MAGIC CAROUSEL SHOPPE
11 years 1 month ago #1
by riada
Nor but in sleep findeth a cure for care.
Incertainty that once gave scope to dream
Of laughing enterprise and glory untold,
Is now a blackness that no stars redeem.
MAGIC CAROUSEL SHOPPE was created by riada
Sep 20, 2012
Like a carousel, life has come full circle for Floyd L. Moreland.
Much of his childhood, teens and adult life have been spent in close proximity to the century-old merry-go-round that has become an iconic piece of Casino Pier.
But now, his decades-long ride is slowing to its end as he moves to close the shop he opened as a tribute, and initially a fundraiser, to the historical carousel later named for him. His Magical Carousel Shoppe is selling off its last inventory before shutting down after nearly 30 years as a boardwalk staple. ...
RIADAS RETORT: Try as I might, I couldnt find any more info on this except a story about the devastation leveled in Seaside, that mentioned the Carousel Shop briefly...Im very sad to have learned this, I loved that place...
Di Ionno: Ravaged Seaside pier and boardwalk tragically displays Sandy's strength
November 01, 2012 SEASIDE HEIGHTS — The most enduring image of Sandy’s destruction is the slightly twisted wreck of steel that was a Seaside Heights roller coaster, sitting in the ocean.
The Star Jet coaster didn’t collapse in pieces during the storm. The pier below it was washed out in a fell swoop, and the coaster fell, almost intact. It was Sandy’s version of a tablecloth trick.
The other large amusement rides at Seaside Heights did not fall with such grace. They came down in jagged heaps, of broken metal stabbing the air.
"When I turned the corner and saw this the first time, you know what I thought? Nine-eleven," Thomas Boyd, the Seaside Heights police chief, said Wednesday as he surveyed the damage.
He was quick to add he didn’t mean to minimize the loss of life from the terror attacks.
But those images of destruction ... seeing something you can’t quite believe, yet know you will never forget. Seeing devastation so complete, you forget what the place looked like whole, even if was only a day ago.
That is what the Seaside Heights boardwalk looks like today.
The place visited by millions every summer for a century has been turned into scrap metal.
"There are a lot of good memories in this place," Boyd said, speaking for generations of tourists, and himself.
He was born and raised in Seaside Heights and his family ran the beach patrol from 1933 to 1993. He was a lifeguard, and his brother, Hugh, is now chief of the lifeguards. His wife’s family once owned the Carousel Arcade and his brother-in-law owns the Beachcomber restaurant.
"This place is in my blood. I love this town," he said. "I have to tell you, looking at all this has filled me with grief."
The happy signs for places like Kohl’s Frozen Custard and The Magical Carousel Gift Shop are stained black from asphalt shingles ripped from roofs and strewn around the boardwalk like Labor Day litter.
In some places, the boardwalk is buckled, and fall and heaves like a funhouse floor or bumpy kiddie ride (or like the "Jersey Shore" cast after a night at Karma). In some places, the planks are ripped off, and tossed, nails up, against the shuttered pizza parlors and ice cream stands. In that jumble of boards are pieces of pink insulation, aluminum siding and soggy stuffed animals that washed out of broken arcades.
Underneath, the pilings are either broken or weakened.
"If we drove a patrol car up here right now, the boardwalk would collapse," Boyd said. "The real problem is underneath."
The Star Jet was at the end of the Casino Pier. The rest will probably have to come down, as most of the telephone pole-sized piling have been knocked crooked by the storm surge.
At the Carousel Arcade, the merry-go-round was enclosed and survived, but owner Bob Stewart lost 200 feet of pier over the ocean.
Stewart, a volunteer fireman who helped evacuate residents during the storm, rode up on a scooter Wednesday to survey the damage.
"I’ve been here all my life. I started working on the boardwalk when I was 11. I was the Bozo in the Bozo-drop," he said. "I rode out the ‘62 storm, too, and remember the destruction. But this one ... looking at all this ... has made me weak. I just saw Billy Major (owner of FunTown Amusement Pier). He just got here for the first time today. He saw it, and was crying."
Major is no softie. He owns a construction company and has strong, callused hands used to hard work.
Behind a hastily erected security gate, he described the damage to the pier.
"I have 44 rides," he said. "Four aren’t damaged."
The roller coaster at FunTown, called the Looping Coaster, was tilted almost on its side, like a skeletal listing ship. One of the red towers of the giant Slingshot was knocked the ground, the other stood, but at a precarious angle.
Major hinted he will rebuild.
"First we have to clean up, then we’ll see."
Stewart didn’t hesitate.
"We started with nothing. So we’ll start over with nothing."
Like a carousel, life has come full circle for Floyd L. Moreland.
Much of his childhood, teens and adult life have been spent in close proximity to the century-old merry-go-round that has become an iconic piece of Casino Pier.
But now, his decades-long ride is slowing to its end as he moves to close the shop he opened as a tribute, and initially a fundraiser, to the historical carousel later named for him. His Magical Carousel Shoppe is selling off its last inventory before shutting down after nearly 30 years as a boardwalk staple. ...
RIADAS RETORT: Try as I might, I couldnt find any more info on this except a story about the devastation leveled in Seaside, that mentioned the Carousel Shop briefly...Im very sad to have learned this, I loved that place...
Di Ionno: Ravaged Seaside pier and boardwalk tragically displays Sandy's strength
November 01, 2012 SEASIDE HEIGHTS — The most enduring image of Sandy’s destruction is the slightly twisted wreck of steel that was a Seaside Heights roller coaster, sitting in the ocean.
The Star Jet coaster didn’t collapse in pieces during the storm. The pier below it was washed out in a fell swoop, and the coaster fell, almost intact. It was Sandy’s version of a tablecloth trick.
The other large amusement rides at Seaside Heights did not fall with such grace. They came down in jagged heaps, of broken metal stabbing the air.
"When I turned the corner and saw this the first time, you know what I thought? Nine-eleven," Thomas Boyd, the Seaside Heights police chief, said Wednesday as he surveyed the damage.
He was quick to add he didn’t mean to minimize the loss of life from the terror attacks.
But those images of destruction ... seeing something you can’t quite believe, yet know you will never forget. Seeing devastation so complete, you forget what the place looked like whole, even if was only a day ago.
That is what the Seaside Heights boardwalk looks like today.
The place visited by millions every summer for a century has been turned into scrap metal.
"There are a lot of good memories in this place," Boyd said, speaking for generations of tourists, and himself.
He was born and raised in Seaside Heights and his family ran the beach patrol from 1933 to 1993. He was a lifeguard, and his brother, Hugh, is now chief of the lifeguards. His wife’s family once owned the Carousel Arcade and his brother-in-law owns the Beachcomber restaurant.
"This place is in my blood. I love this town," he said. "I have to tell you, looking at all this has filled me with grief."
The happy signs for places like Kohl’s Frozen Custard and The Magical Carousel Gift Shop are stained black from asphalt shingles ripped from roofs and strewn around the boardwalk like Labor Day litter.
In some places, the boardwalk is buckled, and fall and heaves like a funhouse floor or bumpy kiddie ride (or like the "Jersey Shore" cast after a night at Karma). In some places, the planks are ripped off, and tossed, nails up, against the shuttered pizza parlors and ice cream stands. In that jumble of boards are pieces of pink insulation, aluminum siding and soggy stuffed animals that washed out of broken arcades.
Underneath, the pilings are either broken or weakened.
"If we drove a patrol car up here right now, the boardwalk would collapse," Boyd said. "The real problem is underneath."
The Star Jet was at the end of the Casino Pier. The rest will probably have to come down, as most of the telephone pole-sized piling have been knocked crooked by the storm surge.
At the Carousel Arcade, the merry-go-round was enclosed and survived, but owner Bob Stewart lost 200 feet of pier over the ocean.
Stewart, a volunteer fireman who helped evacuate residents during the storm, rode up on a scooter Wednesday to survey the damage.
"I’ve been here all my life. I started working on the boardwalk when I was 11. I was the Bozo in the Bozo-drop," he said. "I rode out the ‘62 storm, too, and remember the destruction. But this one ... looking at all this ... has made me weak. I just saw Billy Major (owner of FunTown Amusement Pier). He just got here for the first time today. He saw it, and was crying."
Major is no softie. He owns a construction company and has strong, callused hands used to hard work.
Behind a hastily erected security gate, he described the damage to the pier.
"I have 44 rides," he said. "Four aren’t damaged."
The roller coaster at FunTown, called the Looping Coaster, was tilted almost on its side, like a skeletal listing ship. One of the red towers of the giant Slingshot was knocked the ground, the other stood, but at a precarious angle.
Major hinted he will rebuild.
"First we have to clean up, then we’ll see."
Stewart didn’t hesitate.
"We started with nothing. So we’ll start over with nothing."
Nor but in sleep findeth a cure for care.
Incertainty that once gave scope to dream
Of laughing enterprise and glory untold,
Is now a blackness that no stars redeem.
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