Newport Harbor Nautical Museum Transitions from Sternwheel to Ferris Wheel

Today's L.A. Times reports that the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum, of Newport Beach, California, will relocate its operations from the riverboat restaurant PRIDE OF NEWPORT to an amusement park property on the Balboa Peninsula known as "the Fun Zone". According to Museum Director David Muller, the museum lacked adequate programming and exhibition space on board the aging vessel, whose upkeep represented 30% of the Museum's annual budget. The Fun Zone's bumper cars, arcades, and carousels will soon make way for a 2,800 square-foot museum exhibition center. But mindful of the many happy memories Newport Beach residents have of the Fun Zone, Muller stressed that "...the Ferris wheel stays."