Seattle and the World’s Fair 1962

---

The Los Angeles Geographical Society's 1962 trip to Alaska began with a Western Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Seattle. Before heading to Alaska, Valene had scheduled a day's stopover in Seattle to visit the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition. I was very excited to ride the World's Fair Monorail from downtown to the fairgrounds (now the Seattle Center). The Seattle monorail was built by the same company that built the Disneyland Monorail and was very similar to it.

The Space Needle had been built as the fair's theme structure and became Seattle's icon. Among the things I remember most was visiting the World of Century 21 Pavilion, where librarians from around the country demonstrated advances in the nascent field of library automation under the auspices of the American Library Association. They produced on-demand KWIC (keyword in context) bibliographies on large IBM computer paper sheets in response to research questions posed by visitors. They printed one for me. (Little did I know library information systems would be my career.) Other attractive exhibits were two American concept cars that were the stuff of fantasy: the six-wheeled Ford Seattle-ITE XXI and the GM Firebird III, which resembled a jet fighter on wheels. The vehicles had futuristic styling but contained automotive components, like keyless entry and satellite navigation, that would become standard far in the future.

---

Photos

The Space Needle and Seattle
The Space Needle symbolized the 1962 World's Fair Century 21 Exposition.
WA004a

Seattle Monorail
Seattle Monorail. Built by Alweg.
WA001

Riding the Seattle Monorail
Riding the Seattle Monorail to the World's Fair.
WA002

Alaska Pavillion
Alaska Pavillion at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, Century 21 Exposition.