New Ferris Wheel Tops Off Renovated Fun Zone

The view from the top of the Balboa Fun Zone Ferris wheel has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. To the left, on once-barren slopes, Newport Center’s office towers now cap a long expanse of condominiums that roll down the hill to the gleaming sailboats of busy Newport Harbor.

To the right, the Pacific Ocean can be glimpsed behind a screen of palm trees as straight and even as the teeth in a California girl’s smile. Just below, the too-clean beige walls of the renovated amusement area gleam in the hot spring sunshine, a well-scrubbed dare to anyone with a spray can.

But even at the Fun Zone--which reopened this past weekend, reversing a 20-year trend of decline--some things never change. Nervous parents prepped their children as the youngsters were locked into the seats of the 41-foot-high Ferris wheel with: “You won’t be scared now, if it goes round and round, will you?” One rider, who apparently experienced too many ups and downs, pleaded with the machine’s operator, “OK, it’s time to stop now, right?”

And on Sunday afternoon, the operator--who, as usual, didn’t answer--was the same man who ran the ride nearly three decades ago.

Bob Speth doesn’t look much like the 18-year-old student who learned to operate the original wheel in 1956. He liked his job so much that he bought it, along with its ground lease, for $6,000 in 1958. Speth, now 47, sold the old wheel in the mid-1960s when the Fun Zone began to get a bit seedy. Besides, he had kids to feed and needed more money than the seasonal job offered.

Built during the Depression in 1935, the Fun Zone was a powerful tourist draw through good times and bad. But by the ‘60s, “everything was just beat up and run down, nobody painting it, nobody doing anything,” Speth said Sunday. So he sold out and went to work for the Fountain Valley Parks and Recreation Department.

But he is back now, with his 18- and 20-year-old sons in tow, and the new wheel he brought with him doesn’t look much like its predecessor. It’s 60 feet closer to the water, has a shiny paint job, and it set Speth and his partner, Joe Tunstall, back about $100,000.

Business was booming Sunday for Speth, who also owns the zone’s merry-go-round, which is set in the middle of a complex of fast-food shops and clothing and souvenir shops. But then, it’s not hard to attract customers when the rides are free. Speth’s special prices ended Sunday; today, a ride on the wheel and a view of the bay will cost $1.25.

Over the years, plans to refurbish the Fun Zone had met with neighborhood resistance because of traffic and parking concerns. But according to Jordan Wank, who along with his son, Bruce, bought the site for $4.5 million: “Our plans for the area seemed to answer all the objections and at the same time give the area a much-needed face lift.” The park, after a two-year, $2.5-million restoration, now has 56-space underground garage for tenants as well as a 30-slip boat marina.

Other Fun Zone merchants also had grand-opening specials, part of an effort to bring patrons back to the Balboa Peninsula.

Sundance sportswear sold “Fun Zone ‘86” T-shirts for $7, and poured free champagne for customers.

Said owner Tony Horvat: “The traffic’s been phenomenal. But then, the clientele is perfect--tourists and locals. The people who live here are really affluent, and with the vacationers, even if things are (bad) in Ohio, they’re in a vacation mood and spend money.”

Sarah Moyer, 7, brought more experience than money with her to the Fun Zone. To the precocious Newport Beach native, the renovated amusement center is a far, far better thing than the one she visited when she was “younger.”

“It used to be pretty junky,” Sarah said, stuffing pudgy hands into the pockets of her purple walking shorts. “No Wendy’s, no nothing.”

Speth’s new Ferris wheel was the main attraction for Sarah and her cousin, 7-year-old Jennifer Lewis, who both visited the renovated Fun Zone for the first time Sunday.

“It goes a little pretty fast,” Jennifer said before climbing into the shining white No. 1 seat. “The top’s kinda freaky, but it’s fun. Be careful!”