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Charles I.D. Looff
Born	Carl Jürgen Detlef Looff (1852-05-24)May 24, 1852 Bad Bramstedt,Duchy of Holstein
Died	July 1, 1918(1918-07-01) (aged 66) Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Builder and carver of carousels and amusement rides
Spouse	Anna Dolle (m. 1874)
Children	Anna (1875-1896) Helen (1877-1956) Emma (1879-1938) Charles (1881-1924) William (1883-1945) Arthur (1888-1970)

Charles I. D. Looff (born Carl Jürgen Detlef Looff) was a Danish master carver and builder of hand-carvedcarousels and amusement rides, who immigrated to the United States of America in 1870. Looff built the first carousel atConey Island in 1876. During his lifetime, he built over 40 carousels, several amusements parks, numerousroller coasters andFerris wheels, and built California's famousSanta Monica Pier. He became famous for creating the unique Coney Island style of carousel carving.

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Looff was born as Carl Jürgen Detlef Looff on May 24, 1852 inBad Bramstedt, inHolstein. His father, Jürgen Detlef Christian Looff, was a masterblacksmith and wagon builder. Watching his father, Carl learned how to work with metal and wood. To avoid involvement in theFranco-Prussian War, Carl emigrated to the United States. Arriving inCastle Garden, New York City, on August 14, 1870, he changed his first name to Charles. Inlow German, the letters I and J look very much alike, and confusion set in as to his initials. Somehow, his name became Charles I. D. Looff instead of J. D. Looff.

Settling on Leonard Street inGreenpoint, Brooklyn, he found work as a carver at a furniture factory. Working part-time as aballroom dance instructor, Looff met and married Anna Dolle, also from Germany, in 1874. After working in the furniture factory all day, he took scraps of wood home to his apartment and began carving them into carousel animals. Young Looff assembled his wooden horses and animals onto a circular platform and created his firstmerry-go-round. In 1876, he installed his ride at Lucy Vandeveer's Bathing Pavilion at West Sixth Street and Surf Avenue. This was Coney Island's first carousel and first amusement ride.

Looff opened a factory at 30Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn and continued building more carousels. He installed a merry-go-round at a restaurant and beer garden on Surf Avenue,Coney Island owned byCharles Feltman, one of several people credited with inventing the Americanhot dog.^[1] Looff installed another machine at Coney Island and then created a large ride forAsbury Park in New Jersey. Looff began to hire expert carvers such as John Zalar, Marcus Illions, John Mueller and Charles Carmel to help with his expanding business.

Charles and Anna had six children: Anna (1875–1896), Helen (1877–1956), Emma (1879–1938), Charles (1881–1924), William (1883–1945), Arthur (1888–1970). All except Anna, who died at age 21 as a result of a trolley accident, would work with their father in some way in the carousel business. When the City of New York took his property undereminent domain to build a city park, Looff moved his family toCrescent Park, inRiverside, Rhode Island.

In 1886, Colonel George Boyden established an amusement park named Crescent Park in Riverside, Rhode Island on 50 acres (200,000 m²) overlookingNarragansett Bay. Boyden commissioned Charles I. D. Looff to build a large carousel at the head of a 400-foot (120 m) pier that received throngs of people from the steamboats that cruised up and down the bay. Crescent Park became known as "the Coney Island of the East" during this time.

In 1895, Looff builta larger and more elaborate carousel overlooking the midway which contains 61 horses, one camel, two single chariots, and two double chariots. He used this ride as a showpiece for prospective buyers to choose the types of carved horses for their machines. Looff built his workshop adjoining the carousel where he produced many merry-go-rounds for amusement parks inNew England and across the United States. His daughter Helen and her husband Charles Simmons bought the ride from Looff's widow's estate in 1930. This carousel is now owned by the city ofEast Providence, Rhode Island and has been fully restored. It is still operating in its original location and was placed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1976.

In 1985, the Rhode Island General Assembly proclaimed the carousel as the "State Jewel of American Folk Art". In 1987, theNational Park Service designated it as aNational Historic Landmark.

Looff's son Charles Jr. worked in the shop carving saddles and chariots for his father. In 1920, he purchased Crescent Park and operated it until his death in 1925 at age 44. He built an excursion boat which he named theMiss Looff in honor of his sister Anna. This boat cruised the waters of Narragansett Bay, bringing customers to Crescent Park fromProvidence andNewport, Rhode Island.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1900s, Looff built carousels and figure-eight roller coasters for the Texas and Oklahoma state fairs. In 1909, he built a carousel with 54 horses and presented it to his daughter Emma as a wedding present. The ride was installed at Natatorium Park inSpokane, Washington. This ride has been restored and operates today atRiverfront Park in Spokane.^{[citation needed]}

Looff, meanwhile, had become enchanted with the possibilities for amusement parks on theWest Coast and in August 1910 moved toCalifornia, leaving his daughter Helen (and her husband Charles Simmons) and his son, Charles Looff Jr. (and his wife Emma Simmons Looff), to manage the family properties inRhode Island. Looff settled inLong Beach and built a factory on West Sixth Street. He purchased property atThe Pike, an amusement area on Long Beach's waterfront, and built a magnificentmerry-go-round there. The family lived in an apartment above the ride. Son, Arthur, also operated Lite-a-Line, a type ofredemption game at the Pike that is still in operation today at 2500 Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach. It was subsequently moved in the early part of the 21st century. It also houses a small but very detailed and vivid museum in honor of his carvings and ride technology but most specifically Looff's Long Beach Pike enterprise. In 1943, fire destroyed the Pike carousel. Son Arthur replaced it with another Looff merry-go-round.

In 1916, Looff with his son, Arthur, designed and built Looff'sSanta Monica Pier along the south side of the city's long, narrow, municipal pier. They constructed a largeByzantine-Moorish style "Hippodrome" building to house one of their ornate carousels, now known as theSanta Monica Looff Hippodrome. The Looffs also erected the Blue Streak Racerwooden roller coaster on their new pleasure pier, along withThe Whip and the Aeroscope thrill ride.

In addition to Santa Monica and the Pike, Looff built and operated amusement parks and carousels atOcean Park,Redondo Beach,Venice Beach, andSanta Cruz, as well asGriffith Park in Los Angeles (still in operation) which coincidentally is the carousel that helped inspireWalt Disney to design and eventually buildDisneyland andDisney World.^[2] Disneyland Resorts has on display the actual park bench that Disney sat on as he watched his daughters ride the merry-go-round and day-dreamed about a new type of totally immersivetheme park experience. There has also been a Looff carousel horse added to the exhibit at the entrance to the "Moments with Lincoln" attraction at Disneyland inAnaheim.^[3] Looff built a short-lived amusement park inSeattle called Luna Park. The carousel at Luna Park had been planned forSan Francisco, but the infamousearthquake prompted Looff to create Luna Park in Seattle instead.

Charles I. D. Looff died on July 1, 1918, aged 66, inLong Beach, California. After his death, his son Arthur continued to manage the family's West Coast operation, including building theGiant Dipper roller coaster at theSanta Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

TheSanta Monica Looff Hippodrome and the Santa Cruz Looff Carousel and Roller Coaster were both designatedNational Historic Landmarks in 1987.

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(August 2008)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCharles I. D. Looff.

• A Pictorial History of the Carousel by Frederick Fried - 1964
• Painted Ponies by William Manns, Peggy Shank, Marianne Stevens - 1986
• Carousel Art - A magazine for people who love merry-go-rounds-PO Box 667, Garden Grove, California 92642
• Art of the Carousel by Charlotte Dinger - 1984
• A History of the American Amusement Industry byWilliam F. Mangels
• The Carousel Keepers, An Oral History of American Carousels by Carrie Papa - 1998
• Rhode Island Amusement Parks by Rob Lewis and Ryan Young - 1998
• A Century of Fun-A Pictorial History of New england Amusement Parks by Bob Goldsack -1993
• Dear Old Nat...Spokane's Playground by Nostalgia Magazine - 2003
• Early American Wood Carving by Erwin O. Christensen - 1952
• Lincoln Park Remembered 1894-1987 edited by Thomas, McCabe and Furtado - 1999
• Coney Island: The People's Playground by Michael Immerso - 2002
• Fairground Art by Geoff Weedon - 2003
• History of Revere Beach Peter McCauley, City Hall, Revere, Mass. - 1980
• The Great American Carousel by Tobin Fraley - 1994

• 1852 births
• 1918 deaths
• People from Bad Bramstedt
• People from the Duchy of Holstein
• 19th-century German people
• German emigrants to the United States
• American woodcarvers
• Amusement ride manufacturers
• Carousel designers
• People from Greenpoint, Brooklyn
• Carousel manufacturers

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