L.A. buys Griffith Park Carousel, beloved by Walt Disney, for $1M

The Griffith Park carousel — a “crown jewel” of the park, where Walt Disney first dreamed up Disneyland — is getting a new lease on life just in time for its 2026 centennial. The city of Los Angeles’ Recreation and Parks Commission inked a million-dollar deal to buy the historic amusement ride late last month.

Beloved by Disney, who snapped up a similar historic wooden ride to serve as the King Arthur Carrousel at his Anaheim theme park, the Griffith Park merry-go-round took its last twirl in 2022.

Its previous operator, Julio Gosdinski, died suddenly near the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the amusement in limbo just as COVID restrictions were starting to ease. It was reopened briefly in the spring of 2021 but was closed again a year later, in need of repairs and without a clear owner to make them.

Gosdinski’s stake in the historic amusement remains tied up in Los Angeles County probate court, where Gosdinski’s mother and sister are vying with another owner for control, records show.

After the parks commission agreement, the stable of hand-carved basswood and poplar horses will spin under city auspices, part of a broader restoration of the section of the park, which is slated to be completed ahead of the Olympic Games in 2028.

The carousel is one of the oldest wooden merry-go-rounds in California, and one of just a handful designed by the famous Spillman Engineering Corp. and its predecessor that remain in operation in the state.

Others are operated at the Pike in Long Beach, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Balboa Park in San Diego, and at Tilden Park in Berkeley, where Griffith Park’s original merry-go-round remains the state’s fastest wooden spinner.

Visitors ride the Griffith Park merry-go-round, a favorite haunt of Walt Disney and his daughters, on Aug. 24, 1951.

(USC /Corbis via Getty Images)

The current merry-go-round was built in 1926 and relocated to Griffith Park in the depths of the Great Depression in 1937. Like others of its ilk and era, the carousel includes horses carved by the famous artist Charles Looff, creator of the Santa Monica Pier.

“Walt Disney regularly frequented the Merry-Go-Round on Saturdays, watching his daughters ride around and daydreaming of one day creating his own theme park,” the city agreement said.

But the amusement will require significant repairs before it can reopen, document show.

Today, the merry-go-round cannot even be moved by hand.

Still, L.A. could be getting the carousel for a song. It is among the dwindling number of four-across merry-go-rounds of its type still in existence, and still retains nearly all its original features, according to appraisals commissioned by the city.

According to the department’s proposal, the sellers had higher offers but wanted the merry-go-round to keep twirling in its longtime home.

No reopening date has been announced.