Beach Boardwalk Carousel

For us Northern California kids in the sixties, summer meant going to the beach. Which beach? The Santa Cruz beach, of course! My parents took me as a child and my scout troop had an annual beach camping trip at Santa Cruz. I hitchhiked there as a teen and when I was in college, I drove my orange ‘62 Ford Fairlane convertible full of friends to Santa Cruz. When my daughter was a little girl, we took her to Santa Cruz every year on her birthday.

Back then, Santa Cruz had it all. Beautiful beaches, pretty California girls (tho I eventually married a mid-west farmer’s daughter!), great waves for body surfing and cool hippies. And to top it off, there's the world famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. LOVED that boardwalk! Among its many delights are two standouts – the Giant Dipper (at 80 years old, it’s the 6th oldest roller coaster in the US) and the magnificent Looff Carousel.

This is a world-class carousel. Everything about it is amazing – the horses, the music, the ring toss… You know about the ring toss, right? No? Here’s how it works – you don’t just go round and round and round on a shiny horse. On each revolution, you reach out and try to grab a brass ring from the dispenser. Then, within the next fraction of a second, you try to throw it into the clown’s mouth. If you do, lights flash and sirens wail! Sounds simple? It’s so not.

In the summer of ‘69 when I was 14, I hit the clown's mouth 5 times in a row! For this astonishing feat of bravery and coordination, I was rewarded with a big stuffed St. Bernard, a free carousel ride, and a kiss on the cheek from a Marcia Brady look-a-like. Swear! I didn’t wash my face for a week!

So, on my recent trip down to visit friends at Camp Kennolyn in Soquel, I had to stop and say “hi” to my favorite ride in the whole wide world.