This weekend I visited the dilapidated version of the pavilion at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, New York, home of the 1964 World’s Fair (all my other Flushing & fair related posts can be found here).

Technically, all of the fencing and “Do Not Enter” signs currently surrounding the large structure should have kept me out, but it was one of the main reasons why I wanted to visit the fair grounds in the first place.

The pavilion was a colorful hot spot in the days of old (pictures above from jetsetmodern.com, which has tons more old pictures, and a detailed history of the pavilion), but is now falling apart.

It’s now, actually, quite beautiful in all of its misery, and it is the inspiration for lots of photographs (two at left my own, beautiful photo at right from a New York Times photography project).

Creative photographers love it, including Tod Seelie, who took photos of a dinner party inside the pavilion remains. You can read a bit about the party here (and see a gymnast hanging off the unisphere!), and view lots of great of it photographs here.

As for my friend (left) and me (right), we just like to stand around it, and imagine what it was like back in the 60s, before the internet, to see all of the cool things the World’s Fair had to offer. In our imaginations, the World’s Fair was a spectacular event. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s fun to pretend.

We sneaked peeks instead the center of the pavilion, which was locked off.

The pavilion and two observation towers (of Men and Black fame), as seen from the unisphere.

    Other Posts You Might Like:
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  2. Unisphere!
  3. Queens & Flushing this week
  4. Friday Polaroids
  5. Photos of Queens