Blast From The Past: Japanese Deer Park

I visited a couple times when I was small. Amazing how many animal attractions I had in the greater Los Angeles area as a kid that are no longer there.

Japanese Deer Garden (Buena Park)
California Alligator Farm (Buena Park)
Lion Country Safari (Irvine)
Marineland (Palos Verdes)
Busch Gardens (Van Nuys)
 
Just looked at the photo link. I do not remember them having dolphins and sea lions - I guess I was too young to remember. Talk about not being politically correct - a dolphin jumping through a hoop of fire!
 
Same here AD. I visited all of the above animal parks while growing up in the LA area as well. And yes, Japanese Deer Park did have quite a number of performing animal acts. I had forgotten the Dove Pavilion until these photos, but now remember going through it. The dolphin jumping through a ring of fire caught my attention too.
 
AZ and Blackduiker: what was Busch Gardens like? I've seen photos with a big tropical looking lake that had a Jungle Cruise-African Queen type boat ride on it. What kind of animals and attractions did they have there?
 
Blackduiker

DavidBrown said:
AZ and Blackduiker: what was Busch Gardens like? I've seen photos with a big tropical looking lake that had a Jungle Cruise-African Queen type boat ride on it. What kind of animals and attractions did they have there?
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Correction, I visited all the parks listed by Arizona Docent with the exception of Busch Gardens. On the one attempt I remember my parents made to take my brothers and I, we arrived just a little too late to justify paying the admission fee for six. From the photos though, you can see that they were basically a bird park. The brewery is still there, located in Van Nuys; in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, and I do drive by it on occasion. I regret never visiting the Gardens before its closure.
 
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Yes basically a bird park with giant tortoises and some rides and a few carnival type attractions like a fun-house mirror maze. The main thing I remember is a log flume ride that went into the walk-in aviary and these heavy rubber flaps would hit you in the head as your boat entered the aviary. It was definitely nothing on the scale of the very nice Busch Gardens in Tampa.
 
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They also had a monorail type ride that toured the brewery. As a kid, I had one of the old View Master discs of this Busch Gardens. Anyone remember those amazing 3D devices? I also had discs from the San Diego Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, and Florida's Busch Gardens. Held up to the right light, the photos were incredible! I even had a View Master slide projector you could show on your bedroom or living room wall.
 
The brewery monorail was already in place when the gardens were added. I remember taking it to tour the brewery with my mother and brother before the gardens were there (which was odd, because my mother never drank alcohol).
 
Blackduiker said:
They also had a monorail type ride that toured the brewery. As a kid, I had one of the old View Master discs of this Busch Gardens. Anyone remember those amazing 3D devices? I also had discs from the San Diego Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo, and Florida's Busch Gardens. Held up to the right light, the photos were incredible! I even had a View Master slide projector you could show on your bedroom or living room wall.
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My earliest memory of seeing pictures of animals in the wild in Africa was on a Viewmaster disc that my grandmother gave me for my fourth birthday. I wish that I still had it. They were great.
 
Yep, I had several African wildlife View Master discs too. The next best thing to being there. Those 3D photos seemingly put you right there with them. A great past time for kids growing up in the 1960s and '70s.
 
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