The whole amusement park is gone . . . the area is now a shopping center. All that remains is the merry go round/carousel and it is now inside the building in the food court. There is also a display window around the corner explaining about the good ole days when it was an amusement park and not a shopping center. I do hope you will check out this link: to read more about it. IF you don't have the time, at least enlarge the signs and read about the history of the window display and view three "old" horses that no longer are a part of the carousel, why and their restoration. . .
View of the carousel through the outside windows. . .
Inside view. . .
This and the next photo show the benches you sat on if you did not choose to climb up on a horse. . .
Above and below show two of the beautiful detailed horses. . . 
This, as well as the next photo, shows more comfortable benches. . . 
Another horse. . .did you count the stars on the flag? There are not 50. . . because this horse was made before there were 50 states!
Now we are going around the corner to a display window about Jantzen Beach. You can enlarge my photos to read some of the signs but if you choose to follow the link I provided above, you will get to see and read more detail from the local newspaper back in its glory days.BUT, do enlarge the sign about Hector -- he is the horse with the swastica on his saddle. . .
The brown horse is Hector -- if you enlarge him, you will see the swastica plainly. . . These three horses are not used on the merry go round anymore but retired to greener pastures. Those that once knew them and rode them have many memories of the good ole days. . .
Swimsuits styles keep revolving, don't they? These were made at the famous factory of the same person the center is named after.
It is located across the river from Vancouver, WA in Portland, OR and just a short bus ride away. I hope you enjoyed my tour and link.
6 comments:
A bit of nostalgia never hurts! We seldom had merry-go-rounds here when I was a child, so to me they are a memory of summer holidays in Denmark when the children were small.
What's old is new in the world of swimsuits. Thank goodness!
That carousel is gorgeous. Much like an Italian-made one in Danbury, CT. I love carousels and enjoyed these pictures.
Such a nice post and a tribute to the old amusement park! :) It's maybe sad for some that they have built a shoppingcenter right there. But so done, it's nice they have taken care of one merry go round - inside the shoppingcenter! In Norwegian we say "karusell" for "merry go round". It's first time I heard "carousel" (English/American)in fact.. So I learned something new here.. :)
And such a big nice carousel! With beautiful horses and chairs. 250 hours' work on each horse, wow!
About the swastica icon.. I did not know all you wrote about here, although I knew it was an icon older than the 2nd World War.. Sad that the nazi did destroy the swastica icon! The association is destroyed I mean..
Hector I hope will come to a museum one day! :)
And fancy swim suits :)
Have a nice day! :)
I love the carousel! There is one in a shopping center that I go to once in a blue moon and I always want to ride but it's never running when I'm there.
Nice post!
Great post, Paulie, did you ride the carousel? I like to do that occasionally.. There is one in the mall in Memphis. I loved reading the history of the horses. They are beautiful. Amazing skill. There used to be someone who still carved these horses living in Chattanooga, Tennessee when we lived there. You could go by his studio. I wonder if it is still there.
Mama Bear
I love merry-go-rounds. They touch the child within. Thanks.
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