Looking Back at the Future: Photographing Vintage Leftovers of New York’s World’s Fairs

Walk back in time to New York’s World’s Fairs to ride the Parachute Jump or eat a Bel-Gem Waffle. Celebrate the 60th and 85th Anniversaries of two popular World’s Fairs designed by elite architects and artists whose larger than life displays promised a future of joy and peace. Organizers decided both fairs were failures but for ninety-six-million visitors they were unforgettable triumphs. Ten-year-old Gloria was a frequent visitor to the 1964-1965 Fair. Fifty-years later she returned to Flushing Meadows Corona Park where she was inspired to photograph and write this pictorial book. The day after the fairs closed most pavilions were demolished. This book is about a few leftover relics in the park, and some that relocated around the country. Sixty remnants are in the book, photographed in glorious color and accompanied by historic text with personal remembrances. There is a comprehensive list of addresses for all known remnants, and a map showing two suggested walking tours in the park to view leftovers from both fairs. For World’s Fair mastermind Robert Moses this park was the prize, yet for millions of fans of all ages, it is the fairs that live on in their hearts and minds. Contemporary America no longer needs to hold World’s Fairs, compelling all of us to preserve the historic legacy of World’s Fairs’ and joyful memories of ninety-six-million visitors who traveled from all over the world to Queens for a glimpse of the future.