Saturday, November 10, 2018

New York World's Fair Construction

It's time for more cool construction photos from the 1964 New York World's Fair! 

Both of today's pix were snapped from the top of the "American Interiors" pavilion, which was adjacent to the Hall of Education (to our right), and the striking "Travelers Insurance" pavilion, with the domed roof that resembled their red umbrella logo. 

In addition to murals and fountains, the Travelers pavilion featured "The Triumph of Man": Human progress from the cave to the space capsule is reviewed in a tour of 13 dioramas. Some show man inventing tools, discovering fire and worshiping primitive gods, then starting civilizations with farms and cities. Others depict the rise and fall of Rome, Columbus' voyages, America's pioneers and the Civil War. The final scene shows man entering the Space Age.

For reasons not explained by science, I enjoy seeing all of those cars parked along the roadway, with the spindly, newly-planted trees, and random piles of garbage. In the distance is the Van Wyck Expressway; behind the Travelers umbrella we can just see a bit of the massive Bell System building.


Next is this view of the Hall of Education. It was full of mean teachers who made you do tests, spit out your gum, and sit quietly! According the souvenir guidebook, The changing goals, methods and tools of education in America are the concern of the exhibitors in this pavilion - for the most part businesses associated with education. Visitors may see a school of tomorrow, hear prominent Americans discuss problems of the day, listen to classroom exercises and watch modern teaching machines at work. The large building also has a playground area, an audio-visual demonstration center and a public restaurant.

I would like to add that I especially admire those lime-green luminaires! 


It occurred to me that it might be possible to stitch the two images together, though I didn't hold out a lot of hope. Happily, Photoshop did a great job. I don't mind the distortion that was necessary to knit one photo to the other. 


8 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Ain't Photoshop grand-??!! Instead of talking cars... let's talk trucks, instead - and the blue one appearing to be hauling-around a bunch of dry wall. That would be a 1955-1957 model year International Harvester - or just International Truck, for short. And I must concur with your love of those lime-green luminaires. Just like little, square Life-Savers.

Thanks, Major.

TokyoMagic! said...

Ooooh! I like that panorama with the two photos stitched together! And Progressland is on the horizon! I wonder if the "public restaurant" inside the Hall of Education served Salisbury steak and carrot ambrosia?

JC Shannon said...

Imagine the amount of money it would take to build something like th 64 World's Fair today. So many classic cars, I will be enjoying these scans for the rest of today. TokyoMagic, chili mac and lime jello. Or overcooked hamburgers with that yellowish green spread on it. Yum! Thank you Major and take care my friend.

dennis said...

I still have my souvenir 45 record from the Travelers pavilion.
Dennis, Levittown, Long Island,NY

Chuck said...

Loving all of it, Major, but especially the panorama. It really brings home just how grand the view really was.

TM! & Jonathan, I was thinking they would serve cheesy grease rectangles (a.k.a. "school lunch pizza").

Dennis from Levittown, I love it when you chime in with your NYWF memories. Always good to hear from someone who was there.

K. Martinez said...

I love the Travelers Pavilion building. The first thing I thought of was a man running down the street in D.C. yelling "They're here! They're here! They've landed! Over on the mall! They've landed!"

Nice set today! Thanks, Major.

Tom said...

According to the color list, those Luminaires are the 5CBC configuration (8 cubes, 6 lamps) using Chartreuse, Green, Olive Green and Ivory.

I wish they'd all survived. I am glad a lot of them did and are still put to good use.

Anonymous said...

What an amazing view, and the panorama. Major, you have outdone yourself. This is fascinating.

Thank you.

JG