The Balboa Ferris Wheel

In 1906, Fred Lewis owned a tract of land on the waterfront in old Balboa. For years, he operated a boat yard there, storing and repainting boats for many of the locals. By 1936 his business had dwindled so he leased the land to Al Anderson. The boat yard was torn down. Construction began and the original Balboa Fun Zone was born.

The old Fun Zone was run by families, much like it is today. Al Anderson, known for his love of gambling (during World War II there were secret poker games in his upstairs apartment on the Fun Zone grounds) owned the merry-go-round and the Ferris wheel: a used 1918, 45-foot version bought from a Seattle company. Harold Hannaford owned and operated the remaining kiddy rides, the boats, the cars, the Bird Cage Ferris wheel and the arcade zone that housed such fondly remembered favorites as Punk Rack and Spill the Milk.

In 1948, after more than a decade of leasing the property on which the Fun Zone was located, Anderson purchased it from Lewis. If you were going to Newport, you went to the Fun Zone. And if you were a kid that lived any where nearby, you wanted to work there. Joe Tunstall and Bob Speth did exactly that. In 1951 they started working at the Fun Zone, odd jobs at first like picking up papers and blowing up balloons. "We were only 13 and still in the eighth grade," says Tunstall. They worked there until they graduated from Newport Harbor High, then Joe went off to join the U.S. Navy and Bob joined the Coast Guard. In 1956, Bob bought the Fun Zone Ferris wheel, a venture that lasted until he sold it in 1964.

"The six-block area hasn't changed much over the years," says Tunstall with pride. "Everything is still owned and operated by a small group of families and friends." As you stroll the boardwalk, listening to the laughter of children and the music of the merry-go-round, that is exactly the feel you get a feel of days gone by, of popcorn and cotton candy and corn dogs, a sense of being a kid again, of what it used  to be like long ago.