When the Carnival came to town...

The carnivals were usually set up in the field just west of where Food Giant, Thrifty's and Grants were located. Every year they would come... Poster's would be nailed to telephone poles around town promoting the upcoming carnival... There were a handful of rides that always terrified me, of course I still would ride them. The largest and the tallest ride was called the SKY DIVER, As you gazed up at the ride, the sounds of the rides engines and exhaust filled the air combining with the aroma of popcorn and cotton candy. Topping the sound and the smells would be the screams of everyone you could hear on the ride... of course you could also hear the coins falling out of the twirling caged boxes as well... If you could manage the steering wheel right, there would be little upside-down time. The ROCK-O-PLANE was another similar ride where you would spin front to back vs. the SKY DIVER's side to side motion. The OCTOPUS was another terror, the harder you held on, the more scarier it felt with every move, lift and drop on the seat. Finally it was the TILT-A-WHIRL that always looked like a simple ride, but when the cabins with wheels rocked just right on the tilting floor - it would take your breath away... it was a fun time for a bunch of young kids in La Puente during the 1960's.

CARNIVAL SCENE FROM THE SANDLOT