POETRY IN MOTION; TIME MACHINE SPINS THE RIDE OF MANY LIFETIMES.Byline: Story and photos by John McCoy John McCoy may refer to:
A deep throaty throat·y adj. throat·i·er, throat·i·est Uttered or sounding as if uttered deep in the throat; guttural, hoarse, or husky. throat murmur comes from the lips of the tall white stallion. The giraffe's hooves scrape the pine floor. The star-gazing mare swats her tail at an imagined fly. Day is beginning to shine through the skylight above, and we stretch our limbs once more before it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to settle down. We must remain perfectly still now. Soon, the children will come. The strains of organ music open with a soft crescendo every day as shoppers start trickling into the Media City Center mall in Burbank. It's just a matter of moments before the restless little ones young children. See also: Little discover the carousel at the base of the three-story atrium, before their small fingers run over the hand-carved, hand-painted works of art born more than 103 years ago. When a child slings a denim-clad leg over the back of one of these sturdy creatures, the spell is cast: Time stops, only the carousel moves. The world blurs as the horses leap gracefully upon their brass standards, whirling to organ music from an era gone by. An immigrant from the onetime Danish province of Schlesmig Holstein was the man responsible for spinning this serene form of magic. Charles I Charles I, duke of Lower Lorraine Charles I, 953–992?, duke of Lower Lorraine (977–91); younger son of King Louis IV of France. He claimed the French throne when his nephew, Louis V of France, died (987) without issue, but he was set aside in .D. Looff was a lad of 18 when he stepped on American shores in 1870 to work in the furniture trade. But his artistic ambitions were not realized by making cabinets. As a creative outlet, he used scrap wood to make things of motion and beauty. He loved to carve horses. A menagerie sprung from his imagination, and in 1876 the furniture maker finished his first carousel. It became the centerpiece on the boardwalk in Coney Island Coney Island (kō`nē), beach resort, amusement center, and neighborhood of S Brooklyn borough of New York City, SE N.Y., on the Atlantic Ocean. , N.Y, a ride where an assortment of animals pranced in orderly circles. Each had a distinctive personality. Each had a voice. And so it would be for each of his creations. Sweet. Majestic. Powerful. Graceful. Faux jewels bedeck be·deck tr.v. be·decked, be·deck·ing, be·decks To adorn or ornament in a showy fashion. bedeck Verb to cover with decorations Verb 1. the tack and saddlery sad·dler·y n. pl. sad·dler·ies 1. Equipment, such as saddles and harnesses, for horses. 2. A shop that sells tack. 3. The craft or business of one that makes or sells tack. . Authentic horsehair horse·hair n. 1. The hair of a horse, especially from the mane or tail. 2. Cloth made of the hair of horses. horsehair Noun forms the tails. His stylized styl·ize tr.v. styl·ized, styl·iz·ing, styl·iz·es 1. To restrict or make conform to a particular style. 2. To represent conventionally; conventionalize. carvings would become legend. Carol Perron Per´ron n. 1. (Arch.) An out-of-door flight of steps, as in a garden, leading to a terrace or to an upper story; - usually applied to mediævel or later structures of some architectural pretensions. came to know Looff's creatures well. Since those summer breaks from high school that she spent working at the Playland Pier carousel in Spokane, Wash., Perron had always dreamed of having her own carousel horse. For 17 years, Duane Perron heard his wife retell re·tell tr.v. re·told , re·tell·ing, re·tells 1. To relate or tell again or in a different form. 2. To count again. Verb 1. this fantasy. In 1974 her dream would be fulfilled. Their search for a carousel horse led them to the small town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene (IPA: [kɚ də liːn]) is the county seat and largest city of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. , just across the Washington state border. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Carol Perron, what they found was ``a mound of broken ponies.'' The animals carved by the Armitage and Herschell families around the turn of the century were in bad shape. The decision was easy: The Perrons took the entire pile of 38 animals home. She spent hours with her degenerated carnival horses. Looking deeply into their troubled glass eyes, she wondered what stories they could tell. ``One little pony spoke to me more than the others,'' she said. She set to work on it first. And so her career in restoration began. Most of her brood of broken ponies were beyond repair. A heavy sigh emanates from the herd of horses locked up in eternal convalescence convalescence /con·va·les·cence/ (kon?vah-les´ins) the stage of recovery from an illness, operation, or injury. con·va·les·cence n. 1. . Still, Carol Perron clings to future resurrection: ``I hope they get better someday.'' Since those first fresh days of owning a dream, the Perrons have purchased 15 deteriorated carnival merry-go-rounds and set them back in motion throughout the country. The Looff carousel joined the Perron family in 1979. It was bought at auction, disassembled, moved to Portland, Ore., and painstakingly stripped and repaired by volunteers. Then Carol Perron set to work to breathe life back into her wooden friends. She followed the gentle contours of each mane with her brush, adding shadows under their eyes, talking to them, listening to their stories. Brad Perron, who learned to love carousels just like his mother, added the final touch - a clearcoat he found that would harden the paint and help the horses resist wear. He covered the animals with the sealant 12 times. It would take two years to restore the carousel. It would take even more time to undo the work of former owners who had replaced Looff animals with ones carved by other artists to fill out the circular runway. But the Perrons accomplished their mission. As it stands today, all of the menagerie on board the carousel built in 1895 can be attributed to work done by Looff and his carvers from 1880 to 1911. Thirty white horses leaping, 13 dark horses standing, three giraffes, three camels, a goat, a dog, a lion, an elephant, a donkey, a bear and a sea horse round out the spinning zoo. Two chariots on opposite sides of the ride cradle the fainter of heart. The completed carousel found its first home in Fairpark, Texas, where it remained until its move to Pacific Ocean Park Pacific Ocean Park was a twenty-eight acre (110,000 m²), nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Santa Monica, California which was intended to compete with Disneyland. "POP," as it was soon nicknamed, was a joint venture between CBS and Santa Anita Park. in Santa Monica in the 1950s. After P.O.P. closed in the early '70s, Looff's animal family was uprooted to new locations an average of every five years. In 1997, the carousel moved into the Media City Center mall, a piece of artistic history at the heart of this modern-day gathering place. Step aboard the Looff carousel and lose your sense of place and time. Suddenly you walk in the footsteps of ancestors from a hundred years past. It's easy to imagine the crisp night air, the sky filled with starlight. Organ music rising into the night sky as the merry-go-round is set in motion. The horses remember. Reflections of a century ago shimmer in their eyes. It's in the quiet time after a long day of taking $1.50 fares that carousel manager Becky Bohlscheid, 19, knows what joy this glimmering cavalcade cav·al·cade n. 1. A procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages. 2. A ceremonial procession or display. 3. A succession or series: starred in a cavalcade of Broadway hits. brings. It's in the silence, in the twilight, that the horses speak to her. She swears she can see an ear twitch, an eye follow her across the room as she moves through the carousel cleaning spots of grease that have fallen from the century-old mechanism. ``Many people say that Looff carousels are haunted. I believe them,'' Bohlscheid said. ``You feel the presence of the horses, like they have their own personalities.'' CAPTION(S): 7 Photos Photo: (1--Cover--Color) TURN of a CENTURY 103-year-old carousel still spinning magical memories (2--Color) Another generation finds fun on the restored 1895 Charles I.D. Looff carousel at the Media City Center mall in Burbank. The Perron family began restoring it in 1979. (3--Color) Among its animal menagerie, the carousel features 30 white horses leaping and 13 dark horses standing. (4--Color) Alice Reichert, 2, and father Dan enjoy the ride. (5--Color) The carousel's previous homes include Santa Monica and Fairpark, Texas. (6--Color) no caption (Media City Center carousel) (7) Carousel manager Becky Bohlscheid, 19, cleans up grease spots that have fallen from the ride's mechanism. John McCoy/Daily News |
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