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Frontier Village
Frontier Village was a 39-acre (16 ha) amusement park in San Jose, California, that operated from 1961 to September 1980. It was located at 4885 Monterey Road, at the intersection with Branham Lane. The site is now Edenvale Garden Park, next to Hayes Mansion, and was once part of the Hayes Family Estate.
The park was built by Joseph Zukin Jr. of Palo Alto, who was inspired by a family trip to Disneyland in 1959. In 1958, Zukin sold 110,000 shares in the Frontier Village corporation at $5 per share. Additional funds were raised by selling 400,000 shares of stock at US$5 (equivalent to $50 in 2025) each, of which nearly 80,000 shares were sold by October 1960, helped by a "substantial, but not controlling block" purchased by United California Theaters.
The park was planned initially to be built along El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, California, according to plans drawn up in 1958 by the Frontier Village Corporation, founded by Zukin, Hawley Smith, and Michael Khourie. Zukin declared "it will be designed as a children's dream of the Old West, where the child (and his parents) can actually experience the thrills and excitement of the West in an atmosphere especially created for fun and relaxation." Zukin later announced in April 1959 that Frontier Village would be built in San Jose, on Hayes Ranch, part of the estate surrounding Hayes Mansion.
Initial design was performed by Paul Murphy, who also had a full-time job at Santa Clara University as director of publications. After Murphy found himself too busy to continue, responsibility for the design was turned over to Laurence Hollings, who had prior experience designing film sets at Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures, and nature habitats at the California Academy of Sciences. He described the park as a "sort of tongue-in-cheek approach to the Wild West." For publicity, a touring western-themed show named "Frontier Days" visited local shopping centers in late spring 1960, including Valley Fair in San Jose and Bay Fair in San Leandro.
Ground was broken for the park on August 1, 1960.
The park, developed at a cost of $2 million, opened on October 21, 1961, surrounded by a barricade of logs, and was themed to the Old West. Admission was $0.90 for adults, $0.45 for children (older than 12), and free (for children under 12). The initial public mascot of the park was an unnamed "Deputy Marshal" who greeted guests and saved them from dangerous outlaws in daily mock shootouts staged every hour at the park's Main Street. The actors were equipped with actual firearms (Colt Single Action Army revolvers and double-barrel shotguns) firing blanks filled with black powder. To better retain the water in an artificial canal for the Indian Canoe ride, the canal was lined with cement. The park was open year-round, operating on weekends only during the off-season (fall to spring). More than one million people visited the park in its first three years of operation.
The 1964 summer season opened on Saturday, June 20, marked by a "Family Fun Day". Frontier Village was praised as "spotless, rarely jammed ... one can take in all of the rides and attractions within about four hours." Jim Bakich, a first-year student at San Jose City College, attempted to set a world's record for the longest continuous Ferris wheel ride in 1965, planning to spend two full weeks aboard the park's wheel. Other self-claimed world records set at the park in 1966 include the finish of the longest foot-propelled scooter journey – (114 mi (183 km) from Big Sur, by Byron Jones – and largest pizza – 4+1⁄2 ft (1.4 m) in diameter. Dennis the Menace visited the park with his parents in the story "The Park Lark", initially published for the March 1970 issue; while there, he interacted with the marshal, an outlaw, other guests, and visited several attractions, including the Rainbow Falls trout fishing pond and the Antique Cars ride.
A short film entitled Kung-Phooey was filmed in part at Frontier Village in 1975; it was written and produced for less than $100 by a group of 29 elementary school students from San Francisco under the instruction of Darrell Sevilla. It won first prize at the National Educational Television Young Filmmakers' Festival.
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Frontier Village
Frontier Village was a 39-acre (16 ha) amusement park in San Jose, California, that operated from 1961 to September 1980. It was located at 4885 Monterey Road, at the intersection with Branham Lane. The site is now Edenvale Garden Park, next to Hayes Mansion, and was once part of the Hayes Family Estate.
The park was built by Joseph Zukin Jr. of Palo Alto, who was inspired by a family trip to Disneyland in 1959. In 1958, Zukin sold 110,000 shares in the Frontier Village corporation at $5 per share. Additional funds were raised by selling 400,000 shares of stock at US$5 (equivalent to $50 in 2025) each, of which nearly 80,000 shares were sold by October 1960, helped by a "substantial, but not controlling block" purchased by United California Theaters.
The park was planned initially to be built along El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, California, according to plans drawn up in 1958 by the Frontier Village Corporation, founded by Zukin, Hawley Smith, and Michael Khourie. Zukin declared "it will be designed as a children's dream of the Old West, where the child (and his parents) can actually experience the thrills and excitement of the West in an atmosphere especially created for fun and relaxation." Zukin later announced in April 1959 that Frontier Village would be built in San Jose, on Hayes Ranch, part of the estate surrounding Hayes Mansion.
Initial design was performed by Paul Murphy, who also had a full-time job at Santa Clara University as director of publications. After Murphy found himself too busy to continue, responsibility for the design was turned over to Laurence Hollings, who had prior experience designing film sets at Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures, and nature habitats at the California Academy of Sciences. He described the park as a "sort of tongue-in-cheek approach to the Wild West." For publicity, a touring western-themed show named "Frontier Days" visited local shopping centers in late spring 1960, including Valley Fair in San Jose and Bay Fair in San Leandro.
Ground was broken for the park on August 1, 1960.
The park, developed at a cost of $2 million, opened on October 21, 1961, surrounded by a barricade of logs, and was themed to the Old West. Admission was $0.90 for adults, $0.45 for children (older than 12), and free (for children under 12). The initial public mascot of the park was an unnamed "Deputy Marshal" who greeted guests and saved them from dangerous outlaws in daily mock shootouts staged every hour at the park's Main Street. The actors were equipped with actual firearms (Colt Single Action Army revolvers and double-barrel shotguns) firing blanks filled with black powder. To better retain the water in an artificial canal for the Indian Canoe ride, the canal was lined with cement. The park was open year-round, operating on weekends only during the off-season (fall to spring). More than one million people visited the park in its first three years of operation.
The 1964 summer season opened on Saturday, June 20, marked by a "Family Fun Day". Frontier Village was praised as "spotless, rarely jammed ... one can take in all of the rides and attractions within about four hours." Jim Bakich, a first-year student at San Jose City College, attempted to set a world's record for the longest continuous Ferris wheel ride in 1965, planning to spend two full weeks aboard the park's wheel. Other self-claimed world records set at the park in 1966 include the finish of the longest foot-propelled scooter journey – (114 mi (183 km) from Big Sur, by Byron Jones – and largest pizza – 4+1⁄2 ft (1.4 m) in diameter. Dennis the Menace visited the park with his parents in the story "The Park Lark", initially published for the March 1970 issue; while there, he interacted with the marshal, an outlaw, other guests, and visited several attractions, including the Rainbow Falls trout fishing pond and the Antique Cars ride.
A short film entitled Kung-Phooey was filmed in part at Frontier Village in 1975; it was written and produced for less than $100 by a group of 29 elementary school students from San Francisco under the instruction of Darrell Sevilla. It won first prize at the National Educational Television Young Filmmakers' Festival.