harles I.D. Looff was a creator of horses for carousels and Merry-Go-Rounds through the early 1900s and is considered to be the first of the great American carousel manufacturers, having originated the Coney Island style carousel.

Looff was born May 24, 1852, in Schleswig-Holstein and immigrated to the United States in 1870. He joined the carousel industry with his first machine in 1875, carving a menagerie of animals from scrap wood gathered from the furniture company where he worked. He opened a shop in Brooklyn and soon turned out his second carousel, much more refined than the first, and installed it at Coney Island. Looff was the earliest and most successful of the Coney Island carousel builders. He then moved his factory to Crescent Park in East Providence, Rhode Island, where his showpiece carousel still operates. In 1910 Looff moved his family and factory to Long Beach, California and lived above the carousel he constructed there.

Later, he operated carousels and major amusements at Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Venice, Ocean Park, and San Francisco. He built the Santa Monica Pier, was a major contributor to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and the founder of Playland in San Francisco. He remained in Long Beach until his death in 1918.

The I.D. in Charles I.D. Looff has a story. When he immigrated to the United States in 1870, an Ellis Island official told Looff he had to have a middle name "for his ID" (or identification), so he chose I.D.