Lincoln Park Merry Go Round
The carousel was gutted by fire several months after it was designated
Historic Cultural Monument No. 153 by the City of Los Angeles in 1976.
"All photos courtesy of the Davis Siblings Collection"
( Jan Davis Brazil, Jeanne C. Davis, John Oliver Davis, jr. & Ross Edward Davis )
HOW THE MERRY GO ROUND BECAME TO BE...
Oliver Funk Davis started taking the merry-go-rounds to the carnivals and fairs to California in the early 1900s.
He was a master carpenter and built the buildings to house his many carousels over the years.
The building in San Diego's Balboa Park is one of his structures (though it has been moved) and still houses a carousel he owned at one time.
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Ross R. Davis, was also a carousel broker.
For much of his life he owned three carousels in California:
Lincoln Park and Griffith Park in Los Angeles, and Tilden Park in Berkeley.
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John Oliver Davis (not pictured), continued the business and purchased the contents of the Long Beach
Looff factory in the sixties when the carousel ran on the Redondo Beach Pier.
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The Merry Go Round was located on the Tennis Courts parking lot on Selig Place.
Picture of the carousel and building before the soda fountain was added in 1949.
The building in 1949 when the soda fountain was added.
Another view with the soda fountain.
Miniature Railway - Eastlake Park - Los Angeles, Cal 1904.
"This is the Eastlake Park Scenic Railroad that ran all over the park and over the lake. Built and operated by master machinist John Coit and probably was a similar attraction like the small trains in Travel Town and in Griffith Park today. The miniature train did not last long at the park. When Abbot Kinney was in need of a light railway system for his Venice Pier resort area in Southern California, he contracted Coit to do the work. The popularity of the railway at Venice and the state of the not-so-popular Eastlake Park Scenic Railway prompted Coit to move the train to Venice around 1905." javier
My thanks to Jeanne C. Davis for contacting me and sharing her family photos above and a bit of family history.
As time allows for Jeanne she will submit more photos of the merry go round. javier 10/28/02
BUT !
I am still looking for more photos of the merry go round from anyone. Just let me know.Javier A.
Art
