Seattle World's Fair 1962 picture postcard

Here's a superb collection of picture postcards from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair (the Space Needle fair), depicting a rounded-corner futuristic world that I'd be proud to inhabit. Link (via Paleo Future)

[#1 posted by strider_mt2k , February 21, 2008 4:19 AM]

So much hope.

What happened?

[#2 posted by Xenu , February 21, 2008 6:41 AM]

"When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?"

-- Chuck Palahniuk

[#3 posted by Mikey Likes BoingBoing , February 21, 2008 7:25 AM]

Good questions, #1 and #2.

I noticed one postcard showing the Science Pavilion and Christian Pavilion which contains the main answer:

http://www.alamedainfo.com/1962_Seattle_Worlds_Fair_US_Science_Pavilion.jpg

There they are, side by side, neither one perceived as the "enemy" of the other.

And I have no doubt that 1962 Christian pavilion contained a religiously-based appeal (and a genuine one at that) for world peace and understanding.

America had plenty of problems in the 60's, including the scourge of Vietnam, BUT there was no christian fundamentalism back then of any size or relevance whatsoever.

Today christian fanatacism has gone mainstream and has inflicted great harm on the very fiber of American existence. We live in an era in which fellow American citizens are labeled enemies of the state if we do not accept their christian extremist ideology. And all sorts of off-the-scales corruption and perversions are OK...as long as you accept this same extremist ideology.

And we'd better change that pronto, or we will eventually end up re-confirming Lincoln's ominous warning that a divided house cannot stand.

JMO.

[#4 posted by lou2ser , February 21, 2008 8:20 AM]

Here's some video my Grandfather shot at the fair.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4695007396449291212&hl=en

[#5 posted by CVR , February 21, 2008 10:07 AM]

When did the Expositions/World's Fairs project jump the shark (in North America)? I submit the 1974 Spokane fair because I'd never heard of it, it looks underwhelming in the articles about it online, and by the time the 1982 Knoxville fair rolled around, the United States was clearly bored with the concept.

[#6 posted by proto , February 21, 2008 10:46 AM]

My parents took me to the Seattle World's Fair when it opened. It was an incredible place for a 5-year-old (which I was at the time).

I still remember going up in the Space Needle and, with immense trepidation, walking to the edge of the observation platform. Below were the International Fountains, lit with colored lights timed to brilliant, moving orchestral music. I knew then the world was a fantastic place!

[#7 posted by romulusnr , February 21, 2008 10:47 AM]

#3: The former building is still there and serves as Seattle's science museum. But the latter building... I can't find it. I wonder what happened to it.

#5: Having been to both Seattle's and Spokane's WF sites, Spokane's doesn't seem to have been all that bad, but it didn't quite meet the grandeur that people had come to expect after the ones in New York and even the one in Seattle. Plus, Spokane isn't exactly a major transportation hub.

The 1974 fair was probably sized proportional to the city it was held in, but it couldn't live up to the glamour of previous WF's. One or the other is the problem: the grandiose WFs favored large cities (with lots of spare land); or too many small cities wanted to be cool too and have fairs.

I don't expect we'll ever see a WF in America again. I expect future WFs (if any) will be in Southeast Asia. North America doesn't hardly have any industry or technology innovation left. Though maybe Paul Allen could hold one here focusing on our wonderful future in health-enhancing genotyping, cheap work-bearing/uber-nutritional chimeras, and designer bacteria.

[#8 posted by skrewgun , February 21, 2008 1:24 PM]

I am sitting at my desk in the US Science Pavilion as I am typing this(now known as the Pacific Science Center). It all looks pretty much the same outside as it did back then. We find cards and pamphlets and artwork in the tunnels beneath the buildings from the worlds fair all the time. Some people use some of the original Eames chairs from the fair as well.

Thankfully the Christian Pavilion is no longer there. It is now a children's theater.

The Space Needle used to be orange? WTF?

[#9 posted by Alan Stein , February 22, 2008 12:43 AM]

A few years back, I created a whimsical tour of the Century 21 fairgrounds for HistoryLink.org, using quite a few postcards as illustrations.

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7042

[#10 posted by horsewise , August 27, 2008 11:56 PM]

I was 13 when we attended the Fair. We lived in Nebraska & tent camped our way to see the fair & visit relatives living in Auburn, Wa.

I was born in Seattle & this was my first trip back to my birthplace. I have been back several times since. We always go to the Fairgrounds & take the ride up the Space Needle.

WOW...was I ever in AWE. I recall several of the exhibits, the phone where you could see WHO you were talking to was my fav. This was also my first time to a BIG CITY....THAT alone impressed me.

I have the medallion & also the Space Needle pen & maybe some of the postcards....someplace LOL.

LOVED the scones, had a great time riding the monorail & rides on the Space Needle was quite the thing for me. The fair seemed SOoooooo BIG to me.

Feel free to Email me; [e-mail]

[#11 posted by Anonymous , December 24, 2008 5:15 PM]

I am just reading some of the comments here and I can say that I deeply agree with many of the sentiments. As a young boy, I was amazed at Disney's Tomorrow Land (a kind of permanent World's Fair of Tomorrow not far from where I live); The Rocket to the Moon (and then later, Mars), The Monorail, The People Mover, The Carousel of Progress, Space Mountain, and one of my favorites...Monsanto's House of the Future, and more. All of which gave me a vision of a future that was worth believing in, working for and, most important; hoping for. All of a sudden its the eighties...serious gang problems, schools with kids that can barely read, crime on the increase, TV evangelists and their insane greed and hatred for anything they believe is not "truth," half the population looks like a bunch of mindless overweight followers, "cop killer" rap music teaching our kids to hate decent authority, TV is disgusting, porno rented to anyone in any video store in the neighborhood, houses and interest rates that no one can afford, terrorists attacks, people more concerned about some damn worthless so-called "celebrity" and the sick events of their private lives, then building a future, etc. I agree...what the hell happened? What happened to a bright future, maybe one envisioned by Disney like EPCOT (the real EPCOT city, Epcot, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, not just the theme park), just what happened?

I hope we can re-establish the dreams and hopes of a future world worth building. re-establish important priorities.