Posted February 26th, 2011 at 09:24 AM by chas
WORLD’S FAIR
“Over whose golden roof shall float, beneath thy banner, Freedom.”
--Walt Whitman, poem on the New York Crystal Palace
1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations
“Welcome to the World of Tomorrow.”
--Matt Groening, Futurama
(Series named after an exhibit in the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs)
The third World’s Fair held here in New York City, in 1964-65, was the most stupendous thing I’d ever seen, as a 13 year old. In 1964, living so close to the Flushing Meadow site in my Old Neighborhood of Bayside, Queens, I went 11 times--with family, with friends, with a school trip, and even with my little sister. I remember that last local trip because some good people held the subway door open and encouraged us when I wasn’t sure if I should get out or not at the right stop. Across the way was the huge new Shea Stadium, where my pal Marty G. was one of the first generation of boy hot dog vendors. (He didn’t so...
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