Let The Sideshow, Begin.The Santa Monica Carousel.

Hurry, hurry, step right up
See the sideshow in town for only fifty cents

Step right up, hurry, hurry, before the show begins, my friends
Stand in line, get your tickets, I hope you will attend
It'll only cost you fifty cents to see
What life has done to those like you and me

See the man with the broken heart
You'll see that he is sad, he hurts so bad
(So bad, so bad)
See the girl who has lost the only love she ever had
There's got to be no sadder show to see
No doubt about it, satisfaction's guaranteed

So let the sideshow begin
Hurry, hurry, step right on in
Can't afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

Let the sideshow begin
(Hurry, hurry)
Hurry, hurry, step right on in
Can't afford to pass it by
Guaranteed to make you cry

See the man who's been cryin' for a million years, so many tears
(So many tears)
See the girl who's collected broken hearts for souvenirs
It's more exciting than a one man band
The saddest little show in all the land

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jul/26/local/me-then26

Hollywood found its way to the carousel early and often. Numerous movies and TV shows were filmed in the iconic building, and celebrities visited often.

It's been the site of Stevie Wonder's granddaughter's birthday parties and Don Cheadle's morning walks.

For a stretch of weeks in the early 1960s, a young woman swathed in an overcoat and wearing dark glasses would sit for hours and watch the horses spin around. Jockey Stevens, the carousel operator, reportedly approached the woman and suggested she was young enough to find a good job. The woman swept aside her dark wig and dark glasses and revealed the face of Marilyn Monroe, effectively ending that discussion.

Perhaps the best-known film shot at the carousel is "The Sting" in 1973. Actors Robert Redford and Paul Newman fell in love with the place. Later in the decade, when the pier fell on hard times and was slated for destruction, the stars joined an impassioned group of preservationists in fighting City Hall.

Council members who voted in favor of destroying the pier found themselves ousted from office. Soon, the city of Santa Monica was in the business of restoring the pier.

Memories! I ,Love America!,
 funny tho', I, remember ,having ,a major argument, with ,my wife, on, that Pier, one time....
Vacations, can lead, to arguments, as, everyone knows!...But ,there, was something, about, that, Carousel,
that, had, a calming, influence......