1962 Seattle Fun In 2020 With Spencer Jack & Jason

Email arrived Sunday night from Spencer Jack and his paternal parental unit, my Favorite Nephew Jason.

The only text in the email was the subject line of...

"1962 Fun in 2020"

1962 was the year Elvis came to Washington to the Seattle World's Fair. If I remember correctly President Kennedy pushed a button in Washington, D.C. which somehow opened the big event in the west coast version of Washington.

I do not remember if President Kennedy and Jackie got around to visiting the Seattle World's Fair. I do remember that, towards the end of the World's Fair, JFK was preoccupied with this thing which came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Seattle World's Fair dated its origins in the 1950s when the idea was floated of having a 50th anniversary of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, which if memory serves took place in the location of what is now the University of Washington.

By the late 1950s the Space Race was underway with the Soviet Union. Boeing had become part of that race, and Boeing was based in Seattle, which was why Seattle had become known as an aerospace city.

So, something themed to the future was decided needed to be the theme for the Seattle World's Fair, and so, as such, the Seattle Century 21 Exposition was born.

Two of Seattle's movers and shakers, Victor Steinbrueck and John Graham, Jr., who helped bring the Seattle World's Fair to fruition, were discussing the Century 21 World of Tomorrow theme whilst in a Seattle restaurant waiting for the waiter to bring them dinner. One of the pair began to sketch, on a napkin, what he thought might be a good idea for the World Fair's centerpiece. And thus the Space Needle was born.

Seattle actualized the 1962 Century 21 Seattle World's Fair in a very short time frame. It became one of the few such fairs ever to be financially successful.

I think it is having this type thing in my personal memory bank why I am so astounded by how another town in America, Fort Worth, can't seem to get anything done in a timely fashion. What are we in now, year seven, of trying to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island? 

Years of puzzling over what was wrong with Fort Worth which rendered it so backwards compared to other American cities, like even its neighbor Dallas, I sort of figured out the town's problems come from being run by what is known as the Fort Worth Way. And thus the town lacks visionary leaders like the aforementioned Victor Steinbrueck and John Graham, Jr. and instead has leaders like Betsy Price and Kay Granger, and others, and so the town ends up with ridiculous embarrassments like the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, Santa Fe Rail Market, streets without sidewalks, parks without modern facilities, and other embarrassments.

I do not remember how the funding for the Seattle World's Fair came about. Was there a bond issue election? Someone had to have paid for all that stuff that was constructed, much of which remains in use to this day.

Such as the Space Needle, which is what you see Jason and Spencer Jack masked in at the top photo.  

A couple years ago more money was spent renovating the Space Needle than what was spent building it originally. The renovation included adding a glass floor at the observation deck level, which is what you see Spencer Jack sitting on above.

It is making me feel nostalgic about the swift passage of time, seeing these photos. I think the last time I ever rode the elevator to the top of the Space Needle was with Jason and his little brother, my Favorite Nephew Joey. Joey was four or five at that point in time, which would have made Jason seven or eight. Back then it cost about $4 to ride to the top of the Needle. Now it costs closer to $30.

The summer before I moved to Texas, Jason and Joey took me to Las Vegas. The highlight of that trip was getting stuck at the top of the Vegas Space Needle knockoff known as the Stratosphere Tower. Power went out, the elevators rendered dead, no air conditioning, with the temperature way over 100. We were stranded for several hours. It turned out to be one of the most fun Nephews in Danger episodes I ever had with those two.

So, that last time at the top of the Space Needle, we were barely up there when Jason sees the Monorail leaving the Seattle Center station. He asks, "Can we go ride the Monorail now?" "But we just got to the top of the Needle, can we at least walk all the way around first?" asked I.

15 minutes later we were aboard the Monorail heading to Westlake Center. Jason insisting on being at the front of the train, so that is where he headed us, and then he proceeded to lay down on the seat. "But, I thought you wanted to ride the Monorail," I asked. "Oh, I've been on this a million times." was the memorable reply.

Jason had two obsessions when he was a kid. One was the Seattle Monorail. The other was the Washington State Ferry system. Jason built models of each, including the entire fleet of Washington ferry boats.

So, of course, after checking out the renovated Space Needle, Jason next took Spencer Jack to ride the Monorail.

The Monorail does not look much changed since I last saw it. well, the station for sure, but that may be a new train.

And here we see Spencer Jack aboard the Monorail, likely at the front, behind the pilot.

I wish Spencer Jack would drive his dad through the new tunnel under downtown Seattle and take photos or video. I have yet to see any photos of that tunnel in action.

That $4 billion tunnel and waterfront rebuild project began about the same time Fort Worth had a big TNT exploding ceremony to mark the start of construction of those aforementioned three simple bridges stuck in slow motion construction mode.

How can these two towns be in the same country? Perplexing...

Chilly Wichita Falls Saturday Before Sunday DFW With No Texas State Fair Galaxy Of Girls

A couple decades ago, when my living space was on the west coast, a 60 degree day was considered warm, borderline balmy.

Today I was in sweatpants and a couple layers on top, including a stocking cap at the ultimate top, because the outer world was chilled to 61 when my bike talked me into going on a ride.

The location you see here, where the bike opted to take a break, is a side spur off the Circle Trail, with a rocking bench, in Hamilton Park.

I have never been able to ascertain if Hamilton Park is named after Alexander, or some local Hamilton. I suspect it is the latter option.

Tomorrow I am heading southeast, a rare Sunday drive to the DFW zone. I do not believe I will be going to the east side of the DFW zone, to Dallas, and the State Fair of Texas. Though I would enjoy doing so. I have not been to the Texas State Fair since 2007.

I have only been to two state's state fair. That being the Texas one and the Washington one, formerly known as The Puyallup. The Texas State Fair version is larger than the Washington State Fair version. Both have sky rides, with the Washington version being transplanted from its original use in 1962's Seattle World's Fair.

The Washington State Fair has way more farm animals than the Texas version. And way more agricultural exhibits. And way fewer exhibits of motor vehicles. I recollect the Washington State Fair as having way more exhibits of the various vendor sorts. And more arts, crafts and flowers. While the Texas State Fair has way more permanent buildings of the architecturally cool sort, as in classic Art Deco. Both State Fairs have a lot of fun free entertainment.

Every year at The Puyallup my usual favorite was the show put on by a group called The Shoppe.

From Dallas!

 I dunno if The Shoppe has ever played the Texas State Fair.

I recollect watching an entertaining rodeo at The Puyallup. I do not recollect a rodeo at the Texas State Fair. I suspect there is one, but I missed it.

One thing about the Texas State Fair which is way bigger than the Washington State Fair is the Midway. The Texas State Fair Midway version is the biggest, funnest, wildest of that sort thing I have ever seen.

Maybe the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) in Vancouver comes close, what with having a big old-fashioned wooden roller coaster. But, I have not been to the PNE in decades, so my memory of it has faded.

The PNE's Midway has the first strip show I ever eye witnessed. Can't imagine such a thing at the Texas State Fair. Or Washington's.

Canadians are such free-spirited, permissive, progressive liberated, liberal sorts.

Just remembered, regarding it being unlikely the Washington State Fair would have a strip show. I had forgotten that Washington has long been a free-spirited, permissive, progressive, liberated, liberal sort of state, more like Canada than Texas.

That aforementioned Seattle World's Fair came back to mind when I remember the PNE's strip show.

The Seattle World's Fair had an adult section called "Show Street".  I remember mom and dad going to the World's Fair and seeing Show Street's Girls of the Galaxy show til prudish sorts of that era caused the show to be shut down due to the show featuring naked Milky Way girls.

Such shows were a staple of past world's fair. Sally Rand's fan dance comes to mind.

I wonder if The Puyallup now has weird distasteful fried food such as one finds at the Texas State Fair? I suspect not.

Just a couple weeks ago, after I Linda Lou shipped me some of her Jam Factory's raspberry jam, I asked if scones with raspberry jam were still a big deal at The Puyallup. The person I asked, who had just been to the fair, answered by saying they bought a bag of scones to take home with them.

I wonder if I will ever again go to The Puyallup or the Texas State Fair?

Ironically I was in Arizona last year during the Arizona State Fair, which takes place in Phoenix. During that visit, in answer to one of Miss Daisy's daily queries asking if there was anything I can think of to do that I have not seen or done before, I answered that we could go to the Arizona State Fair.

Miss Daisy thought that sounded fun, but I didn't think it was a good idea to drive Miss Daisy to the Arizona State Fair. I probably was right...

Memorial Day MSU Bike Ride Remembering Seattle's International Fountain With Overpriced Space Needle

This Memorial Day morning I had myself a memorably long bike ride north, taking my rolling wheels first around Sikes Lake, then to the MSU (Midwestern State University) campus, which is currently abandoned.

And then further north, eventually getting lost on Speedway before finding my way to the Circle Trail via Holliday.

At MSU I stopped the bike at the location you see here. A fountain spewing jets of water.

Refreshing on a HOT day, such as is the case today.

The MSU fountain brought to mind my longtime favorite fountain, that being the fountain known as the International Fountain at the Seattle Center. That fountain came into existence at the Seattle World's Fair, which was known as the Century 21 Exposition. The International Fountain is about 100 times bigger than this fountain I got cooled by today at MSU.

Googling International Fountain Seattle Center brought up multiple websites, including a Wikipedia article about the International Fountain, which included some statistics giving one an idea how big this centerpiece of the Seattle World's Fair is...

• 56 "Micro shooters" arrayed as a ring buried in the granite blocks of the fountain floor, on the outer perimeter surrounding the dome. These shoot straight up.
• 77 "Fleur-de-lis" - plate-sized nozzles on the dome, shooting medium-high arcs.
• 4 "Super shooters" - four nozzles on the top of the dome capable of shooting up to 120 feet (37 m) high. Each "super shooter" peak shot uses 66 US gallons (250 l) and is driven by 120 pounds per square inch (830 kPa) of air pressure.
• 137 "Mist nozzles", each with an opening the size of a pinhead to generate fog
• There is an additional ring of floodlights between the "micro shooters" and the dome.

I do not know if the current iteration of the International Fountain still plays music timed to the fountain spouts. Playing dodge the fountain is a popular pastime for kids of all ages on a hot day at the Seattle Center.

Speaking of the Seattle Center. A couple days ago that location came to my mind for another reason.

The Space Needle.

I was reading an article about the newly re-opened re-modeled observation level atop the Space Needle. In the article I read that the elevator ride to the Space Needle observation deck now cost $26. I found that hard to believe, figuring this must be a mistake.

Trust me on this, even with its new glassed over look a visit to the Space Needle observation deck is not worth $26. If I remember right the last time I was at the top of the Space Needle was with Spencer Jack's dad, Jason, and his uncle, Joey. Both were younger than Spencer Jack is now. I don't remember how much it cost to get on the Space Needle elevator at that point in time. But I doubt it was more than a couple bucks. Maybe five at the most.

What does it cost to ride the Seattle Monorail in 2018? Last time I took that short ride I think it was 50 cents each way.

When the giant observation wheel opened on the Seattle waterfront a couple years ago I recollect reading the fee to ride was $13. That seemed reasonable. But, $26 to ride to the top of the Space Needle? That's ridiculous...

A Complex Space Needle Built In Less Than One Year While In Fort Worth...

Before we continue with our popular series of bloggings about feats of complex engineering which were completed in time frames which make the four year construction time line of the Fort Worth Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing seem even more bizarre, what with The Boondoggle's bridges being very small, simple bridges being built over dry land.

Okay, that above sentence ran on so long I forgot where it was going.

Now I remember, before we continue I must correct an error I made in yesterday's blogging titled I Wonder Why The Citizens Of Fort Worth Can Not Vote To Be Part Of A Global Transformation? Someone named Anonymous kindly pointed out that the link to the Atlantic Magazine article about the Bayonne Bridge reconstruction was incorrect. It is a very good article about a very complex feat of engineering, which I am sure you will find interesting.

Now, back to today's feat of engineering and its construction timeline.

The Seattle Space Needle.

Built as the centerpiece of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, known as Century 21, when the Space Needle was built no one opined it would become an iconic symbol of Seattle, or that it was any sort of signature structure.

But, that is what the Seattle Space Needle became, not only a signature symbol of Seattle, but an iconic landmark of the entire Pacific Northwest.

It is having seen actual iconic signature landmarks which can cause me to find it so bizarre when Fort Worth propagandists make claims along the line that three very ordinary bridges being built in slow motion are signature bridges which will become iconic symbols of Fort Worth.

How do those who spout this type nonsense do so with no cringe of embarrassment?

As you can see above, via a screen cap gleaned from Wikipedia, construction on the Seattle Space Needle began on April 17, 1961, and was completed December 8, 1961, in far less than a year.

The Seattle Space Needle was a far more complex feat of engineering than Fort Worth's simple Three Bridges Over Nothing.

For a few years the Space Needle replaced Seattle's Smith Tower as the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River. The Space Needle is 605 ft. high and weighs 9,550 tons, with half of that weight underground, making the Space Needle strong enough to withstand 200 miles per hour Category 5 level hurricane winds and a 9.1 magnitude earthquake.

Unlike Fort Worth's Three Bridges Over Nothing the Seattle Space Needle was built with a sense  of urgency, what with it needing to be completed and ready for prime time by the opening of the Seattle World's Fair on April 21, 1962.

From the Wikipedia Space Needle article...

With time an issue, the construction team worked around the clock. The domed top, housing the top five levels (including the restaurants and observation deck), was perfectly balanced so that the restaurant could rotate with the help of one tiny electric motor. The earthquake stability of the Space Needle was ensured when a hole was dug 30 ft (9.1 m) deep and 120 ft (37 m) across, and 467 concrete trucks took one full day to fill it. The foundation weighs 5850 tons (including 250 tons of reinforcing steel), the same as the above-ground structure. The structure is bolted to the foundation with 72 bolts, each one 30 ft (9.1 m) long.

467 truck loads of concrete taking one full day to fill the Space Needle's foundation? What if the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle acted with that sort of urgency? Which one would think it would, what with the vision pretending to be a supposedly vital flood control and economic development project.

And might I add, the Seattle World's Fair and Space Needle came about without employing a Seattle congresswoman's unqualified son as project director.

Methinks if J.D Granger had been put in charge of the Seattle World's Fair project we would still be waiting for the fair to open. But in the meantime we would have likely have had some might fine Rockin' the Puget Sound Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the crystal clear water of Seattle's Elliott Bay, but with no ridiculous bridges being built over actual water to any of the Seattle area's actual islands....

The 2034 Fort Worth World's Fair Trinity River Vision Product Nightmare

Last night I had a nightmare, a cinematic nightmare, a possibly prophetic cinematic nightmare.

The nightmare began back in the late 1950s in Seattle, where a pair of Seattle businessmen were discussing the idea of bringing a World's Fair to Seattle. One of the pair drew a tower on a napkin, suggesting this be the centerpiece of Seattle's World's Fair. A couple years later, on April 21, 1962, Seattle's Century 21 World Fair opened.

A few years later people in Spokane got the idea they wanted to have a World's Fair. Soon thereafter Expo '74 opened. Less than a decade later Vancouver decided to have a World's Fair. A few years later Expo 86 opened.

All three of these Pacific Northwest World's Fairs were much bigger projects than Fort Worth's relatively puny Trinity River Vision Boondoggle project, with the Pacific Northwest's projects coming to fruition in just a few years, while Fort Worth's Boondoggle has been boondoggling for well over a decade, currently with three simple bridges under construction, slated to take four years to build, as in longer to build than it took Seattle to build the Space Needle and the World's Fair the needle hovered over.

My nightmare became a bit muddled when the plot got to Fort Worth and its ineptly executed public works project known as The Boondoggle Product.

When my nightmare got to the present moment is when the nightmare really started getting scary.

Fast forward four years from 2014.

In my prophetic nightmare vision of the future, those Three Bridge Over Nothing do get completed, in four years. And then sit there, with no ditch being dug under them, with the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle stalled, due to lack of funding.

By the time the Three Bridges Over Nothing are finished, in 2018, we are in year two of the Hillary Clinton presidency.

Kay Granger is unable to get her baby boy any pork barrel earmarks for the TRVB ditch or any other aspect of The Boondoggle, no un-needed flood diversion channel, no imaginary island, no promenade, no parks, no more beer parties.

Nothing.

The mess just sits there as an embarrassing monument to corrupt hubris.

The years pass, those Three Bridges Over Nothing become an iconic international symbol of a Boondoggle  run amok.

And then the nightmare turns into a horror movie.

In the presidential election of 2024, Kay Granger is elected president, shocking much of America even more than when George W. Bush somehow became president after getting a couple million fewer votes than Al Gore.

In my nightmare, Kay Granger, already the oldest, and worst,  president in American history, then wins re-election in 2028.

As the nightmare continues it is as if America has sunk to being like the era of the bad Roman emperors, with Empress Kay basically fiddling while America burns in frustration over what a low voter turnout has wrought.

After year after year of promising to finally secure federal money, President Granger is somehow able to  get the  Republican majority in both houses to pour dollars in to Fort Worth to her then semi-retired son, J.D.'s, long stalled Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Product, from which he continued to draw a hefty salary, during all the decades the project sat stalled.

Stalled, except for the continuing Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the increasingly polluted Trinity River.

With it having been years since J.D.'s dream of building an imaginary island died, J.D., in 2029, has a brainstorm of the sort that brought about rockin' the polluted river, drive-in movie theaters, the world's premiere wakeboard facility, breweries, ice rinks and more, all of which had long ceased operating, except for those aforementioned Rockin' the River Inner Tube events.

J.D. Granger decides it would be a great idea to use that money his mama, the president, is sending him, to bring about something much bigger than the long dead Trinity River Vision, J.D. decides that if other towns could bring about a World's Fair in just a few short years, well, so could Fort Worth, despite no historical record of anything but boondoggles being the result when it comes to Fort Worth trying to do anything BIG, in any sort of timely fashion.

And so, in my nightmare, the proposed 2034 Fort Worth World's Fair became yet one more Trinity River Vision Boondoggle Product.

Likely destined to fail.

However, we must admit to being impressed with the propaganda slogan J.D., or someone came up with in my nightmare, a 21st century adjustment to Fort Worth's "Where The West Begins" claim, changed to "Where The Best Begins".

After over 30 years one would think J.D. Granger would have figured out that making bogus claims based on nonsense was not a good idea, but apparently not, hence "Where The Best Begins", with zero awareness of the irony.....

National Brothers Week Has Me Wishing Nephew Joey A Happy Birthday While Wondering About Spencer Jack's Seattle World's Fair Mug

This morning's 2nd Saturday of November blogging will be relatively un-annoying with relatively nothing about this particular blogging having anything to do with Texas, other than the fact that I am currently typing in Texas.

This morning I saw on Facebook, via Miss Martha, that currently, supposedly, we are celebrating "National Brothers Week".

I had not heard of this and thus have not been celebrating this particular special week.

I do have a brother. My brother is 13 months younger than me. My two oldest nephews are my brother's kids, those being Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew Jason and Spencer Jack's uncle, my favorite nephew Joey.

Speaking of Joey. And who isn't? Tomorrow is Joey's birthday. Happy Birthday, a day early, Joey.

I remember like it was yesterday, driving south from Bellingham to United General Hospital to see the newly born Joey for the first time.

This morning my aforementioned brother's eldest, he being the aforementioned favorite nephew Jason, emailed me a couple photos. I was a bit surprised by what I saw in these two photos.

Okay, it is not all that surprising seeing Spencer Jack with a hamburger. I have no idea what is on the plate next to the hamburger. What surprised me was Spencer Jack's drinking glass. From the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Which would make Spencer Jack's drinking glass over a half century old.

On one of my mom and dad's kid-free visits to the Seattle World's Fair they bought souvenir glasses. These were insulated thermos glasses. The glasses were different colors. Mine was turquoise.

This is what Spencer Jack's dad had to say about this particular glass and the below photo....

"Aunt Jackie's 1962 Seattle World's Fair mug in Spencer Jack's Lego room next to his Lego Space Needle with a Lego Monorail track in the background."

I have no idea how Jason and Spencer Jack came to have possession of my sister Jackie's Seattle World's Fair glass. I had no idea any of these glasses, now antiques, still existed.

A few weeks ago Jason put on Facebook a video of Spencer Jack operating the four trains running on various tracks on his elaborate railroad system. While the four trains chug along, the Seattle Monorail autopilots around Spencer Jack's virtual town.

I wanted to turn Spencer Jack's railroad engineer video into a YouTube video, which I could blog, but Facebook, thwarted me in that effort.

Before hitting the publish button, I have to say, one more time......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY!