Fun Zone Amusement Park

Ah, this is the life. The overcast that had frowned on the beach is gone this morning. The ferry churns on its endless circuit to Balboa Island while sailboats glide across Newport Harbor. A yuppie couple--squinting into eyepieces of matching video recorders--take pictures of a bewildered toddler. Peaceful, isn't it? Unless you own a business here. Then there are all kinds of shoals and jagged reefs beneath these placid waters, just waiting for unwary merchants to run aground and sink.

Not a summer has passed since 1963 that Bud and Laura Lovick haven't visited the Balboa Fun Zone. Even before then, they knew the place. "I came here as a child 60 years ago," said Laura Lovick, 65. The Glendale resident discovered while on a family trip the collection of amusement rides, carnival games, boat tours and eateries on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. A decade later in the 1950s, she returned with then-boyfriend, now husband, Bud.

Not Much Fun: The Balboa Fun Zone, with its Ferris wheel and carousel, is on the auction block again. This time for about $4.5 million to $5 million--less than half the $10.1 million Japanese investors paid in August, 1988, said Sandra Quilty, president of Commercial Center Management Inc., a property manager in Santa Ana. The Fun Zone, located on the Balboa Peninsula, was placed in receivership in March, 1992, after Doo & Sons Inc.

Not Much Fun: The Balboa Fun Zone, with its Ferris wheel and carousel, is on the auction block again. This time for about $4.5 million to $5 million--less than half the $10.1 million Japanese investors paid in August, 1988, said Sandra Quilty, president of Commercial Center Management Inc., a property manager in Santa Ana. The Fun Zone, located on the Balboa Peninsula, was placed in receivership in March, 1992, after Doo & Sons Inc.

About a year ago, Joe Tunstall was oiling the bumper cars at the Fun Zone--Newport Beach's vest-pocket amusement park--and explaining why he was tired of owning the merry-go-round, the small Ferris wheel and the "Scary Dark Ride." Running the Fun Zone rides is a profitable business, and was even fun for a while, said Tunstall, who collects amusement-park rides on the side.

Visitors to the Balboa Pier and other areas near the popular Fun Zone will soon be seeing some parking and traffic signal changes that city engineers hope will help ease traffic. There will no longer be parking on the inland bay side of Bay Street between Adams Street and Palm Street. That one-way road is often jammed with cars trying to turn into a nearby parking structure. Engineers say eliminating those spaces will create a new lane to ease congestion.

For residents near Balboa's Fun Zone, the carnival-like atmosphere of summer can lose its appeal in the time it takes to block a driveway. So it is with no small joy this month that neighbors of the Newport Beach amusement park welcome the "secret season," as some call it, characterized by flawless weather, tamer visitors and lighter traffic.

The Ferris wheel, the merry-go-round and the other rides at the Balboa Fun Zone--a vest-pocket amusement park on Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula--are still for sale. But after two years on the market with no deal, the owners say they're in less of a hurry to sell these days. Joe Tunstall grew up thinking it would be fun to own the Fun Zone. About five years ago, he and a partner realized that dream: They bought the rides. A Japanese restaurateur actually owns the building.

Bob Speth is rolling up the tarpaulin around the merry-go-round. Joe Tunstall unlocks a door and considers the bumper cars, which must get their twice-monthly oiling today. A soft breeze off the harbor ruffles the canvas tarpaulin, and the water sparkles in the sunshine. As he works, Tunstall reflects on how owning this amusement park looked like so much fun when he was a child, and how much work it is now. "The Fun Zone's no fun anymore," said Tunstall, 51.

Not a summer has passed since 1963 that Bud and Laura Lovick haven't visited the Balboa Fun Zone. Even before then, they knew the place. "I came here as a child 60 years ago," said Laura Lovick, 65. The Glendale resident discovered while on a family trip the collection of amusement rides, carnival games, boat tours and eateries on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. A decade later in the 1950s, she returned with then-boyfriend, now husband, Bud.

Ah, this is the life. The overcast that had frowned on the beach is gone this morning. The ferry churns on its endless circuit to Balboa Island while sailboats glide across Newport Harbor. A yuppie couple--squinting into eyepieces of matching video recorders--take pictures of a bewildered toddler. Peaceful, isn't it? Unless you own a business here. Then there are all kinds of shoals and jagged reefs beneath these placid waters, just waiting for unwary merchants to run aground and sink.

Visitors to the Balboa Pier and other areas near the popular Fun Zone will soon be seeing some parking and traffic signal changes that city engineers hope will help ease traffic. There will no longer be parking on the inland bay side of Bay Street between Adams Street and Palm Street. That one-way road is often jammed with cars trying to turn into a nearby parking structure. Engineers say eliminating those spaces will create a new lane to ease congestion.

The Ferris wheel, the merry-go-round and the other rides at the Balboa Fun Zone--a vest-pocket amusement park on Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula--are still for sale. But after two years on the market with no deal, the owners say they're in less of a hurry to sell these days. Joe Tunstall grew up thinking it would be fun to own the Fun Zone. About five years ago, he and a partner realized that dream: They bought the rides. A Japanese restaurateur actually owns the building.

About a year ago, Joe Tunstall was oiling the bumper cars at the Fun Zone--Newport Beach's vest-pocket amusement park--and explaining why he was tired of owning the merry-go-round, the small Ferris wheel and the "Scary Dark Ride." Running the Fun Zone rides is a profitable business, and was even fun for a while, said Tunstall, who collects amusement-park rides on the side.

For residents near Balboa's Fun Zone, the carnival-like atmosphere of summer can lose its appeal in the time it takes to block a driveway. So it is with no small joy this month that neighbors of the Newport Beach amusement park welcome the "secret season," as some call it, characterized by flawless weather, tamer visitors and lighter traffic.

Bob Speth is rolling up the tarpaulin around the merry-go-round. Joe Tunstall unlocks a door and considers the bumper cars, which must get their twice-monthly oiling today. A soft breeze off the harbor ruffles the canvas tarpaulin, and the water sparkles in the sunshine. As he works, Tunstall reflects on how owning this amusement park looked like so much fun when he was a child, and how much work it is now. "The Fun Zone's no fun anymore," said Tunstall, 51.

Seal Beach from 1915 through the 1920s was a popular setting for motion pictures--especially the short silent skits starring such legendary comedians as Buster Keaton and "Fatty" Arbuckle. To movie audiences of the time, Seal Beach's teeming pier, Fun Zone amusement park and assorted gambling halls, salons and dance halls were familiar backdrops to movie slapstick.

Southern California in 1953 was a Mecca for pilgrims in search of the American dream. The Golden State seemed to promise a new beginning to those whose fortunes had withered in less sunny climes. Two new novels, both set in this inviting place 40 years ago, show young people struggling to sort the real from the unreal in a region where the confusion of fact and fantasy has always been a growth industry. "The Mortician's Apprentice," as its title suggests, is the more serious work.