1964 New York World's Fair Panorama

For a change of pace, I thought I'd post this interesting panorama of the 1964 New York World's Fair. I found some slides from that fair, and among them there was a sequence of images taken from the top of the Better Living Center (see the red dot on the black and white aerial photo). Although the photographer did not use a tripod, I was able to stitch four slides together in Photoshop. The results were pretty nice, with only a few areas of minor distortion. For a much larger image (around 500kb), click HERE.

At the extreme left, you can see the Tower of the Four winds, the wonderful kinetic sculpture in front of Pepsi Cola's "It's a Small World" (designed by Rolly Crump). Nearby, (with the giant photos on top) is the Eastman Kodak Pavilion, and a bit to the right of that you can see the distinctive "flying saucer" towers from the New York State Pavilion (they still stand today). Further to the right, there is the famous 140-foot-high Unisphere, designed by Harper Goff. And if you continue to the right (in the distance) you can see the Ford Pavilion, where Walt Disney's "Magic Skyway" was featured.

One of the best things about this image is that we get a good look at the beautiful "Carousel of Progress" building. Look at the line waiting to get in! I'm not the first person to wish that Disneyland's COP building had looked like this.

On the horizon, you can see the home of the Mets, Shea Stadium, built in 1964 (and where the Beatles played in August 1965). To the right of that, there's the giant "egg" on top of the IBM pavilion. The body of water was called the Pool of Industry, and it contained the Fountain of the Planets.

I hope you've enjoyed this slight detour away from Disneyland. I have some other slides taken from the top of the New York State Pavilion that might be stitchable, if folks seem interested I'll give it a shot one of these days.