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Santa's Village

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Any of you remember this place?
I think I saw some thought about it around here earlier (was it John-O?)
We had a cabin in Blue Jay (near Lake Arrowhead)
Great memories!

Any pics? Dad lost all of ours.
There was one in Scott's Valley (near Santa Cruz) too.

Here is a good link:
Santa's Village

I believe the ruins are still there.

Roadside America: Santa's Village Ruins

You can still see the bee monorail.

I used to go to Santa's Village in Scotts Valley, CA as a kid. Even then, it was a dump. But I still have fond memories.

Several of the notable buildings, Santa's Workshop, the Chapel and another were relocated to a resort near Lake Tahoe, called Sorensen's. I have stayed in all three of them at one time or another for the memories. You can see a couple of them here http://www.sorensensresort.com/rooms.html#tabs-5

D

This Disney guy has some great shots & remembrances of the Village. Just scroll down a bit.
http://matterhorn1959.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-11-06T06:00:00-08:00&max-results=20

[ Edited by: drgoat456 2011-12-02 09:13 ]

My folks took us kids every Xmas to the "Skyforest Village" all threw the 60s
this is where Santa's Reindeer took it easy when it was not Xmas....

Our other regular activities were going to the Hollywood Christmas Parade
and the Japanese Deer Park.

My mom and dad went to Lake Arrowhead on their honeymoon back in 1959 and went to Santa's Village while they were there. I have some pictures around and will post them when I find them.

I only went to the Lake Arrowhead park when I was very little, probably around 5 years old. I have seen the ruins of the one in the Santa Cruz mountains from the road, but not for a few years.

In the meantime, here are some scans of some old postcards I have...


"Welcome House at Santa's Village-the entrance to a world of delightful fantasy and whimsey".


"Santa's Home at Santa's Village-where children sign the Good Book. Santa's unusal clock tells the time of year".


"The Easter Bunny is one of several story characters show live at Santa' Village and are popular with children".


"Santa and Mrs. Claus pause in formt of the Chapel of the Little Shepherd at Santa's Village".


"All aboard Santa's train, which makes an exciting trip through the Enchanted Forest and Lollypop Land".


"Santa's Village has the North Pole. It's ice cold and never melts".


"Santa watches children having fun riding in his giant Christmas tree at Santa's Village".


"Dancer, Prancer, Donner and Blitzen pull Santa's sleigh to thrill youngsters at Santa's Village".


"Mrs. Claus' Candy Kitchen at Santa's Village delights children with freshly made goodies everday".


"Thousands of dolls to delight you hearts are to be found in the Doll House at Santa's Village".


"Jack Pumpkinhead joins the children in a ride on the Magic Train at Santa's Village".

Enjoy,

PTD

CL

It was part of our holiday tradition EVERY year. Very sad when they closed it. I'll see if I can dig up the pics. I know we have them somewhere. BTW: Isn't there a Santa's Village on 101 before Santa Barbara?

Possibly Santa Claus lane at Carpinteria?

TK

I actually worked at the Santa's Village in Scotts Valley when I was in high school. You can read about it here:
http://www.tikiking.com/Rambling_pumpkinhead.html



http://www.tikiking.com Neat Tiki and Ukulele Stuff
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[ Edited by: Tiki King 2011-12-04 12:43 ]

CL

Yes! If that's the Giant Santa we can see from the freeway, that's it!. I always thought it was a village and we've always wanted to pull off and check it out. But always on a tight schedule.

Last time we went through it wasn't there. We were saddened in missing the opportunity. Hopefully they'll put the Santa back up after renovation. Thanks for posting this!

On 2011-12-03 12:34, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
Possibly Santa Claus lane at Carpinteria?

N

On 2011-12-04 09:39, Coco Loco wrote:
Yes! If that's the Giant Santa we can see from the freeway, that's it!. I always thought it was a village and we've always wanted to pull off and check it out. But always on a tight schedule.

Last time we went through it wasn't there. We were saddened in missing the opportunity. Hopefully they'll put the Santa back up after renovation. Thanks for posting this!

On 2011-12-03 12:34, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
Possibly Santa Claus lane at Carpinteria?

It was a small point of interest. There was a small train ride as well as a snowman on top of another building. I remember it mostly for its delicious date shakes. We would get one on the way home from a Sunday drive (remember those) to Santa Barbara. The other interesting thing was that during the holiday season you could get your Christmas cards post marked "Santa Claus, CA". I did that all the years I lived in Summerland.

The people who own th property wanted to play up the fact that the lane is right by the ocean.* So Santa was evicted several years ago. He was given a permanent home in Oxnard and now greets you from the other side of the 101.

  • The scrooges are still chapped that the street is Santa Claus Lane. They really want to change it.

The Bee Monorail can be seen in this video.

Youtube:Santa's Village 1965

Caution: Music will be stuck in your head for hours

Just learned that the Christmas train from Skyforest now lives at the Santa Ana Zoo.

The Zoofari Express

H

Santa's Enchanted Village

A short film shot at Santa's Village:
(Somewhat now creepy in a David Lynch sort of way...)

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uek-TaL78hQ

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwOcm5omK2U

Another film shot at Santa's Village:

Santa's Magic Kingdom

Part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNE9r3f9Yto

Part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJUYdfjA0bw

A book about Santa's Village in Dundee, IL called Santa's Village Gone Wild. Talks about naughty stuff behind the scenes at the park.

A long gone Santa Clause park in Arizona

Roadside America: Santa Land, Arizona

AF

Great place for a kid in the 50's & 60's. My Father took lots of photos of our family visiting in the snow that I need to find and post...here's a button badge I found recently.

As a kid I used to go to santa's village in New Hampshire. I was happy to see it still exists. http://www.santasvillage.com/public/explore/index.cfm

Storm

didn't the owners of the one in cali start the santas village here in dundee illinois ? I thought i read something like that somewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc6-_6vndSE

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2014-04-17 05:05 ]

Santa's Village in Skyforest, CA to open again?

Mountain News: Santa's Village

WOW! That never happens! Very cool!

How are they ever going to drag the kids away from their computers?

I bought my nephew the coolest bicycle you can imagine (what it was at that time).
He said he has no interest of ever learning how to ride a bike, and could he have the money for some video games.

I don't know, an adult version of Santa's Village?
"Santa's Strip Club and Casino!!""

Anyway good luck to Santa's Village!

An opinion about the possibility of Santa's Village reopening expressed by someone who expresses opinions about stuff like this.

Themepark Adventure: Santa's Village

The other Santa Claus place in California

Opening Spring 2015?
Sky Park at Santa's Village

A few props and buildings originally from Santa's Village are at the Carlsbad Flower Fields.

About half-way down the page...

Santa's Playground
Children and adults will delight in Santa's Playground, the new home to whimsical playhouses and gigantic mushrooms that were part of Santa's Village in Lake Arrowhead years ago. Come see the 'Guard Shack', 'Doll House', 'Crooked Treehouse' and colorful mushrooms that so many of us remember from our very own childhood!

I was there a year or two back and took some photos. I'll see if I can find them.

UB

This just might work if the kids can get away from their smart phones for four hours.

Santa Claus lane near Carpinteria, CA as seen in this Aug. 1963 Kodachrome image.

Some slides from our family trip to Santa's Village in '69-70(?)

From a Charles Phoenix post on social media-

"VINTAGE KODACHROME: You have arrived at SkyPark at Santa's Village ... in 1955 ... behold the gloryyy !!! ..."

T

Man what a great place!

I want to work there, not when the annoying public and pesky kids are there, but when it is closed, painting and fixing the place while nobody but the goats and few other workers are about.

I know it's closed but still would be a cool job.

T

Lifted from ebay, some may be not from California Santa village.






T








T

I love cheese and this place is extra cheese for sure.
Want to do that fake snow thing on my roof line next year.

Wonder how hard it would be to sell your house if it looked like the ginger bread man house.





Micechat junior reporter LindaLee offers an inside view of the new Santa's Village

MiceChat: Santa’s Village with Lindalee Rose

Pages: 1 38 replies