I’m Dave from View Master Travels, and this time I set out to explore what’s left of the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fairs — two massive events that shaped not just the city but also the View-Master reels I collect. Armed with my vintage viewer, I walked the grounds of Flushing Meadows in Queens, comparing what’s there now to the original images. These two fairs were held 25 years apart but are deeply connected — and surprisingly, a lot of their remains are still scattered around if you know where to look.
The site itself has a crazy backstory — it used to be a massive ash dump that even showed up in The Great Gatsby. The 1939 fair was meant to pull New York out of the Great Depression with its “World of Tomorrow” theme, but World War II broke out months later and the whole thing ended in financial disappointment. Fast forward to 1964: Robert Moses, New York’s master planner, revived the idea with a new fair themed “Peace Through Understanding.” It was even bigger and bolder, but still lost money — and again, the dream of turning the area into a world-class park kind of stalled.
Even so, some pieces survived. I visited the Unisphere (still standing tall), the old New York Pavilion with its towers and crumbling “Tent of Tomorrow,” and the Queens Museum, which still houses a giant model of New York City from the ’64 fair. We also hunted down old fountains, statue locations, street markers, and even benches and water fountains that date back to the fairs. It felt like walking through a forgotten world — part ghost town, part open-air museum.
One of the most haunting parts was standing over the original 1939 time capsule, buried by Westinghouse and intended to stay sealed for 5,000 years. It’s still there, under the grass, waiting to be discovered by people in the year 6939. That moment really hit me — a reminder that the fair was more than just a temporary spectacle. It was a message to the future, packed with hope and optimism. That’s what keeps me doing this: digging up the pieces of forgotten dreams and seeing what still echoes in the world today.
00:30 - The two world’s fairs
01:08 - History of the fairs
05:07 - The Unisphere
06:57 - Trylon and Perisphere
08:11 - New York City Pavilion
09:58 - New York State Towers
11:51 - Avenue of the Flags
12:07 - Astral Fountain and the Vatican
12:46 - Court of States
13:21 - Dupont
13:56 - British Pavilion
15:51 - Fountain of the Fairs and GE
17:02 - Avenue of Progress, Benches, Fountains
17:40 - Column of Jerash
18:05 - Netherlands
18:22 - Heliport
19:04 - Hollywood
19:34 - Pan American Building
19:52 - Kodak
20:09 - Monorail
20:49 - Speed
21:08 - Time and the Fates of Man
21:27 - Polish Pavilion
22:38 - US Pavilion
23:34 - Science Center Rockets
24:26 - The Time Capsule
25:30 - Conclusion
Matt Coneybeare
Editor in Chief
Matt enjoys exploring the City's with his partner and son. He is an avid marathon runner, and spends most of his time eating, running, and working on cool stuff.
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