, now it’s a travelodge I think) on 101 and 21st for quite a while. All the time I lived there and never knew about pixieland! You learn something new everyday.
You could fill 1000 pages with fawning memories of Pixie Kitchen from grown-up kids today. . Our family was at Neskowin every summer for decades. Mom knew we were NOT going home until we got a dinner at Pixie Kitchen. I don't know how many hundreds of pennies went down the Wishing Well! Even though the food quality declined after the Park's sold out, we still loved that place! It certainly brings a tear to my eye as I remember my parents. This time and place in Oregon was magical.
Superb job here. Just some random recommendation; I do live in Seattle and lived in Portland, so up my alley, but didn't know all this. Thanks for making this well done documentary. Im gonna check out more of your work. Bravo.
What a terrific film! I ate at the Pixie Kitchen and went to Pixieland many times as a kid. This brought back so a ton of fun memories: the mirrors, the food, the sand boxes in the table, the train, the log flume. Wow! I only wish my parents were here to watch this. They would have loved it! Thank you!
I live in the Pacific Northwest and have visited Lincoln City a handful of times. I have also visited Lagoon Amusement Park in Utah multiple times! I loved learning the history of Pixieland and can't wait to make these connections when I revisit Lincoln City and Lagoon.
Oh my! Thank you for this! As a kid we stopped at the Pixie Kitchen every year on way to and back from visiting our Grandmother. When Pixieland opened, we stopped on way up every year. It was a high point in our formative years. I often reminisce about both. Great documentary.
I grew up near here in Willamina. As a boy in the 70’s this was our weekend destination. I remember going to the pixie kitchen with my grandparents and hearing this story. I always ordered clams steamed/fried and as a cook I carry those memories.
As a kid in the 70’s my family and I would eat at the Pixie Kitchen in Lincoln City - the silly mirrors was the most memorable. The good ole’ days of what Oregon once was.
Thank you so much for this historical program on pixieland. I remember it very well and enjoyed the log flume ride, the dark ride and many other fun attractions. I even remember the first time I was in a helicopter at Pixie Land, the pilot charged $15 for 15 minutes to go up in the helicopter and tour over the park and area. That was a huge and amazing memory for me. 😊
Oh my goodness love, loved, loved the pixie kitchen! The fun House mirror's we're so much fun. I miss the pixie kitchen!!! Pixieland was super Fun also. ♥️♥️♥️
Thanks for bringing this memory back to life for me Pete! Growing up we didn't have a lot, but every year our (single) Mom would throw the 3 of us into the back of the wagon and we'd head over to the coast for a long weekend. The trips were never complete until we had visited Pixie Kitchen. Good times, good memories, and a couple of tears shed for nostalgia's sake watching this.
This is incredible. I'm a huge fan of Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland. What a fun place it was. Sadly, it was long gone before I was born. Every time I go to Lincoln City, I always make sure to stop at the historical museum and see their pixie exhibit. I have a set of coin purses and some menus from the restaurant. If you weren't full from eating at the restaurant, you got seconds at NO CHARGE! Thanks again for this video.
Thanks for making me feel less weird for being fascinated by old stuff like this, even if it existed before I was born and I never went there Lol. Never heard about this place before an hour ago but it looks awesome. I’m literally on eBay looking at old pixie kitchen placemats and collectible coins just to get a get a better mental picture of it all. Someone in another comment mentioned they gave out gift bags with a toy and jelly beans to the kids when leaving the pixie kitchen. I was looking around to see if I could find any pics of those. Your collection of stuff from Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland sounds pretty neat. Take care ✌️
Wow- What a great story and unpleasant ending but glad its being told and remembered by many, Would have never known by driving that area for so many yrs
My mother took my brother and I to this park many times on the way to the coast. In fact we are on the small Farris wheel at 37:25! I remember years later finding it closed. Great memories.
Oh man did this documentary make my eyes leak. I dearly loved Pixieland, I grew up in Lincoln City and remember this place very well. I became a good shot with a gun because of the shoot 'em up gallery and I adored doing the spin art pictures but by far my all time favorite part of the park was the live theater with the hero, damsel and villain dramas and those awesome can can girls - i loved their dresses and the way they were all in sink and the music I could watch that for hours if they would have let me. My family went to this place every chance we got and we lived pretty close to it in Neotsu but with 5 kids in my family money was not abundant but still we managed to go there many times while they were there and we all still reminisce about this place periodically. Thank you to the family that owned this place for making some of my happiest childhood memories and thank you for making this documentary, my daughter is excited to watch it since she's heard many of our stories of this mini disneyland that was in our backyard.
My Alma Mater is Willamette, in Sale,m. The Pixie Kitchen wasn't only fun for families. College kids loved it, too. I think the last time I was there was in the mid 70's, when I went back for a visit to sorority sisters, and friends. Fond memories.
What an interesting and touching documentary. Fantastic work and production quality! Times were so different back then. I can't even imagine what it was like since it all happened even before my parents were born, but from today's perspective, Jerry and Lula seem like the very definition of the American Dream. Thanks for including the interview with their daughter and son-in-law, always great to hear such stories and their anecdotes told by those who were there, while they are still around to tell them.
Love how you get and are able to interact with the daughter and the son-in-law of the owner With this content and kind of quality, this is such an underrated channel, this deserved to be high like Wendover or Mustard
I can't imagine how difficult it was for the people who lost their homes and businesses in the restoration and creation of the natural area. Cascade Head and the Salmon River Estuary are some of my favorite natural areas to visit on the coast, and I am grateful we have such amazing, healthy habitat restored and preserved. The public access of the beach and natural areas along the whole stretch of our coastline, created during McCall's tenure, is part of Oregon's identity, and my identity as an Oregonian. My grandparents lived on the coast, as well as many friends. Knowing how seasonal the business is there, and being a frequent winter visitor, I can definitely understand why a theme park wouldn't survive financially.
Another great video. This is just perfect right now. Got home from the museum I work for, worn out and sore but happy some big projects got done ahead of schedule, the old trains on the Lionel layout I manage were running smoothly, made a deep dish pizza, settled in to watch this. Perfect. Just absolutely perfect.
As a born and raised oregonian, I really like to learn about our history. This was a great video. Well thought out, and packed with good information. Not only to learn of this but to kinda feel like you were there. Great job! Keep it up Peter Dibble !
What an amazing story. I have lived here my entire life, and my family before me too. I never heard about Pixie Kitchen or Pixieland.. this video was amazing & provided so much good information & visuals. Lincoln City is an interesting town today...lots of commercial businesses, a large casino, and the town stretches VERY long...on one side you've got the bay with a smaller area of businesses now mostly vacant minus a few restaurants (like Mo's) and then you've got everything else on the other side of town. Their "main street" is really not walkable...traffic runs right through it and it, again, stretches long. In between these points you'll find a pretty decent sized outlet mall. KFC, Taco Bell, Dollar Tree, Goodwill, McDonalds, Safeway, etc. It's not what I picture when I imagine the perfect, relaxing beach weekend. Their beach is good depending on which access point you choose..but I much prefer beaches like Cannon Beach, Manzanita, and Pacific City. Lincoln City has recently become more run down...a lot like Seaside is. A new crowd of sketchy visitors has emerged and our last visit we called it our last. It would've been so amazing to see Lincoln City survive better through the changing times & commercialization like some other nearby towns did. The Parks sound like great people who truly cared about providing fun for their community. The themepark was such a dream!! How amazing they made it come to life. The way they incorporated local companies is EXACTLY what Oregon is about..and the brilliant idea to model ideas after Disney & Knots is admirable. It's unfortunate our environment here just doesn't suit well for these big plans. It's a shame that land was sold to them in the first place...it's not their fault for damaging the ecosystem there, nor is the forestry service to blame. The land should've never been sold.
I've lived in Oregon all my life and I have never heard of this place until your video (35+ years). I actually cried a little. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Growing up in the PNW, our family spent many vacations at the Oregon coast. I had more than one birthday party at Pixieland, during the 60s. I remember that they made a cake for me with little 45 records and dancing Pixies on it.
Very cool documentary. I lived in Toledo, Or for several years and now in the Salem area. I go to the coast several times during the year and have driven past the estuary restoration sign and wondered about it. Now I know. Also, know the history about the different names in Lincoln City. Thank you for making this information available in a very professional educational way.
Peter, what an amazing documentary. My family has a cabin on the Cascade Head Ranch and I am on its board of directors. We strictly follow the federal law and directive of the forest service. Several of my neighbors still work on the Salmon Creek Restoration project.
I have to admit that my heart sank when they showed an excavator, and said that they had cleared an old lumber yard. That's a piece of history that can never be replaced.
This was an amazingly well done informative video. I appreciate the time and energy that was put in to this historical tribute. What a shame the outcome. Wouldn’t it be a whole different Oregon coast if this theme park had survived! It is so sad so many families lost their homes all for “progress”. Thank you again for this wonderful story and keeping the Pixie Kitchen a memory that continues to live on.
You continue to impress me (& my friends) with your outstanding documentaries. This is absolutely fantastic. It brings out so many emotions. Thank you for creating & uploading this wonderful video!
What an incredible video! It's sad that the flume was recently retired in 2022 in Utah. As the years go by, more and more of these historical sights fade into distant memory.
This brought back a vivid memory from 60-some years ago, visiting Pixie Kitchen with my parents and godparents who were avid beachcombers. I was a very slow eater and when the waitress came to clear the adults' plates, she took mine away too, thinking I had finished. Well, I started to cry and the waitress felt so awful about the mistake, they presented me with the most gigantic ice cream sundae imaginable! :) This was a wonderful presentation and so nostalgic, thank you!
This is your best video yet, and one of the best of any I’ve seen on UA-cam in quite a while! I got to Oregon long after this place disappeared, but I love learning the less well known histories of my state. BTW if you look at this location on Google Earth or Maps you can still see the outlines of some features including the RV park.
So glad I discovered your channel through the Spruce Goose video. I’m hooked on all these videos! My mom was just talking about Pixieland the other day, she loved it as a kid!
I'm from Salt Lake City originally and remember riding the Log Flume at Lagoon in Farmington. I had never heard of Pixieland until watching this! I now live in the Portland area and have been to Lincoln City a few times and been past this area without an inkling of its history. Very interesting!
I was born at Gleneden Beach in 1960 We went here all the time, I love the Pixie Kitchen, The food was amazing , I actually have Pixie Kitchen Memorabilia. So many fond memories
Thank you so much for sharing this. As a kid my Grandparents would take us there during the summer months and now I'm 58 years old often wondered where and what ever happened to pixieland? Thank for bringing this to everyone that as a kid what joy it brought to so many people. Sad that it never took off like predicted. But sure made millions of smiles and memories.
If anyone has access to an old record or tape with those lost songs, please get in touch with the North Lincoln County Historical Museum. We would love an opportunity to preserve and publish that lost media if possible! northlincolncountyhistoricalmuseum.org
I wonder if the original score was preserved?
I sure miss the Oregon Coast. Glori and I live in Colorado now and haven’t been back in a long time decades. Just don’t have it to go anymore! Maybe before we die, we will make it home again
Fond memories indeed. The ones that know will not forget Little Black Sambo"s also.
Awesome 👍 did you send it to Molly
Our whole family loved pixieland. I loved the scones the kids loved everything
The Pixie Kitchen was my FAVORITE RESTAURANT on the Oregon Coast. As a child I would ask and be taken there for my birthday. The memories of their bringing out a cake and singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY along with playing on the playground still warm my 72 year heart! :)
I lived in Oceanlake in the early 1960's and I had dinner at the Pixie Kitchen every week with my mom and brother. It was a great family restaurant. We joked that my big brother could eat them out of business because he really loved the fried chicken. This is a fond memory and the coastal town was a great place for a kid to grow up. In winter it was nearly deserted. We lived a few blocks from the beach.
Man, an all you can eat restaurant? Wow, I'd be in heaven.
And there was the little Sambo's for breakfast...
All the melted butter you could want.
That sounds wonderful. I, too, have fond memories of my youth, but in Tennessee, and of beautiful, long ago days
Well, this made me cry...every Easter Sunday, starting in the 50s, our family made its way from Portland to the Pixie Kitchen. It looms large in some of the best times in my childhood. This was so well done! Beautiful work! When you spoke about the appetizer tray, all I could think about were those incredible Fish Balls and that Blue Cheese dip!!!
Awwww that’s so cool to have such great memories with your family💙
Tears for me as well as my brother is gone now ,, man that place was awesome ..
You folks are so lucky. I live in Springfield and would travel there regularly if that vibe existed today.
This brought a bit of a tear to my eye as well. Our family would go to Lincoln City often and, invariably, go to Pixie Kitchen each time. As a little boy, I LOVED the collection of pin ball machines in the basement! And, a little latter, the "Museum" next to the arcade. The fish ball appetizer was incredible! And I loved the warmed crackers that would be next to them. I had no idea, until years later, they were just Wheat Thins right out of the box! I remember the food was great! And big portions! They would always give me a little teal bag after dinner with the restaurant info ink stamped on the front with four or five jelly beans and a little plastic toy inside. A teal bag for boys, a pink bag for girls. I had several of the Pixie Kitchen/Pixieland coins in my room at my parents house. But, sadly, both the coins and the house are long gone.
@@krafty051990 really cool memories for you me as well ,, Thx for sharing.. 👍
Oh man as an Oregon resident I had no idea this is how Lincoln City came to be! This was such an interesting story. I just wish I could’ve gotten to try Pixie Kitchen’s food. Thank you for this video!
I remember growing up in Salem in the early 1980s and my dad would drive us to the beach, Lincoln City. We'd drive by these billboards that would say come to Picieland with cartoon drawings of pixies. I told my dad, I wanna go there, he said something like it's not there anymore. I was bummed, but later I learned the history of Pixieland from a PBS documentary. It was established in the late 60s and finally went belly up in the mid 70s. I had just missed it.
Also fun to mention thats why Lincoln City also has a huge golf resort, to keep its town alive. I went for a job interview there after culinary school and everything was super expensive looking for a coastal Oregon town.
Me too! Grew up in Oregon my whole life but had no idea this is how Lincoln City came to be.
I worked as food prep at Pixie kitchen when I was 16. It was a fun place to work! The Cod Balls and battered oysters were so popular!
Awesome!!
Let me tell you it was crazy to see my aunt being interviewed at the very end of this film! I was already going to send this to everyone I know because it's beautifully done, touching, and informative, and part of Oregon history not many of us new generation know, but now I can also bribe them by saying Aunt Myrl is in it! :) Thank you so much for your work preserving this history!
That's wild! Thank you very much!
That’s so cool ❤
I'm speechless. What a beautiful tribute to the lives of an ordinary couple doing their best to make something from nothing. The quality of this documentary is staggering, utterly professional in every way. The script allowed the daughter and son-in-law to relate their bitter memories of the Forest Service's actions of the early 1970s while also telling the story of the damage being done (collectively) to the estuaries and wetlands of the area. The degree of polish and shine on every aspect of the documentary -- music, editing, pace, script -- is something I'd never expect to see on YT. My hat is off to this channel and all of its content! You deserve 35M subscribers, not 35K.
Thanks a lot for the kind feedback, David!
Agree 100%! I specially appreciate the balance of giving voice to the 2 sides of the story (commercial development vs environment conservation), presented factually without drama. Very professional.
@@retrovideoquestI totally agree with you - very professional, and all sides of the story were given fairly. Excellent video!
I just called my mom because she was born in the area in 1962
She says she remembers pixie kitchen and pixieland and she says "Oh my gosh, I haven't thought about that in so long"! And continued to list her favorite parts
It was fun listening to her excitement :)
I was born in New. Orleans in 1960 what's yor mother look like??
@@ronaldhall9701 she's got brown hair 2 eyes
Oh and she stands upright
@@lucasjohnstone6419 I think someone's tryna b ur stepdaddy! 🤣🤣🤣
I love how you got the daughter and the son in law included on this to talk about their experiences. Running an amusement park is hard, but clearly he did everything right in terms of getting some experienced experts and a solid business model together to make a go at it.
I remember me around age 10 and we'd go by Pixieland at least every year and often stop by for lunch and walking around to enjoy the displays. Over the years after we'd see the place fade away. Neat memories. Nice to come accross this documentary.
Makes me proud to see our little local oddities retold with such care to detail and top notch production, thank you!
im just mad at the evil environmentalists they ruined the states growth and development theyre a bunch of bullies this is why theyre so hated cause they bully u
We used to go there in the early 70’s and then we moved to Rose Lodge around 79. By then it was all barely visible. I loved that amusement park. The restaurant was open for a few more years and had a great arcade downstairs. Thank you for sharing this with us! Excellent video!
I grew up in the Newport/Toledo area in the 80s and have always wondered how Lincoln City got to be as long as it is, and why they call their high school Taft High. I've driven past the site of Pixieland hundreds of times and would never in a million years have suspected a major theme park was once there. Great Documentary, you always make the best documentaries about Oregon's hidden history. Fascinating...
I thought L.C. was originally 5 to 6 towns that incorporated into one. She did change with the mall then the casino.
Here in Coos Bay they call the high school Marshfield High. The town down here used to be called Marshfield lol. But they merged with like Empire and Eastside and it's all just Coos Bay now, North Bend got left out though. Happened more in like the 30s here though instead of the 60s.
It's surprisingly common for many small towns to become one big one.... Kelso and Longview were originally 20-30 separate small boom towns which were more like neighborhoods but named and on record as towns, and the areas still carry the names locally to describe the different areas of town or the schools tend to carry the names of the small towns or founding families.
@@RogueSmithers Like the eastside of Portland. Maywood Park, Parkrose, Gateway, Lents, etc. All small towns before being swallowed by Portland.
I've wondered that about Lincoln City too. It just keeps going and going and going doesn't it? lol Great to know what the history of it is.
Wow, What a wonderful documentary film. You should get an award for this one. You even brought in the information that no one wants to talk about with the politics of the times and the surge of environmentalism that changed the Oregon way of life. That was also during the same time of the timber wars. Politicians learned how to make more money from lobbyists than from businesses and residents and the "little guy" paid the price. Good for you. This is a part of Oregon history that got swept under a rug. I am an Oregonian and still live in the area. We have lost so many dreams along the way.
Oregon was made to be a slave to big business
I remember going there in 1973 on an Oregon costa road trip, wow what a fun blast from the past. Thank you Peter! I hope the Enchanted Forest stays around for my two year old grand daughter to take there, at least they're on I-5 and survived Covid. So few small amusement parks still around.
I drive past The Enchanted Forest all the time (I’m a truck driver) and yes, there are lots of people visiting again, especially on the weekends. Wasn’t sure if they would survive the Covid shutdowns.
The Enchanted Forest was a real treat. We rarely got to visit despite living very close. I absolutely loved that place and have wonderful memories of it. My favorite things were the rabbit hole/tunnel that took you to Wonderland and Snow White & The Seven Dwarves cottage. I want to go back one more time as I haven't been since the 'roller coaster' was added and other new (to me) attractions. I live on the east coast now and trips back home unfortunately don't include places like this, so I'll need to make an exception!
Enchanted forest was definitely my favorite growing up!
@@robertjonas6216 That's good news to hear! I was aware it had been struggling some in the past and was hoping Covid didn't take it down.
My grand daughter just went there… alive and fun still
Thank you so very deeply.my grandparents lived in pixieland with the "30" year lease ,at least until it closed in 85-87.so many years visiting them there&had several family reunions in the rec hall&swam in the pool &beach&flying kites& going to sambos,pixie kitchen &..of course mo's after a day at tact crabbing to hopefully have the crab Louie with family visits to the coastal community filled with so many good childhood experiences ..thank for this much needed remembering of a era filled with magic,fun family filled years ,now fresh and just a hour it seems but was 35 good years .I am blessed -grateful to your story..
Oh lil sambos the butt,er ciggeeetes
I have to admit that every time I drive through Otis or Lincoln City, I always look for the spot where these attractions once stood.
This is an Amazing documentary! I loved it! I live in Ky., but I truly wish I had gotten to take a trip to the West Coast back when I was a kid… and gotten to eat at The Pixie Kitchen and go to Pixie Land.
Watching this has me feeling totally nostalgic for those bygone days of my childhood. These types of places, and the whole family / community atmosphere, environment, and unity are just so rare these days… or just don’t even exist anymore. It’s a sad, sad loss.
I remember growing up - we ate dinner as a family every night, and once a week we would have some kind of family outing - whether it was a dinner out, a trip to the lake, a drive-in movie, a carnival or fair (when there was one around), driving around town to see decorated houses during the holidays, or whatever -> all that really mattered was that we did it as a family!!! We were never financially able to take a big/long trip, like Disney Land or anything like that (I am the only member of my family who has ever even been on a plane)… but we did things as a family - that’s what mattered…. that’s ALL that mattered! I remember even doing super simple things like sitting together at night during the X-Mas season - we would decorate the house as a family, and sit around together at night with the lights out… in the quiet… and just watch the lights on the Christmas Tree.
I really think that is missing in most of society today, and it has caused irreparable damage to our culture and society.
It’s not anyone’s fault alone, it’s a great many things - like stagnant wages making people Have To Work More just to afford to live, rising prices of housing food and healthcare, single parent homes, lack of discipline for children, schools that don’t teach anything except the test, and - of course- Technology separating us All from each other!
I know I sound like an Old Fuddy Duddy / Boomer (even though I am Gen-X) / and like I am out of touch… but honestly - I think a lot of what is wrong with the world right now is that we have lost the connection with others… especially the people that we Live and Grow Up With!
I am the last surviving member of a family of four. I do watch what’s happening in the world around me, and I do believe that the connection between people, especially our own families has been lost for most people and it has / is / and will continue to cause harm to all of us.
I don’t know how to fix it… I don’t even know if it can be fixed… all I know is that It Should Be Fixed!
Alright… I will step down off the soap-box now.
I remember driving by Pixieland on our way to the coast as a kid and I always wondered why was it shut down and abandoned. I remember thinking how much fun that place must have been. Very interesting documentary...Thanks for posting this.
My former father in law was the train’s engineer for awhile around 1973 or so. My children loved the train, and especially that Grampa was the “driver”! Nice memories. That would have been just before the worst of the decline brought on by the USFS. We’ve often wondered whatever happened to Pixieland, since we could never find a hint of where it had been. Now we know. Thank you for a lovely film and a walk down old memories.
That's really cool, thanks for sharing!
Pretty sure the USFS was acting at the will of "we the people" in protecting the land.
Indeed, as the film made clear several times, the economic downturn really liked the park - like it did my Dad's business at that same era.
one detail missed: After the Echo Mountain wildfire in 2020, the old pixieland parking lot had the brush cleared off and it was used as a staging area for the salvage logging operation to clear out the fire killed trees.
It's surprising that all of the knee jerk environmentalist didn't demand that those trees be left standing for the beatles and the next fire.
I'm bitter about the people who won't allow our grasslands and forests to be managed properly the results are obvious in the past two years of fires in the West. The first people's had a tradition of managing grasslands and Forest lands but of course the settlers stopped that when they came to this country. Because they thought the land was beautiful as it was and didn't care that the First Peoples had been managing it for generations. We are supposed to be stewards of the land but that's not being allowed.
The first real job I ever had was being a busboy at pixie kitchen when I was 14. I also later lived at pixieland. And then of course I graduated from Taft High School in 75. It's so nice to see all those old shots. Thank you!
Taft High School 1972 for me! Graduating class of 60 students. Five years later, 10% of them had died.
@@halfkinrainbolt7041 You probably know Vicky and Cindy Bartels then. My stepsisters. Their mother ran the motel right across the street from pixie kitchen up on the hill there in Ocean Lake. We had 82 in our class of '75. Good to hear from you!
@@william_mac The Bartells sound familiar but we always stayed in the motels on the ocean side so we could watch the surf. Would we have gone to school together?
@@halfkinrainbolt7041 '73 was my first year at Taft High. I was a Sophomore. I only went to Taft the last quarter of that year. But my Junior and Senior year I was there the entire year. I was on the wrestling and football team in 74 and 75 and worked as a box boy at the old Safeway store where the casino is now. Vicki, my step sister graduated in 72 from there. After my graduation the summer of 75 Safeway transferred me to Dallas as an assistant produce manager. So anyway I lost touch with most of my friends that were around wrestling and football there. Last time I was there in Lincoln City I went to my 40th graduation reunion. There was probably 10 or 15 of us there. In terms of the last 20 years I live about 450 miles due east of there now near the Snake River in North Central Idaho.
I remember going to Pixieland twice in my youth, when my parents lived in the Portland area. I still have a Pixieland arcade token in my memorabilia, all these years later.
Funny...so do I life's good take care my freind
I grew up near Salem and visiting the coast was one of the best things about growing up in Oregon. I'm almost 49 years old and was beginning to think I had imagined the Pixie Kitchen from when I was so young. I'm so glad I didn't! I never knew about the amusement park and yet it seems we passed it all the time. Thank you for this lovely documentary and trip down memory lane.
You passed by the same billboards that I did in the 1980s, still advertising Pixieland, which by then ceased to exist, on the way to Lincoln City.
I love your content. My grandpa was an avid Oregon historian, he would have loved your content if he was still around.
I believe this is pure justice of the 80's. Thank you for putting together such a great tribute of my childhood ❤️. I am super appreciative. 🙇♂️
I just watched this ! How fun my summers were spent on the Oregon coast growing up . We never got that far south we hung out in Seaside .
I’m sure my parents and grandparents spent time there. I swear I’ve seen pictures and recall gifts they brought back to us grandkids.
I took a gasp when I heard where the log flume is ! I live less than 20 mins from Lagoon and even have grandkids that work there . Thank you so much for the incredible history .
Shared this program with a U of Oregon friend from many years ago. He had actually visited the area during his teenage years (growing up in Salem). He enjoyed the program very much. Thanks for putting this together.
This was fantastic… This is by far the BEST and most complete video I’ve ever watched about the Pixie Kitchen, thank you for putting this together!!
Mom moved us to the Willamette Valley south of Portland in 1980 from LA. By the time we’d settled and gotten comfortable driving around the country and back roads compared to big city drivig in our new area Pixie Kitchen was gone. I remember hearing about it and passing it when we’d go to the coast but never stopped to eat. Mom always thought (not knowing any history of it) it was just a run down, gimmicky, hole in the wall and refused to stop.
I’ve since learned a lot about it and love what it was. A few years ago we stopped at Granny’s Attic antique shop in LC, they had/have a section dedicated to Pixie Kitchen Memorabilia. We bought a set of the PK postcards and a print pack shown at 52:30 they were out of tshirts and menus at the time, but we plan to go back at some point and purchase those too if they are still available. We also need to go to the museum. I didn’t know they had so many pieces from Pixie Kitchen!!
Oh. My heart. This was such a wonderful memory. Visits to pixie kitchen and pixieland live in our hearts with love and joy forever. I have loveingly collected original menus (reprints dont include the open/close fish mouth on the crease) and ceramic pixie figurines in the original boxes. I set them in a table top sand "box" - like the tables at pixie kitchen for family gatherings. Always brings on telling of the delightful memories that are family lore now. I LOVE this real story and interviews - even the heartbreaking parts. Thank you!
Thank you Peter for telling an amazing story.
We owned Neskowin Beach Golf Course, just over Cascade Head, from 1962 to 1978. The glory years of the Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland.
We ate at the restaurant probably once a month and visited the park numerous times. So much fun to spend a day there, instead of working on the golf course. Pixieland is where I grew to appreciate scones, thanks to Fisher Mills!
Thanks again for reviving my memories!
I am going to assume that Stan Carbaugh was your dad. My dad was an Elk as was he. Dad told several stories about Stan, but the only one I remember was joshing him about renting canoes at the golf course as it was low terrain and a lot of it was under water in the rainy season.
Worked at Pixieland summers of 67 &68. See previous post. Also loved the scones and ate lots of them. A couple named Stan (different) and Rosie made and sold them.
Brion
@@sti4fun indeed!
Stan was my father and we had to close the golf course from November 1 until it dried out the following spring. We were known to take the drift boat out onto the course, checking for storm damage.
I’m from Utah. I’ve been on that log and train ride countless times, out here. Who would have known where those originated from without this video? Thank you for sharing! Great research and very interesting!
Same here! I had no idea that the Lagoon had purchased the log flume and train from Pixie Land!
Growing up in Portland my family would spend every summer vacation in the 20 Miracle Miles… My awesome parents took us to Pixieland for my birthday one year… it was amazing 😁
That you for this Documentary… Americans have forgotten so much of our awesome passed 🇺🇸
The only memory of my parents together was at Pixieland circa 1973. I remember them together waiting for me to finish a ride.
This is amazing.
Thank you so much for this. I was born in 1970 in Corvallis and my mom would always take me to Pixie Kitchen in the summer. I got to go to Pixieland when I was 4 and still have pictures. What a wonderful flood of memories this wakes up 🥰
This is Memory Lane For Me!
I spent most of my summers and many weekends growing up on the Oregon coast in the sixties. I always remember calling it Lincoln city, I was only 7 evidently when that became its name according to what I learned here! My parents went all times of the year as they loved going to watch a good storm. We lived inland, south of Portland, and it took an hour and half to drive to the coast, before newer highways went in.
I remember driving through the Tillamook burn and my father commenting on a log truck that had three logs on it and him saying, "they sure are taking them small these days." Of course those three logs filled the truck! We were used to following those old trucks on those narrow winding roads that carried that old growth harvest. We had many lunches at the Pixie kitchen. I remember several funny mirrors and loved watching the moving characters of the display. I also remember the go-carts and the doll museum across the street not far from there. Ten cents to get in the museum and it had a life size wax figure of Queen Elizabeth in a glass case and a live talking myna bird. Does anyone remember the sign near the kitchen that said - this is the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole?
I moved to the coast as a teen and went to Taft High School in the early seventies. The senior class sold donuts and coffee to the people waiting in lines for gas in 1973. My memory is that Pixie Land always seemed unfinished and never quite the big thing they hoped it would be. I did ride the log flume a few times, (it was rather slow except for the one drop,) and the train around the mostly empty park some. It definitely seemed like a marsh land, and was rather boring. I don't recall much there, I'm not sure if I remember grunikin land! Maybe we stopped going after the first soft opening.
I remember Tom McCall. He promoted bumper stickers that said, "Don't Californicate Oregon".
I did not know about the whole forest service theft but it doesn't surprise me. Oregon was always progressive towards saving the environment, even at the cost of people or their livelihoods. Too bad that concern didn't extend to limiting all the toxic dioxin sprays, 24d and 245t they allowed Weyerhaeuser to poison us with. I finally had to leave the coast in 1979 because I was bleeding to death from the poisons. Walsea county, just south of Lincoln county had the highest miscarriage rate in the nation in the late seventies. We were second. The president of Weyerhaeuser said, "babies are replaceable and that women should plan their pregnancies' around the spraying cycle."
No Joke. I miss the Oregon of my early youth.
I live here now, wish it was still here......Awesome video, thanks !!!
Great job on the video. Went to work at Pixieland summer of (had to be) 1967 as a general laborer. Helped finish (re)building the train tressel. Dump truck hauling fill for the trailer park tried to go under it with the box up and tore several hundred feet of it down. Then worked with 3 other guys as track gang ballasting and leveling the track. Following summer my job was relief operator one day a week each for log flume, shooting gallery, Grunnyken (spelling) land, Jungle gym and kiddie rides, but the most fun job was the relief driver for " Little toot" on the engineers day off. Originally fired with coal, can still smell the smoke if I think about it, and after I was long gone, propane. It was a true steam engine. Renamed "Little Pixie" if memory serves me correctly.
I was there for the beginning of most of the rides. Would go to the opera house on lunch breaks and take in the old time melodramas that were put on. Lots of found memories of those days. You could make another vidio just on the smaller rides and places you did not mention, the go cart track, whale boat rides, candle store (and two other small stores but memory fails me), ice cream at the Darigold barn (they served a float or split in a huge glass goblet, must hold over a quart and I still have two of them), and, I doubt if they ever were recorded, the melodramas at the opera house.
In your post you are looking for a recording of the theme; I have it clear as a bell, but only in my mind. Must have heard that music a hundred thousand times. Played continuously from an oversize 4 track tape (who remembers those) that was in Grunnykin land and a player that was with the Merry go Round (a true historic wooden ride).
Again great vidio that sure brings back lots of memories.
Brion
sti(the number 4)fun(the number 2)@yahoo.com
So much effort to create fun and happiness for kids and adults, and to bring up the economic growth of those beautiful cities and towns, lost to the passing of time and incomprehensible laws. The building of the new highway, minimizing the affluence of tourists, the sudden interest in ecological recovery and the increase in oil prices, all lead to the downfall of a dream. That's the way life goes. Fortunately, there are still many people who enjoyed the dream in all its splendor. May they find ways to allow the new generations to know that time of the Oregon coast. Great work, @Peter Dible. Great sources of information. Thank you for sharing this interesting documentary.
Thank you for a wonderful documentary of pixie kitchen and pixieland.
As a young boy we lived in Portland Oregon, we would often go to the coast for the weekend. My grandfather had a motel in South Beach Oregon called Blair's bungalows. We couldn't go past pixieland without stopping. I've seen a number of shows at the Opera, log rides, and sat on the train as well. I still have some wonderful memories of pixie land and the pixie kitchen.
I never knew until now why the Park closed.
Thank you again for a wonderful and memorable documentary.
WOW this was an amazing memory jog! I got to go to the Pixie Kitchen a couple times when I was very young. I still have vivid memories of the interior and the view but haven't actually seen it in decades. This was fun. Thank you!
As I watched this wonderful documentary, I had this feeling that something about the whole place had an eerie familiarity. So I dug through my parents' old photo albums, and sure enough, I found a picture of our family standing in front of the Pixie Kitchen backyard display with the waterwheel in the background. I must have been 10 years old at the time. Thanks for that journey in the Way-Back machine!
Brought Up in Newport - Since 1957 - Mom and Dad took us up to Pixeland Many Times as Great Treats ! ❤
What a history !! Our family first visited the Pixie Kitchen in 1966 while vacationing the Oregon coast . Excellent video and truly a " learning experience !!"
Thank you so much for making this wonderful documentary! My wife’s dad took her to the Pixie Kitchen and it was a memory that was all but forgotten by her until I came across your film! Thank you!
I used to live in Lincoln City when I was younger. My grandparents ran the hotel (was an econo lodge, now it’s a travelodge I think) on 101 and 21st for quite a while. All the time I lived there and never knew about pixieland! You learn something new everyday.
Wow, I lived in Lincoln city for four years, my wife grew up there, I never heard about any of this before watching, so fascinating!
You could fill 1000 pages with fawning memories of Pixie Kitchen from grown-up kids today. . Our family was at Neskowin every summer for decades. Mom knew we were NOT going home until we got a dinner at Pixie Kitchen. I don't know how many hundreds of pennies went down the Wishing Well! Even though the food quality declined after the Park's sold out, we still loved that place! It certainly brings a tear to my eye as I remember my parents. This time and place in Oregon was magical.
Superb job here. Just some random recommendation; I do live in Seattle and lived in Portland, so up my alley, but didn't know all this. Thanks for making this well done documentary. Im gonna check out more of your work. Bravo.
What a terrific film! I ate at the Pixie Kitchen and went to Pixieland many times as a kid. This brought back so a ton of fun memories: the mirrors, the food, the sand boxes in the table, the train, the log flume. Wow! I only wish my parents were here to watch this. They would have loved it! Thank you!
I live in the Pacific Northwest and have visited Lincoln City a handful of times. I have also visited Lagoon Amusement Park in Utah multiple times! I loved learning the history of Pixieland and can't wait to make these connections when I revisit Lincoln City and Lagoon.
Oh my! Thank you for this! As a kid we stopped at the Pixie Kitchen every year on way to and back from visiting our Grandmother. When Pixieland opened, we stopped on way up every year. It was a high point in our formative years. I often reminisce about both. Great documentary.
I've live in Oregon my whole life, 34 years, and I have never heard of this place!!!! This was so cool!!!!
I grew up near here in Willamina. As a boy in the 70’s this was our weekend destination. I remember going to the pixie kitchen with my grandparents and hearing this story. I always ordered clams steamed/fried and as a cook I carry those memories.
As a kid in the 70’s my family and I would eat at the Pixie Kitchen in Lincoln City - the silly mirrors was the most memorable. The good ole’ days of what Oregon once was.
The way you popularize and preserve Cascadian history is just amazing, thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this historical program on pixieland. I remember it very well and enjoyed the log flume ride, the dark ride and many other fun attractions. I even remember the first time I was in a helicopter at Pixie Land, the pilot charged $15 for 15 minutes to go up in the helicopter and tour over the park and area. That was a huge and amazing memory for me. 😊
This was absolutely fascinating and pleasurable to watch and learn about! Thank you so much for creating and sharing it!!
Oh my goodness love, loved, loved the pixie kitchen! The fun House mirror's we're so much fun. I miss the pixie kitchen!!! Pixieland was super Fun also. ♥️♥️♥️
This is a crazy underrated channel my friend. These documentary type UA-cam videos are freaking sweet.
Thanks for bringing this memory back to life for me Pete! Growing up we didn't have a lot, but every year our (single) Mom would throw the 3 of us into the back of the wagon and we'd head over to the coast for a long weekend. The trips were never complete until we had visited Pixie Kitchen. Good times, good memories, and a couple of tears shed for nostalgia's sake watching this.
Made me cry. I lived in Lincoln City and went there as a child
Went to the kitchen & pixie land numerous times. I loved the seafood platter at the kitchen & the plays at pixieland.
This is incredible.
I'm a huge fan of Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland. What a fun place it was. Sadly, it was long gone before I was born.
Every time I go to Lincoln City, I always make sure to stop at the historical museum and see their pixie exhibit.
I have a set of coin purses and some menus from the restaurant.
If you weren't full from eating at the restaurant, you got seconds at NO CHARGE!
Thanks again for this video.
Ya shouda been there kid, it was great !
Are you always so literal
Thanks for making me feel less weird for being fascinated by old stuff like this, even if it existed before I was born and I never went there Lol. Never heard about this place before an hour ago but it looks awesome. I’m literally on eBay looking at old pixie kitchen placemats and collectible coins just to get a get a better mental picture of it all.
Someone in another comment mentioned they gave out gift bags with a toy and jelly beans to the kids when leaving the pixie kitchen. I was looking around to see if I could find any pics of those.
Your collection of stuff from Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland sounds pretty neat. Take care ✌️
@@donHooligan It was just a light-hearted comment... Don't take everything so seriously
Wow- What a great story and unpleasant ending but glad its being told and remembered by many, Would have never known by driving that area for so many yrs
My mother took my brother and I to this park many times on the way to the coast. In fact we are on the small Farris wheel at 37:25! I remember years later finding it closed. Great memories.
Wow, very cool!
I remember going to Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland as a kid we lived in Portland...the good old days with my family....yes brings back memories...Shoe
Oh man did this documentary make my eyes leak. I dearly loved Pixieland, I grew up in Lincoln City and remember this place very well. I became a good shot with a gun because of the shoot 'em up gallery and I adored doing the spin art pictures but by far my all time favorite part of the park was the live theater with the hero, damsel and villain dramas and those awesome can can girls - i loved their dresses and the way they were all in sink and the music I could watch that for hours if they would have let me. My family went to this place every chance we got and we lived pretty close to it in Neotsu but with 5 kids in my family money was not abundant but still we managed to go there many times while they were there and we all still reminisce about this place periodically. Thank you to the family that owned this place for making some of my happiest childhood memories and thank you for making this documentary, my daughter is excited to watch it since she's heard many of our stories of this mini disneyland that was in our backyard.
My Alma Mater is Willamette, in Sale,m. The Pixie Kitchen wasn't only fun for families. College kids loved it, too. I think the last time I was there was in the mid 70's, when I went back for a visit to sorority sisters, and friends. Fond memories.
What an interesting and touching documentary. Fantastic work and production quality!
Times were so different back then. I can't even imagine what it was like since it all happened even before my parents were born, but from today's perspective, Jerry and Lula seem like the very definition of the American Dream. Thanks for including the interview with their daughter and son-in-law, always great to hear such stories and their anecdotes told by those who were there, while they are still around to tell them.
Love how you get and are able to interact with the daughter and the son-in-law of the owner
With this content and kind of quality, this is such an underrated channel, this deserved to be high like Wendover or Mustard
I can't imagine how difficult it was for the people who lost their homes and businesses in the restoration and creation of the natural area. Cascade Head and the Salmon River Estuary are some of my favorite natural areas to visit on the coast, and I am grateful we have such amazing, healthy habitat restored and preserved. The public access of the beach and natural areas along the whole stretch of our coastline, created during McCall's tenure, is part of Oregon's identity, and my identity as an Oregonian.
My grandparents lived on the coast, as well as many friends. Knowing how seasonal the business is there, and being a frequent winter visitor, I can definitely understand why a theme park wouldn't survive financially.
This place was even more magical than Disneyland. It was up close and personal an absolute first class experience for kids.
Another great video. This is just perfect right now. Got home from the museum I work for, worn out and sore but happy some big projects got done ahead of schedule, the old trains on the Lionel layout I manage were running smoothly, made a deep dish pizza, settled in to watch this. Perfect. Just absolutely perfect.
So cool to find this video.
When I was a kid we went there every summer on the way to the Beach. Thank you for sharing this.
No idea how I found this video, but it’s so cool to learn and hear about this historical place. Gone too soon!
As a born and raised oregonian, I really like to learn about our history. This was a great video. Well thought out, and packed with good information. Not only to learn of this but to kinda feel like you were there. Great job! Keep it up Peter Dibble !
What an amazing story. I have lived here my entire life, and my family before me too. I never heard about Pixie Kitchen or Pixieland.. this video was amazing & provided so much good information & visuals. Lincoln City is an interesting town today...lots of commercial businesses, a large casino, and the town stretches VERY long...on one side you've got the bay with a smaller area of businesses now mostly vacant minus a few restaurants (like Mo's) and then you've got everything else on the other side of town. Their "main street" is really not walkable...traffic runs right through it and it, again, stretches long. In between these points you'll find a pretty decent sized outlet mall. KFC, Taco Bell, Dollar Tree, Goodwill, McDonalds, Safeway, etc. It's not what I picture when I imagine the perfect, relaxing beach weekend. Their beach is good depending on which access point you choose..but I much prefer beaches like Cannon Beach, Manzanita, and Pacific City. Lincoln City has recently become more run down...a lot like Seaside is. A new crowd of sketchy visitors has emerged and our last visit we called it our last. It would've been so amazing to see Lincoln City survive better through the changing times & commercialization like some other nearby towns did. The Parks sound like great people who truly cared about providing fun for their community. The themepark was such a dream!! How amazing they made it come to life. The way they incorporated local companies is EXACTLY what Oregon is about..and the brilliant idea to model ideas after Disney & Knots is admirable. It's unfortunate our environment here just doesn't suit well for these big plans. It's a shame that land was sold to them in the first place...it's not their fault for damaging the ecosystem there, nor is the forestry service to blame. The land should've never been sold.
This was a great history shared! Thank you for doing an excellent job!
Very interesting and well-made documentary. I had never heard of Pixieland or the Pixie Kitchen. Fascinating story!
I've lived in Oregon all my life and I have never heard of this place until your video (35+ years). I actually cried a little. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Mr. Dibble on his way to pump out the best high quality documentaries ever for literally anyone on youtube
Growing up in the PNW, our family spent many vacations at the Oregon coast. I had more than one birthday party at Pixieland, during the 60s. I remember that they made a cake for me with little 45 records and dancing Pixies on it.
Reading the people's memories and personal ties to Pixieland is almost as much fun as the documentary!
Very cool documentary. I lived in Toledo, Or for several years and now in the Salem area. I go to the coast several times during the year and have driven past the estuary restoration sign and wondered about it. Now I know. Also, know the history about the different names in Lincoln City. Thank you for making this information available in a very professional educational way.
Peter, what an amazing documentary. My family has a cabin on the Cascade Head Ranch and I am on its board of directors. We strictly follow the federal law and directive of the forest service. Several of my neighbors still work on the Salmon Creek Restoration project.
This was awesome. Well told with lots of pictures and footage. Fascinating to see stories of old Oregon like this.
I have to admit that my heart sank when they showed an excavator, and said that they had cleared an old lumber yard. That's a piece of history that can never be replaced.
This was an amazingly well done informative video. I appreciate the time and energy that was put in to this historical tribute. What a shame the outcome. Wouldn’t it be a whole different Oregon coast if this theme park had survived! It is so sad so many families lost their homes all for “progress”. Thank you again for this wonderful story and keeping the Pixie Kitchen a memory that continues to live on.
You continue to impress me (& my friends) with your outstanding documentaries. This is absolutely fantastic. It brings out so many emotions. Thank you for creating & uploading this wonderful video!
What an incredible video! It's sad that the flume was recently retired in 2022 in Utah. As the years go by, more and more of these historical sights fade into distant memory.
Wow this was put together well. Nicely done. Very enjoyable to watch
This brought back a vivid memory from 60-some years ago, visiting Pixie Kitchen with my parents and godparents who were avid beachcombers. I was a very slow eater and when the waitress came to clear the adults' plates, she took mine away too, thinking I had finished. Well, I started to cry and the waitress felt so awful about the mistake, they presented me with the most gigantic ice cream sundae imaginable! :) This was a wonderful presentation and so nostalgic, thank you!
This is your best video yet, and one of the best of any I’ve seen on UA-cam in quite a while! I got to Oregon long after this place disappeared, but I love learning the less well known histories of my state.
BTW if you look at this location on Google Earth or Maps you can still see the outlines of some features including the RV park.
I dunno Harbor Drive was pretty good too. Also you can see the random center lane on the road that probably used to be the left turn lane
A quick way to search is to search for "Salmon Creek Wetlands". That will point you to the part of Highway 18 that is just south of the RV park.
Thanks for the tip about google maps, I’m gonna look after the video is over!!
It even says Pixieland right on the google map! So fun.
@@nish221100 It even says Pixieland right on the google map! So fun.
So glad I discovered your channel through the Spruce Goose video. I’m hooked on all these videos! My mom was just talking about Pixieland the other day, she loved it as a kid!
I'm from Salt Lake City originally and remember riding the Log Flume at Lagoon in Farmington. I had never heard of Pixieland until watching this! I now live in the Portland area and have been to Lincoln City a few times and been past this area without an inkling of its history. Very interesting!
I was born at Gleneden Beach in 1960 We went here all the time, I love the Pixie Kitchen, The food was amazing , I actually have Pixie Kitchen Memorabilia. So many fond memories
Thank you so much for sharing this. As a kid my Grandparents would take us there during the summer months and now I'm 58 years old often wondered where and what ever happened to pixieland? Thank for bringing this to everyone that as a kid what joy it brought to so many people. Sad that it never took off like predicted. But sure made millions of smiles and memories.