Photo courtesy Debra Jane Seltzer

By Jack Gillum | Arizona Daily Star | Jan 19, 2008

Tucson's Magic Carpet ride has ended.

The Midtown miniature golf course closed this month, ending a 30-plus-year stint in Tucson as a spot for low-cost entertainment — or a cheap first date.

Now, the miniature skyline of larger-than-life dinosaurs and sphinxes along East Speedway may become an overflow parking lot for the nearby Mercedes dealership, the new owners said.

Magic Carpet Golf, at 6125 E. Speedway, has been known for years as having a throwback style in its own right: two 18-hole courses with obstacles such as a towering monkey straddling a fairway and a rickety outhouse enclosing a hole.

Magic Carpet was also known for its subpar maintenance, with many of the holes sporting torn artificial turf.

But perhaps its best-known feature was its two-story Tiki head, which couples could climb to look out — or make out — with cars humming down Speedway below.

Magic Carpet's former owner, Carol Koplin, said Friday during a telephone call from her Florida home that she sold the business after her uncle, course manager Mel Williams, died shortly before Christmas.

"I was concerned with his age in operating it," she said. "It just got run down."

The property was sold on Jan. 4 for $1.8 million to Tempe-based JCMC LLC. That company is listed as a corporate member of Chapman Automotive Group LLC, Arizona Corporation Commission records state.

David Bower, the company's chief financial officer, said using the property as an overflow lot is one of the options under consideration. He did not know what the company plans to do with the iconic statues.

Koplin said she and her husband started a chain of mini-golf courses decades ago under the name Goofy Golf in Panama City, Fla. The Magic Carpet brand, the brainchild of her brother in law, William, had several locations, including the one in Tucson and one in Lake Tahoe, Calif.

One of Koplin's fondest memories, she said, was going through encyclopedias looking for ideas for giant creatures to populate the courses. The tour of quirky creatures and 18 holes of golf cost fun seekers a few bucks.

"The problem in Tucson is that the recent past is most likely to be destroyed," said Carlos Lozano, who runs the Internet group VanishingTucson.com. "A lot of these things get destroyed because no one really knows what to do with them."

Originally published online here: http://azstarnet.com/sn/biz-topheadlines/221192