The Forgotten Story of Pixieland: The Oregon Coast Amusement Park
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- The Oregon coast was once home to an amusement park that promised to be the Pacific Northwest's answer to Disneyland. This documentary tells the full story of Pixieland, from its earliest inspiration to its eventual downfall, and its long-lasting impact on the community.
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:54 - Chapter I: A Successful Start
8:30 - Chapter II: Growing Ambitions
16:29 - Chapter III: Building the Dream
24:16 - Chapter IV: A Grand Opening
32:57 - Chapter V: A Twist of Fate
40:50 - Chapter VI: The End of an Era
48:31 - Epilogue
55:42 - Credits
This video is for educational purposes and is distributed for non-commercial use. It is not monetized or sponsored. All video footage, images and audio recordings are the property of their original owners and are used in accordance with Fair Use principles.
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ko-fi.com/peterdibble
Learn more about Lincoln City:
www.lincolncity.org/visitors
Support the Lincoln City Kiwanis Club:
lincolncitykiwanis.org/
Visit the North Lincoln County Historical Museum:
northlincolncountyhistoricalm...
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Music:
“The Storyteller” by Kikoru
• The Storyteller
“Tales From Wizardville” by Kikoru
• Tales From Wizardville
“And Champagne for All” by The Fly Guy Five
• And Champagne for All
“Swaying By” by Birdies
• Swaying By
“Under the Marquee” by Guy Trevino and Friends
• Under the Marquee
“Hold the Elevator!” by The Fly Guy Five
• Hold the Elevator!
“Querida” by Cornelio
• Querida
“I Fly With You” by Franz Gordon
• I Fly With You
“Our Early Years” by David Celeste
• Our Early Years
“Speedrunner” by Mac Taboel
• Speedrunner
If anyone has access to an old record or tape with those lost songs, please get in touch with the North Lincoln County Historical Museum. We would love an opportunity to preserve and publish that lost media if possible! northlincolncountyhistoricalmuseum.org
I wonder if the original score was preserved?
I sure miss the Oregon Coast. Glori and I live in Colorado now and haven’t been back in a long time decades. Just don’t have it to go anymore! Maybe before we die, we will make it home again
Fond memories indeed. The ones that know will not forget Little Black Sambo"s also.
Awesome 👍 did you send it to Molly
Our whole family loved pixieland. I loved the scones the kids loved everything
Well, this made me cry...every Easter Sunday, starting in the 50s, our family made its way from Portland to the Pixie Kitchen. It looms large in some of the best times in my childhood. This was so well done! Beautiful work! When you spoke about the appetizer tray, all I could think about were those incredible Fish Balls and that Blue Cheese dip!!!
Awwww that’s so cool to have such great memories with your family💙
Tears for me as well as my brother is gone now ,, man that place was awesome ..
You folks are so lucky. I live in Springfield and would travel there regularly if that vibe existed today.
This brought a bit of a tear to my eye as well. Our family would go to Lincoln City often and, invariably, go to Pixie Kitchen each time. As a little boy, I LOVED the collection of pin ball machines in the basement! And, a little latter, the "Museum" next to the arcade. The fish ball appetizer was incredible! And I loved the warmed crackers that would be next to them. I had no idea, until years later, they were just Wheat Thins right out of the box! I remember the food was great! And big portions! They would always give me a little teal bag after dinner with the restaurant info ink stamped on the front with four or five jelly beans and a little plastic toy inside. A teal bag for boys, a pink bag for girls. I had several of the Pixie Kitchen/Pixieland coins in my room at my parents house. But, sadly, both the coins and the house are long gone.
@@krafty051990 really cool memories for you me as well ,, Thx for sharing.. 👍
Oh man as an Oregon resident I had no idea this is how Lincoln City came to be! This was such an interesting story. I just wish I could’ve gotten to try Pixie Kitchen’s food. Thank you for this video!
I remember growing up in Salem in the early 1980s and my dad would drive us to the beach, Lincoln City. We'd drive by these billboards that would say come to Picieland with cartoon drawings of pixies. I told my dad, I wanna go there, he said something like it's not there anymore. I was bummed, but later I learned the history of Pixieland from a PBS documentary. It was established in the late 60s and finally went belly up in the mid 70s. I had just missed it.
Also fun to mention thats why Lincoln City also has a huge golf resort, to keep its town alive. I went for a job interview there after culinary school and everything was super expensive looking for a coastal Oregon town.
I lived in Oceanlake in the early 1960's and I had dinner at the Pixie Kitchen every week with my mom and brother. It was a great family restaurant. We joked that my big brother could eat them out of business because he really loved the fried chicken. This is a fond memory and the coastal town was a great place for a kid to grow up. In winter it was nearly deserted. We lived a few blocks from the beach.
Man, an all you can eat restaurant? Wow, I'd be in heaven.
I just called my mom because she was born in the area in 1962
She says she remembers pixie kitchen and pixieland and she says "Oh my gosh, I haven't thought about that in so long"! And continued to list her favorite parts
It was fun listening to her excitement :)
I was born in New. Orleans in 1960 what's yor mother look like??
@@ronaldhall9701 she's got brown hair 2 eyes
Oh and she stands upright
@@lucasjohnstone6419 I think someone's tryna b ur stepdaddy! 🤣🤣🤣
I worked as food prep at Pixie kitchen when I was 16. It was a fun place to work! The Cod Balls and battered oysters were so popular!
Let me tell you it was crazy to see my aunt being interviewed at the very end of this film! I was already going to send this to everyone I know because it's beautifully done, touching, and informative, and part of Oregon history not many of us new generation know, but now I can also bribe them by saying Aunt Myrl is in it! :) Thank you so much for your work preserving this history!
That's wild! Thank you very much!
That’s so cool ❤
I grew up in the Newport/Toledo area in the 80s and have always wondered how Lincoln City got to be as long as it is, and why they call their high school Taft High. I've driven past the site of Pixieland hundreds of times and would never in a million years have suspected a major theme park was once there. Great Documentary, you always make the best documentaries about Oregon's hidden history. Fascinating...
I thought L.C. was originally 5 to 6 towns that incorporated into one. She did change with the mall then the casino.
Here in Coos Bay they call the high school Marshfield High. The town down here used to be called Marshfield lol. But they merged with like Empire and Eastside and it's all just Coos Bay now, North Bend got left out though. Happened more in like the 30s here though instead of the 60s.
It's surprisingly common for many small towns to become one big one.... Kelso and Longview were originally 20-30 separate small boom towns which were more like neighborhoods but named and on record as towns, and the areas still carry the names locally to describe the different areas of town or the schools tend to carry the names of the small towns or founding families.
@@RogueSmithers Like the eastside of Portland. Maywood Park, Parkrose, Gateway, Lents, etc. All small towns before being swallowed by Portland.
I've wondered that about Lincoln City too. It just keeps going and going and going doesn't it? lol Great to know what the history of it is.
one detail missed: After the Echo Mountain wildfire in 2020, the old pixieland parking lot had the brush cleared off and it was used as a staging area for the salvage logging operation to clear out the fire killed trees.
It's surprising that all of the knee jerk environmentalist didn't demand that those trees be left standing for the beatles and the next fire.
I'm bitter about the people who won't allow our grasslands and forests to be managed properly the results are obvious in the past two years of fires in the West. The first people's had a tradition of managing grasslands and Forest lands but of course the settlers stopped that when they came to this country. Because they thought the land was beautiful as it was and didn't care that the First Peoples had been managing it for generations. We are supposed to be stewards of the land but that's not being allowed.
I'm speechless. What a beautiful tribute to the lives of an ordinary couple doing their best to make something from nothing. The quality of this documentary is staggering, utterly professional in every way. The script allowed the daughter and son-in-law to relate their bitter memories of the Forest Service's actions of the early 1970s while also telling the story of the damage being done (collectively) to the estuaries and wetlands of the area. The degree of polish and shine on every aspect of the documentary -- music, editing, pace, script -- is something I'd never expect to see on YT. My hat is off to this channel and all of its content! You deserve 35M subscribers, not 35K.
Thanks a lot for the kind feedback, David!
Agree 100%! I specially appreciate the balance of giving voice to the 2 sides of the story (commercial development vs environment conservation), presented factually without drama. Very professional.
@@retrovideoquestI totally agree with you - very professional, and all sides of the story were given fairly. Excellent video!
Makes me proud to see our little local oddities retold with such care to detail and top notch production, thank you!
im just mad at the evil environmentalists they ruined the states growth and development theyre a bunch of bullies this is why theyre so hated cause they bully u
My former father in law was the train’s engineer for awhile around 1973 or so. My children loved the train, and especially that Grampa was the “driver”! Nice memories. That would have been just before the worst of the decline brought on by the USFS. We’ve often wondered whatever happened to Pixieland, since we could never find a hint of where it had been. Now we know. Thank you for a lovely film and a walk down old memories.
That's really cool, thanks for sharing!
Pretty sure the USFS was acting at the will of "we the people" in protecting the land.
Indeed, as the film made clear several times, the economic downturn really liked the park - like it did my Dad's business at that same era.
I remember going to Pixieland twice in my youth, when my parents lived in the Portland area. I still have a Pixieland arcade token in my memorabilia, all these years later.
Funny...so do I life's good take care my freind
I love how you got the daughter and the son in law included on this to talk about their experiences. Running an amusement park is hard, but clearly he did everything right in terms of getting some experienced experts and a solid business model together to make a go at it.
I remember going there in 1973 on an Oregon costa road trip, wow what a fun blast from the past. Thank you Peter! I hope the Enchanted Forest stays around for my two year old grand daughter to take there, at least they're on I-5 and survived Covid. So few small amusement parks still around.
I drive past The Enchanted Forest all the time (I’m a truck driver) and yes, there are lots of people visiting again, especially on the weekends. Wasn’t sure if they would survive the Covid shutdowns.
The Enchanted Forest was a real treat. We rarely got to visit despite living very close. I absolutely loved that place and have wonderful memories of it. My favorite things were the rabbit hole/tunnel that took you to Wonderland and Snow White & The Seven Dwarves cottage. I want to go back one more time as I haven't been since the 'roller coaster' was added and other new (to me) attractions. I live on the east coast now and trips back home unfortunately don't include places like this, so I'll need to make an exception!
Enchanted forest was definitely my favorite growing up!
@@robertjonas6216 That's good news to hear! I was aware it had been struggling some in the past and was hoping Covid didn't take it down.
My grand daughter just went there… alive and fun still
My grandparents lived in Gleneden Beach (just south of Lincoln City) since the mid 40's. As a child growing up in the late 50's and 60's the Pixie Kitchen was always a favorite place to go. Lovely memories of a childhood long gone.
Thank you so very deeply.my grandparents lived in pixieland with the "30" year lease ,at least until it closed in 85-87.so many years visiting them there&had several family reunions in the rec hall&swam in the pool &beach&flying kites& going to sambos,pixie kitchen &..of course mo's after a day at tact crabbing to hopefully have the crab Louie with family visits to the coastal community filled with so many good childhood experiences ..thank for this much needed remembering of a era filled with magic,fun family filled years ,now fresh and just a hour it seems but was 35 good years .I am blessed -grateful to your story..
Oh lil sambos the butt,er ciggeeetes
The first real job I ever had was being a busboy at pixie kitchen when I was 14. I also later lived at pixieland. And then of course I graduated from Taft High School in 75. It's so nice to see all those old shots. Thank you!
Taft High School 1972 for me! Graduating class of 60 students. Five years later, 10% of them had died.
@@halfkinrainbolt7041 You probably know Vicky and Cindy Bartels then. My stepsisters. Their mother ran the motel right across the street from pixie kitchen up on the hill there in Ocean Lake. We had 82 in our class of '75. Good to hear from you!
@@william_mac The Bartells sound familiar but we always stayed in the motels on the ocean side so we could watch the surf. Would we have gone to school together?
@@halfkinrainbolt7041 '73 was my first year at Taft High. I was a Sophomore. I only went to Taft the last quarter of that year. But my Junior and Senior year I was there the entire year. I was on the wrestling and football team in 74 and 75 and worked as a box boy at the old Safeway store where the casino is now. Vicki, my step sister graduated in 72 from there. After my graduation the summer of 75 Safeway transferred me to Dallas as an assistant produce manager. So anyway I lost touch with most of my friends that were around wrestling and football there. Last time I was there in Lincoln City I went to my 40th graduation reunion. There was probably 10 or 15 of us there. In terms of the last 20 years I live about 450 miles due east of there now near the Snake River in North Central Idaho.
I love your content. My grandpa was an avid Oregon historian, he would have loved your content if he was still around.
I have to admit that every time I drive through Otis or Lincoln City, I always look for the spot where these attractions once stood.
Thank you so much for this. I was born in 1970 in Corvallis and my mom would always take me to Pixie Kitchen in the summer. I got to go to Pixieland when I was 4 and still have pictures. What a wonderful flood of memories this wakes up 🥰
This place was even more magical than Disneyland. It was up close and personal an absolute first class experience for kids.
This is incredible.
I'm a huge fan of Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland. What a fun place it was. Sadly, it was long gone before I was born.
Every time I go to Lincoln City, I always make sure to stop at the historical museum and see their pixie exhibit.
I have a set of coin purses and some menus from the restaurant.
If you weren't full from eating at the restaurant, you got seconds at NO CHARGE!
Thanks again for this video.
Ya shouda been there kid, it was great !
Are you always so literal
Thanks for making me feel less weird for being fascinated by old stuff like this, even if it existed before I was born and I never went there Lol. Never heard about this place before an hour ago but it looks awesome. I’m literally on eBay looking at old pixie kitchen placemats and collectible coins just to get a get a better mental picture of it all.
Someone in another comment mentioned they gave out gift bags with a toy and jelly beans to the kids when leaving the pixie kitchen. I was looking around to see if I could find any pics of those.
Your collection of stuff from Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland sounds pretty neat. Take care ✌️
@@donHooligan It was just a light-hearted comment... Don't take everything so seriously
I grew up near Salem and visiting the coast was one of the best things about growing up in Oregon. I'm almost 49 years old and was beginning to think I had imagined the Pixie Kitchen from when I was so young. I'm so glad I didn't! I never knew about the amusement park and yet it seems we passed it all the time. Thank you for this lovely documentary and trip down memory lane.
You passed by the same billboards that I did in the 1980s, still advertising Pixieland, which by then ceased to exist, on the way to Lincoln City.
The only memory of my parents together was at Pixieland circa 1973. I remember them together waiting for me to finish a ride.
I used to live in Lincoln City when I was younger. My grandparents ran the hotel (was an econo lodge, now it’s a travelodge I think) on 101 and 21st for quite a while. All the time I lived there and never knew about pixieland! You learn something new everyday.
I’m from Utah. I’ve been on that log and train ride countless times, out here. Who would have known where those originated from without this video? Thank you for sharing! Great research and very interesting!
Same here! I had no idea that the Lagoon had purchased the log flume and train from Pixie Land!
You could fill 1000 pages with fawning memories of Pixie Kitchen from grown-up kids today. . Our family was at Neskowin every summer for decades. Mom knew we were NOT going home until we got a dinner at Pixie Kitchen. I don't know how many hundreds of pennies went down the Wishing Well! Even though the food quality declined after the Park's sold out, we still loved that place! It certainly brings a tear to my eye as I remember my parents. This time and place in Oregon was magical.
Oh how I wish someone would re-open PixieLand again. What a great story
I grew up near here in Willamina. As a boy in the 70’s this was our weekend destination. I remember going to the pixie kitchen with my grandparents and hearing this story. I always ordered clams steamed/fried and as a cook I carry those memories.
Thank you Peter for telling an amazing story.
We owned Neskowin Beach Golf Course, just over Cascade Head, from 1962 to 1978. The glory years of the Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland.
We ate at the restaurant probably once a month and visited the park numerous times. So much fun to spend a day there, instead of working on the golf course. Pixieland is where I grew to appreciate scones, thanks to Fisher Mills!
Thanks again for reviving my memories!
I am going to assume that Stan Carbaugh was your dad. My dad was an Elk as was he. Dad told several stories about Stan, but the only one I remember was joshing him about renting canoes at the golf course as it was low terrain and a lot of it was under water in the rainy season.
Worked at Pixieland summers of 67 &68. See previous post. Also loved the scones and ate lots of them. A couple named Stan (different) and Rosie made and sold them.
Brion
@@sti4fun indeed!
Stan was my father and we had to close the golf course from November 1 until it dried out the following spring. We were known to take the drift boat out onto the course, checking for storm damage.
My mother took my brother and I to this park many times on the way to the coast. In fact we are on the small Farris wheel at 37:25! I remember years later finding it closed. Great memories.
Wow, very cool!
Great job on the video. Went to work at Pixieland summer of (had to be) 1967 as a general laborer. Helped finish (re)building the train tressel. Dump truck hauling fill for the trailer park tried to go under it with the box up and tore several hundred feet of it down. Then worked with 3 other guys as track gang ballasting and leveling the track. Following summer my job was relief operator one day a week each for log flume, shooting gallery, Grunnyken (spelling) land, Jungle gym and kiddie rides, but the most fun job was the relief driver for " Little toot" on the engineers day off. Originally fired with coal, can still smell the smoke if I think about it, and after I was long gone, propane. It was a true steam engine. Renamed "Little Pixie" if memory serves me correctly.
I was there for the beginning of most of the rides. Would go to the opera house on lunch breaks and take in the old time melodramas that were put on. Lots of found memories of those days. You could make another vidio just on the smaller rides and places you did not mention, the go cart track, whale boat rides, candle store (and two other small stores but memory fails me), ice cream at the Darigold barn (they served a float or split in a huge glass goblet, must hold over a quart and I still have two of them), and, I doubt if they ever were recorded, the melodramas at the opera house.
In your post you are looking for a recording of the theme; I have it clear as a bell, but only in my mind. Must have heard that music a hundred thousand times. Played continuously from an oversize 4 track tape (who remembers those) that was in Grunnykin land and a player that was with the Merry go Round (a true historic wooden ride).
Again great vidio that sure brings back lots of memories.
Brion
sti(the number 4)fun(the number 2)@yahoo.com
As I watched this wonderful documentary, I had this feeling that something about the whole place had an eerie familiarity. So I dug through my parents' old photo albums, and sure enough, I found a picture of our family standing in front of the Pixie Kitchen backyard display with the waterwheel in the background. I must have been 10 years old at the time. Thanks for that journey in the Way-Back machine!
I just watched this ! How fun my summers were spent on the Oregon coast growing up . We never got that far south we hung out in Seaside .
I’m sure my parents and grandparents spent time there. I swear I’ve seen pictures and recall gifts they brought back to us grandkids.
I took a gasp when I heard where the log flume is ! I live less than 20 mins from Lagoon and even have grandkids that work there . Thank you so much for the incredible history .
I have to admit that my heart sank when they showed an excavator, and said that they had cleared an old lumber yard. That's a piece of history that can never be replaced.
This is Memory Lane For Me!
I spent most of my summers and many weekends growing up on the Oregon coast in the sixties. I always remember calling it Lincoln city, I was only 7 evidently when that became its name according to what I learned here! My parents went all times of the year as they loved going to watch a good storm. We lived inland, south of Portland, and it took an hour and half to drive to the coast, before newer highways went in.
I remember driving through the Tillamook burn and my father commenting on a log truck that had three logs on it and him saying, "they sure are taking them small these days." Of course those three logs filled the truck! We were used to following those old trucks on those narrow winding roads that carried that old growth harvest. We had many lunches at the Pixie kitchen. I remember several funny mirrors and loved watching the moving characters of the display. I also remember the go-carts and the doll museum across the street not far from there. Ten cents to get in the museum and it had a life size wax figure of Queen Elizabeth in a glass case and a live talking myna bird. Does anyone remember the sign near the kitchen that said - this is the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole?
I moved to the coast as a teen and went to Taft High School in the early seventies. The senior class sold donuts and coffee to the people waiting in lines for gas in 1973. My memory is that Pixie Land always seemed unfinished and never quite the big thing they hoped it would be. I did ride the log flume a few times, (it was rather slow except for the one drop,) and the train around the mostly empty park some. It definitely seemed like a marsh land, and was rather boring. I don't recall much there, I'm not sure if I remember grunikin land! Maybe we stopped going after the first soft opening.
I remember Tom McCall. He promoted bumper stickers that said, "Don't Californicate Oregon".
I did not know about the whole forest service theft but it doesn't surprise me. Oregon was always progressive towards saving the environment, even at the cost of people or their livelihoods. Too bad that concern didn't extend to limiting all the toxic dioxin sprays, 24d and 245t they allowed Weyerhaeuser to poison us with. I finally had to leave the coast in 1979 because I was bleeding to death from the poisons. Walsea county, just south of Lincoln county had the highest miscarriage rate in the nation in the late seventies. We were second. The president of Weyerhaeuser said, "babies are replaceable and that women should plan their pregnancies' around the spraying cycle."
No Joke. I miss the Oregon of my early youth.
I'm from Salt Lake City originally and remember riding the Log Flume at Lagoon in Farmington. I had never heard of Pixieland until watching this! I now live in the Portland area and have been to Lincoln City a few times and been past this area without an inkling of its history. Very interesting!
Before the pandemic, the Little Antique Mall on Hwy 101 in Lincoln City had some of the original wooden cutout Pixie Characters on display. Not sure if they are still there, haven't been back since '20.
I have so many amazing childhood memories of Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland! There was this arcade room and gift shop downstairs at Pixie Kitchen and my little brother and I would have so much fun playing down there, while waiting for our name to be called for dinner! My parents loved the beach and we would drive from Portland many times throughout the year. We always ate at Pixie Kitchen! They had goodie bags, pink for girls, blue for boys that they gave us after dinner. We went to Pixieland numerous times before it closed. Beautifully done! Brought tears to my eyes! Thank you for sharing!
I was just gonna mention the arcade. I spent lots of time there. I remember a giant clear dome with a helicopter toy inside that you could fly around in circles. And the funny mirrors. And a photo both. Many good memories.
My Mom worked there for one of her first jobs. When she talked about it I was amazed how something that was such a big part of your life could just disappear without a trace.
This is your best video yet, and one of the best of any I’ve seen on CZcams in quite a while! I got to Oregon long after this place disappeared, but I love learning the less well known histories of my state.
BTW if you look at this location on Google Earth or Maps you can still see the outlines of some features including the RV park.
I dunno Harbor Drive was pretty good too. Also you can see the random center lane on the road that probably used to be the left turn lane
A quick way to search is to search for "Salmon Creek Wetlands". That will point you to the part of Highway 18 that is just south of the RV park.
Thanks for the tip about google maps, I’m gonna look after the video is over!!
It even says Pixieland right on the google map! So fun.
@@nish221100 It even says Pixieland right on the google map! So fun.
This was fantastic… This is by far the BEST and most complete video I’ve ever watched about the Pixie Kitchen, thank you for putting this together!!
Mom moved us to the Willamette Valley south of Portland in 1980 from LA. By the time we’d settled and gotten comfortable driving around the country and back roads compared to big city drivig in our new area Pixie Kitchen was gone. I remember hearing about it and passing it when we’d go to the coast but never stopped to eat. Mom always thought (not knowing any history of it) it was just a run down, gimmicky, hole in the wall and refused to stop.
I’ve since learned a lot about it and love what it was. A few years ago we stopped at Granny’s Attic antique shop in LC, they had/have a section dedicated to Pixie Kitchen Memorabilia. We bought a set of the PK postcards and a print pack shown at 52:30 they were out of tshirts and menus at the time, but we plan to go back at some point and purchase those too if they are still available. We also need to go to the museum. I didn’t know they had so many pieces from Pixie Kitchen!!
Oh my! Thank you for this! As a kid we stopped at the Pixie Kitchen every year on way to and back from visiting our Grandmother. When Pixieland opened, we stopped on way up every year. It was a high point in our formative years. I often reminisce about both. Great documentary.
Peter, what an amazing documentary. My family has a cabin on the Cascade Head Ranch and I am on its board of directors. We strictly follow the federal law and directive of the forest service. Several of my neighbors still work on the Salmon Creek Restoration project.
The harvest table in my dining room was built using the square nails from the Pixieland caboose. Great story that needed to be told!
I live a couple of miles away from lagoon. I'm 57 now and I remember when the log flume was introduced as well as the new train. The log flume has gotten bigger, the old train that ran around the whole park doesn't exist since the new train came but if you know where to look one can still see the old tracks. I had no idea the history of these new rides till now. Thank you.
Made me cry. I lived in Lincoln City and went there as a child
Are you planning on talking about Enchanted Forest too? It's interesting that the 2 problems, climate and the gas shortage, didn't effect that one enough to close down. My dad lives in that Cascade Head / Three-Rocks area, and I didn't know anything about Pixieland until I saw a random sign in the estuary park, so it's cool to see neighbors' perspectives and that local history. You really have a way of telling Oregon stories that I had no idea existed, thank you.
Thanks! I'm not planning on covering Enchanted Forest, but I'm guessing it was able to survive those factors (and more recently, the pandemic) because of its proximity to Salem. I was also going to theorize that the weather stays nice in the Willamette Valley a little longer than on the coast, but EF's operating schedule appears to be pretty much the same as Pixieland's was, so that may be a moot point.
@@peterdibbleWhen you decide to cover Enchanted Forest, don't forget to include the wildfire from 3 or 4 yrs ago and how it was damaged but the locals crowdfunded it for repairs and it still is in business.
Very interesting and well-made documentary. I had never heard of Pixieland or the Pixie Kitchen. Fascinating story!
I can't imagine how difficult it was for the people who lost their homes and businesses in the restoration and creation of the natural area. Cascade Head and the Salmon River Estuary are some of my favorite natural areas to visit on the coast, and I am grateful we have such amazing, healthy habitat restored and preserved. The public access of the beach and natural areas along the whole stretch of our coastline, created during McCall's tenure, is part of Oregon's identity, and my identity as an Oregonian.
My grandparents lived on the coast, as well as many friends. Knowing how seasonal the business is there, and being a frequent winter visitor, I can definitely understand why a theme park wouldn't survive financially.
I just LOVED Pixieland... good times!!! ❤❤❤ Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for a wonderful documentary of pixie kitchen and pixieland.
As a young boy we lived in Portland Oregon, we would often go to the coast for the weekend. My grandfather had a motel in South Beach Oregon called Blair's bungalows. We couldn't go past pixieland without stopping. I've seen a number of shows at the Opera, log rides, and sat on the train as well. I still have some wonderful memories of pixie land and the pixie kitchen.
I never knew until now why the Park closed.
Thank you again for a wonderful and memorable documentary.
What a terrific film! I ate at the Pixie Kitchen and went to Pixieland many times as a kid. This brought back so a ton of fun memories: the mirrors, the food, the sand boxes in the table, the train, the log flume. Wow! I only wish my parents were here to watch this. They would have loved it! Thank you!
Where oh where, in the year 2022, could you, would you ever find a place like this??!! Nearly every Oregonian has fond memories of the Pixie Kitchen! Love, love, love to the family who brought it to us. Thank you is not enough!
I am so happy to come across this. I was young when i visited Pixieland with my parents. We would travel from Wa state just to visit. Ive had this memory of the name, the train ride and a few other things in my mind but didnt know where it was located or the story behind it. Thank you for enlightening me. My faded memory has been restored. Thanks to the gentleman and his backing for making this park a reality for those of us who were lucky enough to have experienced it.
Thanks for bringing this memory back to life for me Pete! Growing up we didn't have a lot, but every year our (single) Mom would throw the 3 of us into the back of the wagon and we'd head over to the coast for a long weekend. The trips were never complete until we had visited Pixie Kitchen. Good times, good memories, and a couple of tears shed for nostalgia's sake watching this.
The way you popularize and preserve Cascadian history is just amazing, thank you so much!
This is a crazy underrated channel my friend. These documentary type CZcams videos are freaking sweet.
What an amazing story. I have lived here my entire life, and my family before me too. I never heard about Pixie Kitchen or Pixieland.. this video was amazing & provided so much good information & visuals. Lincoln City is an interesting town today...lots of commercial businesses, a large casino, and the town stretches VERY long...on one side you've got the bay with a smaller area of businesses now mostly vacant minus a few restaurants (like Mo's) and then you've got everything else on the other side of town. Their "main street" is really not walkable...traffic runs right through it and it, again, stretches long. In between these points you'll find a pretty decent sized outlet mall. KFC, Taco Bell, Dollar Tree, Goodwill, McDonalds, Safeway, etc. It's not what I picture when I imagine the perfect, relaxing beach weekend. Their beach is good depending on which access point you choose..but I much prefer beaches like Cannon Beach, Manzanita, and Pacific City. Lincoln City has recently become more run down...a lot like Seaside is. A new crowd of sketchy visitors has emerged and our last visit we called it our last. It would've been so amazing to see Lincoln City survive better through the changing times & commercialization like some other nearby towns did. The Parks sound like great people who truly cared about providing fun for their community. The themepark was such a dream!! How amazing they made it come to life. The way they incorporated local companies is EXACTLY what Oregon is about..and the brilliant idea to model ideas after Disney & Knots is admirable. It's unfortunate our environment here just doesn't suit well for these big plans. It's a shame that land was sold to them in the first place...it's not their fault for damaging the ecosystem there, nor is the forestry service to blame. The land should've never been sold.
As a kid my brother and I would say "little toot" when we saw steam trains, and I had completely forgotten where that came from. Great work with this one Peter, really outstanding. Also, a great subplot of an eternal divide - the pain of short-term economic devastation versus the glory of long-term environmental preservation.
Yeah I find it a little funny though when affluent white people complain about their land being taken by the government, hah. I mean I understand, but the irony is always kinda hilarious.
I went to Pixieland as a child, and loved it. I only found out it had closed after seeing it in ruins as we drove by. That was heart breaking. I loved Pixie Kitchen, I went in the later years. The food was great, and the displays were very entertaining.
My mother got a copy of the Pixie Kitchen Clam dip recipe back in the 60s, and she made it every year for Christmas. I copied the recipe in the 80s, and started making it and still make it several times a year. I have altered it a little, mostly more clams, but its still recognizably the same recipe, which I have passed along to my nephew, who is a great fan of it.
It's funny people would think I was stupid saying I went to Pixieland in 1964 I lived in Portland with my mother would take me there all the time when I had a friend in Portland in the mid 70s he used to go to Taft High School and it went over there to reminisce and it would go by the ruins of it in the mid mid seventies like 76 77? And I would look at that stuff thinking I used to have such fun at these places and people that everything go to hell I had so much fun there when I was a kid in the 60s and people thought no there was no pixie land in the 60s it's funny how our history goes down the drain but I like sharing it with people that went by there I really loved that place
I was only able to visit once. After years of begging to go every time we passed Pixieland on our way to the beach, my grandmother finally worked in a short visit. This was 1974 (+/- 2 years). I distinctly remember the dark ride and vague memories of the log flume ride, but that's about it. I remember it was rather run-down at that point. Would've loved to have seen it in it's heyday. It was sad seeing abandoned and disappearing every year after it closed, but I did not know of the battle with the forestry department. I am glad the river was restored, though. The rainy climate was not a good place for an outdoor theme park in reality.
In 1972 we move back to Oregon to Otis my Mom took ownership of Otis cafe and I got to go many times to pixeland I feel like I was so lucky my Grandfather owned Grahns coumstution next door to Otis cafe
I grew up in Oregon. Our family used to stop there. During the 70s. My brother and I would hitch hike over to the coast and ride the go karts there. This has brought back some great memories of our family trips to the Coast. Fogarty park was a normal stop and hunting for agates, fishing and a stop at Barnacle Bill sea food stand was the norm! Thank you
I'd forgotten about the go karts in Lincoln City!
I love Fogarty Park. I go there every time were in Lincoln City!
I remember the go carts and the Doll Museum next door to the track. It cast 10 cents to get in. They had a life size wax figure of Queen Elizabeth and a live talking minor bird.
I hope your videos are being seen on OPB and shared with Oregon citizens. These are excellent productions and enjoyed even by a guy from Michigan!
I grew up in Salem, Or in the early 70's and my parents took us to PixieLand many times. One of my fondest childhood memories. So many good times of laughter, rides and food. Thanks for the memories!
This was absolutely fascinating and pleasurable to watch and learn about! Thank you so much for creating and sharing it!!
Wow, What a wonderful documentary film. You should get an award for this one. You even brought in the information that no one wants to talk about with the politics of the times and the surge of environmentalism that changed the Oregon way of life. That was also during the same time of the timber wars. Politicians learned how to make more money from lobbyists than from businesses and residents and the "little guy" paid the price. Good for you. This is a part of Oregon history that got swept under a rug. I am an Oregonian and still live in the area. We have lost so many dreams along the way.
Another fantastic video! If only we could travel back in time and visit Pixieland in its prime!
Thank you so much for sharing this. As a kid my Grandparents would take us there during the summer months and now I'm 58 years old often wondered where and what ever happened to pixieland? Thank for bringing this to everyone that as a kid what joy it brought to so many people. Sad that it never took off like predicted. But sure made millions of smiles and memories.
The summer of 1972 I had just graduated from high school just north of Seattle, and went to Lincoln City with a friend. I ended up working at Pixieland through the summer, mostly operating the go cart track. The park allowed me to stay in one of the cabins in the RV area, as no one was ever using them. I just had a sleeping bag and a couple of personal items.
But it was a fun summer, and I had a great time there. When the park closed for the season in September, I was offered a job in the Pixie Kitchen. But by the end of September I decided to head back home. I visited Lincoln City several years ago, and it was almost impossible to see anything remaining of Pixieland. I think the park could have co-existed with the Salmon River if all concerned could have worked together.
This is an Amazing documentary! I loved it! I live in Ky., but I truly wish I had gotten to take a trip to the West Coast back when I was a kid… and gotten to eat at The Pixie Kitchen and go to Pixie Land.
Watching this has me feeling totally nostalgic for those bygone days of my childhood. These types of places, and the whole family / community atmosphere, environment, and unity are just so rare these days… or just don’t even exist anymore. It’s a sad, sad loss.
I remember growing up - we ate dinner as a family every night, and once a week we would have some kind of family outing - whether it was a dinner out, a trip to the lake, a drive-in movie, a carnival or fair (when there was one around), driving around town to see decorated houses during the holidays, or whatever -> all that really mattered was that we did it as a family!!! We were never financially able to take a big/long trip, like Disney Land or anything like that (I am the only member of my family who has ever even been on a plane)… but we did things as a family - that’s what mattered…. that’s ALL that mattered! I remember even doing super simple things like sitting together at night during the X-Mas season - we would decorate the house as a family, and sit around together at night with the lights out… in the quiet… and just watch the lights on the Christmas Tree.
I really think that is missing in most of society today, and it has caused irreparable damage to our culture and society.
It’s not anyone’s fault alone, it’s a great many things - like stagnant wages making people Have To Work More just to afford to live, rising prices of housing food and healthcare, single parent homes, lack of discipline for children, schools that don’t teach anything except the test, and - of course- Technology separating us All from each other!
I know I sound like an Old Fuddy Duddy / Boomer (even though I am Gen-X) / and like I am out of touch… but honestly - I think a lot of what is wrong with the world right now is that we have lost the connection with others… especially the people that we Live and Grow Up With!
I am the last surviving member of a family of four. I do watch what’s happening in the world around me, and I do believe that the connection between people, especially our own families has been lost for most people and it has / is / and will continue to cause harm to all of us.
I don’t know how to fix it… I don’t even know if it can be fixed… all I know is that It Should Be Fixed!
Alright… I will step down off the soap-box now.
I never did get to experience Pixieland, but as a kid my dad would tell my sister and I about it as we drove past on our way to the beach. I would have loved to see it! Thank you for the video.
What an interesting and touching documentary. Fantastic work and production quality!
Times were so different back then. I can't even imagine what it was like since it all happened even before my parents were born, but from today's perspective, Jerry and Lula seem like the very definition of the American Dream. Thanks for including the interview with their daughter and son-in-law, always great to hear such stories and their anecdotes told by those who were there, while they are still around to tell them.
That was very interesting! Thank you! It is not very often that greed loses to conservation! Kudos to the Forestry service and all those who pushed for the renovation of this beautiful area.
Wow, you sound like a fun person.
Wow, back to nature, great! But how the forestry department literally MOBBED and stole peoples homes and ranches, maybe you need to rethink your statement.
55:57 I have so many happy childhood memories of the Pixie Kitchen, especially since my family rarely went out to eat. By time my husband and I had children, Pixie Land was shutting down, but even so, it was still entertaining for our little ones. I still miss it every time we pass by the property. Thank you for sharing these memories. ❤
Yay, another OR docu! I'd never heard of this place.
I like the idea of the park, but I also very much appreciate the forestry service's efforts to restore the coastline habitats. I feel like if this were to happen today, a better compromise could have been reached.
That said, while some residents might have claims of a few generations on their property, there were prior owners with way more claim than that...
That's what I find remarkable with the US West coast. It's all so new. Real frontier stuff.
Coming from Ireland, recorded human habitation stretches back millennia. And you're rarely more than a couple of miles from habitation, at most - unless deep in some of the (small) mountain ranges.
When I was in Seattle once, 1999, I had the use of a car from work on weekends. I would take a drive, head off the Interstate 5 heading north from Bellevue, find a place that felt so remote to me, that I felt like the first person to stand at that particular spot. It was like I was discovering city-sized lakes myself, on a Sunday afternoon! That is a unique experience for me. 👍
And yeah, fair play for Oregon to stay true to its natural habitats. It's all part of that same experience, the true vastness and rich natural beauty of undeveloped parkland.
You're all the richer for it. ❤
Sorry I didn't make it to Oregon that time in '99. But, driving on "the wrong side of the road" was just too much to take on as an inexperienced driver!I I played it safe heading out of town...
Oh man did this documentary make my eyes leak. I dearly loved Pixieland, I grew up in Lincoln City and remember this place very well. I became a good shot with a gun because of the shoot 'em up gallery and I adored doing the spin art pictures but by far my all time favorite part of the park was the live theater with the hero, damsel and villain dramas and those awesome can can girls - i loved their dresses and the way they were all in sink and the music I could watch that for hours if they would have let me. My family went to this place every chance we got and we lived pretty close to it in Neotsu but with 5 kids in my family money was not abundant but still we managed to go there many times while they were there and we all still reminisce about this place periodically. Thank you to the family that owned this place for making some of my happiest childhood memories and thank you for making this documentary, my daughter is excited to watch it since she's heard many of our stories of this mini disneyland that was in our backyard.
I remember Pixie Land. As a child we would beg to stop there every time we went to our family beach house just outside of Lincoln City Oregon. It is one of my most fond childhood memories.
A couple of high school theater friends performed shows in the playhouse one summer. Unfortunately, one of them has passed on, but I'll ask the other if she has a recording, though I doubt it after all those time and the changes in audio media. I do remember driving to Lincoln City, watching Pixieland built and then eventually abandoned and demolished. Thanks for the great reminder!
Another great video. This is just perfect right now. Got home from the museum I work for, worn out and sore but happy some big projects got done ahead of schedule, the old trains on the Lionel layout I manage were running smoothly, made a deep dish pizza, settled in to watch this. Perfect. Just absolutely perfect.
Lagoon is my family's home park! It's fun to learn the history of some of the rides that we go on every year! Thank you for sharing the history of this fun little park and the impact its founders had on the community.
Wow this was put together well. Nicely done. Very enjoyable to watch
Thank you so much for putting this out on CZcams. So many memories for so many Oregonians. ❤️
Oh such good memories of Pixieland .......thank you for this informative video. ❤️☮️🙏
Very sad to see and very happy too! Thanks so much for this presentation.
As a born and raised 63 year old native Oregonian I have vivid and cherished memories of trips to the Pixie Kitchen, the details made a fond and lasting memory that I treasure🧚♂️👍♥️🐙👍😄♥️
Down memory lane for me. I was a stage actor in the theater at Pixieland in 1975 along with some friends from Portland State University.
Awesome!
This brought back a vivid memory from 60-some years ago, visiting Pixie Kitchen with my parents and godparents who were avid beachcombers. I was a very slow eater and when the waitress came to clear the adults' plates, she took mine away too, thinking I had finished. Well, I started to cry and the waitress felt so awful about the mistake, they presented me with the most gigantic ice cream sundae imaginable! :) This was a wonderful presentation and so nostalgic, thank you!
I'm not from Oregon (not even American) but I find these videos very interesting and well done
Mr. Dibble on his way to pump out the best high quality documentaries ever for literally anyone on youtube
An absolutely fantastic documentary... well done! 😇 I have so many memories of my parents taking me to both the Pixie Kitchen and Pixieland (having been born in 1968). I had just read that the Log Ride was retired, just this last year (2022), at Lagoon Park in Farmington, UT (basically Salt Lake City). And it appears the original Train Engine was retired several years back, but is on display at Lagoon Park where there is another engine that looks very similar that still runs. I'd really love to go see the train again! Thanks so much!!! 👍
I live in Oregon, but grew up in Utah going to Lagoon! Even more excited now to ride Little 2 and the log flume when I visit Lagoon again, now that I know the history of it! Thank you for this great video!
Late-60's to mid-70's and some Summers we'd go over to the coast a couple times a year via Hwy-26? or 18 and go by that place. I think we must've stopped a couple times and did their little train and other attractions. The 30 years after... we watched the place fade, go out of business, get over-grown :-/ When we'd go by in those following years dad would say there's where Pixieland was. This was such a wonderful documentary--it deserves some awards!! I hope the late owners are still smiling for the joy that place left in so many!
I've been trying to know about this place for years and years!! Remember going there as a young child around 1966 - 1967. Never knew where it was or what it was called. This video solved what's probably a 40 year old mystery for me, as I especially remembered the outside display! Thank you!!
Nice same here
This is a fantastic video! Very interesting. Thank you!
We used to go there in the early 70’s and then we moved to Rose Lodge around 79. By then it was all barely visible. I loved that amusement park. The restaurant was open for a few more years and had a great arcade downstairs. Thank you for sharing this with us! Excellent video!
We visited Pixie Kitchen multiple times a year. My parents also took me to Pixieland. I was so sad when it closed and I never heard why it closed. Great memories from my childhood!
Love your vids. 🙏
Wish someone here in Ireland would produce such great work about Irish stories like yours...
What a wonderful, but sad story / documentary. A great high quality presentation, thank you.
The amount of time just in research alone is incredible... then you've got script, editing, film, animation, sound etc. This is excellent as your other videos.
Thank you!