Circle the Southland to Discover a Treasure of Merry-Go-Rounds

There are many carrousels in the Southland, ranging from modern contraptions fashioned of fiber glass to gloriously restored remnants of the golden age of merry-go-round making.

Here’s where some of them will be found:

South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, (714) 241-1700.

Built for the shopping center and installed in its Carrousel Court in 1967, this merry-go-round harks back to 1900. It was put in the mall as an “architectural treatment,” to break up the distance of one long line of shops. “The carrousel also adds energy and movement,” says Werner Escher, South Coast Plaza spokesman. Tickets to ride cost 25 cents.

Castle Amusement Park, 3500 Polk St., Riverside, (714) 785-4141.

This Dentzel carrousel dates from about 1905 and is a fantasy of horses, giraffes, reindeer, pigs, birds, dogs, cats. It was formerly at Knott’s Berry Farm until it was moved into the blue-tile-roofed round building here. Open every day except Monday during summer, weekends only in winter. Rides cost 70 cents.

Seaport Village, 849 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego, (619) 234-6133.

A Charles Looff masterpiece dating from the turn of the century, this is an authentic Broadway Flying Horses Carrousel that did duty at Coney Island and in Salisbury Beach, Mass., before being restored and put into service here. The 46 animals, mainly horses, were stripped to bare wood and repaired and reconstructed; they were then sealed, sanded and colorfully painted, a process depicted in a gallery display of photographs on the walls surrounding the carrousel. More than 2,000 people ride the carrousel daily; cost is 75 cents.

Balboa Park (near the entrance to the San Diego Zoo, San Diego).This is an example of carver Allan Herschell’s work, with a wide variety of menagerie animals in addition to horses. Built in 1910, it came to Balboa Park from the “Tent City” in Coronado in 1922. It can be ridden daily in the summer; weekends and holidays only during other seasons. Rides cost 75 cents.

Griffith Park Carrousel (about two miles from the Riverside/Los Feliz entrance, Los Angeles, (213) 665-3051.

Made by Spillman Engineering (although the 68 horses aboard are a mixture of Spillman and Looff), it was located formerly at Mission Beach in San Diego, then briefly at Balboa Park before moving to Los Angeles in the 1930s. Co-owner Warren Deasy says restoration is about to begin.

Open daily in the summer (literally during the vacation period for Los Angeles schools); weekends and school holidays the rest of the year. Rides cost 75 cents.

Children’s Museum at La Habra, 301 S. Euclid, La Habra, (213) 905-9793.

Ten feet in diameter and 10 feet high, this is a scaled-down version of a larger Dentzel. It was made specifically for children and donated to the museum in 1984 by William H. Dentzel. The figures were cast in fiberglass from molds of animals he carved. There are eight beasts here, including a frog, a unicorn, a dragon and a pig. Unlimited rides included in the museum’s overall admission price: $1.50 for adults, $1 for children 3-16.

Shoreline Village, 407 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, (213) 590-8427.

Carved by Charles Looff, circa 1906, this carrousel carries 64 figures--camels, rams, giraffes and horses--and four chariots. It was originally a part of Luna Park in Seattle, Looff’s first West Coast amusement center, then moved to Playland in San Francisco. It spent 10 years in storage before being restored--right down to Austrian crystal “jewels” and real horsehair tails on the horses--and placed here in Long Beach. Rides cost 75 cents.

Santa Monica Pier (at the foot of Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica).

A “star,” the merry-go-round here has appeared in a number of movies and television shows, most notably “The Sting” and “Charlie’s Angels.” Built in 1922, it features 46 wooden horses elaborately hand-carved for the Philadelphia Toboggan Co. by German immigrant Frank Carretta. It was the 62nd (the number is carved into the center pole) made by PTC, which crafted about 80 carrousels between 1904 and 1931. It came to the pier in 1947 and was completely restored in the early ‘80s along with the Looff Hippodrome building--a curious mixture of Moorish, Byzantine and California fantasy styles--which houses it, as well as its band organ, and the carrousel framework, which carries quaint stenciled flowers and other designs said to have originated with the Amish people living near the company’s headquarters. Rides cost 25 cents.

Six Flags Magic Mountain, 26101 Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia, (805) 255-4111.

Another Philadelphia Toboggan Co. carrousel, this one dates from 1912. It spent 50 years at Savin Rock amusement park in West Haven, Conn., before being refurbished and installed here in 1971. Its 64 horses and two carriages carry close to 700 riders an hour. Unlimited use of the carrousel is included in the park’s overall admission price: $20 for everyone over 48 inches tall, $10 for children under that height; children younger than 3, free.

Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, (714) 827-1776.

The oldest carrousel in Orange County stands in the amusement park’s Fiesta Village. Built about 1902 by Gustav Dentzel, it is notable for its intricately carved menagerie animals, which, according to Knott’s Berry Farm spokesman Stuart Zanville, are worth up to $100,000 each. The 54 horses and other animals perform their circle dance to the accompaniment of music from two turn-of-the-century band organs--a Wurlitzer and a Gavioli--which can reproduce the sounds of 22 instruments. Unlimited use of the carrousel is included in the park’s overall admission price: $17.95 for adults, $13.95 for children 3-11.

Disneyland, 1313 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim, (714) 999-4565.

This is largely a Dentzel carrousel, with most of its animals--all horses--carved by the Pennsylvania company. It had been neglected for years when Walt Disney acquired it for $22,000 in 1955. Now its brass and paint are touched up daily; each horse is removed from the carrousel and refurbished annually. Unlimited use of the carrousel is included in the park’s overall admission price: $21.50 for adults, $16.50 for children 3-11.