This is just so typically me.
I go years (or decades) without visiting a place—and then as soon as I go back once, I end up going back a bunch of times.
Because it's so easy for me to shift my attention elsewhere. But once something gets back into the front of my mind, I realize how much I've missed out on.
Such is the case with San Francisco.
I was just there in January, after having not really been there since 2006—save for a couple of hours two years ago—and ever since, I've been itching to go back.
This time, California Preservation Foundation's Doors Open California program gave me the perfect excuse to return.
But first, I had a lot of places to cross off my list.
Take Golden Gate Park, for instance. It feels very much like San Francisco's version of Central Park in New York, with meandering paths and sprawling lawns and a few historic points of interest—including its own vintage carousel.
Now, it doesn't take a lot for me to want to visit any carousel—especially one that's over 100 years ago, like this 1914 Herschell-Spillman Company model, in the Children's Quarter section of the park (located in a Doric-columned carousel building that dates back to 1889, although its roof was raised two feet to accommodate this ride).
This carousel particularly intrigued me because of the time it spent at a World's Fair (specifically, Treasure Island's Golden Gate International Exposition from 1939 to 1940).
When it was relocated to Golden Gate Park after the fair was over, it was powered by electricity—but this thing is so old, it was originally powered by steam.
Built in North Tonawanda, New York, this carousel has really gotten around—spending stints operating in LA's Lincoln Park (1914-1931) and Portland's Lotus Isle (1931-1932) before being relegated to storage in Portland (1933-1939) and then finally making it to the Bay Area.
And it came back from the brink of extinction, too—having been closed in 1977 and subsequently restored and reopened in 1984. That's when the upper panels were repainted to depict local scenes by head of restoration Ruby Newman, who couldn't salvage the original ones.
The original maker's mark and name of the carousel dealer remains...
...as does the Gebrueder-Bruder band organ (although it's not operational, according to the National Carousel Association, which means they must play some prerecorded music on a different system).
Reportedly this is a rare version of a Herschell-Spillman park carousel, with four rows of 62 menagerie animals (that is, more than just horses).
Since only the inner three rows actually move up and down, you've got to get past the outer row if you want to take a ride on a "jumper."
The wooden horses themselves are interesting enough—especially the outside-facing ones, with colorful paint jobs and saddles ornamented with carved figures and gems.
Some of the horses actually have "hair" tales (and not just carved wooden tails).
But on a menagerie carousel, it's always fun to look for other animals to ride, like frogs...
...cats and dogs...
...and, of course, birds (like a stork, two ostriches, and two roosters).
Oddly, a wooden goat from the Dentzel Carousel Company—a competitor to Herschell-Spillman—somehow managed to infiltrate the herd, but nobody seems to know exactly when or why.
Finally, for tots too tiny to leave their parents' arms—or for parents too grown-up to climb upon their own creature—there are three chariots, each more fantastical than the next.
But just when I thought I'd be choosing between the one with Neptune and the dragon or Leda and the Swan, I heard the bell ringing and jumped up on a horse in a middle row.
Fortunately, the cranks and the brass polls held steadfast despite my weight.
After San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department—which owns the land and manages the surrounding children's playground—put out a call for proposals for a new carousel operator and adjacent concessionaire earlier this year, it struck a deal with California Kahve to open its first brick-and-mortar location here in August after making a name for itself as a roving coffee truck.
Tickets to ride are available at the cafe window. Unfortunately, there's no pink popcorn for sale.
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