I found a small group of souvenir slides from this fair, and thought that they were intriguing enough to share with you. Today I am focusing on the images of the USSR pavilion. This was right in the middle of the cold war and the space race.
Unlike Disneyland's efforts to make things feel welcoming and friendly, this building is clearly meant to be big, serious, and imposing.
Oh man, I love this picure! There's one of the classic statues of Lenin, looking suitably heroic. Look at the size of it compared to the tiny peasants at the base! Nearby are full-scale models of what appears to be Sputnik-1 and Sputnik-2, both of which launched about one year before the Fair opened. The Soviet Union was kicking America's butt at that point in the space race, and they couldn't be more proud. Can't say I blame them.
Here's more shiny shiny rocket stuff, shining shinily. The cutaway of that nose-cone (or whatever it is) interests me... are those pieces of 2 X 4 inside? The other piece, laying on its side, looks like it is part of the world's largest Waring blender. These photos are so quaint, especially since going to the moon is a mundane, daily occurance now. Excuse me while I put on my silver lamé jumpsuit and take a ride in my flying car!
Ok, the Russia Building scares me, like you go in, but never come out.
ReplyDeleteNow I see why you never come out, that HUGE statue of Lenin is keeping the crowd under some king of spell...
2 x 4's are synonymous with Russian Rocket, didn’t ya know that?
These are fun, thanks. My flying car is broken; I guess I'll just have to take the monorail to work...
The spectre of the Commie mennace is quite clear after viewing the Ruskie pavillion!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots---Thank you for finding and sharing...