Closed, but no taker

An era didn’t quite end as scheduled Wednesday when the last of three Balboa Fun Zone rides slated for removal didn’t get taken out. A Temecula museum that was set to take the Scary Dark Ride backed out at the last minute.

Installed in the late 1980s, the rides are being removed to make room for the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum’s new on-land location.

Fun zone ride operator Joe Tunstall already sold the bumper cars for $14,000, and he was there Wednesday to oversee removal of parts of the Drummer Boy ride. Workers from La Mirada-based Dunkel Bros. Machinery Moving were scrapping parts of that ride, but by the afternoon Tunstall still wasn’t sure where the Scary Dark Ride would end up.

After 57 years of involvement with the fun zone, Tunstall said he’ll stick around — he still operates the carousel, which could stay for the next several years, and the Ferris wheel, which has a lease through 2030.

“I really think the museum will be a betterment for Balboa overall, instead of bumper cars,” Tunstall said.