Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
The Space Needle -It happened at the World’s Fair 62 Years Ago!
Not that I would remember!
Regardless, I was fortunate to inherit a stash of mementoes from my mother-in-law, including the original book from the Seattle World’s Fair, which opened 62 years ago today.
The Space Needle has changed a bit over the years, but not much.
We visited recently, after a long hiatus; our last visit was years ago for an anniversary dinner in the revolving restaurant on top.
While we waited in line, we learned some history and saw pictures of the early construction.
We also saw pictures of the revolving restaurant where we dined some twenty years earlier. Too bad they took it out, but some folks said the views were better than the food. I enjoyed both.
We didn’t see Elvis, but he did film a movie here back in the day. Not exactly a classic except perhaps to Seattleites because, ‘It Happened at the World’s Fair.’
We were whisked to the top and enjoyed 360-degree views of Seattle from the Observation Deck, taking care not to get too close to the edge, glass enclosed or not. (Others were bolder, standing on glass benches leaning against glass windows for photo ops. Um, no thanks.)
We took the stairs down to the site of the original restaurant, which was replaced with a small bar and the world’s only glass revolving floor for the brave to walk on.
Surprisingly I was one of them, my husband was not.
Actually, I lasted maybe 30 seconds before deciding it was enough.
Safely back on the ground, we had lunch in the Armory building (old ” Food Circus,”) then walked around, admiring the Space Needle from all angles.
The grounds of the Seattle Center haven’t changed much. The tall spires of the U.S. Science Pavilion still adorn the Pacific Science Center. The old Coliseum is now ‘Climate Pledge Arena” (strange name, don’t you think?) And there are a couple of new museums (Chihuly Glass and Museum of Pop Culture) but I’ve not been to either. Maybe someday.
To me, the star of the show and symbol of the City of Seattle will always be the Space Needle.
Happy Birthday to the Needle!
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Sadly I didn’t get to the Seattle World’s Fair but a friend did and she brought me back a Space needle pin which I still have. Although I have been to Seattle many times as an adult, I have never gone up the Space Needle! Great pictures.
Thank you. I grew up in the sixties so I’m pretty sure we went to the World’s Fair, but I can’t quite remember. We did visit the Seattle Center many times over the years, and occasionally went up in the Space Needle, too, always impressive.
Fun post to read and how nice you have your father’s mementos to remember, Susanne! It’s fascinating to discover how many iconic architectural structures are build for the host city’s Worlds’ Fair. We have a similar structure in Spokane (The Pavilion) which was build in 1974 at the first World’s Fair to focus on the environment. Our state’s got it going on! I’m only 2 years older than the Space Needle and visited there when I was 9. I do need to come back. Great pictures! And yes I would ride on on that glass bottomed elevator 🙂
Thanks, Terri. 🙂 The World’s Fair was pretty cool back in the day, and the Space Needle iconic, indeed! I’ve been up in it many times, but hadn’t for several years, since they put in the glass revolving floor that you can walk on. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it but managed a minute or so! 😉 I remember when Spokane had the World’s Fair, too, but for some reason never crossed the state to go to it. Maybe it was the long drive, and outrageous gas prices in the seventies! 😉
Such an iconic landmark, even never having been to the USA I would know it. I like the look of the bubble elevator from the old ads. If I went there I would definitely stand on the benches and walk on the glass floor.
Best wishes, Pete.
Pete, the Bubblator was cool, even if it only went up two floors!
Yes, I remember riding the Bubblator in the Food Circus, another icon! Too bad they removed it; someone bought it and is using it outside for a greenhouse!
Even 62 years later, it’s still pretty cool and looks great in our skyline. I was disappointed when they took the upper restaurant out, but it was pretty expensive, and people seem to love the revolving glass floor. Maybe next time, I’ll ride the whole loupe around. 🙂
A terrific homage to something we all grew up with in our backyard…so many memories of playing in the fun forest there !
Yes, the Fun Forest! 🙂 It’s too bad they took all those rides out, as the area feels kind of empty now. But the Space Needle is still the star of the Seattle Center, and always worth a visit, and a place to bring out-of-towners! 🙂
A friend brought me a money clip from the Seattle World’s Fair. It had a Morgan dollar on it that I had to use for emergency funds when the US Army put me in Heidelberg. then-West Germany before my pay records caught up with me and I got pay.
As I recall, when I took it to a bank to exchange for Deutsche Marks, I didn’t get the current exchange rate for a dollar, but the price, in DM, for silver that day!
I was delighted to get more than just the dollar exchange rate for the silver dollar and pleased the bank was honest in dealing with me. It was a pleasant introduction to Germany.
What a great story! Thanks for sharing it! 🙂
I think it was five or seven DM instead of less than 1,64DM or whatever the paper dollar exchanged for then.
I’d never heard of a ‘Morgan dollar,’ before so I learned something this morning! Don’t you wish you’d kept it? But at least it met your need at the time and left you with a good story to tell. 🙂
Yes, it would be worth considerably more now than then. My military pay finally came around within the week, but i had to play slot machines in the cafeteria (I think it was…) that paid out nicely to get through the money drought.
I never made it up the ‘Space Needle’ (line was to long) but I have fond memories of the rest of the fair, that ‘Mono Rail’ was a neat ride for a little boy ! Thanks for sharing ‘The Seattle Expo’ 🙂
Yes, the monorail is still in operation, though it’s been many years since I rode on it! Thanks for your comment. 🙂
Too bad we don’t have world’s fairs any more. I went to the NY one in 1966 and never forgot it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_fair
The last one in North America was in Vancouver, BC, in 1986. I went to that one since it was only a couple hours away. Apparently, they’re no longer profitable and don’t attract investors anymore.
Agree. Too bad we don’t have them in this country anymore. They sure were wonderful to visit!
Oops, it was 1964.
Definitely iconic and so futuristic for the time. Being afraid of heights, visiting the Needle was never on my list. 😉
Loved the early brochure shots!
Yes, cutting edge, and the first such tower in this country. Fun to visit, if you can get over the fear of heights!
We visited Seattle in 2013. There was a fair going on around the Space Needle and the lines to go up were so long that we decided to skip it. We did take photos from the ground looking up! It is a lot taller in person than most pictures indicate…
It’s nice to look at even from below. We were fortunate to go this month on a weekday so there weren’t many people in line. The views from above are amazing!
A classic Seattle scene Susanne. Too bad they took the revolving restaurant out. I have no head for heights these days so would probably skip the glass floor, but you can’t beat the views from up there.
I was surprised they took out the revolving restaurant. It was a fun place to go for special occasions.. And the views are great, glass floor or not.
Happy birthday to the Needle 🎁 That old book is a treasure! We loved our visit and your photos transported my right back there. I especially like your zoomed-in shots of the top part – very striking!
Thanks so much, Sarah! It was fun to visit after so many years, and then realize we were nearing the anniversary! 🙂
I was 14 at the time and was most impressed by the monorail. The Space Needle was also impressive.
The monorail was fun to ride, and still runs today, though I haven’t been on it in many years.