A history
of looking forward
Seattle
Center
Paul Thiry, an architectural modernist, designed the Washington State Pavilion - now KeyArena - for the 1962 World's Fair. After the fair, it was remodeled as the Coliseum. In 1986, it was the site of the only NBA game ever canceled on account of rain, when water leaked from the roof during a storm and puddled on the court as the Seattle SuperSonics played the Phoenix Suns.
KeyArena
World's Fair, 1962. Seattle Times archive.
Photo credit: Charles Phoenix
The World's Fair "Bubbleator" lifted visitors to the World of Tomorrow in the Washington State Coliseum - now KeyArena. After the fair, the "space-age" elevator was moved to the Food Circus (now the Armory), where it was in use until 1980. It sat in storage until Gene Achiziger bought it and installed it in his yard in Des Moines, where it was used as a greenhouse.
Today it's MoPop, but once upon a time, it was the Fun Forest, where the iconic "Flight to Mars" ride left a lasting impression on a generation or two, including Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, who used the name for his solo band. Today, the fanciful lines of the MoPop building evoke that playful, futuristic legacy.
The United States Science Pavilion – known today as Seattle’s Pacific Science Center – was built for the World’s Fair. It was intended to double as a warehouse for the General Services administration and later be torn down. But it was not, and the open, “space gothic” arches have come to be one of Seattle’s iconic sights.
The Seattle Center Monorail was built for the 1962 World's Fair. Eight million people rode the monorail during the six months the fair was open. Today, monorail trains carry about two million passengers each year.
Photo taken April 21, 1962. Seattle Times archive.
Seattle Times archives
On April 19, 1962 three German high-wire aerialists of the Circus Berlin's Zugspitz ladder act thrilled World's Fair workers by trying out their act on a steel cable they had strung between the roof of the Memorial Stadium and a point 376 feet high on the Space Needle. Siegfried Cimarro drove a motorcycle with specially grooved wheels on the cable, to a 300-foot height while Rudi Berg and Peter Czaya rode on a steel-pipe stabilizing.
Water skiing at Memorial Stadium? Yes! During the 1962 World's Fair, Tommy Bartlett's International Water Ski Stars performed four shows a day in an "aquadome" at Memorial Stadium that held nearly a million gallons of water.
Photo taken April 21, 1962. Seattle Times archive.
KEY ARENA
FUN FOREST
Armory Building
FUN FOREST
SCIENCE CENTER
MONORAIL
SPACE NEEDLE
MEMORIAL STADIUM
ARMORY
MONORAIL
SPACE NEEDLE
MEMORIAL
STADIUM
SCIENCE
CENTER
On Dec. 4. 2018, the NHL gave Seattle the green light for an expansion franchise. They will become the league’s 32nd team in 2021.
NHL Seattle hockey arena rendering.
iStock
World's Fair, 1962. Seattle Times archive.
The Bubbleator at the Food Circus in 1963. Seattle Times archive.
Seattle Times archives
The doughnut-shaped Eye of the Needle Restaurant turntable, 94.5 feet in diameter, was spread out on a parking lot outside Western Gear Corp.'s Everett plant on November 6, 1961. A single one-horsepower motor powered the turntable through a complete circle once every hour. This year, that turntable was replaced with the world's only revolving glass floor, powered by 12 motors.