SoCal's wheel of (little) fortune

These are difficult times for ferris wheel fans across Southern California. The 108-foot-tall Giant Wheel at the Irvine Spectrum remains closed for safety improvements  and the 90-foot-tall Pacific Park wheel at the Santa Monica pier will be dismantled in May  and replaced with a new model.

But for most Southern Californians, the only big wheel they care about is the one featured on the Big Spin lotto game.  Meanwhile, civic boosters from London to Singapore  have entered into a race to build the biggest wheel,  with Beijing seeking to beat the rest with a wheel more than 600 feet tall. In contrast, the list of the world's tallest wheels  contains only one Southern California entry, the approximately 160-foot-tall Sun Wheel in Anaheim.

So, if status-conscious Los Angeles wants to defend its world-class aspirations, it better start rolling in the ferris wheel race to keep up with London and Beijing. Or even Anaheim.

-- Jesus Sanchez

Photo: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times