The Looff Carousel of Fantasy Fair

The Stampede

I was going to name this entry something like ‘how I spent my summer vacation’ but not only has that particular horse been figuratively beaten to death but in actual fact I got to photograph this carousel last month, in May, a month before I was to take my first week of vacation (and working in public transit it’s actually been years and years since I had the chance to take time off in June, but my digression is showing).

Singing to the skylight

I was with my friend Walter Borchenko, who I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this blog, and we were looking for someplace to wander, take pictures, and to talk. I hadn’t seen him in a long time so it was good to get together and do just that. Anyway, the day before he asked me where I’d like to go and I suggested a mall on Rexdale Boulevard in Toronto (carousel not being mentioned in the initial stages of the conversation). He was pretty fast on the uptake however and his computer was even faster so he soon discovered the why and the where.

The Singer, detail.

The next day we actually went first to the site of the old Guild Inn in Scarberia, sorry I mean Scarborough, and walked the gardens and took pictures of the sculptures and environs (the Guild is also another thing cited in earlier blog entries) me with my digital Nikon and Walter with his medium format equipment (and a 4X5 pinhole camera with a digital back no less). Then we got in his car and drove to Rexdale in order to go into the mall (the mall, ooh aah).

They have a children’s amusement area inside which is called Fantasy Fair, and one of the attractions, and to me the best one (but I’m biased) is a 1910 Looff carousel. I’m not going to go into the history of I. D. Looff (there are too many other more definitive sources of information available on him) but let me put these two cents worth in here (And hey, did you know they’re, the g’uvment that is, planning to take the penny out of circulation? Well, to my way of thinking it’s just another way that your pocketbook is shrinking) the original wooden horses were lost and so they were replaced by fiberglass replicas of Looff’s originals, at a cost of something like 30 grand a horse. Wow.

What are you looking at?

But they are beauties.

There are 44 jumping horses, 8 stationary horses and 4 chariots on a 54 foot deck.

Glamour Queen

Now this carousel is mostly painted white and decked out with mirrors and most of the horses are also light in colour, I guess in keeping with the Fantasy Fair concept (I don't know if the original was this light in colour). It also sits underneath a large skylight which was the major source of illumination. Both these elements created a very different look to the ride and to the animals themselves; an eerie or etherial glow which was quite wonderful.

The Beauty

So we photographed this thing until the security guards came over and kicked us out.

Well actually we were 'escorted' to customer service where we were told that it would cost us $50.00 each, plus tax, to continue to photograph.

Sylvester Stallion and the Palominos

Well, we ended up leaving and I never got the chance to shoot this gorgeous grey that I was working my way toward.

All photographs here, by the way, were taken by me.