Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Da Fair, 1964

Today we'll take a break from Disneyland and visit the 1964 World's Fair - - again!

Here's a spectacularl shot of the Progressland building, gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight (under a dramatic, stormy looking sky). It must be a chilly autumn day, everyone is wearing a coat . Wouldn't you love to be able to get in line? I especially want to be up on the second level... the "Carousel of Progress" is quite well documented, but I am as curious as can be about the "Skydome Spectacular" that was also part of this exhibit. And I also wish I could see the display of Nuclear Fusion, anything with a 'splosion is OK with me!


Here's another view, this young couple must have just exited the lower-level exhibit ("Medallion City"), and they are enthused about all of the helpful G.E. products that they saw. The guy is saying, "That was bee-yoo-teeful!"


And one more for luck... one of the pavilions that I wish I could have seen (and it didn't involve Walt Disney) is General Motor's legendary "Futurama II" (as opposed to the original Futurama from 1939 - -I want to see that one too!!). I believe that early EPCOT attractions tried to capture the same optimistic feeling about the future that this exhibit displayed. In this photo (taken from the top of one of the towers at the New York pavilion) you can see the massive building, it looks something like a spaceage vehicle, with a saucerlike front to the left, and a gigantic curved fin at the back. Just look at that line!! Yikes. Hours, I would imagine.

After Futurama, let's go over and watch the Helldrivers!! Like I don't see enough of them on Los Angeles freeways.

3 comments:

Matterhorn1959 said...

The light poles in the first image are very nice, especially in the red and blue colors! The photographs remind me of EPCOT Center Pavilions.

The Viewliner Limited said...

SUPERB!!! The more I see pictures like this, the more I wish that I had gone there. No other fair like it or since.

Unknown said...

Is that guy in the second photo an escaped animatronic?

Great photos!