The Griffith Park carousel — a “crown jewel” of the park, where Walt Disney first dreamed up Disneyland — is getting a new lease on life just in time for its 2026 centennial. The city of Los Angeles’ Recreation and Parks Commission inked a million-dollar deal to buy the historic amusement ride late last month.

Beloved by Disney, who snapped up a similar historic wooden ride to serve as the King Arthur Carrousel at his Anaheim theme park, the Griffith Park merry-go-round took its last twirl in 2022.

Its previous operator, Julio Gosdinski, died suddenly near the height of the pandemic, leaving the amusement in limbo just as COVID restrictions were starting to ease. It reopened briefly in the spring of 2021 but shuttered again a year later, in need of repairs and without a clear owner t

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