Saturday, December 28, 2013

The New York World's Fair

It's been a while since we visited the 1964 New York World's Fair, so let's go there now! 

One of the highlights of the Fair was General Electric's "Progressland", featuring Walt Disney's "Carousel of Progress". The building was amazing too, with a dome suspended from a series of spiraling bent pipes. At night, a series of colored lights created the illusion that the dome was spinning. To the right we can see the Tower of Light, and then the white arches that were part of the Johnson Wax "Golden Rondelle". 


Here's a closeup of the G.E. building, just because it's so pretty.


Long shadows and lack of crowds make me guess that this picture was taken somewhat early on a gloriously clear morning. There's the Johnson Wax pavilion again (to our left), while the "Tower of Light" is on the left. See how colorful it looked like at night here.


Here's a familiar view looking from the New York State pavilion's observation tower toward the Transportation Zone. I always love seeing the green-cheese dome from the Transportation and Travel pavilion; the "T"-shaped Port Authority building, with a helicopter landing on its roof; the US Rubber Ferris Wheel, and the Chrysler pavilion too.


And, just because, here's nearly the same angle as seen at night (though the sky still has plenty of afterglow). 


7 comments:

Nanook said...

Oh, Major-

We love pictures of the 1964 World's Fair - so many wonderful structures-!

I'm sorry I can't remember the exact year, but in 1964-65, S.C. Johnson Wax was still referring to itself as "Johnson's Wax", such as the Johnson's Wax Golden Rondelle Pavilion. Johnson Wax was still a ways off.

Thanks for posting these swell images.

Nancy said...

Gorgeous way to start my day!! I so want to step right into this scene.

For some reason, I always think about this highway that ran next to the Fair and wonder about how cool it would have been to drive past the Fair on the way to work every day for those 2-ish years. Had I lived there, I think I would have been there every weekend!

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I thought that somebody might call me on the "Johnson Wax" thing! I actually researched it, and found both versions used at nywf64.com. But to be honest, "Johnson's" is used a lot more.

Nancy, I know, it would have been torture to drive past that every day and not go in. It is amazing to think that, in spite of the many millions of people who visited, the Fair was still considered something of a failure financially.

Chuck said...

Sort of like driving the 5 past the Matterhorn and never taking the Harbor Blvd exit...

Atomic_Scout said...

So much to see in the view from the New York State pavilion's tower. I think the mural on the middle left is also neat. It seems that the transportation zones were always the most exciting places at the world's fairs.

Dennis Levittown NY said...

More World's Fair pictures , please!

Unknown said...

recently, I managed to make it up to the top of the Pavilion observation towers... and took a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iffU4ux_j_s its pretty beat up today.