Le Carrousel in Bryant Park

Marvin Sylvor, the founder of Fabricon, a Brooklyn-based carousel manufacturing company, died this week. He was the creator of "Le Carrousel" in New York City's Bryant Park.

I chaired Manhattan Community Board 5's (CB5) parks committee when the idea of installing Le Carrousel was first brought to the board by the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation (BPRC) in 2001. I endorsed the proposal because though it went beyond the scope of park restoration well into the arena of development and gentrification, it was a child-oriented amenity in a park that on weekends was generally under-utilized, its music was going to be soft and not disrupt the oasis of relative calm that the park provides on the weekdays for the neighborhood's office workers, free rides for school groups were promised, it was of a different style and nature than the relentless, overpowering, unbalanced Disneyfication and big brand-name corporatization then and still now spreading along and around "New 42nd Street," and it fit into the Parisian-esque theme of the park. It failed by the single tie-braking vote cast by the community board's chair. (The board's chair--a friend, intelligent, professionally accomplished, excellent as a chairperson--and I on this matter didn't agree. It might have been the only such instance.) But the proposal was brought back through my committee again in 2002 when I presented it yet again, and CB5 approved it overwhelmingly.

In retrospect, I wish that I or somebody had thought to require that Bryant Park's management make the Le Carrousel free-of-charge, and that they actively solicit school groups from poorer neighborhoods. The potential for educational value went unspoken by me or anyone else at the time: a tie-in with NYC's various Bastille Day events, site visits for schools kids studying anything from the history of the Industrial Revolution to perspective drawing or drafting for art or trade classes. (Free rides 24/7 was suggested, if I recall correctly, but that struck many members--and BPRC, I'm sure--as unrealistic given the costs of upkeep and a part-time attendant for the carousel.)

I've not been on CB5 for several years. I've no idea if Bryant Park's management continues to honor the promise of free rides for children from daycare centers and schools, and if so how aggressively they solicit such visits, and from which institutions. I certainly hope that they honor their commitment and do so with a generous spirit. The Bryant Park Corporation / 34th Street Partnership newsletter says a "My Carrousel" Card has been introduced--the holder gets 10 rides at a 25% discount. Twenty-five percent off what amount, the newsletter doesn't say. The Times says that a ride on the "12,000-pound, 22-foot-wide carousel" costs $2 per ride--"top price." That's too much. Unless the child's been driven there in an SUV. Then it should be $15. If the SUV is garaged in NYC: $20. Hurry, dear, just one ride; your nanny's waiting curbside with a backseat of organic food from Fairway. Here, take some brioche with you.

Now, to set aside parochial narratives of Le Carrousel politics. Marvin Sylvor was an remarkable entrepreneur and craftsman. The animals on his carousels were charming and conceived of with care. Assuming Fabricon continues--I suspect it will, and will in fact grow (just how many 100's of carousels could Chinese developers order anyway?)--I hope the company's owners continue to create carousels with the same attention to detail that Marvin Sylvor did...and keep the company in Brooklyn.

(Photo from The New York Daily Photo blog. As always: click to enlarge.)