Read more at Dispatch.com/lifestyle/travel.
The idea of a “World’s Fair” might seem passe to us highly evolved citizens of the 21st century. But for nearly 100 years, the international exhibitions were all the rage.
Two massive, futuristic (some probably said “frivolous”) structures can be seen as bookends to the World’s Fair era: the Eiffel Tower, built in Paris for the 1889 World’s Fair; and the Seattle Space Needle, built for the 1962 World’s Fair. (We could follow this progression to the Sunsphere in Knoxville, Tennessee, but that would be depressing.)
Like the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle was at the cutting edge of architectural design in its day. Both were controversial when proposed, but both have become enduring and indispensable icons of their cities.
And like its Paris counterpart, the Space Needle is as popular now as when it was completed.
More than a million people make a trip up the Space Needle elevators to the observation deck (at 520 feet; the needle is 605 feet tall at its tip) each year.
Visitors come for unmatched views extending all the way to Mount Rainier, of course, but also because skipping the Space Needle would be like visiting Orlando without a trip to Disney World, or driving through Cawker City, Kansas, without a look at the World’s Largest Ball of Twine.
I kid, but I really do adore the Space Needle, which is just a few months younger than me.
I first saw the Space Needle on a cross-country family trip when I, and the tower, were about 10. My family didn’t stop — we didn’t see the ball of twine, either, But, from a