See you
in Seattle
See you at the Fair
As the Seattle World's Fair prepares to mark its 60th
anniversary, meet some of the people who helped make it happen.
It was a major milestone in the city's history.
After six decades, the monorail has moved millions.
See what it takes to keep it running. Our engineers spend a lot of time
looking at tires and making sure that tire pressure is correct.
Please step to the rear of the sphere
This attraction wasn't fast or flashy, but it was beloved by fairgoers.
See what happened to the Bubbleator
Welcome to the Bubbleator.
These stories and more....
next on CityStream.
Hello.
I'm Mona Lee Locke.
City Stream celebrates a special anniversary of the Seattle World's Fair
from the Space Needle.
It's iconic,
instantly recognizable and newly renovated.
Nothing, says Seattle, like the Space Needle.
Soon, this towering landmark and the entire Seattle Center
will turn 60 years old.
Meet me in Seattle at the Fair...
The 1962 World's Fair and its look to the future in Century 21
transformed 27 blocks of the city, attracted 10 million visitors
and showcased Seattle like never before
in Seattle.... at the Fair.
So how and why did the city's biggest celebration
come together in the first place?
Feliks Banel got the back story from some of the people who made it
all happen.
People came to Seattle by the millions that year.
Regular folks and celebrities like Elvis Presley.
The 1962 Fair was an event, and a civic accomplishment
whose impact simply can't be overstated.
You haven't seen anything yet. The international festival had its roots
way back in 1909 on the UW campus,
and for this, we can thank Junius Rochester's dad.
My father was 14 when the AYP came to Seattle.
He saw it as a grand opportunity, as all young kids did,
but he ended up with the job there.
The AYP, Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition made such an impact
on Al Rochester when he was on the city council in the 1950s
he thought it was time for a new fair in 1959
to celebrate 50 years since that 1909 fair.
The idea was to celebrate the AYP, the Alaska Pacific Exposition,
because it was a major milestone in the city's history.
The idea caught on in a city that was basking in the glow of Boeing,
becoming dominant in jet travel, and a world that was changing fast
and looking ahead optimistically to the 21st century.
Under Exposition President
Joe Gandy Century 21 audaciously bid
for approval in Paris by the Bureau of International Expositions.
Joe Gandy, an attorney who owned a Ford dealership,
and Eddie Carlson, who ran what became Westin hotels,
led the effort to raise money and build the fairgrounds.
The Fair Committee met every Monday morning at the old Olympic Hotel.
Louis Larson went to a lot of those meetings.
He'd been hired to recruit big companies from around the U.S.
to buy exhibit space at the fair.
In those days, Seattle wasn't exactly a household name.
The vice president of International Harvester,
after I made my presentation, kind of scratched his head and he says,
No, let's see, is it Seattle-y
or Spokane that's on the ocean?
So, I had a little geography lesson.
Louis Larson hit the road,
selling the fair and selling Seattle to industrial America.
One day
I had breakfast with the Brunswick people in Chicago.
I had lunch with the Studebaker people in South Bend, Indiana,
and I had dinner in Wisconsin with the Allis Chalmers company.
And big companies signed up like Ford and General Motors.
And Al Rochester's original idea for a Seattle fair in 1959 reached
even greater heights, went into orbit, you might say.
And, well, the date slid a bit, too.
Because science had risen as a major factor
in everybody's life, beginning with Sputnik, by the way, in Russia.
The Seattle World's Fair was changed to a science fair.
The world today is made, is powered,
is penetrated through and through with science.
The emphasis then was on technical and scientific advances.
With millions of dollars in federal support. The U.S.
science exhibit took shape, old buildings were spruced up,
and other new things were built, including the Space Needle,
the symbol of the fair that has since become synonymous
with Seattle, and the Washington State Pavilion.
Nowadays known as Climate Pledge Arena.
♪ See you in Seattle.
See you at the fair. ♪
The fair opened on April 21st, 1962.
Some naysayers had dismissed the whole operation as the Mercer Street Carnival,
but it was so much more than junk food and rides.
Though the monorail, which still connects downtown with the fairgrounds,
is actually a pretty fun ride too.
Yeah, well, we thought about it as a carnival ride,
but I don't think anyone thinks about it that way anymore.
Dave Hughbanks joined the staff as the fair was getting underway.
Well, there's a lot to do,
and we were here, I swear 16, 17,
20 hours a day, and enjoying every bit of it.
We put on events by the hour almost, that were free to the public,
and it was amazing how many people throughout the city wanted to help us.
Golly, I don't know where to begin.
Make a choice.
Oh, and Elvis was at the fair, too.
Albert Fisher was in charge of media, so his job was to babysit
the king of rock and roll, who was here to make a movie.
It was quite an adventure being with him, and it afforded me
some time to be able to get to know him personally,
and we struck up a really nice friendship during that time at the fair.
But I had no perceived idea
of what kind of a person Elvis Presley would be.
He really surprised me.
He was a gentleman.
Jim Burns got a job as a security guard at the fair.
He protected Elvis and even got to be in the King's World's Fair movie.
I got to know him fairly well because I got assigned to him
when he was here making the movie,
and I have a little part in the movie.
That's Jim there, falling into the fountain at the Science Center.
The Fair closed on October 21st, 1962.
By all measures, it was a big success.
I think whether the people realized it or not,
it was pretty close to perfect.
And once Elvis and about 10 million other people had left the Space Needle
and other buildings of the World's Fair, the fairgrounds converted nicely
into Seattle Center, which is still a beloved civic treasure
60 years later.
The Seattle Channel will livestream
a special anniversary event later this month from the Space Needle.
So stay tuned.
Also, various organizations and venues at Seattle
Center will be marking the 60th anniversary of the fair.
To find out more, check out their website at
SeattleCenter.com.
Next on City Street.
See who opened the fair to the world.
Let the fair begin.
And this popular ride no longer lives at Seattle Center,
but is still giving fairgoers a thrill.
See you at the fair in Seattle
in the summer of 62.
April 21st, 1962, was like any other day,
unless you lived in Seattle.
I'm honored to open the Seattle World Fair today.
From South Florida, President John F Kennedy pressed a gold telegraph key
and with that, the fair was underway.
By closing this key,
may we open not only a great World's Fair,
may we open an era of peace and understanding among all mankind.
Let the fair begin.
The anxious crowd
streamed in, excited to take a glimpse into the future.
And for the next six months, Seattle hosted the world.
Organizers faced
a tremendous challenge moving the masses around town.
One of the star attractions at the World's Fair was also extremely functional.
The monorail transported 8 million guests during the fair six month run.
60 years later, it's still going strong.
Producer Randy Eng shows what it takes to keep the monorail moving.
It definitely has challenges
to maintain a legacy system.
These trains are 60 years old.
Each train has over a million miles on it.
1,365,048 miles.
So they've traveled a long way.
They've carried millions and millions of people.
Every day our technicians work through this checklist,
just making sure that the train is safe and ready to go.
And then they do more thorough inspections of different components of the train
based on the frequencies that are outlined in our maintenance plan.
Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually
to make sure that the train is safe for operation.
We have 64 tires on each train.
What's visible right now is the guide tires, which run
along the side of the beam.
And then beyond that,
you'll see on the top side of the beam there are two large load tires.
They right on the top of the beam, just like a car drives on the road.
Our engineers spent a lot of time looking at tires and making sure that
tire pressure is correct.
So right over here, we're looking at the package.
So this is like the equivalent of the transmission to your vehicle,
just like your maybe manual vehicle has different gears.
Our train has different gears or different points, as we call them.
So we operate in first point and then you go a little faster
and you go in a second point and then you go in a third point.
A lot of the design
intent from 1962 is still absolutely reflected here,
but some of the components like the package have been upgraded over time,
especially as new technology becomes available.
These are the original trains, absolutely...
Granted, you know,
seat cushions have been replaced and, you know, things get replaced over time.
But these are the original trains.
They have never been taken off of the guideeways.
At Seattle Monorail Services,
we have about 30 employees that work here and
our folks come from all over the country, all over the world, honestly.
We have folks that have come from Ethiopia, from Sudan,
from the Philippines, as well as people
local like me that grew up here.
It's a family feeling.
Funny.
This is my husband talking.
It's a family affair.
There's kind of a saying, we don't work at the monorail.
We work for the monorail.
And I think our staff has really embraced that.
We recognize that it takes a lot of hard work to keep the system running.
And we're just so proud that the system is celebrating 60 years.
It's a huge milestone for the system, and we're excited to see it continue to run.
Organizers faced a
tremendous challenge moving the masses around the fair.
The Sky Ride was a popular people mover that gave visitors a bird's eye view.
And just like a monorail. It's still operating.
But as producer Pete Cassam explains, the old
Sky Ride is now doing the Puyallup.
This ride is well this year, 60 years old.
There have been wedding
proposals made in this ride.
There have been older folks
renewing their love of the.
This is a Von Roll.
It was a Swiss company originally and Von Roll
was known for making just the best gondolas.
I'm Kent Hojem,
I'm the CEO of the Washington State Fair and we are standing
at the south end terminal of the Sky Ride here on the fairgrounds.
This ride is approximately 1600 feet.
The north terminal is
just past the north end of the wooden roller coaster,
so it's almost diagonally going across
the entire fairgrounds.
In 1962, this Von Roll gondola
was set up at the World's Fair at the Seattle Center.
It operated there for the next basically 18 years.
The center was looking at doing some renovations
and decided that they wanted to remove this ride
as far as the quality of the ride and how long it would last.
That was a given.
It was going to be a ride that was going to be around for a long time.
So they did purchase it.
There were three partners originally the carnival, Corky Erickson,
who was the man who had set it up in Seattle, who helped to set it up here
and the fair.
And so those three partners went about setting this ride
back up here on the fairgrounds where it would live till this day.
Fairs are
by their very nature, this combination of though everything
new and wonderful tradition.
What it could be more traditional than a ride from this
from the Seattle World's Fair 60 years ago.
Still here.
There's so many memories.
You know, people want to ride it because they remember
going on it with their parents or their grandparents.
I am living proof that this ride was at the 1962 World's Fair
because I was at the 1962 World's Fair.
My memories of it are a little bit fuzzy
because in 1962 I was five years old.
I am living proof the ride did exist in Seattle
and it was thrilling, of course, as a kid to be able to sit here and go
just flying above the rest of the crowd to see the fairgrounds from above.
It did go over the top of people and the people that wave up on you way down.
It is truly a generation spanning experience
to ride this thing.
It saves people's feet.
It gives them an exciting view of what the world is like.
And on top of that,... oops! Pardon me!
City Stream returns from the Space Needle,
an engineering marvel that went up in just over a year.
Taking a look at the numbers, the space Needle stands 605
feet from the ground level to the top of its aircraft Warning Beacon.
Its legs are anchored four stories beneath the surface.
A 5600 tons of concrete were used to build this massive foundation.
74,000 bolts hold it together.
And the total cost to build the Space Needle 60 years ago,
just $4.5 million dollars.
Residents all around town watched with anticipation as the needle took shape.
3700 tons of steel were used to create the structure.
Ironworkers and steel workers had a tight deadline and worked 24 - seven.
Much of the time, balancing hundreds of feet up with no security harnesses.
After 400 days, the Space Needle was complete.
Joining us now is Randy Cote
Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Space Needle.
Thanks for being with us.
Of course.
So we recently just talked about the original construction of Space Needle.
Tell me a little bit about the changes.
Absolutely. We call it the Century Project.
So we're standing on part of it now.
We call this the loop.
It's the world's first and only revolving glass floor.
We added 176 tons of glass to the Space Needle, during the renovation.
Wow.
So when a
when someone comes to visit the Space Needle, what are they going to experience?
Yeah, they're going to see two levels of the view.
So with that glass we added,
it's about 30% more to see of Seattle than you could before.
So outside on the outdoor deck, you feel like you're floating over Seattle.
And of course, down here on the glass floor, you can see the Space Needle down
below the city out, and you get to slowly rotate around and see everything.
Yeah.
Having been in Seattle a long time,
I mean, this new Space Needle is very different from the old one.
Lots of glass.
Now, tell me a little bit more about these sky riser benches up on top.
Yeah.
So on the outdoor deck, there's 48 of these one ton glass panels
that tilt over the view.
And in between each of those is one of these sky riser benches.
When you sit on it,
you actually slide back and you're kind of hanging over Seattle.
It's pretty freaky people.
We thought before starting the renovation, people would be more thrilled
by the glass floor, but the skyways are benches
and that tilting glass really gets people when they visit.
So you're saying it's safe for families to come?
They're going to be safe, of course, yes.
So like the glass floor we're standing
on, for example, one square inch can hold 1500 pounds.
So it's a very strong glass.
It's as strong as concrete, basically.
And you talked about the floor sensory.
This is quite something.
Originally, you could only see it if you were dining in the restaurant here.
Correct.
So this level that we're on was the world's
first freestanding revolving restaurant when we opened in 1962.
And so now, since 2018, we've had the world's first rotating glass floor,
and now all of our guests get to come see it.
So we start your visit up top.
You come down and finish here with this revolving glass floor experience.
Some folks
come to this level to visit the Loop Lounge, our new cocktail experience.
So something for everyone down here on the glass floor.
And when you renovated, you reopened Space
Needle in 2018, August of 2018 and then COVID hit.
Yeah.
So what has what is the journey been like back?
Yeah.
So, right, 2019 was our first full year of operations before the pandemic hit.
So we closed for four months, reopened in July of 2020.
And it's kind of been a reopening of sorts, right?
People are getting a chance to come out, see it for the first time.
The Loop Lounge is a new experience since we reopened since COVID.
So yeah, it is kind of another fresh start coming off of an already
sort of refreshment in that renovation from August of 2018.
And you were mentioning that you're starting to shoot
a couple other shows, too, right? Yeah.
You know, the space obviously is very famous.
It's the symbol of Seattle.
And folks from all over the world want to come shoot film and TV and movies here.
So we started to see that pick up, too.
It's a good sign Seattle is going to be seen worldwide as it normally is.
Anything interesting in there you want to like reveal?
Not that I can say no.
I wish I could drop a hint or two, but you'll just have to stay tuned
and find out.
So with the renovation of the new Space Needle, if you were going to summarize
the experience here, what would it be?
I'd probably say thrilling on every level.
There's two levels of views and the thrills that we see.
You know, the old experience wasn't something that was sort
of thrilling or daring.
It was the view and now it's the view.
Plus, you know, getting your mom to come out and walk on a glass floor,
getting your sibling to lean on that glass.
It's that thrill experience that we didn't have before,
and that's what people really look forward to.
Randy Cote
Director of Marketing and Business Development here
at the Space Needle, thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks for having us. And happy 60th anniversary.
Happy 60th anniversary
Next to the Space Needle and the monorail.
This ride had many, many fans.
So whatever happened to the bubbleater?
Come on, get ready cause...
We're going steady to Seattle, Washington.
Of all the World Fair's attractions,
the Space Needle will always stand out.
Yes, the monorail is showing its age,
but back in its prime, it was sleek and stylish.
Another popular attraction has neither of those.
But when you say Bubbleater,
it brings a smile and lifts the spirits of those who remember it.
So what happened to the much loved elevator?
Feliks Banel knows.
It sometimes gets a little weird,
you know, when the people are zeroing in on your house.
You think by now Gene Achziger would be used to all the attention.
A lot of people were kind of dumbstruck.
When they come, all answer the door
and they're unable to express what they're here for.
They're sitting there.
Maybe what they're trying to say is...
please step to the rear of the sphere.
How's that?
Please step to the rear
of the sphere.
Please step to the rear of the sphere.
Those eight immortal words
were first uttered in 1962 to guide passengers aboard the Bubbleator.
One of the signature attractions at the Seattle World's Fair.
You better skee-daddle to Seattle for the fair.
Just ask Louis Larson.
He was there on the ground floor.
Yeah, it looked like a mess.
The mess was the massive construction that transformed the sleepy part of Lower
Queen Anne into the world of Century 21.
Louis Larson is the last surviving senior staff
member of the spectacle that changed Seattle and Louis Larson forever.
Every day it was exciting.
I mean, every day was like New Year's Eve.
It was an experience that very, very few people would ever have in a lifetime.
I met a lot of great people that had an enjoyable time, wasn't it?
I didn't want to go to work.
10 million people visited the futuristic fair from April to October 1962.
The theme was Century 21.
Imagine if you can, an electronic brain operating a millionth of a second speed.
And while the
monorail and Space Needle remain visible as tangible reminders of what
the future looked like 60 years ago, the Bubbleater has moved on.
Bubbleater was very popular.
It was unique.
I think that was the whole thing.
But that was in the Washington State pavilion, which was the Climate
Pledge Arena coming up.
What exactly was the Bubbleater?
Just a common everyday elevator?
It is a bubble shaped elevator that was in the Washington
State Coliseum, which we now know as Climate Pledge Arena.
And it was a bubble shaped elevator that people would go into
and they would go to a second floor to experience a futuristic exhibit.
Clara Berg is curator of collections in MOHAI, Seattle's Museum of History
and Industry.
Home since 2005 to the Bubbleater operators chair.
So we were able to purchase it with some help from the community
and have it come to Mill High and it had a few modifications.
There was some orange shag carpet on it and there things that have been added.
So we tried to kind of take it back to its place as we think
it was from the time after the fair.
The Bubbleater was moved across the fairgrounds to what's now called
the Armory, where it was used for nearly 20 years as well.
A common everyday elevator.
In 1980, as part of a renovation project, the Bubbleater went away.
Which brings us back to where we started.
Please step up to the rear of thE sphere.
Please step to the rear of the sphere.
Exactly. I believe that's what they call a meme.
In 1983, Gene was working for the old Seattle P-I newspaper.
Legendary local journalist and future Seattle City Councilmember Jean Godden
sent him on a reconnaissance
mission to meet a man at a warehouse on the north side of Lake Union.
The Bubbleater was in a heap. Literally.
I mean, it was just plexiglass and aluminum strewn all over the floor.
Yeah, it looked like a mess.
And he turned to me and he said, Do you want it?
You know, if you if you want it, make me an offer.
I made him an offer.
And he said, he says, Nah, I can't let it go for that.
Two days later, I get a phone call
back from him and he said, Double your offer and get it out of here.
So I ended up with a Bubbleater and it cost me $1,000.
I was in the process of planning a house.
You know, it was such a unique shape and it was a historical artifact.
I thought it would make a great greenhouse.
Yes, that's a wonderful idea.
Welcome to the Bubbleater.
It's been cleaned out now, but this was a green house,
and hopefully soon it will be hosting a lot of plants again.
Why do people still seek out the Bubbleater
decades after it left town? It wasn't a common everyday elevator.
People fell in love with it.
And it also, I think, was of the size that people could wrap their arms
around the idea of, you know, this is something that's not too large.
We look at the Space Needle and everything here.
You're not going to be able to embrace the Space Needle
the way you can, something smaller like that.
As for the future of the Bubbleater , Gene Achziger says that not too long
ago, Seattle Center officials asked him to consider donating it back.
The main idea would be is to, you know, simply be able to preserve it,
but also take care of the fact that it is going to leave a large hole in the house.
But if that large hole at Gene's house could be fixed, it does open up
at least one intriguing possibility at Seattle Center.
Do you think they should bring the Bubbleater back?
I hope not.
I think what they're doing is fantastic.
There's only room for 100.
Or should I just do it without the only room?
Okay.
Step to the rear of the sphere.
Please go out.
Please step to the rear of the sphere.
There'll be a fancy Fair at the Seattle World's Fair.
In the summer of '62
Bring lots of money... in the suummer of '62.
Since the Bubbleater is on private property.
Visiting the operator chair
MOHAI is the best way to learn about this nostalgic artifact from the fair.
We'll be right back.
Future is there for us, we'll take a peek
and see a glimpse of the next century
or revealing space age mystery.
That wraps up this special episode of City Stream from the Space Needle.
The 60th anniversary of the Seattle World's Fair is just days away.
To learn how the Seattle Center plans to celebrate, go to Seattle center dot com.
I'm Mona Lee Locke. Thank you for watching.
Pack up your troubles...
for six wonderful months! Pack up your family
and head for the Fair.
It's the big, thrilling adventure of a lifetime.
Opening April 21st to October 21st
in Seattle.