I first remember spotting the carousel at the Pike in Long Beach in 2013, on my way to the Aquarium of the Pacific with a friend—one who was too cool for ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds.
I figured I'd get around to going back—and I'm sure I did at some point, but I also remember getting a good look at it when it wasn't operating in 2021, during Covid shutdowns.
In my mind, that turned into "Every time I try to ride the Long Beach carousel, it's closed."
But this past weekend, having arrived to Long Beach a couple hours before my 4th of July fireworks cruise of the harbor, I changed all that—and finally got to ride.
This carousel is a Spillman Engineering Company model built in 1920 by the Allan Herschell Company in Western New York State. It's been at the Pike since 2005—but its early life is a bit of a mystery.
circa 2021
While it bears some of the hallmarks of a classic Spillman creation, including what appears to be an original maker's mark...
circa 2021
...and typical carved wooden horses, all jumping style, arranged 3-abreast, although not all of them appear to be original. (There's one horse in particular with a very shiny saddle and different jewels than the others.)
And no one seems to know who or what it was built for. For the first few decades of its existence, it traveled as a carnival piece—until it showed up at some point in New Hampshire, where it stayed until 1984, and again at Independence Center Mall in Independence, Missouri, where it ran from 1990 to 1996.
It was in 1990 that new painted art was added to the rounding boards...
...both on the exterior and the interior of the carousel (above the band organ façade, surely concealing some motors and mechanics).
At first I thought the artist signature "P. Caso" was a joke—a play on "Picasso"—but it turns out that it belongs to a (still living and working) master painter, Peggy Caso, who worked for The Perron Family for four decades.
The Perrons have been collecting complete carousels and carousel figures since 1975—and, in addition to their own private historic collection of salvaged and preserved antiques (some of which are national landmarks), they also operate public, operating carousels.
Besides The Pike, the Perron Family also operates locations at Seaport Village in San Diego and at a mall food court in Clackamas, Oregon.
circa 2021
The Perrons' company Historic Carousels, Inc. acquired this particular model in 1999—after it spent a couple of years in Santa Barbara's Chase Palm Park—and moved it to their storage facility near Mt. Hood in Oregon, where it stayed before being installed in Long Beach six years later.
The Perrons also once operated the International Museum of Carousel Art in Hood River, at a facility (the former First National Bank of Hood River) that combined their preservation work (e.g. collecting) with their restoration work—but it closed in 2007.
According to the Historic Carousels website, the Perrons are looking to rehome much of their vintage collection—but they'd love for the carousels to be accessible to the public, and rideable, rather than get split up among private collectors.
I've been following a "ride every carousel" ethos for a while now—and even though I had to sit in a chariot on this one rather than climbing up on a horse (these horses are a bit on the smaller side, as would've been typical for "kiddie" carousels at carnivals), I still found taking a spin very enjoyable.
If I were to ever get rich, I'd snap up a carousel and find a way to keep it operational somewhere.
But for now, I'll just have to keep chasing the few that still exist.
Related Posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment