We went there a couple of times a year a few years in the early 60's. Loved the stage shootouts, but my favorite was the calvery fort. I was in little boy heaven with an entire fort to play in.
Spawn Ranch, I knew they filmed in that location for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. One of my favorite movies from last year. Also they filmed the western scenes at Six Points Texas at Universal Hollywood.
1:32 Fun Fact: My house, and to an extant my neighborhood, was the site of where Birth of a Nation was filmed. Hell, the former site of DW Griffith Studio is behind my house(It’s now a Propane and Propane Accessories store).
This was amazing. I would love to see more like this! (Also I finally realized what Bonus Nachos is a mispronunciation of, I love it! Little sad I didn't figure it out until now)
We have a couple lost theme parks out where I am in Seattle. There's the famous Luna park that was burned down by arsonists in 1913, Playland that closed in 1961 to not take attention away from the seattle world's fair in 1962, and fun forest that opened after the fair and later would close in 2009 after essentially becoming a Hotspot for gang activity due to lack of night security and inability to lock up the grounds after hours.
An unexpected surprise and a wonderful episode. I loved how you took aspects of Defunctland and Bright Sun Films' Abandoned and combined them with your own style of presentation. I also got a little emotional at this tale, rather unexpected in itself as I'd never even heard of this park, but all the same it's kinda sad seeing a man's dream taken from him by the cruelty of business and legality. Still, it's a godsend that even a small portion of this revolutionary little park still exists to this day and is both accessible and protected as a city park. As for other abandoned small town amusement parks, while it may be awhile before we can travel again for you to explore it, I'd like to extend an invitation to explore the history of Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, Texas, my hometown. Just as a quick summary to tide you over: Built on the natural springs for which it's named, the headwaters of the San Marcos River, the parks origins date back to 1928 when landowner A.B. Rogers and his son built a hotel and glass bottom boat ride on the banks of the artificial Spring Lake (the result of a dam built in 1849 by former Republic of Texas vice president Edward Burleson to power a mill). Things really began to look more theme park-y in 1951 with the construction of a submarine theater and mermaid show in the lake and the addition of a swimming pool to the hotel. These were soon joined by an Alpine-style chairlift and a Sky Spiral observation tower atop the hill behind the lake, thus forming the basis for the first official amusement park in the state of Texas. Over the years the park saw various expansions, including a Wild West town, an aquarium, a small outdoor theater, an arcade, and more. At its peak, Aquarena Springs was seeing up to 250,000 guests annually. By the 1990's though, the park had fallen into decline; the chairlift had long stopped working and the observation tower became notorious for getting stuck, so much so that in the mid-90's it was closed and abandoned. The last straw came in 1994 when the submarine theater was found to be leaking and would require expensive repairs that the owners couldn't afford. So, just like everything else, it was abandoned and the park closed, with the exception of the glass bottom boats and the hotel. The property was eventually acquired by Texas State University, who closed the hotel initially for use as storage and office space but later remodeled it into a visitor center. In 2012, citing potential ecological impact, TSU hired the Army Corp of Engineers to remove and scrap the submarine theater. As someone who grew up around this park, I admit I have surprisingly little ties to it; I remember seeing shows in the submarine theater when I was very young; it was a popular spot for elementary school field trips. I may have even gone up in the observation tower once. I do remember my mother helping a group of artist friends sculpt giant seashell props for the mermaid show from concrete and rebar, some of which ended up being sold to a park in Argentina after the theater's closure. Most of all, I remember the hotel; it was a favorite "staycation" spot before that phrase was really a thing, a local spot seemingly isolated from the rest of the town. Many a birthday party was spent in a room that opened right onto the pool. Even after its abandonment, much of the site, especially the observation tower, continued to be San Marcos landmarks until this too was torn down. As of my last visit in 2018, it's positively eerie how little is left; the university embarked on a thorough conservation effort to return the springs to their natural state. Now, barring the boardwalk built over the former site of the submarine theater, you would never have known that a theme park was ever there. Only a few ghostly ruins remain, such as an overlook deck and a few faux ruined stone cabins up on the hill, and the glass bottom boats that started it all, still proudly operated by the university. Still, San Marcos remembers its lost theme park and has adopted the mermaid as its semi-official symbol along with their legendary co-star, Ralph the Swimming Pig.
My family’s 1963 California vacation included a day at Corriganville. As a 12 year old boy, I remember some staged gun fights, but mostly I remember some sort of a con-game that they pulled off in some big room that really riled my dad. I believe the lure was something like buying a $200 watch for $20, but in order to qualify for that you had a buy a bunch of other stuff to get to step 10 where you could buy that watch. I don’t remember the specifics, but my dad figured he paid way over $200 for that watch, and went home with a dozen useless items that he had to buy to get to that last step. They must’ve been struggling to actually turn it into a crooked amusement park.
This is a pretty interesting video. We had a similar theme park up in San Jose called Frontier Village. It’s pretty much if Frontierland (pre-Big Thunder) was the whole park and had Hanna Barbera characters as the mascots. It unfortunately closed in 1980 due to a number of circumstances, and now half of it became a neighborhood and the other just a regular empty park.
Grew up in the area and raced moto's at Hopetown in the early 70's. Of all the Corriganvillle material on youtube this is arguably the best. - Kudos
That part of David and Tony reading quotes was very Defunctland like. Well if you can’t beat them, rip ‘em off!!!
We went there a couple of times a year a few years in the early 60's. Loved the stage shootouts, but my favorite was the calvery fort. I was in little boy heaven with an entire fort to play in.
Be Safe my dude. Love your show.
I was there today!!!
wait jan michael vincent now I can't stop thinking about the rick and morty episode with jan michael vincent
Billy the kid vs Dracula? And they say our movie are weird. Nice masks
What is it about movie ranches and their ties with crime?
History of Disney MGM studios?
"Is this a Monster Vlog?" "Always was"
"Always has been."
Spawn Ranch, I knew they filmed in that location for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. One of my favorite movies from last year. Also they filmed the western scenes at Six Points Texas at Universal Hollywood.
Spahn
When you think of Spawn Ranch, the Charles Manson gang stayed there.
1:32 Fun Fact: My house, and to an extant my neighborhood, was the site of where Birth of a Nation was filmed. Hell, the former site of DW Griffith Studio is behind my house(It’s now a Propane and Propane Accessories store).
Hank Hill ended racism.
This was excellent and fascinating, a winning combo! Nice work, Charlie.
This was amazing.
I would love to see more like this!
(Also I finally realized what Bonus Nachos is a mispronunciation of, I love it! Little sad I didn't figure it out until now)
TIL There's a movie called "Billy the Kid vs. Dracula"
It is, in fact, a real movie.
We have a couple lost theme parks out where I am in Seattle. There's the famous Luna park that was burned down by arsonists in 1913, Playland that closed in 1961 to not take attention away from the seattle world's fair in 1962, and fun forest that opened after the fair and later would close in 2009 after essentially becoming a Hotspot for gang activity due to lack of night security and inability to lock up the grounds after hours.
An unexpected surprise and a wonderful episode. I loved how you took aspects of Defunctland and Bright Sun Films' Abandoned and combined them with your own style of presentation. I also got a little emotional at this tale, rather unexpected in itself as I'd never even heard of this park, but all the same it's kinda sad seeing a man's dream taken from him by the cruelty of business and legality. Still, it's a godsend that even a small portion of this revolutionary little park still exists to this day and is both accessible and protected as a city park.
As for other abandoned small town amusement parks, while it may be awhile before we can travel again for you to explore it, I'd like to extend an invitation to explore the history of Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, Texas, my hometown. Just as a quick summary to tide you over:
Built on the natural springs for which it's named, the headwaters of the San Marcos River, the parks origins date back to 1928 when landowner A.B. Rogers and his son built a hotel and glass bottom boat ride on the banks of the artificial Spring Lake (the result of a dam built in 1849 by former Republic of Texas vice president Edward Burleson to power a mill). Things really began to look more theme park-y in 1951 with the construction of a submarine theater and mermaid show in the lake and the addition of a swimming pool to the hotel. These were soon joined by an Alpine-style chairlift and a Sky Spiral observation tower atop the hill behind the lake, thus forming the basis for the first official amusement park in the state of Texas. Over the years the park saw various expansions, including a Wild West town, an aquarium, a small outdoor theater, an arcade, and more. At its peak, Aquarena Springs was seeing up to 250,000 guests annually. By the 1990's though, the park had fallen into decline; the chairlift had long stopped working and the observation tower became notorious for getting stuck, so much so that in the mid-90's it was closed and abandoned. The last straw came in 1994 when the submarine theater was found to be leaking and would require expensive repairs that the owners couldn't afford. So, just like everything else, it was abandoned and the park closed, with the exception of the glass bottom boats and the hotel. The property was eventually acquired by Texas State University, who closed the hotel initially for use as storage and office space but later remodeled it into a visitor center. In 2012, citing potential ecological impact, TSU hired the Army Corp of Engineers to remove and scrap the submarine theater.
As someone who grew up around this park, I admit I have surprisingly little ties to it; I remember seeing shows in the submarine theater when I was very young; it was a popular spot for elementary school field trips. I may have even gone up in the observation tower once. I do remember my mother helping a group of artist friends sculpt giant seashell props for the mermaid show from concrete and rebar, some of which ended up being sold to a park in Argentina after the theater's closure. Most of all, I remember the hotel; it was a favorite "staycation" spot before that phrase was really a thing, a local spot seemingly isolated from the rest of the town. Many a birthday party was spent in a room that opened right onto the pool. Even after its abandonment, much of the site, especially the observation tower, continued to be San Marcos landmarks until this too was torn down. As of my last visit in 2018, it's positively eerie how little is left; the university embarked on a thorough conservation effort to return the springs to their natural state. Now, barring the boardwalk built over the former site of the submarine theater, you would never have known that a theme park was ever there. Only a few ghostly ruins remain, such as an overlook deck and a few faux ruined stone cabins up on the hill, and the glass bottom boats that started it all, still proudly operated by the university. Still, San Marcos remembers its lost theme park and has adopted the mermaid as its semi-official symbol along with their legendary co-star, Ralph the Swimming Pig.
Superb use of the "It always was" meme.
Interesting 🤔
My family’s 1963 California vacation included a day at Corriganville. As a 12 year old boy, I remember some staged gun fights, but mostly I remember some sort of a con-game that they pulled off in some big room that really riled my dad. I believe the lure was something like buying a $200 watch for $20, but in order to qualify for that you had a buy a bunch of other stuff to get to step 10 where you could buy that watch. I don’t remember the specifics, but my dad figured he paid way over $200 for that watch, and went home with a dozen useless items that he had to buy to get to that last step. They must’ve been struggling to actually turn it into a crooked amusement park.
LOL, That is my home in Hopetown. :) I used to visit the original place in the 60's. My dad and uncle raced there. Great vlog.
Spaz is definitely the people the!edit me park guy, Tony is the front man, Dave is the thinking mans theme park guy but spaz is the relaxed guy
This is a pretty interesting video. We had a similar theme park up in San Jose called Frontier Village. It’s pretty much if Frontierland (pre-Big Thunder) was the whole park and had Hanna Barbera characters as the mascots. It unfortunately closed in 1980 due to a number of circumstances, and now half of it became a neighborhood and the other just a regular empty park.
Formerly known as The Lone Ranger ranch.
It always was ROTFL
An excellent and informative look into a forgotten piece of themed entertainment history!
This was pretty interesting. Unusually somber, too.
Love it! This is a great return to your classic format.👍🏿