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Welcome to the Ferris Wheel Light Show (VIDEO)

'Time' takes a look at how the colorful lights of the iconic Ferris wheel at the Santa Monica are programmed.

Posted by Jenna Chandler (Editor), April 13, 2012 at 07:16 pm

It looks like magic, but isn't.

It's more like music, at least to Dana Wyatt. He's the artist behind Santa Monica's Famous Ferris-wheel lights. In an interview with Time, the director of operations at Pacific Park says punching in LED codes that make the Ferris Wheel come to life each night is like playing the piano.

See how he does it by watching the video above.

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Eddie Greenberg May 8, 2013 at 09:09 pm

Thank you Marilyn Wexler. I totally agree with all that you have said in this eloquent letter. SMPD…Read More have done well in DUI checkpoints for the past few years and they are appreciated for doing so. We are all better off for their efforts!

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Aaron Mirsky April 11, 2013 at 06:26 pm

Great letter! Mr. Hill, you have a wonderful perspective and attitude. I am relatively new hear, my…Read More family moved to Santa Monica in 1976. I cherish my memories at Santa Monica Beach and hope to continue to "refresh my soul" for many years to come.

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Steven Rosen April 10, 2013 at 01:43 pm

Beautiful letter and I under his perspective. But I think if you look at the Quality of Life from a…Read More generic standpoint (if there is such a thing), I don't think we headed in an upward trajectory. I cannot imagine more traffic, and new skyline created by tall buildings and newly-required traffic management to make the Quality of Life better for any of us.

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Stodj April 9, 2013 at 04:41 pm

Lovely comment. I sense from your letter a new perspective on why this growth is happening, besides…Read More the $ involved, everyone needs to refresh their souls in this time of history and Santa Monica does that...at least at the beach where, hopefully, building will not progress. We do need to focus on halting the height of buildings as that will seriously change the environment here. Thanks, Michael.

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karen April 11, 2013 at 11:02 pm

I left Santa Monica in 1987. I went to Samohi and Lincoln, worked at Sears and loved the small town…Read More feel. Yes it's changed, but so has everywhere else. If my kids were young enough to drag along I would move there in a heartbeat. If you don't like it anymore, don't visit. I don't really understand why anyone would write to a local media outlet and complain about the town. How insulting. I'll take SM over the Bay area (talk about expensive!) any day.

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SantaMonicaNative April 8, 2013 at 07:02 pm

Continued (sorry) The city changes. More people, more housing needed. More people more cars, more…Read More traffic, more trash, more dogs. Next we get the commercial builders who see Santa Monica as a cashbox. In city where 10 stories is tall, we get money hungery people who don't live here, who think 20 stories is better. That's where we are now. A turning point in the city. Once you build them you can't take them back. The city will change even more with the Expo line. We can't stop change, we can't restrict building except through zoning. We can temper it. What we can do is shop locally to save the few local businesses that remain and call City Hall on over ambitious projects. Speak up! It's frustrating-they don't listen but eventually they can be voted out. Don't let Santa Monica turn into Beverly Hills by the sea. We need normal businesses we can afford. Places to eat that you don't need a loan. Stop voting for group politics, read the ballot, get involved, even if only on a personal level. Know your city, don't just complain.

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SantaMonicaNative April 8, 2013 at 06:47 pm

My parents loved Santa Monica, the first place i remember was a huge old house on 4th and Montanna…Read More which had been subivided into units. If my parents had kept all the properties they owned in this city, i'd be rich. That said i must admit i still love Santa Monica. Go back to any city you grew up in and you will be shocked by the change. Part of the change has to do with the congested state if Caliornia. There are more people, no doubt of that. The other thing is memory tends to blur the facts. The things that matter to an adult are meaningless to a child. There are so many things that have disppeared from this city but they have been replaced by other things. Nothing but bugs are ixed in amber,cities can't be. In addition to that, Santa Monica has not grown in a natural fashion. The City Council has intervened in the natural growth of the city with laws, taxes and programs to fashion a city THEY want, not necessarily what would have been. The city has been pushed into a schitzophrenic combination of high ideals and directed outcomes. Rent control remade the city, changing it from a city with children and families to single renters. Vacancy decontrol helped to change that. Mom and pop owners are almost gone. Few small businesses can exist here, they can't compete with chains The city favors tenants over landlords, lawyers are expensive so properties get sold, torn down and replaced by multiple units. Low income housing increases the density of neighborhoods.

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RJ April 9, 2013 at 06:18 pm

...ditto Paul!

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RJ April 9, 2013 at 06:17 pm

.....Barbara, you forgot to add the need to eliminate about half of the population in Santa Monica…Read More before one could "rediscover" the sleepy beach town it used to be. Then don't forget the other "bike riders" that drive just a crazy as some automobile drivers....failing to abide by the rules of the road...and law! Unfortunately city officials have been trying to squeeze 10 pounds of garbage into 5 pound bags for the last 20 years....then come up with bright ideas like proposing to build movie theaters that enter/empty right on to 4th Street at Arizona (after tearing down the City parking garage) were we all know every idiot that has been issued a driver's license will stop and hold up traffic to drop off their kids...only to return to do it all over again when picking them up. Heaven forbid their kids have to walk from a block away where the parent could avoid blocking traffic on one of the busiest main thoroughfare streets in the city. I’m sure you could come up with many more examples of the most insane development that has happened or is proposed to happen. So Barbara......where is that area with "no congestion"???

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Good luck Jessica. Watch out for Jerry.

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CORRECTING my previous comment: Welcome Jessica!

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Michael April 4, 2013 at 03:33 pm

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mimi March 29, 2013 at 02:22 am

There is another travel option for the disabled called Access Services. They transport all over los…Read More angeles and neighboring suburbs. You may want to check them out. You are fortunate to have a friend who transports you around instead of riding with WISE, which you dislike.. You could be of great help to your friend if you used Google Directions (before you leave home) to find various routes to your destination. I am familiar with the Chez Jay location on Ocean Ave. There are better and worse ways to get there. I suggest you choose better. Of course, this requires advance planning and a bit of home work. Think of all the aggravation you will save yourself and your friend. The choice is yours.

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Dan Charney March 29, 2013 at 02:21 am

Well said- I never go downtown - haven't for almost ten or more years- once every few years I go to…Read More the Genius Bar- take the bus-( which no longer runs on my street)- I have been going to Chez Jay almost 40 years or more- I used to work out on the bluffs- can't do any shopping anywhere near Wilshire or Montana- I can walk to Main - get my groceries at night- what is happening here is no different than what is happening in Congress and to our entire country- the rich are doing as they wish - the rest of us can die- the building that will be gone soon will be any with low income tenants and shabby houses- all gone

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