REMEMBERING WHEN SILICON VALLEY WAS THE “VALLEY OF HEARTS DELIGHT”

…A sign from the original Frontier Village

 

Remembering the loss of a venue that still sparks amazing memories.

 

The following article is far and away from my usual offerings.  I was, I guess you could say, recently “inspired” to write a story that tells a narrative about what it was like as I was growing up here in Silicon Valley.  The story will attempt to demonstrate how this beautiful agricultural area, then known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight”, how it changed, as has many American communities.  It’s also a story about a local venue that had a positive long-time effect on many of us that grew up in this valley.  The initial changes to the valley began right after WWII which was decades before this valley became the nation’s center of modern technology.

 

I came up with the idea for this article when it was recently announced that a local Community Museum was presenting a new display that showed the historical artifacts of three former, local theme parks that had sprung up in the 1950’s & ‘60’s.  These were some of the first spin-offs parks of what Walt Disney had started with his original Disneyland park in Southern California.  It was the beginning of what later became today’s “Family Friendly” parks that went on to emphasize more than just the thrill rides of a traveling carnival or of a local fair.

 

As many of us boomers remember, after WWII, it was a very different period for America and it allowed for the real beginning of what became the foundation of the true American middle class.

 

The era of drugs, free love, and the counter-culture of radical politics had yet to appear.  The term “Rock & Roll” had only been coined for a few years and more families were beginning to afford more than just the basic necessities of life.  These growing families were finally able to afford spending some of their hard earned income on non-essentials and perhaps some “week-ends of fun” for the whole family.

 

This latest Museum Exhibit is about three specific theme parks, two of which had been located in the local Santa Cruz Mountains.  These two parks were Santa’s Village and the Lost World.  Santa’s Village was obviously a wooded North Pole park where Santa’s workshop was, and it was focused on the younger children.  The Lost World was more of a Sci-Fi location with trees that had been grown into weird shapes and there were also full size dinosaur replicas. 

 

However, the major theme park being featured at the Museum, which every local resident remembered the most, was located in South San Jose.  It was a western theme park called Frontier Village.

 

And yes, this was in the era that today many Baby Boomers still refer to as “The Good Old Days”. 

 

Up to that period, America had been the leader in winning WWII and for ending the Korean conflict.  It was the beginning of the era of a gas powered auto for every American family.  It was also the era of the Cold War between America and the then Soviet Union. 

 

But this was the beginning of what is called the first years of real American market commercialization. 

 

After WWII, more money was being spent on the nation’s children than ever before.  According to the records, toy sales had gone from $84 million in the ‘40’s to $1.25 billion in the ‘60’s.

 

These new theme parks were a way for the pictures in children’s books to be brought to life whether it was for Christmas stories, stories of dinosaurs, or stories of the old wild west.  And let’s not forget that TV sets had begun to abound, and weekly TV westerns were being watched regularly in many American households.

 

The average working head of household could now afford a small tract house with the then modern appliances.  These homes also included a family automobile and eventually a black & white TV.  There was also some occasional leftover cash to spend on family weekend outings, which was exactly the target of these “family friendly” parks.

 

At the new Frontier Village, it was also the first time for a new customer-friendly approach to business management that was taken on by this particular theme park’s owner.

 

Before the western park was even a concept, the key investor team made a visit to Disneyland.  Now it must be understood that at that time, Disneyland was nothing as we know it today.  It was in its own infancy and only a crude example of today’s multi-billion dollar operation.   But the new San Jose park founders were particularly taken with Frontierland at Disneyland and that theme was what was decided as the focus of the new park.

 

As was written about the new Museum Exhibit, “The idea that an amusement park could be "family friendly" was quite novel. Prior to Disneyland, amusement parks were centered around carnival rides or seaside resorts. Generally speaking, these previous parks were geared toward young bachelors, they served alcohol and were much seedier in nature—a far cry from the squeaky clean Magic Kingdom.”

 

In addition, here is how one of the former long-time Frontier Village managers stated about how the park was to be managed;

 

“ ’Customer service was certainly at the top of the totem pole at Frontier Village. If a boy's ice cream fell off the cone and onto the ground, an employee was right there to replace it for him. If a girl lost her balloon, she would get a new one. Visitors didn't have to go a customer service desk and wait for the manager to come down and assess the issue. No one had to wait through a frustrating phone tree before talking to a live human being.’

 

‘The employee manuals were thorough, and included guidelines for personal grooming, customer interaction, uniform care, and even scripts for various characters and other positions at the park. Many of the Frontier Village staff adopted Wild West personae and took their work seriously. And yet, at the same time, it was all play. As a result, visitors felt safe, secure and clean. It was like stepping into a magazine ad.

 

The owner Joe took a hands-on approach with his employees—teaching them everything he knew about business. Everyone was treated equally, as if part of a family. The park taught so many people about life itself. To this day, many former employees say the lessons they learned working under Joe helped them become leaders in their respective adult professions.’

 

‘Joe handpicked a special management team and the core group stayed together for most of the park's history,’ the manager stated. ‘And a key element was that Joe took the egos out of park operation. If someone had a good idea, we embraced it, even if the idea came from a newly hired ride operator. No other department or person was more important than another. And the guests picked up on that ambiance.’

 

As a result, especially in the early years, Frontier Village became one of the most lucrative local places a young person could work, as fast food restaurants were not yet ubiquitous. Young adults fought tooth and nail for one of the 350 jobs Frontier Village offered each year. “

 

The owners of the park took much of what they had done at Disneyland, and then they went even further. 

 

They invited many TV celebrities to visit the park, especially the stars of the TV westerns such as Lorne Green of the Bonanza series and Jay Silverheels that had played Tonto on the Lone Ranger series.  But they didn’t stop there.  They even had the stars of the then very popular weekly show “Welcome Back Kotter” which was the TV show that had introduced John Travolta, as the smartass teenager, Vinnie Barbarino.

 

What was also different back in those days was there was little need for the over protective parents that are today referred to as “Helicopter Parents”.  You know, those parents that never let their children out of their sight.  As one of the former park mangers has said, "You could sit on a bench and just watch people. You could sit on a bench and eat and drink a beer. You could also turn your kids loose to run around. The kids could ride anything they wanted to. There were different ticket packages so everybody could fit it in their own budget. And there were staged gunfights. You couldn't do those in today's market."

 

But the one item that is stated today about the former park’s overall success was that, “Everything came down to the employees. For nearly 20 years, Frontier Village implemented an elaborate, borderline-compulsive strategy of employee operations.”

 

I personally remember growing up and going to these parks and I was fortunate that some were still around to take our son to before they disappeared.  I even had high school friends that were hired for their first paid jobs at Frontier Village, and the job became one of the best experiences of their future working lives.

 

I see today that here in Silicon Valley, some of the high-tech companies are also accepting the idea that the company is only as good as its employees.  The employees at companies such as Google, Facebook, Intuit, LinkedIn, Apple and others in the valley are today treating their employees like those that worked years ago at Frontier Village.

 

One can only hope that this is a long-term situation and that it becomes a standard of how future corporations regard the most valuable components of their organization.

 

It’s reassuring to think that a place that is thought of with such good memories was also ahead of their time in developing such a positive workplace environment.

 

From the initial response to this new Museum Exhibit, I would expect to see a number of the locals visiting the Museum for reliving some of their favorite memories of these former ‘60’s Family Friendly parks.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015