CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 31, 2011 | By Mike Reicher, Los Angeles Times
The carnival-like atmosphere of the Balboa Fun Zone apparently will not pass without a fight. A group of preservationists has launched a Facebook campaign to halt plans for ExplorOcean, an ocean-themed educational center that would essentially erase the 1930s-era amusement park from the heart of Balboa. The Fun Zone has become something of a game piece in the debate over whether Balboa has become scruffy and in need of a face-lift, and whether a gleaming new development would kick some needed life into the area.
BUSINESS
October 8, 2011 | Hugo Martin
Centuries before the bride of Frankenstein first screamed and hissed on the big screen in 1935, the legend of the wailing woman who drowned her children was already terrifying kids throughout Latin America. But only now, with Latinos constituting the largest minority group in the nation, has the tale of La Llorona started to creep into the nation's Halloween festivities. And she's not the only Latino myth infiltrating the autumn celebration of all things scary and gory. The trend in Southern California and other heavily Latino regions seems fueled by a growing Latino middle class that visits theme parks in greater numbers and the rising popularity of Halloween, now the second-biggest holiday for spending in the country, behind only Christmas.
ENTERTAINMENT
October 8, 2011 | Brady MacDonald
The horror movie that is John Murdy's life opens in 1974 on a bloody scene of carnage in his family's Hacienda Heights living room when he's just 7 years old. Eccentric Grandma Rose Kavanaugh convinces the Murdy kids to stage a murder scene to surprise their parents when they return home. The children toss knives on the floor, cover themselves in ketchup and play dead on the carpet. "We all thought it was a great idea," says Murdy, 44, laughing at the recollection like a homicidal maniac.
NEWS
July 21, 2011 | By Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Reporting from Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa.-- The campgrounds, picnic groves and trolley parks that proliferated in Pennsylvania and Ohio in the late 19th century have survived through lean times and changing tastes to become some of the oldest operating amusement parks in the U.S. Photos: Vintage rides and attractions at America's oldest amusement parks Like many of the oldest theme parks on my trip across America's Coaster...
NEWS
July 17, 2011 | By Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Reporting from Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pa. - As one of the oldest amusement parks in America, Idlewild Park in Ligonier, Pa., has always been geared toward youngsters under 12 years old. Photos : Top 10 kids' rides at Idlewild Park Idlewild is about firsts and lasts. For generations, kids have ridden their first merry go round, Ferris wheel and roller coaster at the idyllic park. At the same time, Idlewild is home to many last-of-their-kind rides, including a caterpillar, haunted swing, tilt house and Tumble Bug. A cross between a wooded national park and permanent carnival, Idlewild stays true to its origins by allowing visitors to bring their lunches in coolers and baskets.
NEWS
July 16, 2011 | By Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Reporting from Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pa. - With its extensive collection of turn-of-the-century rides and attractions, Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pa., is a living, breathing, trapped-in-amber ode to the "Golden Age of Amusement Parks. " Photos: Top 10 oldest rides and attractions at Kennywood As you pass through the tunnel from the parking lot to the park, you're transported back in time to a place full of memories and free of worries. Filled with vintage wooden coasters and rare old rides, the quaint and nostalgic park is the kind of place passed down from generation to generation.