The reel you show in the opening of the video is known as a "hand lettered white" style, placing the reel between 1943 and 1946. Several of the photos you highlight are also on the "gold foil" style, meaning some of the pictures date back to 1939-1940. As reels were updated, new photos were added, leading to reels with pictures spanning many years, such as this one with the Skiway photo. Sawyer's had a sales department tasked with selling locations on the idea of being featured on, and partially paying for, the Viewmaster reel. It is likely that this reel was commissioned, and part of the package was for Viewmaster reels and postcards to be available to sell in the gift shop. The Viewmaster photo rig and the postcards photo rig were different, explaining the very similar, yet slightly different, Skiway pictures.

It was a magical experience for us kids that we will never forget.

I went to the Seattle World's Fair. I lived in West Seattle and worked at Pacific Bell Telephone Co. at Third and Seneca. I thought the fair was awesome. I loved the monorail and the Space Needle. What I didn't 😅appreciate wasthe rise in parking fees and no place to park near my place of employment. Never heard the mean-spirited comment re Queen Ann Hill. I took my oldest grandaughter (pre-teen) to the Seattle Center to dine at the Space Needle and to see the Tutankanun Exhibit. My husband and I, on our honeymoon, attended the San Antonio World's Fair in April 1968. What impressed me was all of the fountains. (Jim was stationed at Fort Sam Houston. I was "home" on leave from Germany to get married). I enjoyed both fairs. At 85, I doubt that I'll get to another one, but love the memories.

Twice in less than five minute mispronounced "nuclear" as "nucular"(no such word).

Laser Floyd at Seattle Center was a weekend ritual for those of us growing up there in the 70s and 80s.

0:17 BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER 💀💀💀

The Venetian pool was filled by ann artesian well and filled daily until the 70s as water demand grew. It is filled with municipal water today. It also had caves but we're closed off because of liability concerns.

It was lost in their time

Pacific Northwest at it’s best and better times🤔🇺🇸

Where are the original people? Removed and replaced. It is time to return the land. U.S.A. corp. is an illustration of the past that leaves out the American Negro Holocaust. God's people will awaken as it is written in the last will and testament King James Holy Bible, John 16 is real.

I was a child in 1962, i remember riding the monorail that only went to two places,

We went here as a field trip a few times when I was in elementary school. I definitely had a few of the wax press figures from over the years. I grew up about 30 mins away from the park.

The 1962 Worlds Fair was Seattle’s response to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the 1909 Worlds Fair - as alluded to here. This time was a peak for America. It turns out that the 1962 World’s Fair beat out the original one by a long shot. So how was the 1962 World’s Fair commemorated by the City of Seattle 50 years later? With a website. Yep, that’s it. What each of these show the capacity for grand civic action. In the 1960s, cities could pull these things off - and make a profit to boot, as the City of Seattle did. Half a century later, they endlessly squabble whenever some minor improvement, like a road, is proposed. That’s because the quality of major city leadership has declined significantly - usually, the people who have run major cities since the 1970s have been a bunch of incompetent bozo ideologues, although there have been some exceptions (and we notice their cities turn around when they are elected). I would like to point out, though, that this appears to be turning around in the last couple of years, so we may soon see effective leadership again - and you will see municipal governments who can pull these events off again.

I was 9 and it seemed pretty cool at the time.

In the navy at NAS Whidbey, went to the fair every free weekend back then the Science Center was about science, not today.

Trees 3:50 on all the local streets broke the sidewalks and have been replaced. With new ones that are breaking the sidewalks.

I love Seattle 🛸

Nucular?!! The word you`re groping for is nuclear.

I was at the Seattle Worlds Fair in 1962. I was 5 years old when I went with my parents (I’m 67 now) I only have a few vague memories of the fair. I remember being with my parents and thinking how strange it was to be walking around in such a brightly lit place like this at night when it was dark out. I remember the smell of corn dogs and I remember being a little scared of the big clown face whose mouth was over the opening of the funhouse ride. I also remember riding in the bubbleator.

I was 6 years old when I visited the Seattle World's Fair several times. It's amazing to me that I remember many things so clearly from such a young age. The bubbleator was great with the ominous command to, "move to the rear of the sphere," so everyone would squeeze in. On one occasion my brother said, "Hey! Where's the Space Needle?" I looked all around and it was gone. The trick was to look straight up. It was a cute joke. One more memory is when my parents went to the fair at night, leaving me at home. I contented myself by looking at my View Master pictures of the fair.

My Grandmother took me on a train trip to Seattle just a few months after they had the fair. We went up to the restaurant in the Space Needle. I still remember every moment of that exciting trip.

That was a very optimistic time and place.over done ...maybe...but what a beautiful time. Water skiing on lake samammish. The shipyards... Boeing... going too the moon. Just all the things that were going on. As a kid I was shielded. Just all the damn rain and beautiful ❤️ Summers that were way too short

Excellent video! Excellent research. Your job was made simpler by the fact the 1962 Worlds Fair is the most intact World's Fare site in the world (though more get's repurposed every year). Still, today you can still get a flavor for the event if you walk the site.

great worlds fair for the time

I was in high school during the fair...lived close at Mukilteo...visited the fair many times. Thrilling times.😊

My mum took me to the Seattle Worlds Fair August 1962. I was born December 1962.🤗 I grew up visiting the Seattle Center as a kid and continue to visit there regularly. Thank you for the awesome visit down memory lane.

I was 9, dragged through the World's Fair by my parents & sisters, awestruck, mostly. We rode the monorail, traipsed through the exhibits, was denied riding any amusement-park rides, mollified by dinner in the Space Needle for the full hour it took to make a rotation. A couple decades later, when I would be sent to Chicago training Center and put up in the North Shore Hilton, I always recalled that visit of my youth, even though the NSH was only 12 stories, its penthouse restaurant also took 1 hour to rotate fully. Less impressive than SN, but downtown Chicago's skyscrapers could be distantly seen on a clear evening, all lit up as they liked to do to buildings in that area.

Great video! Thanks for producing and posting it!

I was 9 and a Camp Fire Girl. All the girls in troops in the area gathered to practice singing at the fair. We got a blue felt patch to wear on on our unform. Roy Rodgers was being initiated into I think the Yakima tribe? We sang On Wisconsin, Loyal to You Illinois, and I have no memory of what else we sang. I have some old slides i think of Roy with the Chief! I have a bunch of old postcards and a brochure from the fair. I remember thinking the Bubbleator was exciting! I, too, saw the Beatles at the Collesiumm . Saw a few other groups there in college the Rolling Stones played there. The Beatles stayed at the Edgewater Inn. a After they left the carpet from their room was cut up and sold by a department for a dollar an inch or something? I think the store was MacDougals? You can still stay in their room if you stay at the Edgewater. I know in grade school and jr high we took many field trips to the science center and also the opera house.

Unfortunately I wasn't born yet. I would be born later on in the year.

I was thirteen when The Fair opened. My father's company had an exhibit at The Fair, so l got to go to The Fair a lot. My favorite feature was 'The Bubbelator'. It was so cool to see all the exhibits, and to have my home town receive world wide attention. When you live in Washington State, anytime 'Washington' is mentioned, it is almost always about the Capitol.

I made it to the Science Center and the Space Needle in 1972 and took home movies from the top of the Needle. Made it there again in 1974, 1976, 1977,78,79, then returned in 1997 and took my grandson there in 2017.

Thanks for tying together Spudnik, the fair, and the Cuban Missile crisis. I vaguely remember my mom and the neighbors watching Spudnik flying across the sky when I was 9; I was 14 when my family went to the fair; and I remember the Cuban crisis. However, I hadn't remembered how those events transpired. I have a clear picture now.

I was there/here and have that same viewmaster reel

Over the past 4 decades, I spent countless hours in and around Seattle Center. I loved the "retro-future" vibe leftover from the World's Fair. Much has changed in recent years. The friendly and safe atmosphere has taken on an edge with crime on the rise in the city. What remains for me are endless memories of great festivals, friends, concerts, Sonics and Thunderbird games, trips to the top of the Space Needle (when tickets were cheap) and playing music on numerous stages.

Riveting, informative, delightful! Do you perhaps have the 1940 Worlds Fair View Master disc(s)?

This is an amazing concept for a video, really enjoyed it ✨

One afternoon, my mother and step dad offered me ( 9 years old ), a ride in their airplane, and we flew south from Arlington Airport. As the sun went down, we kept circling a "construction site" with a huge structure rising to the sky. I remember my mom telling me to look out the window, and I saw large, blue flame growing from the top of this structure. That was the night the Space Needle lit the flame for the first time.

I was there, had just finished 6th grade when we drove from California to Seattle. Went to the Space Needle to the observation lounge, but not the restaurant. It was exciting and futuristic, with great expectations for the future.

Thoroughly researched and nicely executed… the mispronunciation “nuke-ya-lur” sets my teeth on edge, however.

I was working for HP during their 50th business anniversary. I'm an egg artist and made goose eggs for Bill and Dave and ceo John Young. The eggs had a gold leafed door that opened to a photo of Dave Packards garage where HP started. Jeff Weber delivered the eggs to corporate and met Bill Hewlett. I received thank you notes from all of them.

I have a box of post cards my father-in-law collected during his travels. If you want them I'll send them. You might enjoy them and give you more travel ideas.

"Nuclear" is pronounced new-clee-er not new-cue-ler

At 19:30 you say "unfortunately they only run one train anymore". Well, fortunately that's not true. They only run one most of the time, but when it gets busy they run both, e.g. when there's a concert or Kraken game at Climate Pledge Arena.

There is a cat sculpture done by Picasso in the Hemmingway house just sitting on a dresser. Heard they were friends. Enjoyed seeing the six toed cats on the property descendents of Hemmingway's cats.

So glad you included a selfie! You two are adorable 🥰

I was there!

I lived in what is now SeaTac, and attended the Fair when I was 6. I have fragmented memories of it, mixed with memories of all the times I have visited the Seattle Center since then. The Space Needle is indeed an icon, but sadly one we are losing. Unlike the Eifel Tower, protected by Paris' building regulations, Seattle is letting tall buildings be built closer and closer to the Needle. At the rate things are going, in another 10 years if you want to see the Needle you will have to go to the Center, and look up. And if you go up the Needle you will be able to see yourself, reflected in the windows of the building across the street. This was a very good presentation. I will watch more on this channel.

This is a wonderfully put together video! Super underrated.

I was at Meramec Caverns twice, once as a small child in the early 1960s and again around 2010. It was pretty much unchanged in all that time. The View-Master reel definitely did it justice.