Lion Country

[Mandelon]

Saw something on this on TV today. Who remembers Lion Country Safari?
Used to be in Irvine....Folks took me in the early 70's, when Irvine was barely there. Orange County still had oranges....
It seems there is still one in Florida. You could drive your car through the wild life area with real lions, and zebras and other African animals.
They had a rule against convertibles for some reason. :rolleyes:

[ColeTR1]

Went there on a field trip, third grade 1970.

[bordsmnj]

i remember that place. didn't they close it cuase some lady tried to feed one of the nice kitties?

[ColeTR1]

A hippo got lose from there and lived for a couple of weeks in that small lake in Laguna Canyon,. They had to kill it. That pissed off all the animal lovers. burningm After that the place went down hill.

[Kilrtoy]

Yep that place was cool...

[JetBoatRich]

Remember it, seems like yesterday. I guess if we want to wild life where we lock the door and keep the windows up we need to go to Compton or South Central jawdrop

[mickeyfinn]

We used to have one in atlanta. Seems the animals didn't like to stay inside and a few of the cats would get out and go roaming through neighborhoods so they had to close it. Still remember the sign going in though. Thought it was cool when I was younger, it said "No Trespassing Violators will be eaten"

[OGShocker]

JetBoatRich:
Remember it, seems like yesterday. I guess if we want to wild life where we lock the door and keep the windows up we need to go to Compton or South Central jawdrop Now that would be an adventure! :D

[hot_diggity_dog]

Mandelon you are old like me. wink
Been their many of times. :D
Do you remember The deer park in Buena Park? :confused: :D
HDD :cool:

[Caribbean Jet]

I remember going there with the folks. I have two very distinct memories from there. The first one was those huge wooden gates at the beginning of the tour in your own car, the gates sort of look like the ones in Jurassic park. The second memory was some game that had a rope that you shot a plastic football back and forth on. Not really animal related but its a memory. That place was cool.

[Blown 472]

When my mom worked for Global they had their company picnics there, the machine that made the plastic animals right before your eyes was cool.

[miller19j]

Blown 472:
When my mom worked for Global they had their company picnics there, the machine that made the plastic animals right before your eyes was cool. I can still remember the smell of the plastic in that machine when it was making your animal.
Oh….. fond memories that was back in the day when if you were really good you could ride in the very back of Dad’s wood paneled station wagon! :)

[Caribbean Jet]

This is a strange but cool topic. Brings back such strange memories. Blown472 I remember those company picnics to. Don't you wish you could go back to those times.

[Blown 472]

miller19j:
Blown 472:
When my mom worked for Global they had their company picnics there, the machine that made the plastic animals right before your eyes was cool. I can still remember the smell of the plastic in that machine when it was making your animal.
Oh….. fond memories that was back in the day when if you were really good you could ride in the very back of Dad’s wood paneled station wagon! :) I had a wood panelled wagon for a while, green with wood and white rims, I loved that car.
I remember standing over the hippo area watching them mill around not knowing just how bad ass they really are.
I think I had my first taste of beer at one of those picnics there, came home with a hand stamp on my forhead.
[ August 27, 2003, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: Blown 472 ]

[OCStoker]

I remember cruising through that place with the girlfriend and a six pack of Michelob! Great way to check out the wild life.

[SS Havabrew]

ColeTR1:
A hippo got lose from there and lived for a couple of weeks in that small lake in Laguna Canyon,. They had to kill it. That pissed off all the animal lovers. burningm After that the place went down hill. I remember that. The hippos name was bubbles. My dad had a shirt made that said "Shoot Bubbles" :D That was some funny sh_t seeing people expressions to that!

[Ziggy]

Irvine Spectrum was the Aviary show arena, the water park there uses many of the buildings and huts(hense the safari look). Good ol' days. :)
HDD-I never knew there was a Deer Park in Buena Park...maybe I was too young to remember since I moved from there in '69. Used to live right by the Mall.

[blownmoney]

When my mom worked for Global they had their company picnics there, the machine that made the plastic animals right before your eyes was cool.
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damn , i can smell em now!..

[ratso]

We had Texas Safari, knew the late owner very well, cool place, had a saloon and a hotel. He had a 34ft Maelstrom (only about 10 made) with 3 V-8's on it named Larry, Moe, and Curly, wish I knew how to post pics. Seems there started being a few fires there, first the hotel and then the saloon, seemed there was a little arson going on. Anyway he passed away in jail a couple of years ago, aside from the arson and insurance scams he was a pretty cool guy, kind of miss him...

[CA Stu]

blownmoney:
When my mom worked for Global they had their company picnics there, the machine that made the plastic animals right before your eyes was cool.
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damn , i can smell em now!.. Holy shit, I am old too... what a cool memory. And they used to be warm when you got 'em.
I remember going through there in the back row of seats of a huge 3 row-seating Pontiac Station Wagon, I think it was called a "Grand Safari"?
CA Stu <-- going outside to burn a Taco Bell cup, see if it smells as good...

[Havasu_Dreamin]

Never went, but I do remember it.

[ROZ]

miller19j:
Blown 472:
When my mom worked for Global they had their company picnics there, the machine that made the plastic animals right before your eyes was cool. I can still remember the smell of the plastic in that machine when it was making your animal.
Oh….. fond memories that was back in the day when if you were really good you could ride in the very back of Dad’s wood paneled station wagon! :) Yep, I remember the days....My mom too us there in her "simulated wood" paneled Pinto wagon... :D

[Mandelon]

The plastic/wax thing I remember from Universal Studios when they first opened it. I got a King Kong figure. It was warm.
At Universal Studios Remember: The dumb avalanche tunnel. The sagging bridge. The wimpy flash flood and the plastic Jaws shark right before they parted the Red Sea for you. I think I was 11 or 12.
Used to watch the $6,000,000 bionic man. Arthur Fonzerelli was the shit... :rolleyes: Ayyyyyyy!

[bordsmnj]

how about the aligator farm on the other side of la palma from KNott's berry farm. i used to love that hall way with all the snakes. you could tap on the glass and get some of 'em to strike.
was the deer park that place that was down by the end of western or knott ave. by the nabisco plant and the 5 frwy.??? maybe it was called japanese gardens? and of course someone's gotta rember what irvine used to look like with orange county drag strip by el toro. they used to have all kinds a cool stuff there. those where the days. how about free beach parking? sometimes beaches with no parking lots what so ever. un crowded waves,abaloney, lobsters...oh, corona del mar in particular used to have all that before they built a buncha houses there. then there's sneaking into trestles, sneaking into salt creek.....Killer Dana. ok, killer dana was before my time but dad's got pics somewhere. it's sad to think that those days are gone forever.
[ August 28, 2003, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: bordsmnj ]

[Lakeshow]

Does anyone remember the name of the lion that they buried on top of the hill?

[miller19j]

Mandelon:
The plastic/wax thing I remember from Universal Studios when they first opened it. I got a King Kong figure. It was warm.
At Universal Studios Remember: The dumb avalanche tunnel. The sagging bridge. The wimpy flash flood and the plastic Jaws shark right before they parted the Red Sea for you. I think I was 11 or 12.
Used to watch the $6,000,000 bionic man. Arthur Fonzerelli was the shit... :rolleyes: Ayyyyyyy! What about the Battlestar Galactica ship that was way cool!
My uncle use to work on Airwolf and would take us there all the time. One of his buddies in the editing room let me cut and edit a piece of one episode. I thought I was way cool!

[CA Stu]

bordsmnj:
SNIP
corona del mar in particular used to have
SNIP ..the best damn chimchangas in the whole freekin' world.
Nothing better than a CDM chimichanga after a tough day riding your Boogie Board in the 3 foot deep water. Seemed like Pipeline to me when I was a kid...
:D
CA Stu

[bordsmnj]

yeah i was just pointing out to the Gf the other day what all that down in newport used to look like off of MacArthur and the 73 as recently as 15 years ago.
i grew up not to far from katella and disneyland. a few days ago at work i ran across some aireal photos of disneyland and the suroundings as of 40 years ago. BIIIG dif.
but dammit i'm not that old! :rolleyes: :D

[JetBoatRich]

Mandelon:
The plastic/wax thing I remember from Universal Studios when they first opened it. I got a King Kong figure. It was warm.
At Universal Studios Remember: The dumb avalanche tunnel. The sagging bridge. The wimpy flash flood and the plastic Jaws shark right before they parted the Red Sea for you. I think I was 11 or 12.
Used to watch the $6,000,000 bionic man. Arthur Fonzerelli was the shit... :rolleyes: Ayyyyyyy! Don't they still do all those things?

[73beast]

The name was Japanese Gardens and Deer Park, and
was located on Knott Ave just before Artesia. Lions name i believe was Fraizer.
[ August 31, 2003, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: 73beast ]

[mikev]

what about the cool zebra striped jeeps they had there.