The Famous Seattle Cosmodrome?

Going through the Donald G. Larson Collection on International Expositions and Fairs, I ran across this great promotional piece for Seattle's 1962 World's Fair. Printed before plans were set, it shows this concept for a "Cosmodrome."

Author Bill Cotter Signing Books in Seattle

World's Fair Podcast guest Bill Cotter will be in Seattle signing copies of his newest book about the 1962 Seattle World's fair.

Here's his schedule:

Thursday, January 27 at 7:00 pm: Barnes & Noble, 2675 NE University Village Street, Seattle, WA 98105

Friday, January 28 from Noon – 2:00 p.m.: Seattle Museum of Mysteries, 623 Broadway E., Seattle, WA 98102

Saturday, January 29 at 2:00 pm: Elliott Bay Books, 1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle WA 98122

Sunday, January 30 at 2:00 p.m.: Borders, 2437 Southcenter Mall, Tukwila WA 98188

Not in Seattle? You can buy his books online at the ExpoMuseum store:
http://ExpoMuseum.com/store/

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 21: Seattle's Century 21 Exposition with Bill Cotter + John's Expo 2010

In episode 21 of the World's Fair Podcast, John and Urso talk with Bill Cotter, author of the new book Seattle's 1962 World's Fair.

John also calls in from Shanghai's Expo 2010 to report on its last week. He meets up with previous guest Peter Sams, director of the Australian Pavilion, for a wrap-up of the largest world's fair in history.

Listen to this podcast as an MP3.

Subscribe to this podcast.

Seattle's 1962 World's Fair on Amazon

Vancouver's Expo 86 on Amazon

Mystery Science Theater 300's version of Century 21 Calling

Listen to other episodes of the World's Fair Podcast.

Visiting Seattle... and Going Back to 1909 and 1962

It's always a great pleasure to visit Seattle. Last weekend, I was in Seattle for a symposium about the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI).

The 1909 A-Y-P isn't well known, particularly outside of Seattle, so it was a great opportunity to learn more about this small world's fair and, in my own mind, fill in the gap between 1904 St. Louis and 1915 San Francisco. The expo was on the site of the University of Washington campus. Not much of the original architecture is left from 1909, but the basic layout of the campus is a legacy of the Olmsted Brothers. The A-Y-P attracted 4 million visitors and claimed to have been the first world's fair to turn a profit. It was the Pacific Northwest's first world's fair. Seattle later hosted the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, Spokane hosted Expo 74, and Vancouver hosted Expo 86.

If you consider Edmonton or Calgary to be in the Pacific Northwest, you could say that Expo 2017 could very well be the fifth expo in that region.

Attendees seem to be attracted to the symposium for a variety of reasons. Some were primarily interested in world's fairs, but I think most were interested in Seattle history, landscape architecture, and the arts and crafts movement. Speaking with some of the attendees that weren't familiar with the whole breadth of world's fair history, some were not aware that they were still held, a situation I've mentioned before in this blog.

I took a few photos at the Museum of History and Industry as well as the University of Washington campus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expomuseum/sets/72157619709861329/

The five speakers and the campus tour were excellent.

Saturday, Leland Roth of the University of Oregon in Eugene spoke about the world's fair that preceded the A-Y-P, covering the era 1851 to 1904. He focused mostly on the architectural aspects of the fairs. Landscape historian David Streatfield spoke about the City Beautiful movement and how the A-Y-P related to that. Brooks Kolb spoke about the Olmsted Brothers, the landscape designers behind the fair.

Sunday's portion of the symposium featured Michael Herschenson, who spoke mostly of the A-Y-P in the context of Seattle, and the University of Washington. Historian Gray Brechin, for me, highlighted the symposium talking about the 1909 A-Y-P in the context of other West Coast fairs and how they reflect the social and political aspirations of their times and locations. Mr. Brechin jokingly said he hoped San Francisco wouldn't get another exposition given that big wars always seem to follow them. Here, I disagree. I'm willing to risk a 2020 World's Fair.

I thought the panel discussion was particularly interesting and it was here that we heard the only mention of world's fairs as a living, continuing medium.

Going back to when I first visiting Seattle when I was 19 and traveling to Vancouver for Expo 86, I make at least one pilgrimage to Seattle Center, the legacy site of the 1962 Century 21 Exposition.

I took photos of the site, naturally:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expomuseum/sets/72157620084208405/

I'm always pleased by the site and how its used by the public.

Everyone knows the Space Needle, of course, and most folks discover the Pacific Science Center, originally the United States Science Exhibit from the 1962 fair. The monorail still runs, even after a few problems a few years ago when they managed to run them into each other. It's always a thrill to ride the monorail, imagining what it was like to ride it 47 years ago.

The Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum are now on the site, as well, with the Alweg Monorail running through it.

With plans to refresh the site in the coming years, I keep thinking some sort of world's fair museum (such as, perhaps, an ExpoMuseum, eh?) would make a great and appropriate addition. I was pleased to discover the Center House (the Food Circus during the fair) had, in one corner, a small World's Fair Gallery, showing images and memorabilia from the Century 21. If anyone knows about who is behind this exhibit, please let me know. I'm hoping it expands beyond its current single exhibit. In the aforementioned Flickr set, I've included photos of the exhibit.

2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Century 21 Exposition and I suspect they'll be far more interest in this anniversary in Seattle. I can't wait to go back for events surrounding that celebration. It will even be worth the trip from Yeosu, Korea, host of Expo 2012!

Seattle's First World's Fair - from KING 5

Seattle's KING 5 television has a segment about the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on their Evening Magazine:

http://www.king5.com/video/eveningmagazine-index.html?nvid=345269

It's a great synopsis of a little-known exposition that has since become overshadowed by the 1962 Century 21 Exposition.

With plans to celebrate the centennial, I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about the A-Y-E in the months to come.

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Centennial

2009 marks the 100th anniversary of Seattle's Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition and plans are already afoot for the new year.

There are two sites info about 2009's plans:
http://www.AYP100.org/ and http://www.AYPE.org/

Random World's Fair News Notes

I've run across several world's fair stories recently.

Various American Cities 1933-1940:

The National Building Museum will host an exhibit entitled "Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s." It opens in October 2009.

New York 1939-1940:

The New York Times has an interesting article about a bomb that killed two city detectives in the British Pavilion. The case remains unsolved.

Seattle 1962:

The monorail from Seattle's 1962 Century 21 Exposition will soon be returned to its original condition.

New York 1964-1965:

I had no idea that pita bread was introduce to the United States at the 1964-'65 New York World's Fair.

Spokane 1974:

The Seattle Times writes about Spokane's Riverfront Park, legacy site of Expo 74.

Man Belongs to the Earth, a film from the United States Pavilion is available on YouTube. It's an early example of environmentalist messaging from the first world's fair with an environmental theme.

Shanghai 2010:

France has set up it's Expo 2010 pavilion web site .

(Unknown) 2020:

Copenhagen might bid for Expo 2020.

The Gotthard Region of Switzerland might also bid for Expo 2020.