For many of us, the fact that Seattle features the pinnacle of Disneyland-style futurism in its downtown core has always been incredibly cool. Portland has bridges. Seattle has the the Space Needle! The 1962 World’s Fair drew 10 million visitors to the little-known Northwest corner of the country and left Seattle with an enhanced identity and a new civic center.
Fifty years later, Seattle Center is still an artistic and cultural hub, and the entire run is owed to that “Century 21 Exposition,” as celebrated in The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and its Legacy. This coffee table showpiece of a book is a collection of photos, diagrams and ephemera, as well as a thorough history and entertaining commentary from historians Paula Becker and Alan J. Stein. Visit the future past with the authors when they bring the project to Bainbridge’s Eagle Harbor Book Co. on April 12, 7:30 pm.
James Lynch’s Truth Like The Sun is another do not miss book featuring the World’s Fair.