Thursday, August 23, 2012

New York World's Fair Selection

Today's visit to the '64 New York World's Fair starts with this wonderful photo of three happy kids posing with the Pool of Industry behind them (with the Fountain of the Planets filling the air with a mist of water). The two girls look very ladylike with their nice outfits and purses. The boy is armed with a Kodak "brownie" camera, I wonder if he still has those photos 48 years later?


We're looking down the "Avenue of the Americas", one of the "spokes" radiating from the giant Unisphere in the distance. There's the Masonic Center to our right... I hope you are wearing your fez, apron, and lodge pin, and that you know the secret password. The columns to our left are part of the Protestant Orthodox Center, while the red-painted wall beyond that is part of the Denmark pavilion.


Why drink a cola when you can drink the "un-cola"? Back in 1964, 7-Up's slogan was the clunky, "Get Real Action... 7-Up Your Thirst Away". They should have asked Don Draper to come up with a better campaign. The 7-Up Sandwich Garden .... serves up, buffet style, the food specialties of 16 countries, plus all the 7-Up a customer can drink. Some of the sandwiches included "Sliced lamb on Scotch barley bread", "Lomi-Lomi salmon on Aloha coconut bread", and "Chicken ginger coconut on cinnamon swirl bread". Sounds delish! 


One of the few structures that remains standing today, the New York State pavilion had two towers that provided spectacular bird's-eye views of the Fair. In addition, there was this "tent of tomorrow", with the world's largest suspension roof (bigger than a football field) that consisted of translucent colored panels. On the floor beneath this colorful roof was a huge terrazzo map of the state of New York. 

Unfortunately, the structure has fallen into terrible disrepair; what remains of the terrazzo map is probably beyond saving, and the colored panels have long since fallen, leaving the "tent" roofless.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pics and commentary Major. Remember the beautiful green bottles that 7-Up came in?? I swear it made it taste even better...

Bill in Denver

K. Martinez said...

I remember "brownie" cameras. My sister had one and took it to every vacation trip we had.


Speaking of green bottles, remembeer "Wink, the Sassy One, From Canada Dry"?

Snow White Archive said...

A "Lomi-Lomi salmon on Aloha coconut bread" along with a 7-Up sounds mighty tasty to me.

Nancy said...

Beautiful snaps today!! Loving those straw purses (I personally have two) and esp the picture of the midway, complete with a nice close-up of my streetlamp

It is such a shame that they left the NY Pavillion there then let it fall apart like that :(

Its like a dead body, worse than not seeing it to my mind.. :(

Melissa said...

If they stop in for a sandwich, Junior's shirt can double as a tablecloth.

Nanook said...

Me thinks if Melissa isn't already doing stand-up or somehow connected to the "humor arts", she's missing her calling. Her comments are always spot-on when it comes to humorous, pity summations of each colorful scene. I look forward to each one.

Anonymous said...

I drive by the fairgrounds all the time and it is a sad sight to see the rusted crumbling wreck of the New York State pavilion. I remember as a kid going up in the towers,and playing on the tile Texaco road map. The Unispere,Hall of Science and the Heliport all look good though. Dennis,Levittown,L.I.,N.Y.

Major Pepperidge said...

Bill in Denver, yes I do remember the green bottles! There are still a few stores where you can get 7-up in glass bottles, with cane sugar. I should buy some and see if it is as good as I recall.

K. Martinez, I know the name "Wink", but am not sure if I ever had it. Wonder it it is still being made by some small bottler, sort of like "Moxie".

Snow White Archive, I don't really like coconut, and yet I am intrigued by coconut bread. As long as it doesn't have those tough shreds in it, it might be good!

Nancy, that is an especially colorful and elaborate lamp… they ranged from simple squares to large multi-angled constructions. And I kind of agree about the New York pavilion… if they are not going to save it, maybe they really should just tear it down.

Melissa, that kid is so skinny that his shirt wouldn't make much of a table cloth!

Nanook, Melissa is always making with the funny! I love it.

Anonymous, I have only passed the fairground while heading to Manhattan from JFK (and back). From that distance, everything looks pretty good! I envy your memories of that incredible Fair.