"At the root of many of our greatest pleasures-music, films, online diversions, and more-is storytelling. Oakland nurseryman Arthur Navlet (1893-1981), like many of us back in the day, grew up enjoying Brothers Grimm fairy tales and Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Several of these tales were included in beautifully illustrated books, such as 1916's The Real Mother Goose, which included at least 140 "rimes" like Little Bo-Peep and Wee Willie Winkie. The tales would usually be read aloud, often by a parent, at bedtime."
"Navlet in 1947 during a trip to Detroit went to a children's zoo in Belle Isle Park. There, he happened to see a collection of small nursery rhyme-themed buildings and a lightbulb went off. He envisioned creating an entire park in Oakland-where he was a member of the Business Men's Garden Club of Oakland, tied to the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club-with large sets that children could climb in and interact with, allowing them to literally step into fairy tales."
"Mott and the Breakfast Club were able to raise $50,000 from Oakland citizens to realize the vision. That amount was equivalent to well over a million dollars today, which is still a drop in the money bucket for construction, but yet had more purchasing power then. Also, Fairyland was a park within a park, helping to reduce costs. Contributing sponsors included some names familiar to drivers in the East Bay, such as Earl Warren (Warren Freeway), Joseph Knowland (Knowland Park Zoo),"
Arthur Navlet grew up with Brothers Grimm fairy tales and Mother Goose nursery rhymes and remembered illustrated books like 1916's The Real Mother Goose. In 1947 he visited a children's zoo in Detroit's Belle Isle Park and saw nursery-rhyme themed buildings that inspired him to create an interactive park in Oakland where children could climb into large storybook sets. Navlet enlisted William Penn Mott, Jr. and the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club to raise $50,000 from Oakland citizens. That seed funding and the park-within-a-park concept lowered costs. Sponsors included Earl Warren, Joseph Knowland, and Thomas Caldecott. Navlet hired William Russell Everritt to design the original 17 sets.
Read at San Francisco Bay Times
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