CA CA - Farren Stanberry, 18, San Francisco, 24 Apr 1980

[KathPlumber]

Thinking about about Rev Broshears (if no one is making a movie about this guy then they should be) and how frustrated and angry he was that police in San Francisco did not take the threats to the gay community seriously. Here in Sydney we now have a recognised phenomenon where crimes against gay men from the 1970s onwards were not investigated and were subsequently mismanaged and even in some cases covered up by corrupt police. It’s entirely possible that there was a culture of negligence and/or corruption driven by bigotry in the police force in SF at the time. If this is the case it would explain why investigations always seemed to go nowhere. This doesn’t mean that individual police didn’t do their best, but that systemically there would have been a lot stacked against them.

 

[Maat99]

Thinking about about Rev Broshears (if no one is making a movie about this guy then they should be) and how frustrated and angry he was that police in San Francisco did not take the threats to the gay community seriously. Here in Sydney we now have a recognised phenomenon where crimes against gay men from the 1970s onwards were not investigated and were subsequently mismanaged and even in some cases covered up by corrupt police. It’s entirely possible that there was a culture of negligence and/or corruption driven by bigotry in the police force in SF at the time. If this is the case it would explain why investigations always seemed to go nowhere. This doesn’t mean that individual police didn’t do their best, but that systemically there would have been a lot stacked against them.

This is a great point. There was definitely tension and bad blood between the police and the gay community at this time. The “white nights” riots took place in 1979 which was the gay community rioting against the police after Dan White (former SF police officer) got a light sentence for murdering Harvey Milk. SF police contributed to Dan White’s defense, wore t shirts that said “free Dan White”, and were largely known to be very homophobic.
Not to mention that many of the areas just outside of SF were also extremely anti gay. I lived in the Castro in the mid to late 90s and even then people would drive up from outlying areas to the Castro and commit hate crimes against gay men caught walking alone.
I could definitely see there being a lot of anti gay crime being ignored and swept under the rug by police In 1980.
In fact, I have been wondering if a person manning the front desk or living at a gay hotel would be willing to give out accurate information on the whereabouts of residents to police or family members calling. Not everyone (anyone?) would want the police or abusive family member to unexpectedly show up, or even know employment, friend information. JMO.

White Night riots - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Castro Sweep - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Satch]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>
@Ciriii57

I don't know if we covered this before with our research of bus schedules.But what was the closest bus terminal to that campground? It almost seems like Farren might have wanted to go somewhere where he did not want to be seen to do something that would be frowned upon if family saw him doing that something. Maybe meeting up with somebody to smoke some weed perhaps? I think Mike makes a great point. If your going to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere, especially late Winter or early Spring, it might be a secluded area to do something risky. What did Farren have with him on his way to the campsite?

I feel that Farren wanted to become streetwise before he turned eighteen and wanted to perhaps test out some areas to get an experience of what camping and wilderness skills were like before he left to "see the world." Once we find some people who knew him, (the more, the better!) we can begin to get a true character composite and personality of Farren that portrays the adventurous spirit that he had, and the freedom he sought.

I think Farren sought a process of changing through discovery and insight to better himself through reading and communicating with nature. I sense he may have been an awesome writer! Looking to expand his horizons through not so much who he was, but what he could become! This kid was no slouch!

Satch

 

[Ciriii57]

Great work @Ciriii57, as always!

Logically, why would he want to be dropped somewhere so remote? Meeting up with someone that he didn’t want to be seen with seems the most obvious reason. Being picked up by them seems even more logical, really, given the access to the highway. Obviously this was a place that locals knew, a place that was known well enough colloquially to be described as “the old Joaquin Miller campground”, so it was somewhere you could say you’d meet someone, and people knew what you meant, but also probably no one else would see you there.

Hitch-hiking in the general direction of a town with a Greyhound - maybe, but seems a roundabout way to do it doesn’t it?

The more I think about it the more I wonder who Farren might have encountered during those last few years in Oregon before his disappearance who might have influenced him to realise things about himself or the world.

Exactly...logically it makes no sense at all. I can only think that he was meeting someone! And I wonder if the Aunt and Grandma knew why he wanted dropping there even? If so...maybe they never revealed that for whatever reason? I don't beleive he was even camping tbh. And I am not sure I think they dropped him there to make his way to the closest Greyhound bus stop because why would you drop him only part way and leave him to what, hitchhike? You would drive the remaining 19 miles! It's only another 20 minutes! For whatever reason he wanted to be at this campground! And that makes no sense to me.

Below I have some pure speculation regarding this, please let me know your opinions:

• Farren called his mother for his money from SF and she refused
• At some point Farren decides to go back to John Day and get his money
• Somebody with a car (perhaps the "gay man" or a friend) drives him back to John Day and drops him off
• Not wanting to arrive back at his family's home with his "friend", possibly his "boyfriend", they arrange to meet at the "old Joaquin Miller Campground" once he has his money.
• He probably told his Grandma he'd call her once he was back safe
• Something happened to Farren either on he way back to SF, at the cmapground or shortly after getting back and he never made that call and was reported missing.

This is just one possible scenario and it has many holes in it. It doesnt explain why his roommates said he left for work. It also doesn't fit in at all with the official reported version of events. It does explain certain things about the campsite and offers a role for the "gay man". If his return visit was at the end May/beginning of June it also resolves the issue of his aunt dropping him off in June 1980 and why it was the last time she remebers seeing him. Dpending on how much money Farren was carrying could also provide provide a motive for someone to do something nefarious.

 

[Ciriii57]

what was the closest bus terminal to that campground? It almost seems like Farren might have wanted to go somewhere where he did not want to be seen to do something that would be frowned upon if family saw him doing that something. Maybe meeting up with somebody to smoke some weed perhaps? I think Mike makes a great point. If your going to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere, especially late Winter or early Spring, it might be a secluded area to do something risky. What did Farren have with him on his way to the campsite?

The closest bus terminal to that campground, and indeed to John Day was and is in Burns, Oregon (about 20 miles from the campground). It has a little convenience store and a cafe. Buses to the East took you to either Ontario, Oregon or Boise, Idaho after which you had to change onto another bus. Buses West terminated in Bend, Oregon where you could transfer.
I am not sure about the weed smoking scenario tbh. It's seems a long way to go to smoke weed when your hometown is lterally surrounded by wilderness and also I doubt he'd ask his grandma to take him if that was his intention.

 

[Ciriii57]

Guys!! Guys!! Wow...The Marriott Corporate Archivist emailed me back last night! I think we may have potentially found what Farren's job was!! Email quoted below:

Hello – I’m not in records management, but am quite certain personnel records from 1980 are no longer in existence. Typically a company would keep the HR records of the employee during the person’s time working at the company and then maybe 7 or 8 years after the person left the company and then those records are disposed of. It is too cost prohibitive to store all records in perpetuity.

Regarding the unclaimed property on the screen shot I checked with a co-worker to see if he knew anything about it and he is sure that this paycheck originated with the Marriott Great America theme park. The park employed ticket agents in order to bring in people from tourist areas. Typically promotional material and ticketbooks were distributed to vendors who would then divide them between their agents. Usually these were seasonal workers or students who might only work for a few weeks and apparently it was common not to record any information beyond a name. From what you've told me and the low amount on the check I believe this is the most likely explanation for what he was doing. Certainly there were many agents working in San Francisco.
I looked through some newsletters and Great America material in the archives but could not find any specific information on Farren Wade Stanberry.

Re: Marriott-related businesses in/near San Francisco in 1980, there are several. First, there was the Marriott Hotel San Francisco Bay at the Berkeley Marina. I don’t think it is still there or if it is it is no longer a Marriott hotel. And there was a Santa Clara hotel as well that opened in 1976.

Marriott also had the two Great America theme parks mentioned above from 1976-1982 – one was in Santa Clara near San Francisco and had employees working in the city.

Marriott had an airline catering division for more than 50 years. One of the many airports it serviced was in San Francisco. There were employees who made and packed the foods for flights.

Finally, Marriott managed several restaurant chains in the 1960s-1980s including Bob’s Big Boy, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, and Roy Rogers. I am assuming there may have been some in or near San Francisco but do not know where.

Sorry I cannot be more help; good luck with your search.

Regards,

OK! So the Marriott Corporation believes he was selling tickets to their theme park! This sounds very plausible to me! The actual theme park was in Santa Clara so I think that was probably too far away to travel to work everyday, but he could be out on the street selling tickets in SF! That seems like it would make alot of sense!

We should also take into account and reserach further the other places she mentioned (some of which we had already mentioned previously):

• Marriott Hotel San Francisco Bay at the Berkeley Marina. So this explains why we haven't been able to find a Marriott Hotel in SF-there wasn't one! This one was the closest in Berkeley Marina. It is still a possibility, there was a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) link from Market Street to the marina that would have taken about an hour. It is now a Doubletree by Hilton hotel.
• Santa Clara Hotel-I think Santa Clara was too far away to consider, there seem to be no direct BART links between SF and Santa Clara.
• IN-FLITE Airline Catering-definitely a possibility, this was located right by the airport and there were direct BART links from Market Street to the airport, the journey would have been about 45 mins. I have just discovered that In-Flite has a facebook group for former employees with many videos/photos from the 80's, so I'll deffo be sending them a message!
• Bob’s Big Boy, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, and Roy Rogers- We need to find out the location of these restaurants but I am guessing they would have been on or very near Market Street.

Even though she cannot confirm for certain that this F.Stanberry was Farren, the fact that she was able to identify the probable job leaves me in no doubt that this was him.

Final thought; if Farren was indeed selling tickets then he could have literally encountered ANYONE who could have harmed him. I can well imagine him selling to someone who says they have the money at home..."let me give you a ride and I'll get you the money"..."come in, let me find my wallet"....if Farren was trusting and naive enough he could have placed himself in a dangerous situation. JMO of course.

I'm excited to hear all of your thoughts!

 

[KathPlumber]

Guys!! Guys!! Wow...The Marriott Corporate Archivist emailed me back last night! I think we may have potentially found what Farren's job was!! Email quoted below:



OK! So the Marriott Corporation believes he was selling tickets to their theme park! This sounds very plausible to me! The actual theme park was in Santa Clara so I think that was probably too far away to travel to work everyday, but he could be out on the street selling tickets in SF! That seems like it would make alot of sense!

We should also take into account and reserach further the other places she mentioned (some of which we had already mentioned previously):

• Marriott Hotel San Francisco Bay at the Berkeley Marina. So this explains why we haven't been able to find a Marriott Hotel in SF-there wasn't one! This one was the closest in Berkeley Marina. It is still a possibility, there was a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) link from Market Street to the marina that would have taken about an hour. It is now a Doubletree by Hilton hotel.
• Santa Clara Hotel-I think Santa Clara was too far away to consider, there seem to be no direct BART links between SF and Santa Clara.
• IN-FLITE Airline Catering-definitely a possibility, this was located right by the airport and there were direct BART links from Market Street to the airport, the journey would have been about 45 mins. I have just discovered that In-Flite has a facebook group for former employees with many videos/photos from the 80's, so I'll deffo be sending them a message!
• Bob’s Big Boy, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, and Roy Rogers- We need to find out the location of these restaurants but I am guessing they would have been on or very near Market Street.

Even though she cannot confirm for certain that this F.Stanberry was Farren, the fact that she was able to identify the probable job leaves me in no doubt that this was him.

Final thought; if Farren was indeed selling tickets then he could have literally encountered ANYONE who could have harmed him. I can well imagine him selling to someone who says they have the money at home..."let me give you a ride and I'll get you the money"..."come in, let me find my wallet"....if Farren was trusting and naive enough he could have placed himself in a dangerous situation. JMO of course.

I'm excited to hear all of your thoughts!

this is truly excellent sleuthing. Well done!!!

So, if Farren was working as a ticket agent, who would the vendor likely have been? Just to clarify, the vendor didn’t have to be a Marriott-associated business - or did it? I’m not sure if I’m interpreting it correctly.

Might the hotel have been a vendor?

 

[Ciriii57]

this is truly excellent sleuthing. Well done!!!

So, if Farren was working as a ticket agent, who would the vendor likely have been? Just to clarify, the vendor didn’t have to be a Marriott-associated business - or did it? I’m not sure if I’m interpreting it correctly.

Might the hotel have been a vendor?

The way I understood it (and how I have seen it work in tourist places here) is that The Theme park would distribute tickets to to a person who was maybe working in a ticket office or a place you could book tours or something (like a central base of operations) or even just a "Marriott" booth on the street and then that person would send out people onto the streets to try and drum up trade, maybe selling discounted tickets to the theme park perhaps? My guess is that this is what Farren was doing-the guy on the streets? Usually you can get commission from these sales. Maybe something like the below image of ticket sellers on the streets of SF (still happening today!):


I suppose any Marriott business could have been the place where the stuff was distributed. Since the paychecks come from The Marriott Corporation directy I think the vendor would have to have been Marriott - associated? I am not an expert here but thats just wahat I interpreted? If any one has any experience with this please let us know.

 

[KathPlumber]

The way I understood it (and how I have seen it work in tourist places here) is that The Theme park would distribute tickets to to a person who was maybe working in a ticket office or a place you could book tours or something (like a central base of operations) or even just a "Marriott" booth on the street and then that person would send out people onto the streets to try and drum up trade, maybe selling discounted tickets to the theme park perhaps? My guess is that this is what Farren was doing-the guy on the streets? Usually you can get commission from these sales. Maybe something like the below image of ticket sellers on the streets of SF (still happening today!):
View attachment 434412

I suppose any Marriott business could have been the place where the stuff was distributed. Since the paychecks come from The Marriott Corporation directy I think the vendor would have to have been Marriott - associated? I am not an expert here but thats just wahat I interpreted? If any one has any experience with this please let us know.

Yes, that’s exactly how I imagined it too - the guy on the streets!

It makes sense that the vendor would be Marriott-associated - is that why they gave you that list? Is it worth clarifying with them that the vendors would have been Marriott-associated?

I feel sure that I have seen the names of some of those restaurants advertised in the Crusader or elsewhere by the way.

 

[Ciriii57]

Yes, that’s exactly how I imagined it too - the guy on the streets!

It makes sense that the vendor would be Marriott-associated - is that why they gave you that list? Is it worth clarifying with them that the vendors would have been Marriott-associated?

I feel sure that I have seen the names of some of those restaurants advertised in the Crusader or elsewhere by the way.

I am thinking that since the Marriott was issuing the paychecks then the whole operation had to be Marriott associated, the vendor too, or it would have said the name of the vendor's business instead, right? It is possible this was run from one of the other Mariott businesses but in my head I was imagining a booth...but not necessarily.
I asked her specifically for that list of ALL Mariott business in San Francisco so we could try and narrow down where Farren might have worked. But I didn't expect her to tell me she thought he was a ticket seller for the theme park! I am still keeping the other places in mind though as well. If you happen to have come across the addresses of these places in the Gay Crusader, that would be really usful, especially if they are near to The National Hotel!

 

[Bit of hope]

Guys!! Guys!! Wow...The Marriott Corporate Archivist emailed me back last night! I think we may have potentially found what Farren's job was!! Email quoted below:



OK! So the Marriott Corporation believes he was selling tickets to their theme park! This sounds very plausible to me! The actual theme park was in Santa Clara so I think that was probably too far away to travel to work everyday, but he could be out on the street selling tickets in SF! That seems like it would make alot of sense!

We should also take into account and reserach further the other places she mentioned (some of which we had already mentioned previously):

• Marriott Hotel San Francisco Bay at the Berkeley Marina. So this explains why we haven't been able to find a Marriott Hotel in SF-there wasn't one! This one was the closest in Berkeley Marina. It is still a possibility, there was a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) link from Market Street to the marina that would have taken about an hour. It is now a Doubletree by Hilton hotel.
• Santa Clara Hotel-I think Santa Clara was too far away to consider, there seem to be no direct BART links between SF and Santa Clara.
• IN-FLITE Airline Catering-definitely a possibility, this was located right by the airport and there were direct BART links from Market Street to the airport, the journey would have been about 45 mins. I have just discovered that In-Flite has a facebook group for former employees with many videos/photos from the 80's, so I'll deffo be sending them a message!
• Bob’s Big Boy, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlors, and Roy Rogers- We need to find out the location of these restaurants but I am guessing they would have been on or very near Market Street.

Even though she cannot confirm for certain that this F.Stanberry was Farren, the fact that she was able to identify the probable job leaves me in no doubt that this was him.

Final thought; if Farren was indeed selling tickets then he could have literally encountered ANYONE who could have harmed him. I can well imagine him selling to someone who says they have the money at home..."let me give you a ride and I'll get you the money"..."come in, let me find my wallet"....if Farren was trusting and naive enough he could have placed himself in a dangerous situation. JMO of course.

I'm excited to hear all of your thoughts!

Amazing! Great results!! He could have picked them up at a certain location and then sold them on the streets or could have sold them at a certain fixed location. I agree with you, if he was just selling them in the streets (maybe even wearing some kind of costume, like Disney) it could have happened like you said.

<modsnip: sleuthing family>

ETA

 

[KathPlumber]

I am thinking that since the Marriott was issuing the paychecks then the whole operation had to be Marriott associated, the vendor too, or it would have said the name of the vendor's business instead, right? It is possible this was run from one of the other Mariott businesses but in my head I was imagining a booth...but not necessarily.
I asked her specifically for that list of ALL Mariott business in San Francisco so we could try and narrow down where Farren might have worked. But I didn't expect her to tell me she thought he was a ticket seller for the theme park! I am still keeping the other places in mind though as well. If you happen to have come across the addresses of these places in the Gay Crusader, that would be really usful, especially if they are near to The National Hotel!

Ah okay, I get it now.

Is it daft to suggest that we clarify whether there really were Marriott booths at that time that were likely to have been the vendor? Because if there weren’t, then the “middle man,” as it were, must have been one of those other Marriott-originating places mentioned. And if there were, then it would be useful to be able to ask people who were around at the time: do you remember the Marriott theme park booths, did you ever buy a ticket from one, did you ever know someone who worked for one, etc etc.

 

[Bit of hope]

Just some info about Marriott's theme parks.

How Marriott's Great America theme parks changed the game for family fun in the 70s & 80s - Click Americana

In 1976, Marriott's Great America theme parks were born from a simple yet ambitious idea: give families an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind experience. Here, see the parks in California & Illinois in the 70s & 80s!

clickamericana.com

The parks were initially launched in two locations — Santa Clara, California, and Gurnee, Illinois — in 1976. In the early years, both parks were the image of each other, with nearly identical layouts and attractions.

 

[Ciriii57]

Ah okay, I get it now.

Is it daft to suggest that we clarify whether there really were Marriott booths at that time that were likely to have been the vendor? Because if there weren’t, then the “middle man,” as it were, must have been one of those other Marriott-originating places mentioned. And if there were, then it would be useful to be able to ask people who were around at the time: do you remember the Marriott theme park booths, did you ever buy a ticket from one, did you ever know someone who worked for one, etc etc.

I did a Google search and honestly I can find absolutely no reference at all to a Marriott Booth selling tickets.

So is it possible that Farren collected them from the distributor? I think @bitofhope is right about collection from a central location. That could certainly be one of the restaurants-does anyone remember restaurants having leaflets and things for attractions because I am sure I do. But it could also be anywhere else ...maybe the guy just dropped stuff from the back of a van or his home?
Maybe something like when Newspaper delivery boys get their papers dropped off and all the boys go to collect their bundle?

 

[Odyssey]

Great find!

A couple thoughts that come to mind.

There was another theme park called Marine World. At the time it was in Redwood City, about halfway from SF to Santa Clara. It later relocated to Vallejo but it makes sense that Marriott would need to make that effort to get people to go all the way to Santa Clara.

If he was a street vendor, he probably had a significant amount of cash on him, which could potentially be a motive. Though again, it's hard to imagine anything happening with nobody seeing anything.

If this paycheck was indeed connected with the theme park, it was very likely Farren's. If I remember correctly the other F Stanberrys were in Southern California and wouldn't likely be selling tickets to that theme park. Southern California has plenty of theme parks, including Disneyland.

And then we get back to him losing his job. We don't know if there was one job or two, but it seems like it would be hard to lose a job selling tickets?

 

[KathPlumber]

Amazing! Great results!! He could have picked them up at a certain location and then sold them on the streets or could have sold them at a certain fixed location. I agree with you, if he was just selling them in the streets (maybe even wearing some kind of costume, like Disney) it could have happened like you said.

Just some info about Marriott's theme parks.

How Marriott's Great America theme parks changed the game for family fun in the 70s & 80s - Click Americana

In 1976, Marriott's Great America theme parks were born from a simple yet ambitious idea: give families an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind experience. Here, see the parks in California & Illinois in the 70s & 80s!

clickamericana.com

The parks were initially launched in two locations — Santa Clara, California, and Gurnee, Illinois — in 1976. In the early years, both parks were the image of each other, with nearly identical layouts and attractions.

rsbm

I have been doing the same research dives on the theme parks!! Bugs Bunny was their mascot so I was Imagining poor Farren in some Bugs Bunny costume :/ but it’s presumably more likely that he would have appealed to prospective buyers in San Francisco as his regular self. That kind of commission work is always very hard and people doing it are vulnerable.

I noticed there is a bunch of Great America nostalgia Facebook groups as well as this one for people who worked there. Is anyone interested in taking that on - I actually don’t have much of a Facebook presence I worked at Great America Amusement Park, Santa Clara | Facebook

 

[Mfleish]

Is anyone interested in taking that on

I don't mind. I will give it a try.

 

[KathPlumber]

This is a great point. There was definitely tension and bad blood between the police and the gay community at this time. The “white nights” riots took place in 1979 which was the gay community rioting against the police after Dan White (former SF police officer) got a light sentence for murdering Harvey Milk. SF police contributed to Dan White’s defense, wore t shirts that said “free Dan White”, and were largely known to be very homophobic.

Thanks so much for this insight! It reminded me that there were stories of the police playing Danny Boy on their radios in honor of Dan White. There’s loads of articles about this from the time but there doesn’t seem to have been the same level of public reckoning over it as I’ve seen in my country, but SF is also a much smaller city I guess.

Not to mention that many of the areas just outside of SF were also extremely anti gay. I lived in the Castro in the mid to late 90s and even then people would drive up from outlying areas to the Castro and commit hate crimes against gay men caught walking alone.
I could definitely see there being a lot of anti gay crime being ignored and swept under the rug by police In 1980.
In fact, I have been wondering if a person manning the front desk or living at a gay hotel would be willing to give out accurate information on the whereabouts of residents to police or family members calling. Not everyone (anyone?) would want the police or abusive family member to unexpectedly show up, or even know employment, friend information. JMO.

White Night riots - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Castro Sweep - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yes absolutely I think we’ve discussed this here a few times… the unreliable nature of any of those reports given to inquiring family at the time.

I’ve marked out some historic articles to read over and to investigate the names of some of the police and activists/advocates involved, so I’ll keep that bubbling along when I have time.

 

[Ciriii57]

Great find!

A couple thoughts that come to mind.

There was another theme park called Marine World. At the time it was in Redwood City, about halfway from SF to Santa Clara. It later relocated to Vallejo but it makes sense that Marriott would need to make that effort to get people to go all the way to Santa Clara.

If he was a street vendor, he probably had a significant amount of cash on him, which could potentially be a motive. Though again, it's hard to imagine anything happening with nobody seeing anything.

If this paycheck was indeed connected with the theme park, it was very likely Farren's. If I remember correctly the other F Stanberrys were in Southern California and wouldn't likely be selling tickets to that theme park. Southern California has plenty of theme parks, including Disneyland.

And then we get back to him losing his job. We don't know if there was one job or two, but it seems like it would be hard to lose a job selling tickets?

Fantastic insight! Especially about the other theme park being in competition! Can I ask, how long is the journey from SF to Santa Clara...just to exclude him working there.

I thought the same about losing this particular job, it would seem something like this would be pretty casual. I would think you'd only lose this job if you literally sold nothing. So we can't be sure but this would suggest this was a second job right?

 

[Ciriii57]

rsbm

I have been doing the same research dives on the theme parks!! Bugs Bunny was their mascot so I was Imagining poor Farren in some Bugs Bunny costume :/ but it’s presumably more likely that he would have appealed to prospective buyers in San Francisco as his regular self. That kind of commission work is always very hard and people doing it are vulnerable.

I noticed there is a bunch of Great America nostalgia Facebook groups as well as this one for people who worked there. Is anyone interested in taking that on - I actually don’t have much of a Facebook presence I worked at Great America Amusement Park, Santa Clara | Facebook

Haha although that's a great image of him in a bug's bunny outfit I'm pretty certain he would have just been in his own clothes around SF haha
Great find with the Facebook group, I wonder if though this will only be people who actually worked at the park itself. As a ticket seller in SF Farren might not ever have even visited the park!