Tilden Park Carousel closed

Dan Horenberger announced today in Carousel News and Trader Magazine that the State of California has red-tagged the historic 1911 Herschell-Spillman carousel at Tilden Park after over 90 years of safe operation with no accidents.

Says Horenberger, “This is yet another in the long line of attacks by California’s DOSH (Division of Occupational Safety and Health) against the landmark carousels in the state. This ridiculous closure follows the numerous major alterations forced to be made to the antique carousels at Golden Gate Park, The San Francisco Zoo, Seaport Village in San Diego, Disneyland and many others in the state, all in the effort to try and make antique, historic carousels meet modern standards. This is destroying the original historic value of the carousels.

“This latest closure in Berkeley was due to the fact that the carousel operates without a fence. Never mind that in the 90-plus years of operation there has never been a problem, while fences have a long history of causing accidents. That doesn’t seem to matter, according to the state. Nor does destroying the layout of a historic building that just underwent a major restoration last year using tax payers’ dollars.”

Read the entire article.

Recently, the carousel was one of the grant recipients in the American Express/National Trust for Historic Preservation Partners in Preservation San Francisco Bay Area Initiative.