sunday drive: pacific park carousel

It's my first Mother's Day since she passed, and I am keenly aware of the loss. My good friend Dora suggested that I do something that she would do. I briefly considered outrunning the law or engaging in a drunken stupor, but decided on something a bit more discreet.

Mother loved carousels. She rode them, photographed them, and collected their iconography. Her kitchen was full of miniature carousel horses, her living room contained the 1939 Allen Herschell carousel horse that I inherited. She loved the light and the color, the show that was carousel.

The Pacific Park Carousel building dates from 1916, and the carousel itself from 1947. Both were rescued from severe neglect by the City of Santa Monica who assumed ownership in 1977 and undertook a sensitive restoration completed in 1982.

For Patsy, and all of you, presenting the Pacific Park Carousel.

























More Pictures Here