Taking a quick road trip north up the 5 freeway brings you to scenic Valencia home to Magic Mountain. What started out as a small theme park has now morphed into a giant coaster park. It was once surrounded by nothing but fields and more fields and is now home to houses and strip malls. But back in 1972 they had their own costumed characters, furry trolls and the wizard who ran the place. The characters are almost as scary as the Fuji Folk seen at Japanese Deer Park.
Magic Mountain was a way scary place back in the day (at least for kids)... I have a picture of me in the late 70's or early 80's locked in a cage with a drugged bear. What kinda place locks kids in a cage with a bear?? :)
ReplyDeleteI uploaded it if you would like to look at it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76705673@N00/975671597/
Viva Magic Mountain! A few years ago (well, more than that) I was working on a book about the rock band Kiss' 1978 TV movie, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. The "park" of course being MM! I learned a lot about the park, and it's a shame the way things have gone over there ... they had their own characters! The wizard was always there, but kinda low key, compared to Bloop and Bleep, the trolls. There is also a TON of merchandise from their hey day, too! Thanks for the cool post!
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