Laurence Hollings Drawings for Frontier Village

Title: Laurence Hollings Drawings for Frontier Village

Dates: 1961-1978

Collection Number: 1999-31

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 7 cubic feet (13 map folders)

Repository: History San Jose Research Library

Abstract: Original artist drawings and schematics for Frontier Village amusement park by Laurence N. Hollings.

Language of Material: English

Collection is available to researchers by appointment.

Copyright status is unknown.

Laurence Hollings Drawings for Frontier Village . History San Jose Research Library

The drawings were transferred to History San Jose in September 1999 from the University of California, Berkeley. Original donor is unknown.

Frontier Village amusement park was located at the intersection of Monterey Road and Branham Lane in San Jose, California. It opened in 1961 and closed in 1980. Laurence, or "Laurie" N. Hollings was the main designer for the park. Born in South Africa, he settled in San Francisco with his mother when he was 14, where he went to work making theater fronts for movie premieres. He expanded his experience by apprenticing as a set builder for the San Francisco Opera, later moving on to displays for department store windows, museums, and the 1939 World's Fair. He was approached to create sculpture work for the Hollywood movie King Kong, which led to modeling work for animation short features. During World War II, Hollings worked in camouflage school, occasionally designing sets and doing miniature work for training films. After moving back to the Bay Area after the war, Hollings moved into the amusement park business. In addition to designing Frontier Village, Hollings helped design rides at Disneyland, Space City, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Sonora Desert Museum, Old Tucson, San Francisco's Playland, and Happy Hollow Zoo.

Original, hand-drawn artist drawings, schematics and plans by Laurence Hollings for Frontier Village amusement park in San Jose, including sketches and technical drawings for rides and buildings, sketches of signs and artistic features, landscape design drawings, and plans for park expansion. The bulk of the sketches are pencil on paper. The sketches are not organized beyond a few folders which contain a) general plans for Frontier Village, including park expansion in the 1970s; b) sketches of Frontier Village main signs, including highway billboards; c) sketches of other signs within the park; d) color drawings.