Pier 39 Carousel: Cash-Strapped And At A Standstill

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A carefree whirl on the Pier 39 carousel in San Francisco would be a mini respite we, all, could use during these trying times. Except we can't.

The Bay Area landmark, shuttered in March during the coronavirus' onset, still remains closed due to a snarl of red tape and COVID-19 mandates. Even the newly relaxed restrictions, issued last week in San Francisco, did not provide a reprieve — much to the dismay of its owners, who are struggling to keep their business afloat.

"We are crushed," said Kathryn Elliott, who runs the merry-go-round with husband and co-owner, Edson Hutchinson. "I don’t understand how outdoor hair salons can do business, and we can not."

San Francisco city and health officials announced Thursday that its latest reopening phase kicked off for such "low risk outdoor and indoor activities" as open-air boats and tour buses, limited-capacity visits to hair salons and gyms, plus mini-golf and batting cages.

Left off the list: amusement-park rides and playgrounds.

"State guidelines do not allow for outdoor, amusement park-type rides to be open at this point," said an official from the COVID Command Center of the City and County of San Francisco.

The health order struck a blow to Elliott and Hutchinson, who say they are emotionally and financially drained as their carousel sits idle.

Pier rent is due. Loyal employees remain sidelined. And a hefty insurance payment looms in November.

"I feel sunk," Elliott said, although she vows to remain resolute. "I'm going to pull myself together to figure out a way to keep fighting for our employees and business."

Her two-story carousel, custom-built in Italy, seats 50 for a three-minute spin on a menagerie of carved animals, chariots and twirling teacups. This particular ride was installed in 2017, replacing previous versions operating for years at Pier 39. The attraction typically draws about 250,000 riders annually, at $5 a pop, and often is featured in Bay Area tourism guides, Elliott said.

But the business ground to a halt — literally — in mid-March, as COVID-19-related, health mandates closed nearly everything throughout the state and city, including Pier 39.

Elliott's 10 employees instantly were unemployed. And that fallout, she said, weighs heavily. One worker even offered to work for free, knowing the operation was in financial straits.

"They are good, honest, hardworking and loyal," Elliott said of her staff. "They are tired of being unemployed and want to get back to work to support themselves and their families."

Elliott received and used a Paycheck Protection Program stimulus and a State Compensation Fund grant to service the ride, a pricey, mechanical necessity after a carousel is inactive, and to add virus-prevention barriers. The business also pledged to wipe down and sanitize seats after each rider and to use a no-contact, payment system. Elliott said she even was willing to go along with 12-person, limited seating.

Plowing through the reopening process, however, has — so far —proved futile: an ongoing, convoluted mess of safety inspections, paperwork and tentative verbal OKs later retracted.

Last week's decree from city officials hit hard. "I don't know why they would show such prejudice to a business that runs a far lower transmission risk than public pools, hair salons and massage," Elliott said.

San Francisco's health order states that such activities still banned are due to the fact "they cannot yet be done safely in the current context, due to the difficulty of regularly cleaning high-touch surfaces and of keeping people from different homes physically distant." Affected operations include such outdoor, amusement park-type rides as Ferris wheels, carousels, miniature rideable trains, and mini roller-coasters.

But for Elliott, a green light to reopen would serve as not only key to her enterprise and other Pier 39 businesses, but as a community service, of sorts.

A simple spin on the carousel, decked with handpainted scenes of San Francisco, elicits "smiles and laughter," something locals and visitors now desperately need, she said.

"I know opening the carousel would benefit the community immensely," Elliott said. "School is online, children are cooped up, parents are stressed and the mood in the city seems generally gloomy. The carousel would bring so much happiness and life back to that part of San Francisco."

"I am tired of candy-coating this pandemic as 'unprecedented times,'" she continued. "It is such a lousy understatement. I am not political, and both sides are dismal. I absolutely don't want anyone to fall ill or die from COVID, but our employees' lives, livelihoods and spirit are being destroyed by this shutdown. There is no daily count for that."

In June, Elliott launched a GoFundMe campaign in an attempt to raise cash for the carousel's survival. But the effort garnered little attention, and donations proved scant.

The online fundraiser still is open online, however, and those interested in supporting the Pier 39 carousel, and another pier attraction, the Bay Plunge, can follow this link.

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