Horse Play

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.

“I had never built a building before,” Grabell said. “Who knew I could build a carousel? But once I said it, I had do it, because I always do what I say.

“I guess you could say I built the carousel for a smile,” he said.

Although Grabell, 56, now has a new love interest, his carousel evokes smiles from the men, women and children in his quiet, hillside neighborhood.

“It’s kind of a fun thing,” said Judy Teitelman, who lives nearby. “I love the work done on it. . . . This is not an ordinary street.”

“I really like it ‘cause there’s not much to do up here in the mountains,” added 9-year-old Marissa Teitelman, who has ridden on the carousel three times. “It’s a cool idea. Instead of running around you can go around and around and up and down.”

Until recently, Grabell had never carved anything but initials in a tree. But in 1995, Grabell retired after 25 years with the Los Angeles Police Department and decided he needed something to do.

After a short stint making stained-glass windows--a craft he called “boring and backbreaking”--Grabell spotted a magazine article titled “You Too Can Carve a Carousel Horse.”

“I thought it sounded interesting,” he said.

The beauty of the carved horses was appealing to Grabell, who had worked in the LAPD’s Hollywood Division. Years ago, while working an outside security job at a school parking lot, Grabell was nearly beaten to death, his head crushed by thugs.

“[Carving] is much more relaxing,” he said, half-jokingly.

So Grabell sent away for some wood and a how-to book and video. “I followed their instructions and it was a disaster,” he said.

‘No Plans to Stop’

Eventually, he found a carousel artist in Anaheim and took lessons. He bought more wood and paint and made a horse. Then he made another, and another.

“Next thing you know, I was building a carousel,” said Grabell, who carves in his garage but is building an air-conditioned studio. “I have no plans to stop.”

Made from large blocks of basswood, carved and painted with bright colors, a horse can cost several thousand dollars. A wood block alone can cost between $600 and $1,000.

But Grabell said he does not keep track of the expenses or the hours he puts into each horse. “I am thinking about everything I have to do,” he said, explaining that carving is a tedious and detailed craft that requires full concentration.

Although he carves mostly as a hobby, Grabell said he may start selling some of his carousel horses. Those who study, track and fight to preserve wooden carousel figures noted a resurgence of interest among collectors seeking unique decorations and nostalgic links to childhood.

“Carousel figures have become the ‘in’ thing in wood carving,” said Terry Blake, executive secretary of the National Carousel Assn., a nonprofit based in Evansville, Ind., that includes nearly 1,000 members worldwide.

Carousels date back to the Byzantine Empire, when they were used as training devices for knights, who would try to spear hanging rings. During the late 1870s in the United States, amusement park operators started setting up carousels on piers for family entertainment, while trolley companies put them at the end of the line to attract more evening and weekend passengers.

Wiped Out by the Depression

At least 5,000 carousels existed in the United States in 1925. The Great Depression wiped out hundreds of them, as amusement parks closed and the rides were dismantled.

By the 1950s, carousels became popular again, but their figures were made of cheaper materials, such as molded fiberglass and aluminum.

Today, fewer than 200 wooden carousels operate on regular schedules in North America, said Blake of the carousel association. California has an estimated 26 carousels with wooden figures, including one each in the Burbank Media City Center, at Griffith Park and on the Santa Monica Pier.

And the one on Grabell’s front lawn.

“Can you believe it?” he asked, smiling. “No fake horses, but real wooden ones.”