Remnants of the New York World's Fair Part 2

I've written about Flushing-Meadows Corona Park and the remnants of the World's Fairs before (I first went in January of 2013 and then again in January of this year), but the more I visit and the more I read about the fairs the more obsessed I become. Lucky for me this year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the 1964 World's Fair so there's been even more to see and read about than usual.

Last Tuesday was the anniversary of opening day and they decided to allow people into the New York State Pavilion for the first time in years. I actually had the day off because it was the last day of Passover, but I was flying back from Texas in the morning so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it. I dropped my luggage off at my apartment and headed right back out to Queens, but by the time I got there they had stopped handing out tickets and had closed the line. I later read that more than 2,500 people showed up to see the Pavilion and the wait ended up being hours and hours long.

I was initially bummed that I wasn't able to get in, but it looks like they were only letting people step in a few feet and I don't think there's really much left of the terrazzo New York State floor map after all of these years. You can see inside of the Pavilion just by peaking through the gates and if you look hard enough you can even see the old elevators that used to be hanging from the observation towers — they're just laying in a heap on the ground, rotting away like much of the rest of the Pavilion.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the park and discovering remnants of the fairs that I somehow managed either not to notice or hadn't known existed during my previous visits to the park. There are the art deco-style water fountains and the spacey/curvy benches, futuristic sculptures and granite markers for the pathways with awesome names like the "Avenue of Science," "Court of the President" and "Eisenhower Promenade."

I will never get tired of just walking around the park and soaking up the history and it was especially nice to be there on the anniversary of opening day. The blooming trees provided a gorgeous backdrop to the always-impressive Unisphere, although I was disappointed that the fountains weren't turned on — could there be a better reason to have them on than the 50th anniversary?

On May 18th there will be an actual World's Fair Anniversary Celebration in the park which has been on my calendar from the moment it was announced. I can't wait to eat a Belgian waffle in the same spot in which they were first introduced, and if I squint hard enough (or they finally turn on the Unisphere fountains) I might actually be able to convince myself that I'm back in 1964, if only for the day.