Uploaded March 2013 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Baby Boomers Tribute "Busch Gardens & Bird Sanctuary" Van Nuys San Fernando Valley
Busch Gardens was a "$4-million theme park and tropical oasis, [added] to the Van Nuys brewery. The 17-acre spread included a monorail that snaked around the facility and passed windows that gave passengers a look at the brewing process" (LA Times).
Busch transformed a 17-acre cabbage patch adjacent to the Van Nuys brewery into a tropical beer garden and bird sanctuary. Amongst the many activities provided for visitors were boat rides across a lagoon, a monorail, a log-flume ride, and a suspended trolley tour through the brewery; but perhaps the most popular attraction was the free beer. Once the park admission was paid, anyone of drinking age was allowed "two 10-ounce glasses of beer at each of the five pavilions." By the mid-seventies attendance began to slow down and August Busch III decided to close the park in December of 1976, which according to him, "had never been profitable."
Baby Boomers Tribute "Busch Gardens & Bird Sanctuary" Van Nuys San Fernando Valley
Busch Gardens was a "$4-million theme park and tropical oasis, [added] to the Van Nuys brewery. The 17-acre spread included a monorail that snaked around the facility and passed windows that gave passengers a look at the brewing process" (LA Times).
Busch transformed a 17-acre cabbage patch adjacent to the Van Nuys brewery into a tropical beer garden and bird sanctuary. Amongst the many activities provided for visitors were boat rides across a lagoon, a monorail, a log-flume ride, and a suspended trolley tour through the brewery; but perhaps the most popular attraction was the free beer. Once the park admission was paid, anyone of drinking age was allowed "two 10-ounce glasses of beer at each of the five pavilions." By the mid-seventies attendance began to slow down and August Busch III decided to close the park in December of 1976, which according to him, "had never been profitable."
