Inside the Carousel

That's a very cool shot, Motts.

Ah, just imagine what it looked like in its heyday.

yeah, kind of sad to see it now....

Right down the road from the old Rocky Point is Oakland Beach. Here is what is being done to restore that carousel. :)

http://riroads.com/arc...d_beach_carousel.htm

My grandmother had a aunt who lived on oakland beach road or ave. I forget. During the 30's and 40's many family members use to visit her there and spend weekends. I remember her attic use to be filled with big ole beds that her guests used. When we went there in the early 70's I remember them as being old and dusty! LOL We spent many a days at Rocky point and at Grandmas aunts house.

Something really sad about this picture in the way alot of the photos of the Enchanted Forest are sad.A place where people laughed and smiled now desolate and dead.

This carousel and an Eli Whitney Ferris wheel were the two oldest rides still operating until the park shutdown in the mid 90s. The wooden animals that made up the ride were actually sold separately several years before the park closed and were replaced with cheapy ones. I believe the collection of wooden creatures sold for more than 1 million. The carousel itself was from apprx 1895. (The Eli Whitney Ferris wheel was apprx 1920).

Someone commented that this carousel was being restored at Oakland beach. This is not so.The oakland beach carousel was a separate item that was gone many decades before the park closed. i.e. Its not the same carousel.

Wow. Great shot. I love how you captured the colors. Looks cool

it looks like the old amusement park in the chicago area i forget what the name was but my mother used to go there all the time its near schiller park if anybody from or outside of chicago knows where that is LOLOLOL!!!!!

Never mind just found it was called Riverview Park!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! amazing looking place there was a disaster there that my mother witnessed while she was there don't want to go into that though but its cool looking though.

this is very sad and disturbing at the same time. tho it draws me too it the way abandoned amusement parks always have. love to see more shots of things like this someday.

This is a great shot -- what looks like filigree work at the top and the bottom. Kinda sad, tho, I remember riding the carousel at Coney Island when I was a kid.

As an artist I have to say I love both the shot and the colors on the top of the carousel. :-)

There was an old amusement park near where I used to live that closed about 1965, I believe. It was called Dreamland Park; don't kmow if anyone's heard of it. Amurder took place there in 1969 and they now have a book out called The Dreamland Park Murders. I took pictures of the abandoned park about 13 years ago and I'm glad I did because most of the buildings that were standing have collapsed now. So it's really really great that Motts is taking these photos now. Thanks, Motts.

No Nancy, thank YOU!
I'm going to goole to check out those murders right now, it sounds really interesting in a dark sort of way.
Something simeral happened to a park in New Jersey in the 1980s. They closed it down due to gang violence and murders. I don't remember it's name though.
Anyway thanks for the info. :-)

Damn, I grew up in New Jersey and I can't even remember the name of that park, lol ! You have me thinking though...maybe a Google search will bring it up....:-)
Great photos here though!

Can't seem to find anything on that, but the only park I can think of was Olympic Park in/near Newark....they had a riot there in '65 but the park closed soon after that. (I used to go there as a kid), so that might not be the one.
Once again, this is a great shot though, it really does look sad and lonely.

you know at one point this was the greates place to be, but now...it's actually depressing to think that this is all that is left.

This shot is sad but yet fascinating. Love it!

What a great photo. What a sad sight! The carousel was my favorite ride at Rocky Point, it had a large variety of animals, not just horses. It was beautiful! It was made by the Herschell Spillman company, and all the animals were hand carved. It was built in the early 1920s.

The original figures were auctioned off but the frame is still intact with newer figures and is located at Misquamicut (Atlantic Beach Park), so you can still go for a spin.

That would make a great pavillion or gazebo.

Just wanted to point out, in googling 'The Dreamland Park Murders' this page was the 6th result.
4th if you don't include multiple pages of the same site coming up.


Now onto the picture: it's odd to see only the shell of the carousel. It leave behind surprisingly little

Sadly, this is what is what is happening to amusement parks all across the nation eventually. These amusement parks seem to be a thing of the past for us generations that remember having fun at these places with family and friends over the years. It's sad in another way that many generations still coming up will have no clue, no concept, nor respect for what true fun times could be had that was once a descent, wholesome form of entertainment like a fun day spent at amusement parks. Instead there are iPods, computer games, and HD-TV's. Entertainment remains at home nowadays it seems. I am so thankful and very glad that I have memories of going to amusement parks throughout the years; hearing the carousel music, the player pianos "nickelodeons" playing some long forgotten century old tune stuck in a time of simplicity, riding the rides, playing the carnival games. Why don't these amusement parks make it anymore? Is it a lack of interest? lack of public- drawing attendance? Or simply that these amusement parks have lost their appeal thanks to these crummy economic depressing times?

I believe the New Jersey park was called Pleasureland. Somewhere on my hard drive I have pictures of it that I downloaded from an old website that is now defunct.

i dont get it .......

I came up with this idea where the kids from the Disneyland Fun Sing Along video rode the carousel at Rocky Point. It does sound a bit weird, but I made it take place in 1990. What do you think of this idea? Do you like it???

shhh..Listen..can hear the echos of the laughter of years gone by lol

no more ponies?