Carousels

Re "Burbank Carousel Is Latest Placed by Family Who Restores the Antiques," May 18. The Perrons may not realize it, but they are not only restoring the old carousels but the old memories that go along with them. I send my sincere thanks to them for bringing back to life the merry-go-round that was located on the Ocean Park Pier, as it was called in the '40s when I was growing up. The pier was loaded with a magic of its own, combining the beautiful sounds of carousel music with the exciting sounds from other rides and especially with the laughing lady who resided above the fun house (later called the house of mirrors)

PETERSBORO, Utah - By any measure, Vean Woodbrey looms large. Dressed in denim bib overalls, he stands 6 feet 4, weighs 275 pounds and wears size 16 shoes. His children - all 16 of them - jokingly call him Sasquatch because of the cartoonish spread of his footprint. So do many of his 70 grandchildren and great-grandkids. And then there is the 7-foot-tall wooden giraffe he's carving inside his home workshop in this farming town near the Idaho border. He runs a gnarled hand along the figure's neck, wiping off the sawdust that covers everything like an early season snow.

The crowd chatter in the carousel house was interrupted by a loud and cheerful organ song. The organ's pipes blew, its base drum kept the beat and the carousel turned--its horses carrying laughing children and their parents. The old Wurlitzer organ's song Saturday announced the reopening of the historic Santa Monica Pier carousel, which was closed for two months for repairs. The reopening of the carousel, originally built in 1916, was welcomed by many with long memories of happy moments.

Sometimes, as a reporter, you witness a telling moment only to find there's no place for the anecdote in your story. That's what happened during my recent interview with Vean Woodbrey, an ailing 69-year-old Utah great-grandfather who is working to complete a carnival carousel for his children and the community before his health gives way. I was captivated by Vean on a number of levels: Along with the selfless dedication of his project,...

Marianne Stevens has fond memories of the old carousel ride at Coney Island. She loved the delicately carved wooden horses with shiny glass black eyes. And today, more than 30 years later, she owns one of the largest and most exclusive carousel collections in the country. In town this weekend for the auction of the Bud Hurlbut carousel collection at the Anaheim Convention Center, Stevens says America has once again fallen in love with the vintage musical horses.

A bronze plaque hanging above the doorway of a wooden gazebo on Steve Grabell's lawn, reads: "A Little Circle of Dreams." Inside the 15-foot gazebo is Grabell's dream: a carousel, complete with a wheezy carillon, bright blinking lights, big brass rings and five wooden horses that he carved himself. A band organ blares carnival music. Grabell's dream began in late 1998, when, on a whim, he promised a woman whose smile he adored that he would build a carousel.

Our twin daughters went to Paris with two promises: They would ride all the carousels we could find, and they would sail boats in the park. A dozen carousel rides into our two-week visit, we headed to the Luxembourg Gardens, the park Napoleon dedicated to children. On one of the few sunny days the city offered this spring, young Parisians were already piloting their craft around the grand basin. Teresa sprinted ahead to the pond and then stopped, stunned. "Where's the remote control?"

Anyone wanting to ride the wooden horses on the Santa Monica Pier has to pass Eric Juarez's tests first. When it comes to children, he relies on a line, painted on a post, 42 inches above the ground. He uses it to make sure they're big enough to ride safely on one of the outside ponies on the pier's historic carousel. When it comes to adults, he relies on his practiced eye.

In merry-go-round circles, June Reely has the world by the tail. She is a 58-year-old antique collector who uses real horses' tails to bring turn-of-the-century wooden carousel horses to life. She does it from the attic of a rambling 80-year-old South Pasadena house, where tails from more than 600 horses hang from the rafters and wait to be reunited with galloping steeds--this time on carnival rides or in art collectors' living rooms. Reely takes pride in bringing up the rear.

Sy Vaks was headed into the frenzied high-tech world of computers and electronics until he did an about-face, opting for an old-world business that thrives on slow, meticulous attention to detail. His Santa Ana-based company is one of the few that carves wooden horses and other carousel figures. Last year, American Carousel Collection and its affiliates sold 1,000 of these wooden figures, a 20% increase from the previous year. "Everybody loves the old wooden horses," Vaks says.

George Clooney was the night's honoree at the Carousel of Hope Ball in Los Angeles on Saturday night. And he was in such a good mood that Neil Diamond persuaded him to sing along on parts of "Sweet Caroline," despite Clooney's protests that he can't carry a note even though he's Rosemary Clooney's nephew. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Stacy Keibler, looked stunning in a Monique Lhuillier gown. The event - one of the biggest on the city's fall social calendar - reportedly raised $2.5 million for the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes . [Society News L.A.]

The concrete Indian on the forklift struck a precarious pose as he moved through a crowd of rummagers scouting the remains of Bud Hurlbut's workshop in Buena Park . From behind the wheel, Lonnie Lloyd waved everyone aside as he guided the 6-foot, 6-inch statue into a U-Haul van. Its new owners shimmied it against a wall. Toys, props, tools and memorabilia at Hurlbut Amusement Co. moved fast during the recent three-day sale, and Lloyd tried not to be sentimental.

The carousel at the Balboa Fun Zone in Newport Beach is expected to reopen under new ownership — but far from the waterfront perch where it spun for decades. Patrick Moore, the longtime operator of the Fun Zone rides, said Thursday that the carousel would be relocated to the inland city of Westminster, close to the 405 Freeway, under a deal still being finalized. "One of the reasons that I agreed to this sale is that it would keep it nearby and open to the public," Moore said in an email.

People who love the Los Angeles Zoo get excited about any new animal — be it tiger cub, former circus elephant or Komodo dragon hatchling. So imagine the thrill of 66 new arrivals at one time, among them a Channel Island fox, a baby rhinoceros, a lioness, three racehorses and … a unicorn. All the animals, including the mythical one, have found a home in the zoo's newest habitat — the Tom Mankiewicz Conservation Carousel, which will open to the public Oct. 27. PHOTOS: Colorful carousel The hope is that the colorful new attraction will be a big draw and — at $3 for a three-minute ride — generate cash for the zoo for years to come.

From onstage at the 32nd Carousel of Hope, emcee Jay Leno surveyed the crowd before him, describing the gala as one where "the audience is more famous than you. " The Oct. 23 affair at the Beverly Hilton had no shortage of star-power onstage or off. Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Randy Jackson came to present awards to Maria Shriver and Quincy Jones; Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Gladys Knight and the rapper Akon performed; and the audience included Raquel...

Christine Johnson Smith, Broadway singer starred in 'Carousel' Christine Johnson Smith, 98, who originated the role of Nettie Fowler in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel" when it debuted on Broadway in 1945, died Wednesday at her home in Owensboro, Ky. The Glenn Funeral Home confirmed her death but did not give the cause. As Christine Johnson, she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1943 before taking the role in "Carousel." Richard Rodgers reportedly wrote the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" with Johnson in mind.

It began with the suggestion from a local wheat farmer, "Why not save the thing?" The colorful wreckage uncovered in the dilapidated building at the Kit Carson County Fairgrounds had become home to generations of mice, pigeons and snakes. Corn and feed had been stored there. Its contents were in such a state that some considered burning the whole mess to the ground. But they didn't.

Horses, pigs and roosters are fixtures on the farm. But carve these animals from wood, give them rich histories and put them in America's parks or amusement centers, and they become a dying breed. So turns the world of the antique carousel.

In the midst of one of the worst recessions in decades, tiny beach-side amusement parks along the California coast are reporting robust business and big crowds while most of the state's big theme parks have seen shrinking revenue. Small, privately owned seaside parks, such as Pacific Park at the pier in Santa Monica, Belmont Park in San Diego and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, don't have multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns or 3-D attractions as do Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood.

'Carousel' Where: Freud Playhouse at UCLA When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Feb. 7. Price: $70 and $75 Contact: (310) 825-2101 or www.reprise.org