Riding off into the weekend: '64-65 World's Fair

Ground Zero for World's Fair buffs is probably the New York '39 fair, as one that most worked its way into the culture of the day and at the same time transcended that culture with its mix of modernism and hope on the eve of war. From the beginning of the era of big exhibitions, starting with the Crystal Palace in London in 1851, fairs were a really big deal, most of them doing their best to outdo the previous one. The creation of landmark objects became very important: the Eiffel Tower (originally 1889 Paris), the Ferris wheel (originally 1893 Chicago), the Atomium (1958 Belgium), the Trylon and Perisphere and the Unisphere (New York, 1939 and 64-5). Countries exhibited their wares, the world was made smaller, and ideas for future progress were presented.

There were a lot of fairs and expositions from the Crystal Palace on, but then they sort of petered out. For one thing, the need for international exchange wasn't what it used to be, and countries simply didn't want to spend the money in this sort of demonstration. Secondly, guessing the future is progressively more and more of a mug's game, and most people are flummoxed just guessing about the features of the next iPhone. They still have fairs and expositions, used mostly for the host countries to get support to build some much needed new infrastructure, and for developing countries to drum up business. They aren't the world destination they used to be.

New York '64-65 was one of the last of the really big ones (although it wasn't officially sanctioned by the governing body, as if promoter Robert Moses would care about that). The author of our little ride into the weekend today sums it up well: it came to town the same year as the Beatles, so for folks of a certain age, it was a game-changer. For me, it was less than an hour away via public transportation. I won't say I lived there, but I visited as often as I could.

So, return with us now to that golden couple of years: Promises Made: The 1964-65 World’s Fair

Oh, yeah. Did we mention that this particular World's Fair brought us this?