Wonder Wheel on Coney Island. Photo by doBLeuVe

I've long been a fan of the bygone days of amusement parks. I'm a sucker for a good old fashioned wooden roller coaster, like the American Eagle at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee Illinois.

Naturally, I was drawn to a wonderful New York Times article about Coney Island's Wonder Wheel, including a beautiful 360 degree panoramic shot of the engine that drives the Ferris wheel. The article describes the behind-the-scenes workings of one of America's most famous attractions:

...in a small room under the Wonder Wheel, the 89-year-old carnival amusement that commands the local skyline, a cheap electric engine kicked to life.

There was a sudden smell of axle grease, and the ticky-tacky cars surged back and forth. The lights came on, and the gears began to turn. In a caged pen near the platform, a sleeping dog woke up.

“There it goes,” said Deno John Vourderis, better known as D. J., 28 years old and a member of the third generation of the family that has run the famous 150-foot-high Ferris wheel for nearly 30 years.

Read the entire article at the New York Times website and be sure to check out the 360 degree panoramic photo as well.

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