The Central Park Carousel is a vintage carousel located in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, at the southern end of the park, near East 65th Street. It is the fourth carousel on the site where it is located.
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History
The current carousel is officially the Michael Friedsam Memorial Carousel,. It is the fourth carousel in the park since 1871, all located at the same site, and is part of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's Central Park Scenic Landmarks.
The original 1871 Central Park carousel was powered by a mule or horse under the carousel's platform, signaled to start and stop by the operator tapping his foot. Two succeeding rides were destroyed by fires in 1924 and 1950.
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Carousel
The current carousel, which was restored in 1990, has 57 hand-carved horses -- 52 jumpers and 5 standers -- and two chariots. It is open seven days a week when weather permits and serves around 250,000 riders every year. The carousel has a Ruth & Sohn band organ playing waltzes, marches, and polkas. It was installed in the park in 1951 with a new structure surrounding it. It is one of the largest merry-go-rounds in the United States and was made by Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein in 1908. It was originally installed in a trolley terminal in Coney Island in Brooklyn, where it operated until the 1940s.
In 2010, the city evicted the previous tenant who managed the Carousel, and the Trump Organization, a prominent New York City conglomerate owned by Donald Trump, stepped in as the new tenant. In return for a lease until 2020, Trump promised to invest $400,000 in renovations over ten years and pay a yearly lease that started at $250,000 and scaled up to $325,000. In statements released as part of the Trump presidential campaign, the Carousel grossed $1.72 million between 2013 and the end of 2015. The Trump Organization has also managed the nearby Wollman Rink on and off since 1987.
The carousel was notably mentioned in J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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