Save Ferris!

On today's outing to one of my favorite places, the Santa Monica Pier, I noticed a welcome sight against the sunny blue sky--the reappearance of the Ferris Wheel! Pacific Park and the giant Ferris Wheel are part of what makes the Santa Monica Pier so appealing. So much so that it has made numerous cameos in movies--the most recent being Iron Man, which I saw with my brother James at the beginning of the month.

The Ferris Wheel's appearance in Iron Man was all James got to see of it on his last visit (although in October, James, David and I experienced the nine-story tall ride firsthand!), because it had been taken down in order to be replaced with a newer, better version. The old wheel was auctioned off on E-Bay and the winner was an Oklahoma developer who bid $132k. That sounds like a lot of money, but the new, improved wheel made of galvanized steel and featuring computer-generated special effects lighting with 160,000 energy-efficient LED lights that provide 75 percent greater energy savings than the previous incandescent bulbs cost $1.5 MILLION!

Whatever the cost, it was good to see the Ferris Wheel back in place. There was quite a hole in the skyline without it!
The other cool new addition to the pier was this Trapeze School. Seriously, how awesome is THAT? Can you imagine while all the other kids are at Tennis Camp or playing Little League spending the summer at Trapeze School?