The Real Knott’s Theme Park: Calico

Somewhere in the desert twilight just outside the Barstow lights, the Spirit of Walter Knott lives. While his name might be plastered all along Buena Vista sights and Cedar Rapids moguls might pedal his name for their profit, there is still a spot, a blimp on the map, that shines like silver with Knott’s glimmering touch. Calico is such a ghost town.

The town is a mixture of odd, historic, amusing, and amazing. It was once a thriving mining town that hit the payload with silver and Borax. 86 million was extracted in silver and 45 million in Borax while the town was booming. At its height over 1,200 people lived in the town, had 22 saloons, their own "Chinatown, and red-light district.

But, when Walter Knott found the town it was in ruins; Dilapidated. Everyone had gone; mining had come to an end. It was literally a ghost town. Knott bought the town and moved various local pieces to his Orange County theme park (that you can still find there). But he didn’t just level the town and keep the historic memorabilia. No the town has his signature stamp all over it. It has a replicated school house, bottle house, mystery shack, and talking dummies. Of course, the Knott family no longer owns the property, they gave the land over to the state and it is now a national park. Thankfully, our grand state has kept the soul of the town alive.

Two major fires have hit Calico; eighty percent of the original town is gone, but that shouldn’t stop a person from visiting a bygone era. It still looks and feels like an old western ghost town, only mixed with modern quirkiness.

A couple weeks back we decided to go out there and check the town out. Actually, our Sister In-law Michelle was heading out to scope out some photography sites and possibly get a Christmas pic of her kids. Since she knows I enjoy visiting these kinds of places she decided to invite us along. To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled about going to Calico. I just thought Faith would like to hang out with her cousins and I would finally get a chance to see the Stephen and Michelle’s new house.

I figured we would probably be there about an hour, walk around and look at knick-knack shops, take some pictures and call it a day. But to my utter delight the place was awesome! We ended up getting there about 12pm and leaving around 5:30! The only reason we left was that the sun was going down, the town was closing up, and it was getting cold.

There were lots of different things to do while hanging out in Calico; great places to take pictures, pan for gold, watch gunfights in the street, take a train ride, walk through a mine, see the mystery shack (this is a replica of the same one that was once in Knott’s Berry Farm, but IMHO the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz was far superior), and check out the cemetery.

We also ate at the Restaurant in Calico, it was all right but nothing to brag about. I recommend the Firehouse Chili which is homemade. Also if you have children, keep in mind that the children’s meals are adult prices. It might be better to go into Barstow and eat at the McDonald’s Train station (which I can no longer stomach since be marooned there for hours when our car broke down) or hit up the first Del Taco also located in Barstow.

So next time save your money, stay away from the multi-mega- million dollar corporation that dangles Knott’s name like a carrot on a stick and head out to a little town in the desert that still carries on Walter Knott’s Spirit.