Carousels are often a shared part of childhood nostalgia, but as we get older they are usually brushed off as entertainment for toddlers and overlooked at amusement parks for faster thrill rides with 90-degree drops or circular loops.
But what these slowly spinning mechanical contraptions lack in speed and adrenaline, they make up for in history and architectural beauty.
Around the Bay Area, there’s no shortage of these historical relics—many of them renovated—that have been cherished by generations of riders from the rolling hills of Sonoma to the urban playgrounds of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Here are some of our favorites.
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