Carousel Park

The Carousel- A Legacy of the New York World's Fair 1964-65

1964

Carousel Park from Monorail Thumb.JPG (34311 bytes)
View from the Monorail- 1964
Paint scheme that matches the umbrellas at the picnic tables.
(Photo from the collection of Bill Cotter)
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Nice overall view of Carousel Park 1964
(Photo from the collection of Ray Dashner World's Fair Audio Archive)
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1965
Carousel Lake Amusement Thumb.JPG (32579 bytes)
At the Lake Amusement Area- 1965
Note: New brighter paint scheme with lights added to the roof.
Umbrellas at the tables still show the pastel colors from the year before.
(Photo from the collection of Bill Cotter)
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C Park mono.JPG (30676 bytes)
Lake Amusement Area with the Monorail- 1965
(Anonymous)

At the Lake Amusement Area- 1965
(Photo from the collection of Bill Cotter)
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NEW Carousel Park Advertising Pamphlet 1965
Pamphlet generously provided by Mr. John Pender
Click on each page for a closer view


Cover	Inside cover	Page 3	Back

It was arranged that the carousel would remain at Flushing Meadows Park after the fair, donated to the City of New York by the owners. It was moved to its current location at Flushing Meadows Corona Park and operating by 1968.

Alternate Plans for the Carousel?

Mastro Pizza had a pavilion at the World's Fair located between the Festival of Gas and the Pavilion of American Interiors. Mastro also operated many of the pizza concessions throughout the fairgrounds. Pizza was the Mastro's family business since Frank Mastro began it when he came to this country. Frank's son, Vincent S. Mastro took over the company, Mastro Pizza, Inc. in the late 1950's when Frank Mastro passed away.

At one point the Mastro family was considering the purchase of the carousel. Is isn't clear exactly what Vincent S. Mastro's plans were for the carousel and obviously the purchase did not come to fruition. What is known, however, is that some basic plans for Carousel Park were in the possession of the Mastro family.

Recent correspondence with Mr. Vincent A. Mastro (Frank's grandson son and Vincent S.'s son) has turned up some bits of information. Most interesting are the prints that were in possession of his late aunt dated from May 1964.

Here's some of the information that has been provided by Mr. Mastro:

According to another Aunt of mine... she mentioned something about my father purchasing (or wanting to purchase) the New York World's Fair Carousel. He had some grand idea but I don't know the details... I do know that the Aunt who just passed away had a blueprint of the Carousel site plan.

Well, my Aunt (not the one that recently passed) said that my Father was in the process of buying the carousel and was going to somehow combine the Mastro Pizza Pavilion and the Carousel. I have tried to corroborate that statement through others but have not had sufficient confirmation to declare it to be true.

I do know a couple of things:
1) My Aunt believes the statement is true but does not know how far
along my father was in making anything happen.
2) The Mastro Pizza Pavilion was designed to be taken down and
re-erected elsewhere.
3) My other Aunt had the prints.

Mr. Mastro has graciously provided pictures of the prints. Interesting to note how drawing number 1 has been marked up in pencil to show what types of concessions would be located there. The upper right shows a spot marked "PIZZA", however a 1965 photo shows different concessions in that spot. Instead a Fresh Fruit stand and an Art-O-Matic concession (spin art concession) were located there. Hopefully we can gather more information in the future.

Click the pictures for larger image

Courtesy of "Mastro Pizza Inc. - Family Archives"

The late Mr. John Rogers, responsible for bringing the carousel to the fair, adds to this story:

One of those players (at Carousel Park) was Vinnie Mastro. The plans that the Mastro family found were GREAT to see again. They are the plans prepared for my company (American Cavalcade Corporation) and its ultimate backer, Greer Marechal (a patent lawyer), for the final site. Those handwritten notations presumably are by, or for, Vinnie Mastro to indicate preliminary booth sizes and a suggested location for the pizza stand.

Vinnie Mastro was one of the persons we approached to discuss sponsorship of the carousel (which may be the genesis of the recollection about Mastro buying the carousel). While a full sponsorship role never came about, Mastro did become one of the prime concessionaires in Carousel Park.

All of which brings to mind that a screenwriter friend of mine back then (long since deceased), named Leroy Stone, became captivated (like everybody else) with the carousel, and wrote a fictional Coney Island screenplay outline, a love story based on the theme of saving the carousel. I don't remember whether the Fair was involved, but seem to recall that one of the characters was the "Pizza King". I think I still have that treatment someplace and will dig it out. Maybe we should get BBQ Productions to produce it!