Art/Architecture

City's arts history began
a new chapter in 1962
When President Eisenhower pushed the button to signal the countdown to the first World's Fair in the U.S. since World War II, the spotlight hit Seattle. Art had little to do with it, and yet art was the big winner.

Century 21 remnants
found new homes
Recycling wasn't a lifestyle, or even much of a vocabulary word in 1962 Seattle. That was the year the city hosted a world's fair featuring futuristic buildings, cars, transportation systems and scenarios of what life might be like in century 21 -- the theme and title of the exposition. Recycling, in fact, wasn't even on the agenda.

Built to last: Many Century 21
structures assumed public duties
To get a glimpse of how magical Seattle Center appeared when it opened on April 21, 1962, as the Century 21 Exposition, rent the movie "It Happened at the World's Fair."

History

Recalling the time of their lives
The 1962 Seattle World's Fair was more than just a fair. For many who visited the fair site, it was a deeply personal, sometimes even life-changing experience.

The future isn't what they
thought it would be back in 1962
How people managed to live like this is beyond us. Back in 1962 -- the year Seattle played host to the World's Fair -- humans were clearly primitive creatures who knew nothing of the wonders of the Internet or, for that matter, the wonders of the Post-It note (which wasn't invented until 1974).

Space Needle work a high
point in welder's career
In 1961, Harold Kresge ascended the Space Needle in a crane, welding massive steel beams 500 feet off the ground. On the 40th anniversary of the World's Fair, Kresge still marvels at the symbol of Seattle.
>> Seattle Opera House time capsule opened

Pop Culture

Value of Seattle World's Fair memorabilia is in the heart
Nothing evokes the future like a piece of the past. Ask any 21st-century collector of memorabilia from Century 21 -- the fair that envisioned a sleek new tomorrowland inspired by science and human ingenuity.
>> Elvis! At the Seattle World's Fair

Commentary

World's fairs are a dying breed
Bill Virgin: World's fairs are fun. But to be honest about it, world's fairs are also not very good at what they do -- which may be why ... no one is clamoring very loudly, at least in this country, to hold another.
>> Joel Connelly: Century 21 introduced Seattle to its future