The city of Los Angeles’ Recreation and Parks Department is planning on buying the historic carousel that entertained children and celebrities for nearly nine decades in Griffith Park.
On Thursday, Aug. 21, the Recreation and Parks Commissioners will vote on purchasing the 1926 Spillman Engineering Carousel, known as the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round, for $1 million, according to the meeting agenda and accompanying board report.
The city began negotiating with the owners shortly after the ride shut down due to mechanical problems in 2022. Talk of relocating the carousel elsewhere by a third-party buyer prompted the city’s RAP department, along with the City Attorney and the General Services Department (GSD) to intensify negotiations to buy the historic merry-go-round, and later restore it to operating conditions, while keeping it in Griffith Park for perpetuity, the report stated.
The nonprofit, Friends of Griffith Park, has been working behind the scenes to facilitate the sale. It also began a campaign to raise money for repairs, including a new crown block mechanism that turns the merry-go-round, as well as repairs to the 68 carved jumping horses, the two stationary chariots and decorative painting tiles.
“After recent assessments, it sounds like it is much worse then we ever imagined. It sounds like we will have to raise $1 million to $2 million to bring everything up to par,” said Gerry Hans, president of the FofGP group on Tuesday. So far, the group has raised $10,000.
The group’s website says it has received many inquiries from Angelenos — including parents of young children — asking when the carousel would reopen. The carousel’s closure comes around the same time the city of L.A. shut down the pony rides in the park after getting pressure from animal rights groups alleging the animals were not being taken care of properly.
Without the pony rides and the merry-go-round, there are fewer inexpensive activities for low-income families who can take their children to the park and entertain them without breaking the bank.
“They are fun, relatively inexpensive things kids can do in the park and it’s often their introduction to the park,” said Marian Dodge, FofGP board member who lives close to the park.
“It is a tradition,” said said on Wednesday. “Everybody says: ‘I used to go on the merry-go-round all the time,’ and they are 50 and 60 years old! Everybody is anxious for the merry-go-round to come back.”
Walt Disney used to bring his daughters to the park and watch them ride the famous merry-go-round, reported to be the only one like it in the western United States. The carousel, enclosed in a building and boarded up, is located with an area of the park called Park Center, near the Old Zoo Picnic Area and Shane’s Inspiration Playground.
While sitting on a bench, Disney’s imagination was taken by the carousel and its Stinson 165 Military Band Organ playing more than 1,500 selections, usually marches and waltz music. The ride was inspiration for a theme park he later created, called Disneyland.
“Gone With The Wind” movie actress Olivia de Havilland also was sighted watching the carousel go ’round.
Once purchased, the RAP report says it need repairs to the turning mechanisms. Also the paint and woodworking of the horses need work, Dodge said.
Though it is enclosed, ground squirrels would burrow up into the building and chew on the horses’ tails, she said.
The merry-go-round is unique because it is the only one in the West with hand-carved horses made out of Basswood and Poplar that are four abreast and considered “one of the most decorated carousels ever carved.” The renowned carvers include Charles Looff, creator of the Santa Monica Pier, according to an appraisal from A & E Sculpting in Los Alamitos, CA. The group estimated the value of the entire carousel at $1 million.
It originally operated in San Diego, then was purchased and moved to Griffith Park in 1937. It was purchased by Rosemary West later on. The co-owner, Julio Gosdinski, died in 2020 and his share of the carousel went into probate court.
Because the entire Griffith Park was designated a historic cultural monument in Los Angeles in 2009, the merry-go-round is a big part of that designation and it factored into the historical designation, said the Los Angeles Conservancy in a letter to the RAP board.
The merry-go-round played a role in L.A.’s social and civil rights movements, was featured in Hollywood movies and was considered at one time “the heart and soul of the park,” according to the South Pasadena firm, Antique Carousels. The first LGBTQ “gay-in” rally was staged there in 1968, according to the Conservancy, as well as other demonstrations.
“The contextual history of the Merry-Go-Round within Griffin Park makes it imperative that it say in its current location,” wrote Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the L.A. Conservancy in a letter to the RAP board.
Besides its place in history, Dodge said the moving horses and the ride of the carousel made it one of the most enjoyable moments in the entire 4,000-plus acres of the city’s largest park — something she wants to come back.
“When you are on the merry-go-round and you are going up and down, you can’t help but feel happy,” she said.
To find out more, or to donate to the merry-go-round repair fund go online to Friendsofgriffithpark.org. Also donations can be made by check to: Friends of Griffith Park. In the memo section, write “merry-go-round.” Mail to: P.O. Box 27573, Los Angeles, 90027.