This is really something. Home movies of a trip to California by a Connecticut family (the Barstows) who won a contest sponsored by Scotch Tape in 1956. The prize was a week in Southern California, hotel accommodations in Pasadena, admission to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, a trip to Catalina Island, and $300 in spending money.
I've written before about my experiences at theme parks in Southern California, including Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, during the mid 1950's. This home movie is as close to the experiences I had as anything I've ever seen. I panned for gold at Knott's Berry Farm, rode the donkeys at Disneyland, got sunburned at Santa Monica and Catalina, even took trips in split-level Greyhound buses just like the one in this movie. I visited Hollywood often enough, stopping at Graumann's Chinese as well as the Egyptian, and sat in the audience of several television shows. I never did go on the Universal Studios tour -- don't recall that they had one in those days, but I guess they did. Of course I remember orange groves -- there were oranges planted behind our house until about 1955.
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