Welcome to the amazing 1964 New York World's Fair!
Here's a terrific photos of one of the giant inflatable "moon berries" (that's what I call 'em, anyway) that could be found scattered about the Fair grounds; I love them because they are so strange and wonderful. Placed atop snack bars (brought to you by The Brass Rail), they could be seen from surprisingly far away. Also, buy a souvenir hat whydontcha.
Did you know that New York is a state, and not just a big city? It's true! They even had their own pavilion. See it HERE! Underneath a colorful canopy you would see a giant terrazzo map of New Yawk. And apparently they had performances there on occasion as well, such as this choir.
The Chrysler pavilion looks like it was a lot of fun... there was more eye-candy than the typical pavilion, and that is saying something. From this angle you can see the giant red "zookeeper" from the Autofare zoo; in the middle is the giant walk-thru engine; and just to the right of that, in the middle of the moat, is the tower that displayed the "flags of many nations".
All of the people sitting on those benches are trying really hard to be inconspicuous as the stern Fair cop walks his beat. You don't want to make him angry. I'm not sure what that structure is behind the cop, but that very square building to the left is the United States pavilion. And we can't ignore the moon berry!
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ReplyDeleteThat's the Billy Graham Pavilion featuring the film "Man in the Fifth Dimension"
The fuzzy gold star was repeated on a hundred foot tower, just beyond this view.
Unfortunately the Moon Berries attracted Mothra.
ReplyDeleteD ticket, THANKS!
ReplyDeletefuzzhead, I have always said that those things look like some sort of insect eggs. The "moon berry" thing just occurred to me recently, I kind of liked it! ;-)
It looks like a giant white raspbery to me.
ReplyDeleteVery nice - as usual. I have some information on the Brass Rail "moonberries" at http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/brass-rail.htm. They were kept inflated during the Fair by a small blower system. I have some photos from the site the week the Fair closed for good, and the balloons are all sagging and deflated. It really made you realize the magic was gone for good.
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, a white raspberry? It looks nothing like a white raspberry. Oh wait, yes it does!! ;-) Actually have you ever seen a white mulberry? They're sort of gross looking, but resemble these Brass Rail berries in color.
ReplyDeleteBill, thank you for the link; I always figured that they were sort of like those "bounce houses" that kids love so much today. Very interesting to see the snack stand with the berry missing altogether.
The Mars Rover container started out as roof? Amazing.
ReplyDeleteThe moonberries make me think of highly stylized vanilla soft serve.
ReplyDeleteI ate french fries for the first time in my life at one of those snack bars. My mom bought some for me and my brothers to share.
ReplyDeleteDennis - Levittown, L.I.,N.Y.