Located at the intersection of SR 64 and US 180 near the town of Valle, Bedrock City boasts a coffee shop, campground and a life size replica of the tv show city.
The tv show had a host of characters but primarily revolved around Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their best friends, Barney and Betty Rubble. The word play on character names, businesses and just about everything associated with the show was quite humorous and usually reflected a stone-age or geology reference like "Flintstone" and "Rubble." "Hollyrock" celebrities like "Cary Granite" (Cary Grant) often made appearances.
The main characters of the show were loved by everyone!
For only $5 per person, we were allowed out the back door of the gift shop/coffee shop into a life-sized Bedrock City, a frame and stucco community painted in garishly bright colors - just like the one on the tv show! It was built in 1972 and at one time had a real life Fred and Barney strolling around the city but the remote location and hard economic times have hit the tourist attraction hard. In fact, it is currently for sale.
We did have an opportunity to hang out with Fred and Barney for while!
Bedrock City has all the usual "businesses" but with a stone age flair, just like the tv show. Furniture is made of "stone" or "wood" without ornamentation; it's all about functionality. The grocery store had "Pterodactyl eggs" on sale while the gas station had "regular" and "dino supreme" gasoline. We wondered what they used the gasoline for since all the vehicles were "foot-powered." We also got to walk through the Flintstones' and the Rubbles' homes. I'm sure that at one time they were quite charming but have now seen better days and are in need of some upkeep. They did, however, resemble their tv homes with a stone television set and beds made of a stone slab.
Richard had a chat with Wilma in her front yard. She told us the gossip around town!
One of my favorite parts of the tv show was during the intro credits and was shown in every episode. Fred worked at the stone quarry as a "crane operator" which is really a brontosaurus. When the quitting time whistle blew, Fred yelled "yabba dabba dooooo!!!"and slid down the tail to begin his free time. It always made me laugh... every time I saw it.
YABBA DABBA DOOOOOOO!!!!!
After spending some time (about 45 minutes) in Bedrock City and visiting with locals, Fred and Wilma, we both agree it is a tourist ATTRACTION and a fun blast from the past. I hope someone buys it and restores the buildings and furnishings soon or we will have to go to South Dakota to visit the Bedrock City in Custer.
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Percent of List Completed: 97%
Date of This Trip: November 23-25, 2012
If I remember the cartoon correctly though, Fred went down the brontosaurus tail on his feet not his keister! Still looks like a blast from the past though either way you do it.
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely right, Mike - but it was hard enough to get Richard to go down on his keister - flat-footing it would have been out of the question! ;-)
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