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April 21, 2015 9:07 AM Subscribe
The 1964 NYC World's Fair. Period photos. Then and now. What remains. Video of the Futurama II ride. Stock footage at the Fair. NBC's ' A World's Fair Diary'.
Where are the eighty dolls yelling "small girl after all?"
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:28 AM on April 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:28 AM on April 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
but where is howard stark?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:35 AM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 9:35 AM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Drunk in a bush somewhere
posted by The Whelk at 9:37 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 9:37 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Where are the eighty dolls yelling "small girl after all?"
Who was at the DuPont pavilion?
posted by Fleebnork at 9:48 AM on April 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
Who was at the DuPont pavilion?
posted by Fleebnork at 9:48 AM on April 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
About a year ago now they opened a portion of the New York Pavillion ruins to the public for an afternoon; the volunteer group trying to promote renovation of the pavillion set it up, plus it was the 50-year anniversary of the fair's opening. I went (Flickr album is here) and there was an enormous line, stretching around the perimeter of the pavilion, across the park, over a major overpass (we were on a bridge over it, fortunately) through another section of the park and up the hill and out of the park and further down the street another block and a half. Partly because they were only letting in 20 people at a time, confining them to a tiny little area by the door and making you wear hard hats.
Still the interest was immense (possibly fueled by some people who thought, mistakenly, that they'd be opening the flying-saucer thingies). You actually waited in line for free tickets, and then once you got a ticket you could chill out while you waited for them to call your ticket number to go in. By the time I got to the ticket counter they'd run out of the first couple rolls of raffle-tickety things they were using and were busting out their last "emergency" roll, and after that they may have been considering writing down things on scraps of paper. There was a Wafels and Dinges cart nearby, which was doing extremely good business - and it was fitting, as the Belgian Waffle was introduced to the world at the 1964 fair.
(I also wrote about the leftovers of this fair and the 1939 NYC one, for Atlas Obscura, if it's okay for me to link to that....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:50 AM on April 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
Still the interest was immense (possibly fueled by some people who thought, mistakenly, that they'd be opening the flying-saucer thingies). You actually waited in line for free tickets, and then once you got a ticket you could chill out while you waited for them to call your ticket number to go in. By the time I got to the ticket counter they'd run out of the first couple rolls of raffle-tickety things they were using and were busting out their last "emergency" roll, and after that they may have been considering writing down things on scraps of paper. There was a Wafels and Dinges cart nearby, which was doing extremely good business - and it was fitting, as the Belgian Waffle was introduced to the world at the 1964 fair.
(I also wrote about the leftovers of this fair and the 1939 NYC one, for Atlas Obscura, if it's okay for me to link to that....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:50 AM on April 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
Oh, and I gave my parents a serious "tempus fugit" moment when I told them that I'd visited the pavilion - because they remembered a road trip with a couple of their friends the year before they married when they'd all drove to New York from Eastern Connecticut and saw this in person.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:54 AM on April 21, 2015
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:54 AM on April 21, 2015
No particular interest in the World's Fair but I could just look at then-and-now photos of ANYTHING, forever.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:01 AM on April 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:01 AM on April 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I went to the World's Fair and thought it was v. cool when the Flintstones and Rubbles visited it soon thereafter. Via time machine, as I recall.
posted by the sobsister at 10:04 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the sobsister at 10:04 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Minnesota is making a bid to host the 2023 World's Fair, which would be the first World's Fair in the U.S. since 1984.
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 10:17 AM on April 21, 2015
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 10:17 AM on April 21, 2015
Oh! A tip - if you go to check the fairgrounds out, and you go to see the Panorama of the City of New York, you can also see something in a nearby room that was built for the 1939 fair as well. (It was never exhibited at the fair proper, because it was too big - it got stuck in a storage room for years until the Queens Museum finally dug it out and put it on display.)
Oh, and the Queens Museum Building itself was built for the 1939 fair, and used in the 1964 fair - and in between it was the original home of the United Nations.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:25 AM on April 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Oh, and the Queens Museum Building itself was built for the 1939 fair, and used in the 1964 fair - and in between it was the original home of the United Nations.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:25 AM on April 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Terrace on the Park was a Port Authority pavilion that had an active helipad on the roof.
posted by dr_dank at 10:56 AM on April 21, 2015
posted by dr_dank at 10:56 AM on April 21, 2015
I was there. It was amazing. And if (as my dad did), you were a stock-holder of one of the exhibitors, you could usually go to the front of the line. Somehow that seems terribly 60s to me.
posted by ubiquity at 11:00 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ubiquity at 11:00 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
My parents took me there and I remember it being so full of amazing things. You were made to believe the future was going to be just swell.
posted by tommasz at 11:21 AM on April 21, 2015
posted by tommasz at 11:21 AM on April 21, 2015
And if (as my dad did), you were a stock-holder of one of the exhibitors, you could usually go to the front of the line. Somehow that seems terribly 60s to me.
Count the number of times they talk about efficient distribution of goods in the ( Good News, Everybody!) Futurama II video...
posted by mikelieman at 11:27 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Count the number of times they talk about efficient distribution of goods in the ( Good News, Everybody!) Futurama II video...
posted by mikelieman at 11:27 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have a silver baby spoon memento. I don't remember the fair though.
posted by dejah420 at 11:28 AM on April 21, 2015
posted by dejah420 at 11:28 AM on April 21, 2015
I remember the NYC as being very very corporate. I had forgotten about the "stockholders to the front of the line" rule, but, yes, our family of eight (how 60's!) went to the front of the line once.
Now, Expo '67 in Montreal...THAT was a World's Fair. Very international: pavilions and people. Plus, it happened to be full of experimental gee-whiz cinematic experiments.
posted by kozad at 11:42 AM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Now, Expo '67 in Montreal...THAT was a World's Fair. Very international: pavilions and people. Plus, it happened to be full of experimental gee-whiz cinematic experiments.
posted by kozad at 11:42 AM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hey! There's one starting next month! Meetup!!!
posted by Thorzdad at 11:55 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 11:55 AM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Free the Expo 67!
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:58 AM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:58 AM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Gorillas Don't Blog has a lot of vintage slides from both the 1964 and 1939 New York World's Fairs. I love to pore through them not only for the architecture, but for the peoplewatching.
A couple of favorites:
Napping in the Simmons Mattress "rest alcoves"
1939 girlie show - in color!
Inside the Post Office Exhibit
Nuns at Progressland
Also, obligatory youtube link to the "Disneyland Goes to the World's Fair" episode of The Wonderful World of Disney.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:02 PM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
A couple of favorites:
Napping in the Simmons Mattress "rest alcoves"
1939 girlie show - in color!
Inside the Post Office Exhibit
Nuns at Progressland
Also, obligatory youtube link to the "Disneyland Goes to the World's Fair" episode of The Wonderful World of Disney.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:02 PM on April 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
And if (as my dad did), you were a stock-holder of one of the exhibitors, you could usually go to the front of the line. Somehow that seems terribly 60s to me.
It still goes on at the Disney parks if you're an employee or stockholder of one of the sponsors. There is usually a private lounge hidden away as well. There are only a few left:
HP Lounge at Mission:Space (EPCOT)
Siemens Lounge at Spaceship Earth (EPCOT)
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:18 PM on April 21, 2015
It still goes on at the Disney parks if you're an employee or stockholder of one of the sponsors. There is usually a private lounge hidden away as well. There are only a few left:
HP Lounge at Mission:Space (EPCOT)
Siemens Lounge at Spaceship Earth (EPCOT)
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:18 PM on April 21, 2015
Though not mentioned in the articles, some of the dinosaurs from Sinclair's Dinoland pavilion are on display at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas.
posted by ubiquity at 12:30 PM on April 21, 2015
posted by ubiquity at 12:30 PM on April 21, 2015
Slightly OT but yesterday I I took my dogs for a walk in Knoxville's World's Fair Park, which still boasts the Sunsphere from the 1982 World's Fair. The park is actually very nice and not at all as it was portrayed in that Simpsons episode when Bart and Milhouse stole a car and drove to the Sunsphere and it was all derelict except for a grubby wig shop. Not that we Knoxvillians are touchy about that episode or anything...
posted by workerant at 12:44 PM on April 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by workerant at 12:44 PM on April 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was there. One of the cool attractions was a vending machine that made a blue plastic model of the Unisphere from scratch (poured melted plastic into a mold, then cooled it) and popped it out for you. The opposite of manufacturing efficiency, but fun nonetheless.
posted by QuietDesperation at 12:47 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by QuietDesperation at 12:47 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Futurama ride is pretty much how I imagine everything in the Culture looks.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:23 PM on April 21, 2015
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:23 PM on April 21, 2015
Also, the stock footage is amazing!
Transportation! Foreigners! Engineering! Casual Sexual Harassment! Boy Scouts! Pointlessly Mechanized Theatrical Seating!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:40 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Transportation! Foreigners! Engineering! Casual Sexual Harassment! Boy Scouts! Pointlessly Mechanized Theatrical Seating!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:40 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
*koto music switches to drummming*
"It's only a short walk from Asia to Africa."
Boy, I did not see that coming!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:49 PM on April 21, 2015
"It's only a short walk from Asia to Africa."
Boy, I did not see that coming!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:49 PM on April 21, 2015
I went to the World's Fair and thought it was v. cool when the Flintstones and Rubbles visited it soon thereafter. Via time machine, as I recall.
Reading that comic was as close as I got to the World's Fair.
It was in a collection that my grandfather (a farmer in Saskatchewan) had kept to entertain the grandkids, so it is a nostalgic memory with multiple dimensions.
posted by rochrobbb at 2:52 PM on April 21, 2015
Reading that comic was as close as I got to the World's Fair.
It was in a collection that my grandfather (a farmer in Saskatchewan) had kept to entertain the grandkids, so it is a nostalgic memory with multiple dimensions.
posted by rochrobbb at 2:52 PM on April 21, 2015
Though not mentioned in the articles, some of the dinosaurs from Sinclair's Dinoland pavilion are on display at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas.
I pass through Glen Rose all the time on the less crazy Hwy 67 to Hwy 281 venture to San Antonio from Dallas. I have seen the signs, but have never thought to stop in, due to dogs in the truck. Next trip, I am going to make a visit. I love Dinosaur and creationist arguments.
posted by Benway at 5:52 PM on April 21, 2015
I pass through Glen Rose all the time on the less crazy Hwy 67 to Hwy 281 venture to San Antonio from Dallas. I have seen the signs, but have never thought to stop in, due to dogs in the truck. Next trip, I am going to make a visit. I love Dinosaur and creationist arguments.
posted by Benway at 5:52 PM on April 21, 2015
Sandra Bernhard had a great recollection of visiting the fair as a child, and her parents' telling her to meet at the Indonesian Pavilion if they got separated:
"Who could remember pavilion, let alone Indonesian?"
posted by chococat at 7:52 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Who could remember pavilion, let alone Indonesian?"
posted by chococat at 7:52 PM on April 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The thing I remember most about the fair was this gizmo that you put a quarter in and you watched it turn some plastic into a souvenir dinosaur.
That and going with my cousins and getting violently ill after eating a hamburger at a Wetson's on the way (Wetson's being the New York equivalent of McDonald's - they had two clowns, Wetty and Sonny).
posted by adamg at 7:55 PM on April 21, 2015
That and going with my cousins and getting violently ill after eating a hamburger at a Wetson's on the way (Wetson's being the New York equivalent of McDonald's - they had two clowns, Wetty and Sonny).
posted by adamg at 7:55 PM on April 21, 2015
Wetty the clown? Are you completely serious? Anyway, this post inspired me to call my mom, since I know she went to this and saw the Beatles sculpted in butter, and was very impressed.
The LA Zoo had those plastic extruder souvenir machines-- they were pretty miraculous even when I went in the late 80's. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same machines.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:47 PM on April 21, 2015
The LA Zoo had those plastic extruder souvenir machines-- they were pretty miraculous even when I went in the late 80's. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same machines.
posted by blnkfrnk at 8:47 PM on April 21, 2015
Thorzdad, I'll actually be at the Milan Expo in July. If any other MeFites want to meet up in Europe, I'm down.
posted by domo at 10:04 AM on April 22, 2015
posted by domo at 10:04 AM on April 22, 2015
A new (4/15/15) post from Gorillas Don't Blog, with more panoramic shots of the 1964 World's Fair, with Shea Stadium and the Long island Expressway for reference.
These have lots of nice views of the Brass Rail inflatable "Moonberry" snack bars.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:10 PM on April 29, 2015
These have lots of nice views of the Brass Rail inflatable "Moonberry" snack bars.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:10 PM on April 29, 2015
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posted by Badgermann at 9:27 AM on April 21, 2015