Jan
2002

merry-go-roundup

Edited by Jackie Micucci


Once the centerpiece of amusement parks, the authentic hand-carved wooden carousel is an endangered species. Out of thousands that existed in the early part of the 20th century, approximately 130 survive. One survivor, the Floyd L. Moreland Historic Dentzel/Looff carousel at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, N.J., served as one of the Jersey shore sites used in 20/20’s photo shoot this month “Sun… Where?”.

Featuring 58 animals, including horses, camels, a lion, tiger and donkey, the Carousel at Casino Pier was hand-carved by master craftsmen William Dentzel (Philadelphia) and Charles Looff (Coney Island). Much of it dates from 1910 although some animals on board were carved in the 1890s. The carousel revolves around an elaborately carved and painted canopy. Music is provided by the only existing, continuously operating Wurlitzer military band organ (built in 1923 in New Jersey).

Want to see the world through a child’s eyes? Pay a visit… and take a ride.

— Gloria Nicola


Some eyewear designers earned their wings recently by participating in the Ninth Annual Divine Design in Los Angeles. All proceeds from the event benefited Project Angel Food, which delivers meals daily to people throughout L.A. living with HIV/AIDS.

EyeOTA, Signature Eyewear, l.a. Eyeworks and Oliver Peoples were among those donating product to the Fashion Marketplace held at Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Air Center. The merchandise is sold to the public at significantly discounted prices, with markdowns starting at 50 percent.

watch collection

20/20 honored 10 labs profiled in its “LabWatch” section over the past year during the 51st annual Optical Laboratories Association (OLA) meeting in New Orleans in November. Each month, “LabWatch” looks into the operation of some of optical’s most successful wholesale laboratories, informing readers on the state of the lab market as well as on new and innovative business initiatives. Top executives from each of the labs profiled in 2001—including QSA Optical, Plasti-Lab, Columbian Bifocal, Laramy-K, Express Lens Lab, Midland Optical, Optical One, Global Optics, Visionary Optical and Siouxland Ophthalmic Labs—each received a commemorative plaque featuring a reprint of the article on their business from 20/20. On hand to receive the plaques during the OLA meeting were, from left to right, Matt Iovaldi of Midland, Paul Zito of QSA and George Lee of Rite-Style (representing of Global Optics).


Keeping up with the Jones. 1 Catherine Zeta Jones wears the Kate Spade Ava sunglass from Sàfilo…  Par for the cause. Luxottica’s Persol was one of the sponsors of the Elisabeth Glaser Celebrity Scramble Golf Tournament in Los Angeles, which raises money for pediatric AIDS research. Wearing their Persols on the links are 2 Sylvester Stallone and 3 David Arquette… Trust worthy. 4 Tim Robbins sports Kata Eyewear style K40 in the movie “Anti Trust”… High seas. 5 Julia Roberts wears cK 3002 from Marchon Eyewear in her new movie “Ocean’s 11”… Eyewear wizard. 6 Elton John wears l.a.Eyeworks’ Dang frames as he performs “I Want to Love” on “Ally McBeal.” l.a.Eyeworks has created custom eyewear for Elton John for nearly 20 years… Can you dig it? 7 Lenny Kravitz wore the Christian Roth pure titanium mask with polarized lenses during the “VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards.” Kravitz opened the show with his new song “Dig in” from his latest CD… Kick it. The world famous 8 Radio City Rockettes donned shades by Donna Karan from Marchon as they got in step for the annual “Christmas Spectacular” in New York… Hollywood glamour. 9 Billy Zane looks the part in Sama Eyewear. The actor sported Sama shades in a fashion lay out in Movieline magazine… High velocity. 10 Ashton Kutcher one of the stars from “That ’70s Show” wearing Velocity from Serengeti… Like a bird. Singer 11 Nelly Furtado sported Calvin Klein style 654 from Marchon during the “Women Rock! Girls and Guitars” show, which raised awareness for breast cancer.                              

— Jackie Micucci

 

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